Lead generation landing pages: 10 minutes to higher conversions
By Rhonda Bradley June 4, 2024
High-performing lead generation landing pages are like hard-working machines that dramatically improve the growth of your email list.
But creating high-performing lead generation (“lead gen”) landing pages requires a bit of understanding about what they are and how they work.
If only there were a resource that could get you up to speed on the marketing vocabulary, techniques, and copywriting skills you need to build successful lead gen landing pages.
You’re in the right place.
By the time you finish reading this piece, you’ll understand how to create high-performing landing pages for almost any type of business.
In this guide, we share all the information, examples, and guidance you need to create high-performing lead generation pages in under 10 minutes.
Table of content:
- What are lead generation landing pages?
- How to compose landing pages that drive leads
- The 3-step lead gen landing page formula for high conversions
- Best way to build a lead generation landing page
- Free lead generation landing page templates
What are lead generation landing pages?
Lead gen landing pages are one-page web pages with a single purpose: to sign people up for your email list.
Adding new subscribers to your email list achieves two things:
- Captures information such as email address, user name, and sometimes personal data like their location, job title, or niche-related interests.
- Obtains approval to send email marketing content so you can loop the new subscriber into your email newsletter, promotions, and special announcements.
What’s a lead?
In email marketing, a “lead” is someone who has shown interest in your business by signing up for your email list. As if they’re saying, “Hey, I’d like to learn more about what you do!”
Think of leads as potential customers.
Why are leads important?
- You can connect with them directly via email to send them valuable information and offers.
- You can guide them toward becoming paying customers with email nurture campaigns.
- You can capture personal and behavioral data by tracking their engagement with your emails. This helps you get to know your audience in ways that allow you to personalize your marketing and develop a better relationship with your audience.
What’s a “conversion”?
In marketing, “conversion” is a relative term that means someone has taken a specific action in response to your CTA (call-to-action).
Conversions can happen anywhere you place a CTA, such as:
- Landing pages
- Emails
- Website popups, links, banners, and buttons
- Push notifications
- Ads
Conversions come in many forms, including:
- Email signups
- Sales
- Event registrations
- Free consultation or demo call
- Purchasing a bundle of services
- Downloading a free resource
For example, with lead generation landing pages your goal is to turn visitors into subscribers.
When you’re creating email messages and campaigns, the term “conversion” takes on a new meaning.
In email campaigns, conversions align with the goal of your email(s), such as making a purchase or registering for an event.
In marketing, you’ll never get the word “conversion” confused if you always think of it as the completion of a goal.
What’s the difference between a landing page and a website?
Landing pages are different from websites because they:
a) Have only one goal
b) Do not include site navigation
c) Are only one page long
Websites serve multiple purposes but lead generation landing pages have a single purpose.
Website goals vs landing page goals
Website goals:
- Improve brand awareness and reputation.
- Drive traffic using search engine optimization (SEO).
- Drive sales
- Build customer loyalty
- Provide value to your audience
- Boost customer service
- Collect data to better serve your audience.
- Generate reviews and testimonials.
- Send people to your lead generation landing pages.
- Sell your products or services.
Lead generation landing page goals:
- Sign people up for your email marketing list.
Where do landing pages live?
Landing pages can live on your website but are more effective when hosted off-site.
You don’t need a website to publish a landing page. It can be hosted somewhere else, like on your email marketing platform.
High-performing landing pages are typically hosted through an offsite service. Publishing your landing page through a dedicated service, such as AWeber, provides several perks:
- Drive more conversions: Offsite landing pages eliminate website distractions like popups, menus, and sidebar promotions. This laser-focused approach keeps readers’ attention where it belongs: on your offer.
- Save time: Offsite hosting platforms (such as an email provider or campaign management software) provide templates to make the design process simpler and quicker. Good design templates let you create landing pages quickly — often in minutes instead of hours.
- Improve audience targeting: The dedicated conversion insights and A/B testing available through landing page providers supplies you with valuable data for faster growth.
- Seamless integration with email marketing: When landing pages live on the same platform as your email marketing software, integration is a breeze. This lets you launch email campaigns, personalize content, and collect data on your target audience in no time.
How do you promote lead generation landing pages?
Promote your lead gen landing pages on your website, blog, social media pages, and anywhere else you can share a link.
- Website popups and banners
- CTAs in your blog articles
- Social media profiles
- Social media posts
- Search and social ads
- Behind gated content on your website
Photographer and YouTube Jared Polin places a banner link to his lead gen landing page in his YouTube videos:
When viewers click the banner, it takes them to get his lead generation landing page. It offers a free photography guide to visitors who subscribe to his email list.
Life coach Christine Gutierrez promotes her lead generation landing page with a website popup that reads “Join our free community.”
Tapping on the “Become a Member” button delivers a dedicated landing page that encourages visitors to sign up for her email list.
