by The Computing Australia Group | What Exactly is a
Landing Page
In digital marketing, getting traffic is only half the battle. The real value comes from what visitors do after they click.
That’s where landing pages come in.
A well-designed landing page can turn a casual browser into a qualified lead or paying customer in just a few clicks. A poor landing page, on the other hand, can quietly waste your ad spend and push potential customers back to Google.
In this guide, our Perth-based SEO and digital marketing team breaks down:
- What a landing page actually is
- How it fits into your marketing and sales funnel
- The key benefits of using dedicated landing pages
- The essential elements of a high-converting page
- How to research, design and test landing pages that consistently generate leads
What Is a Landing Page?
In simple terms, a landing page is a standalone web page designed with one primary goal: to get the visitor to take a specific action.
That action could be to:
- Fill out a form (lead generation)
- Request a quote or consultation
- Download an e-book, checklist or guide
- Start a free trial or demo
- Register for a webinar or event
- Make a purchase
Unlike a homepage or general service page, a landing page is tightly focused. It removes unnecessary distractions and guides the visitor towards that single action.
Most landing pages share a few common characteristics:
- A clear value proposition (“What’s in it for me?”)
- A single, prominent call-to-action (CTA)
- A form or direct action button (e.g. “Call now”, “Start free trial”)
- Minimal navigation and external links
- Messaging that matches the ad or campaign that sent the visitor there
Any page can technically be the page someone “lands” on, but in marketing, landing page usually refers to a page built specifically for a campaign or offer.
Landing Page vs Homepage: Why They’re Not the Same
It’s a common mistake to send ad traffic to a homepage. The problem is that homepages are designed for browsing, not conversion.
Homepage:
- Covers multiple topics, products and audiences
- Includes full navigation, blog links, footer links and more
- Aims to introduce your brand and let users explore
Landing page:
- Focuses on one offer and one audience
- Minimises navigation to keep attention on the offer
- Aims to persuade the visitor to take one specific action right now
When you’re paying for each click (through Google Ads, social ads, or email campaigns), sending traffic to a busy homepage is like paying to bring people into a shopping centre and hoping they wander into your store. A landing page is like walking them straight to the exact shelf they were looking for.
How Landing Pages Increase Leads and Sales
Let’s walk through how a well-built landing page turns visitors into leads and customers.
1. The Click: Capturing Intent
A visitor sees your:
- Google Ad
- Social media ad or post
- Email link
- Banner ad
- QR code on print material
They click because your headline and promise match a problem or desire they have.
2. The Match: Reassuring the Visitor
They arrive on your landing page and instantly see:
- The same language or offer they clicked on
- A headline that confirms they’re in the right place
- Visuals, branding and messaging that feel consistent
This message match between ad and landing page is crucial. If the page feels different from the ad, visitors get confused and leave.
3. The Value: Explaining What They Get
The landing page quickly explains:
- What the offer is (e.g. free checklist, quote, demo, discount)
- Who it’s for
- The main benefits or outcomes
- Why your solution is trustworthy and different
This should all be understandable in a few seconds of scanning, especially on mobile.
4. The Action: Converting Visitor to Lead
The page then makes it easy to:
- Fill in a short form
- Click a “Call Now” button on mobile
- Start a trial or complete a simple checkout
At this point, the visitor has moved from anonymous traffic to a known lead or customer.
5. The Follow-Up: Nurturing and Closing the Sale
Once you have their details, you can:
- Send a confirmation or “thank you” email
- Follow up with additional resources or offers
- Have your sales team call or email
- Use marketing automation to nurture the lead over time
Because you can track exactly which landing page and campaign created the lead, you can calculate ROI and improve performance over time.
Key Benefits of Using Dedicated Landing Pages
Persuasive, well-designed landing pages are one of the highest-ROI assets in digital marketing. Here’s why.
1. Higher Conversion Rates
By focusing on one goal, landing pages remove distractions and decision fatigue. When visitors see a single, relevant offer and a clear path to get it, they’re far more likely to convert.
You can also build different landing pages for:
- Different services or product categories
- Different industries or use cases
- Different locations (e.g. Perth, Sydney, Melbourne)
- Different funnel stages (cold leads vs warm leads)
Each page can speak specifically to that audience’s needs, boosting conversion rates further.
2. Better Quality Leads and Email Subscriptions
Landing pages typically ask for basic but valuable information, like:
- Name
- Email address
- Phone number
- Company or industry
- Service interest
Because the visitor has actively requested something (guide, quote, trial, etc.), they are self-selecting as interested. These leads are usually higher quality than generic newsletter sign-ups or cold lists.
By continuing the interaction with:
- Automated “thank you” emails
- Follow-up resources
- Targeted offers based on their interest
…you can build strong, trust-based relationships that turn into sales over time.
