If you're on Twitter - and if you aren't you should be! - you need a Twitter landing page for your website. In this piece I will explain why and what it should be like. But first of all, let me explain exactly what a landing page is. It's the page that people "arrive" at on your site. Ninety nine times out of a hundred, you direct them to your homepage. After all, that's the main page of the site, right? The problem is, if you are a blogger, you're sending them straight into the middle of your story. Of course, there's great content on the home page, but people arriving there are reading what you've written this week, with nothing to help them to understand who you are and where you have come from.
And that's the key point, when you drag people onto your site, you need to think about what they are looking for. So what are people coming to you from Twitter looking for? They want to quickly establish who you are, what your site is all about, and if they are likely to be interested in finding out more. So that's exactly what you need to give them!
Remember Twitter users may have a lot of websites to check from new followers, you need to capture their imagination quickly and get them to explore your site.
So, instead of directing people to your homepage, you now need to direct them to your new Twitter landing page. Create a new page in your site, and follow these rules:
Add a photo or avatar to the page to match the one you use on Twitter - this way the branding will match what they've been seeing on Twitter
Welcome them from Twitter!
Give them a brief, succinct summary of who you are, and what your blog is all about
"Pitch" them to get them to sign up to your site, or to add your RSS feed, but don't explain what RSS is - if they're on Twitter, they are tech savvy
Direct them to the homepage and invite them to explore, or even send them straight to a Twitter relevant article
And that's it! It will take you a few minutes to set up, but it will help you to stand out from the crowd. Use the same principles to create landing pages from anywhere you post a link to your site - how about one for LinkedIn, one for Digg and one for Facebook?
Now, head over to my Twitter landing page and have a look at an example: www.mikeslife.org/content/welcome-twitter
Oh, and if you're not following me yet on Twitter, please do via @mikecj
Double Oh! If you're new to Twitter The Beginners Guide to Twitter will help you.
Where else might you use landing pages for on your site?
Post to Twitter
That's a really great idea.
That's a really great idea. It's kind of like selling them your site. Showing what you have to offer.
Twitter Landing...
You have motivated me to do the same, I think it's a good idea. Sometimes clicking on someones blog link, you can land in a page covered in posts and it can be confusing to see what they are about. I am gonna create one and see how it goes. Do you think it may discourage people from then clicking on your 'About' link within the blog though? Thanks.
@christine It may do, and I
@christine It may do, and I know that David Risley, for example, advocates using your "about" page as your Twitter landing page, so that might be a good option. In my case, I elected for something different on the grounds that people coming to me from Twitter didn't need an explanation of RSS, or that kind of detail.
Mike
Mike strikes again! I'm
Mike strikes again!
I'm definitely all over this one. I just recently got a twitter account and this is an awesome 2nd step.
Good looking out, Mike!
Good stuff T! And I saw your
Good stuff T! And I saw your follow this morning, and I followed you straight back!
Mike
Good stuff! Thanks!????
Good stuff! Thanks!???? ?????
Remember Twitter users may
Remember Twitter users may have a lot of websites to check from new followers, you need to capture their imagination quickly and get them to explore your site.
mpcoc
Great job !!!! You rules
Great job !!!!
You rules !!!
Twitter Page
Hey Mike!
Great idea, soon as the bedding plants are in I will follow your advice.
Catch you later
Bob.
Bob Cain's last blog post... Welcome To My World
Hey mike, nice post. I'm
Hey mike, nice post. I'm planning to do something like this with my new blogs when I get the time to launch them.
Just need to get decent portrait or self portait picim happy with.
When it comes to rss and twitter users being tech savvy, what about the mass of people who jointed after seeing it on Jonathan Ross or oprah just becuase it's seen as the cool thing. :)
Ben Gillam's last blog post... Lost for words?..
Good Point Ben!
You're right, and this post may be a little out of date now as more and more mainstream people come to use Twitter.
Mike
Use about page?
Hey Mike, twitter follower turn RSS reader here. I am new to your stuff and really like what you have to offer on your site. Thanks for putting out great info without all the hype.
So as I was reading through this, I started to wonder how the goals of a twitter landing page would differ from an about page? Wouldn't they be pretty close to the same thing?
There is a difference
The about page can do the job, but for me there is a difference Kevin. People who are viewing the about page have already been onto the site, so they've either started at the home page, or much more likely, come in to a post and then thought "Let's find out about this guy." So the key message is this person is already a little "Hooked" and is already navigating the site, and they want to know a lot about you.
The person coming here from Twitter though is jumping in cold. What they want is quick information, so a briefer resumé, and above all, they haven't navigated the site at all, so what they need is some direction - "Where do I go next?"
So the aim of the landing page is to provide them with what they need, and hopefully persuade them not to bounce in and straight back out!
Delighted you've joined the feed - thanks! Maybe also consider signing up to the community - I send a regular update to everyone there, with lots of information about what's happening in Mike's Life.
Mike