92. Echo Episode: Landing Page vs Opt-in Form

Landing pages, opt-in forms, oh my

It can be a smidge overwhelming, don't you think? Everyone is telling you to put a freebie on your website, but how exactly do you get it on your website, and which format works better? A single page or an opt-in form, a pop-up form, a combination?

I am giving you the low down

This week's episode of the Feed U Podcast gives you the low down on what option of opting in works the best.  Click here to listen to the entire episode.  I have found that using a separate landing page, works the best. But I also give you the inside scoop of what to do when you have a broken, horribly hideous, or non-existent website, to still grow your list.

1. A landing page screams intent to your page visitor. 

Why do you need to give your visitor a specific reason to visit your page and keep them on task? Simple. We as a society are uber distracted. If you have a potential subscriber that comes to your landing page, you know they are there for one of three reasons. To buy, to get on your list, or to learn more. Your goal for a landing page is simple, you either want to sell, add them to your list or get more information from them so you can make your emails irresistible. By removing every other attention grabber, you are able to get them to take whichever action you intend.

2. A landing page creates a distraction-free zone.

The #1 reason I love love love landing pages is that you have made your intention clear, there are limited distractions, hence, you get higher conversions. Whereas an opt-in form on your website opens you up to oooh, what's this pretty thing over here, wait there's a blog article on that, they're on Facebook, let me go check that out.  You see the problem. They never opt-in because there is WAY too much vying for their attention. Pop-ups work fairly well, but also run the potential of being annoying. If you're going to have a pop-up make it match the opt-in you are trying to drive traffic to.

3. Track conversions, easily.

This is where a lot of business owners drop the ball, they don't track what is working. When I say "what is working" I mean are people downloading your freebie and continuing down your sales funnel? Or are they getting to the page and not exchanging their name and email address for your content? Or worse, are they not arriving at all? It's more difficult to track conversions (especially if you are using online advertising) if you don't have a specific page that you can track. If you are putting in the effort to grow your list and want to sell products, the best way to do that is to track that landing page. This is also a great tactic if you are testing different opt-ins to see which one performs better. Lastly, if something is broken, you know where to track what needs to be fixed.

4. Introduce new visitors to Y-O-U.

When people arrive at your website from the internet ethers, if you have a landing page that leads to a thank you page, you can direct them directly to another page on your site that could be of interest. Keeping them on your website builds the relationship. It is more difficult to create this experience if you have them fill out a landing page not connected to your website.  More on this in just a bit.

5. Benefits your SEO and Search.

Google searches pages, it cannot search forms. When you set up a landing page for a specific opt-in you can then have the URL for that page be specific to the content on that page. Google loves content that matches the URL, when you can do this, it will naturally increase your ranking for those specific search terms.  You also have the ability to include keywords in your description and title for the landing page and any other content you have on the page. Meaning, Google will see those terms and say "hey, they are talking about "x" and so and so is searching for "x" we should pop this into their search results. Win. Win. Win.

6. Easier to track advertising effectiveness.

Similar to #3, when running Facebook or Google ads, it is easier to add a pixel to a certain page or have that ad track to a certain page and calculate effectiveness.  Sometimes Facebook's numbers are inflated, and the same for Google, when you have your own statistics you can compare and ensure that your ad spend is truly working the way they say it is. Reports from third parties aren't always accurate, when you have your own numbers, you can verify and know when something is truly working or it isn't.

What to do when you don't have a website.

First, don't panic, you can still grow your email list even if you don't have a website.  I DON'T recommend this as a long term strategy, but you can get started without a website.  When you use an email service provider (highly recommend) like ConvertKit (my personal favorite)  you have the ability to build a landing page within their app. Here are some of the benefits of using a landing page through Convertkit:

1. They have easy to use templates, making it easy to get your landing page up and running.
2. Typically you can personalize the page with images and sometimes video.
3. Usually, colors can be customized to match your brand or an upcoming brand to keep consistent.
4. The information on the form will automatically go into your email service provider so you can email them.
5. You can connect the form to Google Analytics, Facebook Analytics, and Segment Analytics.

A few pitfalls to only using a landing page with an email service provider:

1. No specific thank you page to track conversions for advertising.
2. Can't direct them to additional content to further the relationship because you aren't using a website.
3. Subscribers can't learn more about you and it may dampen the know, like, trust factor.
4. No central hub for any of your marketing.
5. May be seen as "not really in business" if you don't have a website or a coming soon page - hindering your authority.

I also mention LeadPages in the episode, but pitfalls 2-5 will still apply to LeadPages.  Long term, you will want a website even if it's just a simple website.

What did you learn from this episode? 

Come and tell me in the Facebook Group. Not in the group yet? Consider this your official invitation to join me in my Facebook Group. I talk about all things online business growth but specifically sales funnels, branding, and WordPress.