Lead Generation on the Web

Landing Pages

OK, so now you have a strategy, and you've figured out some lead sources. Now comes the time to create the landing pages that your lead generation campaigns will revolve around.

First Off, What's a Landing Page?

A landing page is just what it sounds like: a page that visitors land on when they click on an Adword or type the URL from your ad in their browser.

If the banner ad, media buy, or Adword is the lead source, the landing page is where you do all your selling. Even if you're not selling anything, you're trying to convince visitors to fill out a form in order to get a freebie. Without the persuasion, without some kind of way to capture their contact information, a landing page isn't worth the time you've spent creating it, or the time and effort you've spent on the campaign.

It is possible, of course, to create a landing page that is purely a part of a branding campaign, but it isn't smart. Have you ever seen the movie A Christmas Story? There's a scene in which Ralphie finally gets his Little Orphan Annie decoder ring. He was a fan of the radio show, had ordered away for it, got it in the mail (with fabulous certificate of authenticity), and then listened for the secret scrambled message on the radio.

Those of you who've seen the movie remember his dismay at decoding the special message after the show: "Remember to drink your Ovaltine." All that work for a crummy ad.

By way of analogy, it's the same thing if you build a landing page that is merely an ad for your products ...