The ultimate guide to landing pages
How to create a landing page
Chapter 09
You know why you need squeeze pages and sales pages, but now it’s time to get to the nitty-gritty and learn how to build a high-performing landing page.
Creating a landing page can be surprisingly simple—when you start with a clear process. Like any project, the more thought you put into it before you begin, the better the result you’ll wind up with.
Here are five easy steps that will make you the ultimate landing page builder and marketer in no time.
1. Set a clear goal
Why do you even need a landing page? What’s the purpose? What are you going to do with it?
Figuring out what you want from a landing page and defining your goal upfront will guide your decision-making, from what images to include to what information to collect on your form. This can help you create a landing page that brings you to a better result.
Some potential landing page goals:
- Generate more leads
- Boost sales of a product/service
- Generate event registrations or webinar signups
- Engage with existing customers or reactivate lapsed customers
- Recruit new hires
Every landing page needs a single, specific purpose and should be tied back to a business or marketing outcome. Until you can quickly articulate what a page’s goal is, you shouldn’t go on to the next step.
2. Choose your template
Making a landing page doesn’t necessarily mean starting from scratch. Even though you can customize your landing page template (or build it from scratch if you choose to do so), you’ll find that starting with the right template will streamline your building process and set you up for higher conversions and greater success.
Within Leadpages’ landing page template gallery, you’ll find more than 150 pre-designed, carefully optimized, mobile responsive landing page templates that can be tailored to match your business, industry, audience, and goals.
There are three main types of templates: squeeze pages, splash pages, and sales pages. Learn more about the types of landing pages you might want to try out at different points of your funnel.
You can select any template that works with your objective. You’ll have access to everything from a fitness studio recruitment page to bring more members to your studio, to a basic webinar opt-in page to generate event signup leads. You have so many options at your fingertips, you’re bound to find the one that seamlessly fits your needs.
Pro tip: Responsive landing pages are those that automatically adjust and rearrange content to provide an optimum experience across different device sizes. By ensuring that your landing page displays well wherever (whenever) people visit that URL, you can ensure the best possible results. But don’t worry—all Leadpages templates are expertly engineered to be mobile responsive.
3. Customize your content
Once you have a template, you can customize it to suit your needs with the Leadpages Drag & Drop Builder. Easily add your logo, choose your images, tweak the design, and include your own copy. The purpose of customization is to create a consistent brand experience that engages your audience and pushes them toward your call to action.
Of course, the content you choose is one of the biggest factors in determining how your audience will respond and how your page will convert. When we consult on how to create a landing page, we emphasize the importance of customized and branded design, copy, and content.
Need help customizing your landing page? Here are some resources to get you started:
4. Pull it all together
The content you choose and how you arrange it on the page should push your visitors toward a single point of conversion (aka the offer). This means you want to create a landing page centered around a single call to action (CTA).
Looking to generate leads with your landing page? Offer a lead magnet in exchange for an email address. Want to increase revenue and sell your product or service? Include a checkout form right on your landing page or within your pop-up box.
Keep in mind that your landing page and traffic source need to be carefully aligned and consistent in order to reassure visitors that they’re on the right path. This is known as the post-click experience. A cohesive, consistent campaign conveys that your brand is credible and trustworthy. Each touchpoint along that campaign journey is ultimately leading up to the conversion that takes place on your landing page.
5. Publish and Get Traffic
Now it’s time to publish! After you publish, it’s up to you to share that landing page link through your marketing channels, such as social media or pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
You might want to consider building two versions of your landing page to run an A/B test. This allows you to try out different designs and copy to see which resonates best with your audience and promotes the highest number of conversions. Learn how to properly test your landing pages here.
Can you create a landing page without a website?
While we recommend businesses have both a website and landing pages, it's definitely possible to create a landing page without a website. Some businesses use a landing page as their website (known as a mini-site or single-page site). This works for simple businesses with one single offer, product, or service.
However, if you have multiple offerings your best bet is to build a website for your business, and then create a landing page for each individual offering.
Bottom line: It’s simple to create a landing page by breaking it down: choose an objective, customize a template, ignite the web traffic, and test multiple landing pages.
