877-490-8324Some of you might have heard of landing pages. They are sometimes referred to as a “Splash Pages” or “Lead Capture Pages” or “Landing Sites”.
Traditionally, these are used very specifically in marketing (search engine, email, direct mail, etc) as a way to direct a prospect or customer response to a very specific web page or web site. These web pages/sites usually display specific sales copy built around a specific product, service or keyword. The main goal of these landing pages/sites is to create a “conversion” which is simply having a visitor complete a form, make a purchase, make a phone call, or do something else desired.
There are different variations of the “how” and the “why” behind landing pages and landing sites. Many times, these landing pages are just sub-pages of the main web site.
What I want to talk about today, however, is a variation of this concept.
Several years ago, it was easy to optimize your main web site for all the keyword phrases you could think of related to your business. That, along with proper meta tag coding on your web site, good content, regular submission, and some luck gave your site a decent chance at good rankings on the major search engines without spending too much money.
The problem is that in the last 12-18 months it has become harder and harder to get high rankings for a diverse set of keyword phrases. The search engines, especially Google™, are penalizing sites that appear too “Broad” with the number of keyword phrases. They want their search results to be as exact as possible.
Here’s the problem for us…
If you own a business that has a lot of different products or services, you might only be getting rankings for certain keyword phrases, which can omit areas of your business that are important.
For example, if you own an automotive repair business and your list of services is related to “repair” and also “maintenance” and the brands that you service cover all of the domestic and imports, that’s a lot of keyword phrases to cover. There’s a huge list of keyword phrases related to auto repair, engine repair, brake repair, transmission repair, etc. coupled with “Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota, Nissan, etc”. Conversely, the list of keywords related to automotive maintenance, engine maintenance, brake system maintenance, transmission service, routine maintenance, etc. coupled with these same car brands is also very long!
Same business, but a different set of services altogether.
Same thing goes for lawyers, insurance companies, dentists, doctors, contractors, etc… If you have a diverse set of service offerings and specializations, this can be a nightmare trying to get high rankings for all of them.
What can be done to help combat this broad list of services and still remain high in your site’s rankings?
Create landing pages or landing sites for your business.
When you create these “standalone” web sites/pages, you “segment” out a particular product or service from your business into a space all it’s own. This allows you to create focus and a directed “CALL TO ACTION” around a product or service that you want to sell a lot of. The landing page can include sales specific copy about that product or service or service group along with something that converts a visitor into something that is measurable.
Generally, this “CALL TO ACTION” can be several things:
- Getting a visitor make an immediate purchase.
- Getting a visitor to schedule an appointment or consultation using a form.
- Getting a visitor to pick up the phone and call you.
- Getting a visitor to sign up for a monthly newsletter or register for a free report about a that particular keyword/area of your business that interests them. This then allows you to market to them on a regular basis. This is very powerful because we know that it takes several exposures to a product or service before a purchase is generated. We’ve written about this many times before. Newsletters and regular email communications that are informative, but not too “sales oriented” allow you to build trust and a “fence” around your herd of prospects and clients.
- The list can go on and on and is only limited by your creativity.
Keep in mind!!! This doesn’t mean we remove these products and services from our main web site.
We want to make sure that our company’s main web site still covers everything that we do.
Other tricks of the “landing page/site” trade include:
- Setting up these sites/pages with their very own URL (domain name). So, if you are a dentist and have a growing dental practice with good rankings for your traditional dental services, but poor rankings for your “cosmetic dental services” and you live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, you might want to setup a separate landing site with a domain name “www.siouxfallscosmeticdentists.com”. Yes, it’s a long domain. It doesn’t matter. You won’t be advertising this domain (unless you want to, which is fine). This is mainly for the search engines to know what the site’s focus is (along with some other clever keyword phrase meta tags you’ll include).
- Another strategy is to post videos related to this specific product or service/service group on the landing site.
Combine this strategy with GOOD CONTENT (a must) and you can watch your business search engine footprint grow exponentially.
Like to learn more? We’re always here to help. Call us today at 1.877.490.8324 for a free, no-hassle consultation.
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To your success!
Ben Vaughn
Sr. Online Business Strategist
AutoWeb Technologies