3. A Testing Ground for Marketing Ideas
Landing pages are perfect for testing and analysis:
- Try different headlines, CTAs and hero images
- Compare short vs long copy
- Test different offers (e.g. 10% discount vs free consultation)
Using A/B testing tools, you can see which variations deliver more conversions and then roll those learnings out across other campaigns.
Over time, this makes your entire marketing ecosystem more effective.
4. Stronger First Impressions
For many visitors, your landing page is their first real experience of your brand.
A professional, well-structured page:
- Signals that you’re serious and credible
- Reinforces your branding and personality
- Leaves a positive impression even if they don’t convert straight away
Even when someone doesn’t fill out a form, they may:
- Remember your brand later
- Search for you again
- Come back via other channels after more research
Landing pages are often the first step in a longer relationship.
5. Clearer Analytics and ROI
Because landing pages are tied to specific campaigns and offers, they make it easier to:
- Attribute leads and sales to the right traffic source
- See which campaigns are paying off
- Decide where to increase or decrease spend
This level of clarity is essential if you’re investing in Google Ads, social ads, or email marketing and want to improve performance over time.
Why Research-Backed Offers Convert Better
You can’t fix a weak offer with clever design. The strongest landing pages start with a strong, research-backed offer.
Step 1: Understand Your Audience Deeply
Before you design anything, dig into:
- Customer surveys and feedback
- CRM data
- Google Analytics and search queries
- Sales team insights (“What do people ask on first calls?”)
Look for:
- Recurring pain points
- Common objections
- Language your customers use to describe their problems
Step 2: Build Buyer Personas
Create buyer personas – simple profiles of your ideal customers. For example:
- “Time-poor business owner in Perth who wants reliable IT support and predictable costs”
- “First-home buyer who is nervous about the legal process and fees”
Personas help you:
- Prioritise which offers to create
- Decide what benefits to emphasise
- Choose the right tone and level of detail
Step 3: Map Offers to the Buyer Journey
Different visitors are at different stages:
- Awareness – just discovered their problem
- Consideration – comparing options
- Decision – ready to choose
Match your offers accordingly:
- Awareness: Guides, checklists, blog content, webinars
- Consideration: Comparison guides, case studies, calculators
- Decision: Free trial, consultation, quote, limited-time discount
When your landing page offer aligns with where the visitor is in their journey, conversion rates climb.
How to Create a Landing Page That Actually Converts
There’s no one-size-fits-all template, but high-performing landing pages usually share features like these.
1. A Clear Goal and Single Primary CTA
Before you start designing, decide:
- What exactly do you want the visitor to do?
- How will you measure that? (Form submission? Call? Purchase?)
Everything on the page should support that one action.
Use one primary CTA, repeated where it makes sense (e.g. near the top, mid-page, and at the bottom), all pointing to the same outcome.
2. Gripping, Benefit-Led Headline
Your headline is the first thing visitors see. It should:
- Make it clear what the page is about
- Communicate a key benefit or outcome
- Align with the ad or link they clicked
Examples:
- “Get a Fixed-Fee Conveyancing Quote in Under 60 Seconds”
- “Free 7-Day Trial: See Your Website Leads in One Dashboard”
- “Download the Small Business Cyber Security Checklist (No Jargon)”
Avoid vague lines like “Welcome to Our Company” – they waste valuable space.
3. Clear, Concise Messaging That Answers “Why?”
Once you have their attention, your copy should:
- Explain what the visitor gets
- Explain why it’s valuable
- Address obvious objections (price, time, complexity, risk)
Use:
- Short paragraphs
- Bullet points for key benefits
- Subheadings that highlight outcomes (e.g. “Save Time on Admin”, “Know Exactly What You’ll Pay”)
Keep the language simple and conversational. You’re not writing a university essay – you’re explaining value.
4. Strong Visual Hierarchy and Clean Design
Good design guides the eye. Best-practice landing pages typically:
- Use plenty of white space
- Make the headline and CTA visually dominant
- Use a clear, mobile-friendly layout
- Avoid clutter, pop-ups and unnecessary animations
On mobile, ensure:
- Text is large enough to read
- Buttons are easy to tap with a thumb
- Forms are optimised for smaller screens
5. Trust Signals and Social Proof
Visitors are asking: “Can I trust this business?”
You can answer that with:
- Reviews and star ratings
- Testimonials (ideally with names, photos and specifics)
- Case studies or mini success stories
- Logos of well-known clients or partners
- Security badges or certifications where relevant
Social proof is a proven conversion booster on landing pages.
6. Optimised Forms (Ask for Less, Not More)
Forms are often the biggest point of friction.
