Your landing page doesn’t have to be your homepage!

One common misconception held by small business website owners is that their homepage is the place where ALL traffic should be directed to. I’m sorry, but that is just plainly wrong.

The key to designing a successful landing page is ensuring that the design and purpose of the page is appropriate and relevant to the position it occupies in the conversion process. Confused? Let me explain…

Some of your website visitors already know a bit about you

Not all visitors to your website will be ‘cold visitors’ from Google. Cold visitors are people who are unaware of you or your business; they’re simply using Google to find solutions to their problems, needs, and goals. It is likely that these visitors will arrive via a wide range of sources and search terms. For these visitors, it’s probably quite appropriate that they land on your home page.

More likely however, is the situation where people are visiting your website directly. This means, they are already aware of you through a variety of other channels such as offline marketing (advertising, networking, referrals etc). Take a look at your visitor analytics software and look for how many people are arriving at your website by entering your website/business name directly.

You see, if people already know about you and your business, then they will be at a certain point in your conversion funnel which may not be adequately served by your website homepage. It might actually be more effective to send them to a page which is more relevant to their specific needs. Watch the video to see an example of what I mean…

Learn why a dedicated landing page could boost your conversions…

Summary of the video

It’s important to remember that your website is there to do a job; it is there to convert visitors, into customers. It is unlikely that all of your traffic will arrive at your website with no idea of who you are or how you can help them. In other words, it is likely that people will arrive at varying stages in the conversion process.

Your goal should be to deliver a User Experience that is relevant, appropriate, and cognisant of the specific needs of that particular visitor and that particular stage in their journey.

Here are some key points from the video:

• Focus your users on the key task at hand. Consider where your visitors are coming from and why. If they are coming from an email link or Google Advertisment, then you have direct control over the design they are presented with. Declutter things and consider removing navigation to make sure they remain focussed on the reason they are there – completing the task!
• Persuade completion of the task by building trust. Remember that people will only take action if they trust you. You can engender trust with careful placement of relevant and persuasive testimonials, icons, and logos.
• Make each conversion step as small as possible. In the video you saw how all the User was asked to do was click a button that ‘Accepts the invitation’. Sure – the next steps are likely to increase in complexity, however at this stage you’re just trying to build some incremental commitment.

What are you going to do now?

Are you driving visitors to your website from a variety of different sources with a specific task that you want them to complete? If so, then examine the page that you’re sending them to and consider how well it conforms to the points above. Consider whether a standalone landing page would be more effective at responding to the needs of those specific visitors.