In the previous article "How is Landing Page Optimization Related to Persuasion Scenario?", persuasion scenario to persuade buyers is explained followed by positioning in the persuasion scenario, i.e. how landing page is related to persuasion scenario. This article will explain to clearly define what landing page is and what landing page optimization is.

1. What is landing page?

In web marketing, Wikipedia defines landing page, sometimes known as a lead capture page, as the page that appears when a potential buyer/customer clicks on an advertisement or a search engine result click. The page will usually display web content that is a logical extension of the advertisement or link, and that is optimized to feature specific words or phrases for indexing by search engines.

The web content displayed in the landing pages varies according the marketing programme. Some examples include description of special offers mentioned in the website and promotion of new product offering, calls to action referenced in another content page (e.g. blog, e-book), an organization's story to a particular target market, or simply a more detailed information from the original link.

2. Is there only one type of landing page?

No, there are two types of landing page, reference and transactional.

1) Reference landing page

A reference landing page presents information that is relevant to the visitor. The information can be presented by text, images, dynamic compilation of relevant links or other elements. Effectiveness of reference landing page can be measured by the revenue value of the advertising that is displayed on them.

A special type of reference landing page is "webvert", the marketing goal focus on lead generation and interaction with the web visitor. A webvert is not transactional in nature, but is a reference based, ethical landing page, consisting of an advert, designed on the AID(M)A(S) principle mentioned in the previous article Vol.13 - How is Landing Page Optimization Related to Persuasion Scenario? The webvert has a clear call to action, usually a reply form.

2) Transactional landing page

A transactional landing page seeks to persuade a visitor to complete a transaction such as filling out a form or interacting with advertisements or other objects on the landing page, with the goal being the immediate or eventual sales of product or service. If information is to be captured, the page will usually withhold information until some minimal amount of web visitor.

A visitor taking the expected/desired action = buy on a transactional landing page is referred to as a conversion. The efficiency or quality of the landing page can be measured by its conversion rate, the percentage of visitors who complete the desired action = buying. The economics of many web marketing programmes are determined by the conversion rate, web/Internet marketers constantly test alternatives and improvements to their landing pages.

Actually there is another type of landing page, which is common used in direct marketing, called Squeeze Page. These web pages are extremely targeted and focus on capturing information about a web visitor. These pages usually have a very high conversion rate and collect data for an upcoming targeted e-mail or direct contact campaigns.

3. What is landing page optimization?

Landing page optimization is to design the landing page as a logical extension of the advertisement or link for prospects, meeting their expectations, so that they would take series of micro actions to go through persuasion scenario. It needs to be done as a part of total web marketing programme, together with SEM (search engine marketing) and online advertising etc.

In many cases, when talking about SEM and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), optimizing key words and tags from understanding of algorithm for high search result ranking solely is focused. However, he ultimate value in SEM is its ability to help you understand the customer's intent and ensure you present relevant information. Moreover, the value of relevant high rankings is completely undone if you don't follow through on the promise of the result, as Eisenberg & Eisenberg (2006, p80) states. The same concept applies to driving prospects to the landing page by online advertising. Therefore, SEM, online advertising, landing page optimization and all other topics should not be fragmented but integrated.

What Eisenberg & Eisenberg say about presenting relevant information and following through on the promise of the result is the essence of landing page optimization. This can be paraphrased by the web content of the landing page meeting (or exceeding) the expectation of the prospect.

4. What is the significance of landing page optimization?

Landing page (to be specific, reference landing page) is the entries of prospects to the conversion funnel as in the previous article " - How is Landing Page Optimization Related to Persuasion Scenario?", so it needs to be designed and optimized to assure that prospects to take the next steps. This means to maintain the prospect's attention and interest, and to take the first micro action, in many cases clicking to the next page aligned to the persuasion scenario. In doing so, their interest and conviction needs to be generated and developed. Then they would take series of micro actions, going through persuasion scenario, and ending with completion of call to action.

As Scott (2009, p253) says, marketing with web landing pages is one of the most easiest and cost-effective ways to get a message read by a target market (prospect). It is also an excellent tool to move buyers through the sales cycle. This is why landing page optimization, to be discussed and designed together with SEM (Search Engine Marketing), is a vital topic in total web marketing.

However, in many cases, web content of the landing page is NOT a logical extension of the advertisement or link for prospects, not meeting the expectation of the prospect, and fail to maintain their interest nor conviction. It might be that the prospect finds branding of the advertising/link and the landing page inconsistent. Or the prospect cannot find the information he/she expected because it is simply not there or difficult to find even if it is available on the page. Or even if the information is available and the prospect finds it, it is not presented appropriate, such as not in his/her buyer persona style (language, style, etc.).

Whatever the reason may be, if the prospect is dissatisfied with the first landing page, (usually a reference landing page), the prospect would click away to say good bye, after all the effort to driving him/her to the entrance of the website (= landing page),. Prospects do click away saying good bye in later micro actions as well, but it is often said that majority of the click-away prospects say goodbye from the landing page. That is why landing page optimization is a crucial in web marketing.

In the next article, possible methodologies of landing page optimization are discussed.