Last updated on January 8th, 2026 at 01:37 pm
Landing pages convert better than any other type of web page out there.
That’s why they are an absolute necessity if you want to maximize your revenue.
If you aren’t using them in your business at the moment, then you are almost certainly leaving money on the table. You need to fix this ASAP!
Want to learn how to create your first digital marketing landing page?
Continue reading…
What is a Landing Page?
A landing page is a web page designed with a single conversion goal in mind.
The three most popular conversion goals are:
- Converting a potential customer into a lead
- Converting a lead into a paying customer
- Converting a paying customer into a repeat customer
In fact, a properly designed Value Ladder sales funnel should include at least one landing page for each of these goals.
Note that nowadays the term “landing page” is commonly used to refer to lead magnet landing pages, while product landing pages are referred to as “sales pages”.
Both are landing pages, though, so in this article, we will be referring to both as such. It’s something to keep in mind when reading about marketing, though.
Why Do You Need a Landing Page?
A landing page is the best way to persuade someone to take the action that you want them to take:
- Download your lead magnet
- Register for your webinar
- Book a discovery call
- Schedule a consultation
- Buy your product
…etc.
There’s a sales principle:
“A confused mind always says no”.
Landing pages have the highest conversion rate of all types of web pages because on a landing page you ask the potential customer to make a single “Yes or No” decision.
This minimizes the potential for confusion – there are no links to click, no options to compare, and no unrelated content to consume.
In other words:
There are no distractions, just your offer.
Are they interested?
Yes or no?
What Can You Use Landing Pages For?
Landing pages are typically used to promote lead magnets and sell products and services.
Lead Magnet Landing Pages
Lead magnet landing pages are landing pages designed to persuade potential customers to give you their email addresses in exchange for your lead magnet.
They are also known as lead generation landing pages, as their purpose is to convert potential customers into leads.
If you have a lead magnet but don’t have a landing page for it, we recommend creating one so that you could then drive traffic directly to it.
This will almost certainly help you generate more leads.
Sales Pages
Sales pages are landing pages designed to persuade potential customers to buy your product or service.
If you have a product or service but don’t have a sales page for it, we recommend creating one so that you could send leads directly to it.
This practice is considered to be common sense in the info product industry, so this advice might seem obvious to you if you run a business in that space.
However, in the tech industry companies often use pricing pages as their sales pages, which is a terrible idea. Why?
Because a pricing page is not a landing page, so it’s not going to work as well as a proper sales page would!
Sure, you need to have a pricing page, but you shouldn’t be using it as a primary way to convert site visitors into paying customers.
Meanwhile, in the eCommerce industry, pretty much everyone uses product pages as sales pages. But guess what?
Same as with pricing pages – a typical product page isn’t a landing page, so it won’t convert as well as a sales page would!
Having regular product pages might make sense if you have a large catalog.
But if you are only selling a few items, then you’d probably be better off if you created a sales page for each product.
Landing Page as a Homepage
Now this one is controversial.
The vast majority of businesses that have an online presence are still using traditional websites.
But we believe that to be a terrible idea. Why?
Because websites are dead. Sales funnels are the future.
Think about it:
When potential customers arrive on your website, they see the navigation bar with a bunch of links, so they start clicking around.
They check out this page. They check out that page. Maybe they read a few articles on your blog. And then they leave… Possibly to never come back again.
How does any of this help you grow your business?
It doesn’t!
Meanwhile, a sales funnel is by definition designed to guide the potential customer towards the sale, one step at a time.
And a sales funnel is just a series of landing pages that you drive traffic to. So why not replace your traditional website with a lead magnet landing page?
Say, our homepage is a landing page that is designed to convert potential customers into leads by persuading them to sign up for our free 14-day trial.
It’s not a traditional landing page because it has various links, but no matter which links you click, you are going to end up at the same place: our free trial.
By the way, our annual revenue is $100M+, so this unconventional approach has worked out pretty well if we may say so ourselves.
All that being said, we understand that the idea of ditching your traditional website altogether might seem drastic, so we want to encourage you to set up a simple experiment:
Direct half of your traffic to your website and the other half to your lead magnet landing page. See which approach works better.
According to our data, on average, sales funnels generate 6x more sales than traditional websites. Just saying 😉
How Long Should Your Landing Page be?
There are three types of landing pages:
Short Landing Pages
Short landing pages are also known as squeeze pages.
They are the most basic type of landing page and are just one screen in length – you don’t need to scroll at all, you see the whole page immediately.
All squeeze pages include these three key elements:
- A headline
- An opt-in form
- A call-to-action button
However, typically they also include additional elements such as subheadlines, a few sentences of copy, social proof, etc.
They are used exclusively as lead magnet landing pages – they don’t work well as sales pages.
Here’s a simple, yet high-converting squeeze page that we are using for our “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook” lead magnet.
Medium-Length Landing Pages
Medium-length landing pages are several screens long and include more of everything:
- More copy
- More social proof
- More calls-to-action
They might also include a video or even several videos.
Landing pages of this length can work well both as lead magnet landing pages and as sales pages.
