// WIDSIX WRITTEN WORD //

Why You Should Use a Landing Page for Digital Advertisements

Imagine you buy a videogame. You’re super stoked to play it. You put the disc into the console, fire it up, the loading screen starts … Suddenly, your character is dropped right into the game. You think, wait a minute. Where’s the start menu? Where are the instructions? How the heck do I play this game? Why would they do this to me?! 

Yeah, that’s why you need to have landing pages for your digital advertisements. 

Your customers are clicking on your ads specifically because the content you’ve advertised appeals to them. So why would you just drop them onto the homepage of your site and expect that they’ll stick around to search for what they were interested in? Newsflash: They won’t! They’ll click away faster than you can say “shitty user experience.” But do not fear: Your digital advertising experts are here. We’re going to explain why having these landing pages are so important, and how you can set yourself up for success.

1. Provide a call to action.

The call to action here is going to be kind of a two-step process. You should always include a call to action in the ad itself, but you can also incorporate one into the landing page. This will make it more likely that the user will follow through with the original call to action. 

However, keep your call to action consistent, and don’t change the goal. For example, if the goal for your call to action in the ad is for the person to use a coupon/discount code you are offering, don’t suddenly ask them to enter their email on the landing page. If you do something like a discount code, the landing page could have a space for them to enter the code, followed by a “Congrats! The code has been applied to your cart” or whatever message fits your specific situation.

2. Create optimization opportunities.

A/B testing is crucial for adapting and further developing your campaign. Using this, you can test out different page layouts and copy to see which performs best. If you’re running Google Ads, you can use the Google Ads tool to optimize your content for Google search results.

3. Narrow a user’s focus.

The homepage of a website can be pretty overwhelming. There are so many pages and links to click on, so many images to view, multiple calls to action… the user’s focus can be all over the place. The great thing about landing pages is that there is one screen, one call to action, and the user’s attention is zoned in on performing one concrete action to reach a very specific goal. This will make it much more likely for them to follow through with the desired action.

4. You can track analytics.

Tracking how your paid traffic is interacting with and utilizing your landing pages is invaluable. This will allow you to narrow down things that are or are not working, and adjust accordingly.

5. Tailored, quality user experience.

Creating landing pages simply offers an all-around better experience for you, and more importantly, your users. If you don’t immediately intrigue and accommodate a new user, you will lose out on a lot of conversions. Put yourself in the shoes of a visitor to your site — what would you like to see? 

Coming in for a landing… please fasten your seatbelts!

Have we convinced you? Landing pages are so dynamic, and can provide us with so much useful information about traffic, users, conversion rate, etc. They’re an essential element to digital advertising, so don’t slack on getting those pages up and running!