[GROW-11] Chutes and Ladders (we’re building the ladders)

When it comes to an online business which has a blog, each component has a different purpose in the overall scheme of things…

• The blog attracts new people, primarily, then puts them onto the email list.

• The email list maintains the relationship and also usually does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to making sales

When it comes time to get a person to take action, you use a landing page. It could be a page to build your list or to make a sale, but the landing page is that singular purpose page designed to drive action.

The landing page is the chief “mover” of your business.

Some landing pages are visible from your blog and may be found linked to from a blog post – or even in your top menu. Other landing pages are invisible to the public and are only found via your email list or direct via a paid ad.

But, these landing pages are super important – and it is most definitely an effective use of limited time to create and or improve a core landing page of your business.

You ever played the game chutes and ladders as a kid? I did. In fact, I’ve played it rather recently with my son. He’s also into the game of Uno.

Point is… chutes and ladders has that long, winding path around the board. But, then it has those chutes and ladders which jump you around. The chutes drop you backwards and the ladders give you a radical boost forward toward winning.

Landing pages are like the ladders. They’re the main movers. For that reason, they’re important and higher leverage than a blog post (unless, of course, you optimize a blog post to function similarly to a landing page, which can be done).

You can (and should) be using landing pages often – and they should not have all the trappings of your blog. In other words, no sidebar, no menus, etc. Use them for…

• If you promote an affiliate offer in an email to your list, don’t try to “sell” them in the email. Instead, take them to a landing page which then reviews the product and makes it clear why you recommend it.

• If you create a new lead magnet, don’t just email it direct to your subscribers. Instead, send them to a new landing page for it to resubscribe for it. This keeps them engaged, plus can enter them into an automated marketing sequence.

• Got an announcement to make to your subscribers? Send them to a landing page.

• Want to build your list using social media? Yep…. a landing page is likely what we’ll use.

Now, I’m not going to use this to educate you on landing pages. In fact, this may all be “newb” to you. But, either way…

I want to emphasize that time spent creating or improving a landing page is high-leverage time and can have a bigger impact on your business than some of the smaller, typical tasks you may otherwise spend time on.

BTW, the tool I recommend for managing all your landing pages is, BY FAR, Thrive Architect. Here’s why…

• You can build pretty much anything you want with it, without knowing HTML or any code.

• It is truly “what you see is what you get”.

• It will surprise you with what you can then build with WordPress.

• It works WITH your existing theme, or optionally can take over on a per-page basis allowing you to build anything you want.

• It is only $67, which is honestly the biggest no-brainer ever.

Now, I generally recommend the Thrive Membership, because then you get access to every Thrive tool (plus some that aren’t otherwise available). That’s what I do personally. But, you can also pick up Architect separately.

… and it is awesome. I use it myself, almost every day.

– David