Why Marketing Campaigns Should Drive Traffic to Landing Pages Not Homepages
There is a problem that a lot of marketers make. They set up a smart promotional campaign or PPC search ads to target keywords their customers use -- and then they drive interested audiences to a homepage instead of a landing page.
This error can lead to confusing audiences, driving traffic that won’t convert, and ultimately, wasting time and money.
Let’s look at why marketers should use landing pages for receiving targeted traffic if they want to increase conversions and drive more leads and sales through paid advertising campaigns.
What’s a Landing Page?
A landing page is a page on your website designed to receive a certain type of traffic and lead to a related conversion. Based on its name, you can probably see why it’s relevant when driving traffic to a website. It is where users “land” after being directed to a website from another source.
Why a Targeting Landing Page Is Better Than Targeting a Homepage
The description of a landing page shows why it's a better place to send targeted traffic than a homepage. Now, let’s dive deeper into why you will see better results from marketing campaigns when driving audiences to a landing page instead of a homepage.
#1) Landing pages have specific, targeted messaging.
A homepage introduces an entire brand and then, funnels users based on their interests. A landing page, on the other hand, can directly speak about one subset of the brand.
For example, if a restaurant group offers both dine-in eating and catering, their homepage would likely mention both topics. But, their individual landing pages could discuss catering on one page and dine-in eating on another.
Sending traffic from ads that target people interested in catering to the homepage might throw them off. They might not immediately see the catering option and wonder why they ended up on the site. But if the audience is sent to a landing page that immediately features catering, the audience will be much more likely to stay engaged and convert.
#2) Landing pages focus on one specific conversion.
A homepage often directs users to pages all over the site. It has a main menu and many call-to-actions that help the user dive deeper into the site and learn more.
A landing page usually includes only one single call-to-action. The entire page is focused on driving users to take one specific action such as to: submit their contact information, sign up, schedule an appointment, etc.
For example, someone directed to the restaurant group’s homepage would have to click to find information about catering. Someone directed to the catering landing page would immediately see what they need, and their next step would be to convert instead of looking for more information.
If a user came to your website to learn about someone specific, don’t make them look around on your site. Take them right to what they want to know more about.
#3) You can easily test different variations of landing pages.
Landing pages are designed to lead to conversions. When creating a landing page, you define the thing that you want the user to do after viewing the page. That is often to generate a lead by getting the user to enter their contact information or sign up for something. Although, it can be to schedule an appointment, buy a product, or something else.
Either way, there is a conversation that you want the user to take. And, to improve the odds of that person taking action, you can test different variations of the page. You can test different copy, messaging, photos, and button colors and sizes, and measure results to see which variation works best.
This type of A/B testing is much easier when using landing pages rather than a homepage. You don’t want to create multiple variations of your homepage. And, it would be difficult to test results on a homepage as traffic from other places lands on your homepage and would skew the results.
#4) Landing page content can improve PPC performance.
Specific landing pages are especially important when running paid search ads on Google.
Google assigns a Quality Score (a rating of the quality and relevance of your keywords and PPC ads) and uses it to determine your ad cost-per-click and ad rank in the auction process.
Quality Score has a few factors and one of them is related to the landing page you are driving traffic to. Google will give higher Quality Scores to ads that have a landing page that is high-quality and relevant to your ads.
For example, if your ad is about catering and you are driving people to a homepage that talks about dining and event spaces, it will have a lower Quality Score than if the ad was driving people to a landing page that was all about catering.
Having specific landing pages improves user experience and serves ad algorithms. So stop sending paid campaign traffic to your homepage, and start driving more traffic to landing pages.
Tips to Improve Your Landing Pages
Now that you know why driving traffic to specific landing pages instead of your homepage is better, let’s look at some tips for improving your process.
- Break your business into buckets of offerings, and create landing pages for each category.
- If you are a multi-location brand, create location pages for each of your businesses, and drive traffic to those pages instead of your general brand homepage.
- Include only one strong call-to-action on each landing page.
- Use your copy to call out the problems that customers are looking to solve, and show how your offering is a solution to their problems.
- Explain how your offering’s features tie to the solution rather than simply listing what your product or service includes.
- Make it easy for the user to take the next step. Use clear messaging and page layouts that funnel users right into the next step and conversion.
Drive More Conversions with Better Landing Pages
If you’re struggling with driving conversions through your paid ads and promotions, it could be that you aren’t driving users to the right type of pages on your website. Use these tips to stop losing interest prospects on their way to buying from you or visiting your business.
And, if you need more help with optimizing or improving your sales or lead funnel, let’s talk. Contact MyArea Network to see how our strategic approach to local marketing can help you attract and convert more nearby customers.
