The Internet is a place of good as well as bad things. In one hand there are lots of well designed, and highly functional websites and in another hand ,lots of ugly, poorly constructed websites.
The rise of search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (SMM) has allowed traffic to websites to grow leaps and bounds. However, getting someone to visit a site is relatively meaningless if they can’t or don’t interact with it. So to prevent that from happening, a good website is needed to turn traffic into something useful. The key to handling the traffic that comes in from SEM or SMM is what is known as a landing page; the first page a visitor sees when they visit a website.
Landing pages must be well designed, visually appealing, and easy to use if traffic is going to be converted into something valuable. This conversion is ultimately the goal of a website. Whether it’s purchasing a product from an online store, signing up for email newsletters, or requesting to be contacted by a representative, action steps on the part of the visitor must be guided by the landing page. When visitors are effectively being guided through a process that generates something of value for the site owner, you’ll know the website is a good one.
There are several things that factor into the effectiveness of a landing page. At the focal point, is how well a website helps a visitor understand what to do. Many good landing pages will have succinct and concise verbiage that tells users what process to follow so that each party gets what they want. This is often laid out in a collection of paragraphs, images, buttons, and fields to fill. There’s a good chance that you’ve been to a website where you’ve been asked to give your name, email address, and some other information, click a submit button, and receive something of value in exchange. Expediting that process in the simplest way possible is what a landing page is supposed to do.
Among other things that are important in creating an effective landing pages is the overall visual presentation of the page. Many websites look outdated, untrustworthy, or flat out too complicated. Although this doesn’t bother some web visitors, it’s not a good idea to rest on one’s laurels and assume that most people don’t care. Consequently, it’s critical to have professional looking web pages that help visitors feel confident in where they are.
Of course, there are many other tips and best practices that are important to maximizing the success of a landing page but at having a good looking and easy to use one will go a long way. If you’ve never considered what good landing pages could do for your website, today is the time to do so. The importance of internet presence continues to grow so make sure that you aren’t left behind when more and more companies, individuals, and organizations make investments into their landing pages.