"We have been toying with the idea of creating a landing page that we would link to from ads in our monthly newsletter but we are having trouble understanding how it would be much different from linking to our homepage. It seems like we would want basically the same information on it, so what is the benefit of a landing page?"
Good question!
A landing page is a page on your website that has a specific purpose and often is not directly linked within your navigation or site content. Here are some thoughts on why you might choose to build landing pages for your site.
Campaigns
One of the main reasons people create a landing page is to track a campaign. So if you create a landing page that is not linked anywhere on your site, you know that people are hitting that page based on a link you sent out via your newsletter or email or direct mail, etc. You can review the Google Analytics to see the effectiveness of the campaign in getting folks to click through, and then if the landing page does its job of getting them to either read more about your company or submit a contact form. Many companies that sell PPC services will use a landing page to see if the money being spent is bringing in actual results.
SEO
We know that the best SEO you can do is through content marketing - working all those phrases and words people use to find you in the search engines. But sometimes writing that copy can get tricky. It's a real balance between getting all the words in there and still reading well. With a landing page, you can focus on those terms with less copy. Think postcard mailer vs. full brochure. You hit the highlights to grab their attention.
Seasonal
This one goes to campaigns as well. If you are doing anything seasonal/promotional, you may not want this a part of your core site structure. But you could add a story for a specific time period that links to this page and include information and a link in your newsletter, etc.
For example, if you are highlighting a recent project that you have completed in your newsletter, you could create a landing page that specifically lists similar projects or other current projects with a big call-to-action -- Contact us today or Call us today to talk about your project or Need an estimate, etc. You want them to take action, which is probably 'contact us so we can make a sale'!!
Bottom Line -- Landing pages are direct mail pieces. They have one purpose and that is to sell!
Ready to get started?
From your Tendenci nav, choose Apps > Content > Pages. Then choose Add Page from the Pages menu to start building your landing page!
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