Update: Mobile landing pages are an aspect of your marketing automation you simply cannot ignore! Read this follow-up post where we discuss the best practices for creating powerful mobile landing pages.

One of the cornerstones of any good marketing automation system and an integral piece of creating a good system for lead nurturing is the landing page.

Landing pages are those special pages you create on your website to collect the users information and in return you provide them with some “reward”. This reward can take the form of a download, a PDF, a white paper, or any number of other resources which the user is interested in. Maybe you have an awesome video that demonstrates how to perform a task. Before the user is able to watch the video they must fill out a short unobtrusive form. The form may ask just for their name and their email address, it might ask them a few other pertinent questions if it relates directly to the item they are interested in. This landing page is gold for you. It allows you to collect relevant information directly from users who are genuinely interested in what you’re offering. There’s a level of commitment the user must be willing to make to fill out a form in exchange for what you give them. This page which we’ve just defined is a landing page. And you may begin to see already why I refer to it as gold. Landing pages are golden opportunities. But if you’re not careful and if you don’t construct a good landing page then they will be wasted opportunities. Let’s look now at those things which make a strong and highly engaging landing page.

1. A Single Strong Focus

The focus of the page is one of the first things to consider when creating a landing page. Your landing page should convey a clear, easy to understand purpose. Why do you want the user to visit this page and what is the reason they are here. Answer this question and only this question. This may be the hardest part of the entire process. Do not overcomplicate the purpose for this page. Take your time and determine what the single most important reason for the page. When you come up with other ideas (and trust me you will) write them down somewhere else as other potential landing pages. Once you have defined your focus write out your page content. Remember the goal here is to keep it simple, concise and to the point. Keep your sentences short and a minimum number of paragraphs. Here’s some good examples.

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RightSignature does a great job of focusing the purpose of a page to a single form. Good graphics and a simple form drive the user to a single action.

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Wistia gives a great video overview (which is good since they're a video company) and a very easy one form field button.

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Acquia may ask for a few more fields but you can easily understand the purpose of the page and what you would receive in return for filling out their form.

2. A Simple Call to Action

As you write your content you will want to keep in mind what is the action you want the user to take? In most cases you’re probably going to want them to fill out a form so you can collect some information about them. But that’s not always the only call to action. Maybe you want the user to sign up for a newsletter, or schedule a meeting. Regardless of the specifics of the action your landing page needs a simple call to action. Don’t overcomplicate the call to action, don’t obscure the call to action. You don’t want your user to be confused with what they should do when they arrive on your landing page and a clear call to action will keep them comfortable that they are in control and they know what they should do. Here are a few great simple call to actions.

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It doesn't get more simple than a single button. Zoho has simplified their call to action all the way down to a single button on their landing page.

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Shopify lets you create your online store with only an email and your name. Again, the focus on a very simple and yet effective call to action.

3. A Low Commitment Level

This third tip for showing your landing page some love involves making your page have a very low commitment level. You want the user to complete the call to action. If you make the page easy to understand, give the user the steps they should complete and provide them a means to do so without taking too much effort you will have a much higher conversion rate. The user may have just met your company, they may not know you or what you offer and they don’t want to jump immediately into an intense relationship. If you think about your landing page as a commitment then you want to make that commitment as easy and as simple as possible. This will reassure your user and make them more comfortable with introducing themselves. Take a look at these low commitment landing pages.

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The process of shopping for car insurance can be a bit overwhelming. Geico makes their landing page simple with a very low commitment by only asking for a zip code on the first page to get you started.

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Podio also makes the experience very easy by only requesting an email address. They reiterate the fact that your sign-up is completely free emphasizing the fact that the commitment is minimal.

4. A Quick Reward

Once your user has read your landing page, followed your simple call to action and made that initial commitment then they need to be rewarded and rewarded quickly. This reward is the original resource, asset or item the page originally promised. In the example given above this is the video the user came to the page to view. Providing an immediate reward is the best way to reinforce the commitment the user has made and reassure them to be confident in their decision. When you create your landing page keep this end result in mind. Be sure you are rewarding those users who are completing your call to action. This one is a bit harder to show real examples but I believe it’s rather self-evident as well.

Landing pages are a powerful resource to generate new leads for your business. Landing pages provide valuable information to you but also to your users. They receive something and you receive something. It’s a wonderful start to a potential long-term relationship. Don’t neglect this opportunity and show your landing pages some love. I hope these 4 tips will give you some ideas to help you create amazing landing pages.