In fact, we recommend using medium-length landing pages for affordable products and services, as you don’t need much persuasion to convince someone to buy a $7 ebook.
Note that when people are talking about sales pages in particular, what they call a “short-form sales page” is the same thing as a medium-length landing page.
Long Landing Pages
Long landing pages are the ones where you scroll, and scroll, and scroll some more, until finally, you get to the bottom of the page.
Generally, the more expensive the offer, the longer its sales page should be, which is why long landing pages are only used as long-form sales pages.
Here at ClickFunnels, we sometimes use them for affordable products as well, such as the “Perfect Webinar Secrets” which only costs $7.
This might seem like complete overkill, but having a long-form sales page increases the perceived value of the product in the eyes of potential customers, which makes them more likely to buy it.
However, this is an advanced approach, so if you don’t have much copywriting experience, we don’t recommend it.
How to Create Your First Landing Page (Step-by-Step)
So how can you create a landing page?
Here’s the general process that works for both lead magnet landing pages and sales pages:
Step #1: Use a Proven Landing Page Template
Don’t try to come up with a landing page design from scratch – pick a template that has been proven to work for the type of offer that you have in mind.
Our software comes with a library of proven, high-converting landing page templates for pretty much every use case imaginable.
These templates have been optimized for conversions, so choosing one of them will give you the best shot at success.
Step #2: Create a Headline That Conveys the Value of Your Offer
The headline is the most important piece of copy on any landing page because it’s your one opportunity to grab the potential customer’s attention.
David Ogilvy, one of the best copywriters that ever lived, has famously said:
“On average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
This is even more true today than it was back then because there are way more distractions now.
You are competing with the other 12 windows that the potential customer has open in their browser!
That’s why you must ensure that your headline conveys how your offer will make the potential customer’s life better. What’s in it for them?
Step #3: Write Body Copy That Emphasizes the Benefits of Your Offer
One of the most important principles in copywriting is the distinction between features and benefits:
- A feature is a function or a quality of the product (e.g. “These shoes are waterproof!”)
- A benefit is the value that the customer will get out of that product (e.g. “These shoes will keep your feet dry!”).
People buy based on benefits, which is why you should emphasize them all throughout your landing page copy, from the headline to the body copy to the call to action.
Step #4: Add a Compelling Call-to-Action
Don’t just tell the potential customer how great your offer is and then leave it at that. What do you want them to do next?
- Download your lead magnet?
- Register for your webinar?
- Buy your product?
End your sales page with a call to action that encourages them to take that next step!
Step #5: Provide a Money-Back Guarantee
If the landing page in question is a sales page, you should offer a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.
This removes all financial risk from the purchase decision, so it will almost certainly increase your conversion rate.
3 Landing Page Mistakes That You Must Avoid at All Costs!
Okay, so now you know how to create a landing page, but what are the common pitfalls that you should keep in mind?
Mistake #1: Having Multiple Conversion Goals
This might seem obvious as by definition a landing page should only have one conversion goal.
But we often see landing pages that have links to the company’s blog, social media, YouTube, etc.
Adding all that to your landing page will almost certainly reduce its conversion rate because it distracts the potential customer from the actual conversion goal.
Needless to say, when someone is on your sales page, you should guide them towards buying your product, not distract them from it.
So don’t ask them to check out your Instagram because they might do just that… And once they leave, will they ever come back?
You don’t know, so don’t take that risk.
Mistake #2: Various Other Distractions
Even if your landing page does have a single conversion goal, you need to be mindful of other potential distractions.
Avoid crazy visual effects, autoplay videos with sound, all pop-ups except for the exit-intent ones, etc.
You don’t want the potential customer to feel overwhelmed and leave.
Mistake #3: Lack of Intrigue!
You need to provide just enough information to pique the potential customer’s curiosity… But not more!
We often see landing page headlines that give away everything about the offer, so people lose interest because they feel like they already know what it’s all about.
Say, if you have a lead magnet related to generating organic search traffic, you should make it clear that your free offer will help the potential customer get more traffic.
However, you should think carefully about whether or not you want to disclose the exact traffic generation method that you will be covering.
Obviously, if you are a well-known SEO expert, then it’s okay to say that your lead magnet is about generating organic search traffic.
But if potential customers arrive on your landing page not knowing what to expect, it might be best to maintain the mystery.
Because if you disclose that it’s about SEO, they will think that they already know what you are going to say, so they won’t be inclined to check out your lead magnet.
As Russell explains, curiosity is the key:
Want to Learn How to Write Copy That Converts?
If you use a proven landing page template that’s been optimized for conversions, then you won’t need to worry much about design.
In that case, it will be your landing page copy that will either make or break it, provided that your offer resonates with potential customers, to begin with.
But copywriting is an art that takes a lifetime to master. So how can you write copy that converts if you don’t have any previous copywriting experience?
Our friend Jim Edwards wrote a book called “Copywriting Secrets” where he shares everything that you need to know to get started with copywriting.
If you apply his advice, you should be able to get results fast, which is what matters when you are trying to get a business off the ground.
So don’t hesitate and get a free copy of “Copywriting Secrets” today.
All Jim asks is that you cover the shipping!