After signup, the new subscriber receives a thank-you page.
The Dolly Parton team promotes its email list with Facebook posts.
You can promote lead generation landing pages anywhere you have an audience.
All you need to do is drop the page’s links, banners, and popups anywhere you have an audience, such as:
- Social media posts and profiles
- Videos
- Blog posts
- Web pages
How to compose landing pages that drive leads
To drive leads from a landing page, you’ll offer something valuable to encourage signups.
Your value offer might be a piece of lead gen content or a list of the benefits readers will receive from your newsletter.
Lead gen (lead generation) content
Lead generation content (also known as a lead magnet) is any type of valuable content that entices potential subscribers to join your list in exchange for a free download or access.
Lead gen content comes in many forms, including:
- Ebooks
- Guides
- Tutorials
- Reports
- Coupons or promo codes
In the example below, Next Stage Drumming takes the lead gen content approach to its landing page by offering a free “Beat Stress in 5 Minutes” video as a gift to people who fill out its signup form.
The process of delivering lead gen content to new subscribers is automated. As soon as they sign up, new subscribers are immediately granted access through a link (often sent in the welcome email) or by unlocking gated content.
Promote the benefits of your emails
This approach focuses on the benefits your newsletter subscribers will receive in each newsletter, such as exclusive tips, discounts, or insider access to special content.
In the example below, pianist Diana Choi promises that her subscribers will be the first to know more about her upcoming album. In the fine print, she continues focusing on valuable benefits by promising exclusive access to free piano lessons.
The 3-step lead gen landing page formula for high conversions
Since lead gen landing pages have only one goal (adding new subscribers), they perform best when short and simple.
To get the most leads from your lead gen landing page, let visitors know what action to take, list the benefits of your offer, and keep your signup form simple.
1 – Write a headline that says what action you want visitors to take.
For example, Simon & Schuster lets visitors know exactly what to do with the headline: “Join the Simon & Schuster mailing list and choose one ebook for FREE!”
2 – List the benefits of signing up for your email list
Show off the value of your newsletter by listing its benefits or the benefits of your lead gen content.
In the example below, travel blogger Michele Frolla leads with “Get my best language tips,” then adds a list of subscriber perks such as “Detailed travel guides” and “Priority access to giveaways.”
3 – Keep your signup form simple
Don’t ask for more than a name and email address on your lead gen page. People who don’t know and trust your brand yet will exit the page if you get too personal.
As you develop a relationship with subscribers, you can ask for more information through polls, surveys, and other actions.
Note: If your offer aims to convert visitors to text message subscribers, the rules (of course) change. You’ll ask text subscribers for a phone number instead of an email address.
In the example below, the Geekout Newsletter only asks for one thing: an email address.
Unlike product or service landing pages that often contain thousands of words, lead gen landing pages are short and sweet.
Let your visitors know what action to take, tell them the benefits they’ll get in return, and don’t ask for more than a name and email address.
Best way to build a lead generation landing page
You can build a professional lead generation landing page in minutes.
Or, you can spend days laboring over it.
In this section, we’ll show you how to create high-performing lead generations in minutes, not days.
The best approach to creating a landing page is by using a pre-built template that lets you customize the design.
With template, you customize details like images, colors, fonts, backgrounds, and signup forms to fit your brand and the landing page offer.
For example, if you use AWeber email marketing, you get a free landing page host, builder, and templates to help you create professional landing pages.
Start by browsing landing pages in the template gallery.
I chose a colorful, friendly design with a clear headline and a simple signup form.
Next, make adjustments to the copy and design.
I quickly adjusted the color, font, copy, and image to create a customized landing page.
On AWeber, it took me less than 10 minutes (and I’m usually super-slow at these things) to create a fully customized lead generation landing page.
Working with templates inside a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface makes all the difference.
Free lead generation landing page templates
Here are a few examples of what you can do with lead generation landing pages. Templates (check out these landing page templates) give you plenty of freedom to customize the design and text to fit your brand.
For example, you can turn the following template into a lead generation page by switching the CTA from “Listen on Spotify” to “Subscribe to my list.”
The waitlist template is already set up with an email subscription form. Simply change the text to turn it into a lead generation landing page!
The Growing Plants example below is already set up to generate leads.
You can transform this template into a high-performing landing page in minutes.
Simply adjust the colors, replace the images and branding, give it a strong headline, and replace the rest of the copy with your own.
If you run a business that’s straightforward and not well-suited to fancy designs or images, choose a basic template, like the plumber’s example below.
Building your own landing pages for lead generation
By building a lead generation landing page with a valuable offer or benefits, you can create a high-performing lead generation process that runs on autopilot.
Now, nurture those leads with AWeber, so you have everything you need to build and host landing pages and email campaigns, all under one roof.
AWeber simplifies your marketing efforts, letting you convert clicks into customers faster. Sign up for a free account today and see the magic for yourself!