Best practices include:
- Asking only for the minimum information you actually need
- Using clear labels and helpful placeholder text
- Grouping related fields logically
- Showing privacy reassurance (e.g. “We’ll never share your details”)
- Using a clear, benefit-led button label (e.g. “Get My Free Guide”, “Book My Call”)
For first-touch offers like a PDF download, name and email are usually enough. You can always collect more information later through progressive profiling.
7. Minimal Navigation and Distractions
When someone is on a landing page, you want their full attention on:
- Understanding the offer
- Deciding if it’s right for them
- Taking the next step
To support that:
- Remove or minimise the main site navigation
- Avoid unnecessary links (e.g. to your blog or unrelated pages)
- Keep the layout simple and the message clear
If you want to link to your full website, do it after the main CTA or in the footer.
8. Clear Sharing Options (When Appropriate)
Adding simple sharing buttons (email, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.) can help visitors share:
- Useful resources (e-books, checklists)
- Webinars and events
- Tools and calculators
This isn’t always essential for bottom-of-funnel pages (e.g. “Get a Quote”), but can work well for content-driven offers.
9. Robust Tracking and Analytics
Before you go live, make sure you’re tracking:
- Form submissions
- Button clicks (for call-based CTAs)
- Scroll depth and time on page
- Traffic sources (Google Ads, organic, email, social)
This data lets you:
- See how well the page is converting
- Understand where visitors drop off
- Improve both your page and your traffic strategy over time
10. Continuous Testing and Improvement
The best landing pages are never truly “finished”.
Regularly test:
- Headlines
- CTA text and placement
- Images or hero graphics
- Short vs long copy
- Different offers or bonuses
Use A/B tests to change one major element at a time, so you know what actually made the difference. Over time, these incremental improvements can significantly lift your overall conversion rate.
Common Landing Page Mistakes (and How to Fix Them)
Here are some of the most frequent issues we see when auditing landing pages:
1. Too many goals
- Fix: Choose one primary action and design the page around it.
2. Weak or generic offer
- Fix: Improve the underlying value – make the offer genuinely useful, specific and low-risk.
3. Sending ad traffic to a homepage
- Fix: Build dedicated landing pages for key campaigns and services.
4. Long, intrusive forms
- Fix: Cut fields ruthlessly. Only ask what you truly need for the next step.
5. Slow loading or poor mobile experience
- Fix: Compress images, use modern hosting, and design mobile-first.
6. No clear trust signals
- Fix: Add testimonials, reviews, client logos and guarantees where appropriate.
7. No tracking or incomplete tracking
- Fix: Set up conversion tracking, test it, and review performance regularly.
Simple Landing Page Checklist
- One clear goal and primary CTA
- Headline that matches the ad and highlights a benefit
- Strong, concise copy explaining the value of the offer
- Clean, mobile-friendly design with good visual hierarchy
- Short, well-labelled form with a benefit-led button
- At least one strong trust signal (reviews, logos, testimonials, etc.)
- Minimal navigation and distractions
- Conversion tracking tested and working
- Page load speed checked on mobile and desktop
- At least one planned A/B test ready (e.g. alternative headline)
Landing pages play a pivotal role in digital marketing. An effective landing page can boost your conversion rates and sales while enhancing the user experience. Have you got a great idea for lead conversion? We can build the right landing page for you. Not sure what will make a good offer? We can help you with that too. Contact us or reach out to us at sales@computingaustralia.group.
Jargon Buster
Conversion – The process via which a person changes from a passive site visitor to an active lead or customer.Buyer personas – Fictional representations of your ideal customers used to develop targeted content or offers.
A/B Testing – is a user experience research method where two versions of a webpage are compared to find which has more success rate for a given conversion goal.
FAQ
What is a landing page in digital marketing?
A landing page is a focused web page that a visitor lands on after clicking an ad, email link, social post, or other campaign. It is designed with a single goal in mind-such as collecting leads, getting quote requests, driving bookings, or prompting a download-by presenting a clear offer and a strong call to action.
How is a landing page different from a homepage?
A homepage introduces your brand and gives visitors multiple options to browse (services, blog, about, contact, etc.). A landing page, on the other hand, limits distractions and focuses on one specific offer and one main action. This focus is what makes landing pages far more effective for paid campaigns and lead generation.
Do I really need a landing page for Google Ads or paid campaigns?
Yes, in most cases. Sending Google Ads or other paid traffic to a generic homepage usually results in lower conversion rates and wasted budget. A dedicated landing page lets you match the ad message, target a specific audience segment, and guide visitors straight to a relevant offer, which typically delivers a much better return on ad spend.
How many fields should a landing page form have?
As few as possible. For first-time interactions, name and email (and sometimes phone) are usually enough. The more information you ask for, the more friction you create, and the more likely visitors are to abandon the form. You can collect extra details later through follow-up emails or additional steps in your funnel.
