As per conventional English, a landing page is one of the many pages from your website that a visitor can “land” on. However, this is a broad definition that might not explain the purpose. Let’s try and define again, this time with some context.

A landing page is a super-focused single website page with a sharp purpose (read conversion). It is distinct from the other pages with no global navigation to tied with rest of the website. The only business purpose is nothing but conversion.

Primarily, landing pages fall under 2 categories with distinct functions:

Click through landing pages are used to persuade a visitor to click (and get) to another page. The idea is to “warm up” a visitor for their next step in purchasing cycle. These are the pages that only give direction.

Lead generation landing pages are solely used to capture user data, by using a form, email or contact number. In most cases, there is something for readers to carry home (free consultation, and the e-book or a trial).

Before we move on, it’s important to understand the concept.

Let’s assume there’s a particular blog article on your website which gets a lot of traffic. Does it automatically become your number one landing page?

Certainly not!

A blog post is not primarily designed for conversion. Yes, it’s a crucial cog in the wheel but not a landing page. Many marketers mistakenly link the traffic sources to the definition of  a landing page. For example, the homepage can get large amount of traffic yet it is nothing but a broad and generic introduction of your business (not designed for conversion). It does not fit the criteria for a landing page.

Do you need landing pages?

A landing page could act like a guide that directs your traffic to the goal. It’s a great tool for control and productivity (extremely good for search engines too). Random traffic is converted from being just visitors to interesting leads and most possibly good customers.

Leads, leads and more leads – In today’s day and age, it’s a crime to send all of search and social traffic to the homepage. Landing page by its own nature is designed to filter this traffic and convert it to leads at a faster rate. If you really want the sales team to thank you for something, invest in quality landing pages for collection of leads.

Go one step further – Landing pages can also help you streamline the whole retargeting process with no extra cost. There would be numerous occasions where your content could resonate for more than one time. It means there is a serious chance of re-conversion. Same leads can come through the system one more time. In those specific instances, landing pages can help you collect better data and intelligence to reconvert these leads into happy customers.

The SEO value – Landing page could easily become one of the most important content asset for your website. Not only it is an incomparable marketing tool, landing pages are usually the best performing pages from your website as well. Research shows that more and more landing pages are increasingly ranking high in search engines. With people only concentrating on the first page of Google, the search engines have a direct impact on the performance of your business. When compared to random content on a website, quality landing pages always rank higher. It’s an asset that you cannot choose to ignore.

The next best marketing offer – Landing pages can be used as a tool for marketing and advertising campaigns. Run as many offers and promotions you’d like. Whether social media, emails or PPC ads, landing pages are at center of it, increasing the overall ROI.

Conclusion

Directing the traffic (especially paid one) to correct nodal point for the next step is the most important step for any business.

Consider an example – You enter a large departmental store with an absolute clarity about the product that you are looking to buy. You can search for another half an hour going through different sections or you could ask an employee for the directions?

A landing page is the dedicated employee which can help you reach the right product. Do you need them?

Hell yeah!