Landing Pages
Landing pages are just pages on your website. Each page on your website is called a landing page. Most website templates come with a standard set of landing pages. This varies depending on the template you select and the platform you’re using. Typical landing pages include: About Us, Home Page, Location, Contact Us. These landing pages are essential for most brick & mortar stores.
Depending on your industry, other landing pages are important as well. If you own a pet store, you may need a landing page about your dog wash. As a jewelry store you may want a Frequently Asked Questions page. An art retailer may need a gallery page. A general store may need a coupons page. A lumberyard may want an events page for contractor events. Thus, it’s important that your platform and template allow you to easily deploy landing pages.
What is the purpose of LPs?
From a technical perspective, landing pages help search engines to understand your business. Google is trying to find the best answer to the question typed in. In simple terms, if someone in your area types in “Dog Wash near me” and you have a page on your website about your dog wash, you made life easier for Google. There is a good chance that page of your website will show up in the results for the person searching. For search engine optimization purposes, if you add the words “dog wash” to a “Services”, or “About” page the page will not be as strong in search engines. A dedicated landing page is the best way to rank for specific terms.
In addition, landing pages matter for digital advertising. When you run Google or Facebook ad campaigns you need to direct people back to your website. Where do you direct them to? Usually, it is not the homepage. If you run an ad for your watch repair service on Facebook you will want the ad to link back to your watch repair service landing page!
For consumers, the landing page is your opportunity to make a dedicated sales pitch. Jewelers may offer a watch repair service. For jewelers, I suggest building a page dedicated to watch repairs. You may include a picture of the person who repairs the watches. Other good bits of information are rates and timelines for receiving service. It’s wise to include an appointment scheduler or quick contact form on the watch repair page too. This helps you capture leads interested in this service.
Competitive Advantage of Quality Landing Pages
The most obvious benefit of landing pages is that they usually describe unique services that e-retailers, like Amazon, cannot offer. Amazon can’t wash dogs. They don’t repair watches. They don’t do key cutting and they cannot provide a kitchen design consultation. Yet, independent retailers offer these services. Consumers interested in these services are also good candidates buy products. There is a clear advantage to attracting customers to your store to take advantage of your service offering. Quality landing pages on your website are an important way of doing this.
Why this matters when choosing a website platform
Most of the major systems available for building a retail website will include a way to deploy landing pages. Explore how easy and aesthetically pleasing these landing pages are. Is it easy to upload pictures? Is it easy to change the look of the text or include videos? How easy is it to update the pages?
More importantly, do research on the template you select for your website. Ensure that you understand which landing pages come pre-built with your template and which ones you will need to have custom built.
Landing pages are an important aspect of your business website. These will likely change with time and need to be updated consistently through the life of your website. Pick a website platform that allows you to deploy new landing pages to your website with ease. Before selecting a template find one that includes the main landing pages you will need as pre-built options.