How Many Pages Does Your Website Have?

Website analytics has such a variety of terminology that for the beginner, it can be a new language. For some of us who didn’t grow up with the Internet and had to adapt to the technology, some of the phrases and words can be confusing. Let’s take a look at pages and what they mean, their purpose and how to recognize if your landing pages are working for the business. 

There are entry, landing and exit pages on a website and all play a unique role in the analytics. According to the Digital Analytics Association, an entry page is the first page that a visitor starts with to begin their journey. A unique ID is opened and the tracking of the user experience begins with a list of URLs or page titles that are visited in the session. A landing page can be an entry page in some cases, but most times is used in online marketing channels with a call to action. For example, in the ecommerce world, a user may be on Facebook and see an advertisement for an item that may have been previously observed on the website, but didn’t find its way to the shopping bag. The advertisement is a reminder of the item again and because this rings a bell the user clicks on the advertisement to take another look.

However, this time, on the Nordstrom website, instead of the entry page being the home page, the landing page is where the journey begins. More specifically it begins on the item that was of previous interest. A landing page is very important, because the metric can reveal how well a marketing program is working. It can demonstrate if the user followed the call to action and how far in the projected journey the user took in the path.  Another example is with an association where there is an annual conference. Where there is a social media or other advertisement, if a user clicks on the link it will take them to the landing page for the conference and not the home page of the website.  The idea is to get the user to the information they want as quickly as possible. 

Another example is when a user types a set of keywords or phrases into the search engine box, such as: Mother’s Day Gifts. This will take the user to a listing of websites that have these keywords. If we look at the Nordstrom response to Mother’s Day Gifts, there is a specific URL dedicated to these keywords because it is a huge driver of purchase decisions. The website wants to take the user directly to the page where the information or call to action is available. This will speed the buyer’s journey along quicker and more efficiently. Landing pages target a specific audience group. According to HubSpot, the landing page has a higher probability rate to convert the traffic it receives into a prospect. The graph below demonstrates that back in 2012 Nordstrom, which began as a shoe store, was losing market share to Zappos a highly regarded shoe website.  However, Nordstrom made a decision to compete with Zappos on 50 percent of the same keywords and it is now paying off.  In 2012 Nordstrom ranked with 23 percent of the same keywords, in 3 short years, Nordstrom climbed to 50 percent of the same keywords and now in 2016 ranks 67 percent of the same keywords. What this means is that when a user types those specific keywords into the search engine box with the word shoe included, both will receive the same visibility on the search engine results page or SERP.

There are certain elements that should be considered when creating landing pages, such as: limit navigation, deliver value, enable sharing, keep it short and test and then test again and again. If the visitor has clicked to get to the landing page, give them what they want and minimize a needless journey trying to find the information. The offer or call to action must be compelling for the user to take the bait and provide valuable information. A few items to keep top of mind are: a headline and or optional sub-headline, a brief description of what is offered, at least one supporting image or video, supporting proof elements such as testimonials, and a form to the landing page to capture important information.  And if a call to action cannot fit on the page have a one click button taking visitor to the next step.

Furthermore, there is a tremendous word of mouth opportunity if the information has a sharing capability. Image that you discovered the best information or purchased a really cute outfit and you want to share it with other like-minded audience members. All you had to do is have a sharing button, link or social media icons. Another element is to keep the landing page short and visually appealing by not crowding with information overload.  By keeping the page short, concise and to the point, it will increase the conversion from visitor to prospect. If the lead generation form is too long, the user will get frustrated or irritated and leave, then poof, now they are gone.  Lastly, test, test and test again is a golden rule.  By examining the test results, it is easy to focus on what was right and worked or what was missing and didn’t work. The idea is to get it fixed quickly so the website can get back to running efficiently and attracting visitors.