Editor's Note: This post was originally published in February 2015 and has been updated with additional content about different types of landing pages.

As you dive into the world of digital marketing, SEO, and paid search advertising, you’ll likely encounter a whole new vocabulary and set of concepts. If you haven’t already, you're bound to have questions about how landing pages fit into your digital marketing strategy. Developing a landing page sounds like a simple task, and it can be, but we want to stress that landing pages are vitally important to lead conversion.

WSI Blog: The Importance of a Landing Page

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is any web page that a consumer can land on, but in the marketing realm, it’s usually a standalone page, distinct from your homepage or any other page, that serves a single and focused purpose. A landing page is a follow up to any promises that you’ve made in your content. Essentially, it’s the next step toward a visitor becoming a customer. Your landing page lets you make a trade, some sort of special offer, piece of information or a deal, in return for providing contact information.

Landing pages can be click-through, leading to another page such as your e-commerce site, or lead generation based. Lead generation landing pages typically offer items like an eBook, free trial, contest entry or webinar registration in return for the submission of contact information. A good landing page will do its job by convincing a potential customer that it’s worth it to provide personal details in return in exchange for whatever you have to offer. Landing pages can be found through a general search or via your company website, increasing the likelihood that a potential customer will end up there.

There’s no need to have just one landing page or even just one landing page at a time. In fact, experts in the marketing world probably suggest that you maintain multiple landing pages, targeted toward segmented customer populations.

Different Types of Landing Pages

As a general rule, using landing pages enables you to complete a post-click sequence with a dedicated page that shows the visitor they have landed in the right place. Busy homepages or product pages have the potential to muddy the waters, whereas landing pages make it very clear what outcome will result from the visitor’s click-through. By making a landing page, you refine and improve your visitor interaction and thus increase the chances of conversion. You also ensure that you get more from your PPC spend - you’ve already paid for this click, and a landing page helps you make it worth your while. You can increase the possibility of conversions even further by ensuring that you use the right kind of landing page. Let’s take a look at the landing page varieties and what they are used for.

Landing Page vs. Website Homepage

First of all, some people may wonder why they should bother with landing pages when the primary objective is to drive visitors to their homepage? The answer is that, while getting traffic on your home page is undoubtedly a good thing, it is less likely to result in a conversion than a landing page. Home pages contain a lot of information and invite users to navigate to a variety of different locations. If a visitor reaches your homepage with one specific goal in mind, they might be turned off if they have to look through several different services and product options first. The homepage’s main objective is to direct users to other pages where they will find the information they want. Landing pages eliminate the intermediary step by being the page the user wants - and stating as much in no uncertain terms.

Your homepage is general where a landing page is focused and specific. While the homepage draws visitors further into your website by presenting all the options your business has to offer, a landing page offers one simple and clear call to action.

Lead Generation Landing Page

A lead-generation or lead-capture landing page is primarily intended to collect leads by means of a data capture form. These pages are very versatile but are most often used in the middle of the sales funnel, at the point where customers are evaluating your offerings and are on the cusp of moving towards the intent to either convert or walk away. It presents both a request and a reward simultaneously. The reward is the specific offer you are promoting in order to capture leads, and the request is the information you ask for in your form. The request and the reward should be well balanced. Whatever you are promoting must be worth the customer offer you their details and adding them to your mailing list.

Click-Through Landing Page

In contrast to the lead-generation page, which relies on the use of a form, a click-through page is, by definition, one that does not require a form at all. It is a simple middleman between your advert and the page to which you ultimately wish to direct your customers. It is often used to link an ad to a shopping cart for example. It requires only a simple and short explanation of what the visitor has found by clicking through and a bold and unmistakable call to action with a link to the final destination.

Squeeze Page

Like a lead-generation page, a squeeze page is used to collect data. Unlike a lead-generation page, however, it is generally employed near the top of the sales funnel and its only goal is to gather email addresses to add potential leads to a general mailing list. They are short, basic landing pages with bold headlines and minimal content. A clear call to action leaves the reader in no doubt as to what to expect from the click-through. In addition to the short form, there should also be both a link to take the reader to the next step and an exit option if the visitor does not wish to proceed.

Sales Page

A sales page is often the most difficult to design. With this page, you are no longer simply Photo Editing Services prospecting for leads. It is one that you would use right at the bottom of the funnel, and it has to convince people to buy, which is an entirely different proposition to a basic request and reward combination. The creation of the page, from the copy to the design, requires a touch of delicacy and a complete understanding of your customers’ needs and their position in the sales journey. You could either sell too hard at this point and turn your client away, or you could undersell and lose the sale anyway. This is where good old-fashioned salesmanship must be incorporated into your design and communication tactics.

The length of the page depends very much on your product and how much you need to say to explain its value to your customers. Regardless of the length, there needs to be a detailed pitch that clearly demonstrates this value, with the aim of getting them to click that button and make the purchase.