Written by Bob McClain, Web Copywriting Expert

Writing website copy for a landing page is one of the most specific types of website copywriting you’ll do. Landing pages are very specific. They are very targeted and have a very singular purpose as opposed to most website pages.

Landing pages have one purpose and one purpose only. And that depends on what the client is trying to accomplish. Landing pages are used to:

•    Generate leads
•    Sell a product
•    Spread the word through viral marketing; or…
•    Establish or reinforce the brand

You must be aligned with where the visitor came from…

The most specific fact you must keep in mind when writing a landing page is how the visitor got there. Landing pages are never developed on their own. They are never a stand-alone product. They are part of a system that was specifically designed to bring targeted people to that page.

Usually, people get to a landing page from some form of contact marketing, often another media altogether, including:

•    A postcard or other mailing
•    PPC ads
•    A TV or radio commercial
•    Email marketing
•    An e-newsletter
•    A video

So your purpose is to make the transition from the source media to your landing page appear as seamless and natural as possible. First because the more time you make a person transition from one thing to another, the more likely they will get tired or bored and leave the system, and also because you want them to have absolutely no doubts whatever that they are in the right place. Again, if there’s any doubt, you will lose some people.

Work closely with your graphic designer…

If there was ever a time when you need to work very closely with the graphic designer on a project, it’s the landing page. As you transition from one media to another, everything must look and feel like an organic process. In this case, more than any other, it can’t look like the designer created the graphics and you wrote the copy and they were just crammed together.

The graphics must be an integral part of the copywriting and your copy must completely integrate with, and utilize the graphics.

The most experienced Internet Marketers have learned this through testing. They create a landing page and test it. Then they alter it slightly and test some more. Or they create several variations and do split testing. You’d be amazed how one word or one color change or taking something away can have a big impact on the performance of a landing page.