Landing pages & why graphic designers should give a hoot

26 Oct ‘12

In: Branding & Visual Design, / By: Heather Richman

In  the hierarchy of overall respect in the design world, landing pages would probably be near the bottom with our friends the blinking “buy now” button and the mailing labels for your cousin’s landscaping company. However, if you’re responsible for a full site redesign or identity package this may be on your to do list. You can bet that if your client is trying to sell or promote something then it’s most definitely on their list. They’ll want to develop landing pages that convert because it means real, quantifiable success or leads for them. As a designer, if you assist in solving that problem you’ll be their hero. It’s a great way to create long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. So while you won’t get a designer of the year award for it, landing pages deserve a second look.

Let’s begin by defining “landing pages”, talk about what’s done for testing cycles and how you can be a real asset to your client. A landing page is a single web page that appears after a person clicks on an ad. It will usually display direct sales content that logically carries over from the ad. A good landing page strategically target’s potentially interested people and converts them into leads.

As an example, the ABC Non-Profit is promoting it’s annual 10 Run/Walk event. Their marketing guru, Larry has been tasked with attracting more participants to the event. Along with his marketing and PR plan he’s decided to make this year a fundraiser for a local charity. Below is the process his team will follow to develop landing pages that raise awareness and bring new runners to the event.

Larry and his team begin by creating a strategy for who they want to market to and how they want to do it. Larry places some Google PPC ads that link to a landing page specifically worded to appeal to active people in the local regional area. After running for a week the team reviews the stats, makes adjustments and the process is repeated. This testing cycle is repeated until the percentage of leads reaches an optimal point.

As I alluded to earlier, landing pages have gotten a bad reputation due to the likes of companies such as LowerMyBills whose silly graphical ads used to plague the Internet. But, keep in mind that at the heart of it your client is trying to reach people who may already be interested, which follows all the traditional best practices of advertising.

As a designer you may be involved with every step of this process including assessing stats or perhaps just the initial layout or layouts. Either way it behooves you to know what landing pages are about and, like any design challenge, offer solutions.

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