A landing page is simply a webpage with limited functions. It doesn’t have the surrounding website – no about pages, blog posts, or membership content. Just a page, living at an address.
When it comes to landing pages, three slightly different versions at key points in your crowdfunding campaign can boost your success.
They’re often very simple. They might collect emails for a mailing list, or house some sharing buttons. They can be run using javascript or WordPress.
In the world of crowdfunding, people are quickly waking up to the huge advantages of landing pages. Your crowdfunding project should definitely have one, and it should go through three stages.
1. Pre-launch
Make a video. Explain your vision. Tell people that you want to keep them informed, and if they’d like to stay up-to-date, to join a mailing list.
Include a signup form for a mailing list (MailChimp will let you do this for free for up to 2000 subscribers), and a contact form. An example of this type of page is shown above.
What will this do?
You can begin to collect backers before you launch. Keep them up to date and start promoting your rewards to them in the lead-up. This means that the moment you are live, all those people are ready to back you immediately.
If you’ve ever wondered how people reach their funding target on Day 1 – now you know.
2. Campaign sharing
Imagine you get an email asking you to share on Facebook, send a tweet, reblog on Tumblr, pin on Pinterest, upload an Instagram AND forward on to all your friends via email.
It’s a lot of work right? Most people will just delete it. The research suggests that you should always ask people to do one thing if you actually want them to do it.
Now imagine you ask them to visit your landing page, and to press the buttons when they get there. Suddenly, it’s much easier.
What will this do?
One page, many actions. Your backer chooses which ones they can be bothered to hit. Make it as easy as possible, and it’s more likely to actually work.
You can set up suggested tweets complete with hashtags and your Twitter handle. They can share to all their Facebook friends with the click of a button. They can email a preformatted message to all their friends. The images for Pinterest are there, ready to go. This method gets you maximum sharing during your campaign.
The bonus is you can set up Google Analytics to show you exactly how well this is working, where your reach comes from, and where your shares are going.
3. Post-campaign
There are always going to be people who miss out on your campaign. They put it off until it’s too late. Or they decide “actually, I really want that” after your campaign has closed.
The solution many creators have worked towards is offering their reward levels beyond the main campaign and continuing to run it on their own sites.
Simply add a link to the top of your campaign page in the final few minutes. This is a good idea even if you aren’t continuing your fundraising.
You usually can’t change your page after your campaign is closed, so you might as well ensure it’s going to point people towards your permanent web presence.
What will this do?
Running a post-campaign collection ensures you can continue to build your fanbase between when your project is complete, and when it is released to the world. You can continue to raise money, or you can create a membership site complete with backer-only content.
By adding a big link to your campaign page, you will ensure that everyone who lands on your crowdfunding page in the future can easily find out what happened to you, and how to stay in contact, maximising your reach.
So, have you used a landing page? Do you have any tips for other creators about to launch their crowdfunding project about how to get the most of them? Leave them in the comments below!
Thanks for the great info in the article Kat. I think everyone should consider making a landing page. I think it’s one the most important steps in a crowdfunding campaign. Many people however do not make the effort to do it. I wrote an article myself on the importance of great landing pages.
https://www.thrinacia.com/blog/post/landing-pages-for-crowdfunding-campaigns
Thank you for this information Kat! it is very informative. We use the CrowdFunding landing page all the time for our project or our clients project> I updated our list with some of your directives
1- Prior CrowdFunding campaign launch to:
Inform viewer
Build and promote the brand
Build page ranking
Build Social media counts followers and friends ( book marks)
Bring traffics and communication from social media to the website
Solicit and Collect information from viewers
Name
Email address
Phone numbers
Comments
Embed a video. Explain your vision and idea.
Tell a story about you ( Feature and benefits tell, story sell ” people that you want to keep them informed
Tool to generate a mailing list and if they’d like to stay up-to-date, to join a mailing list.
Find early investors and flag wavers
Campaign sharing tool – Consider you get an email asking you to share on Facebook, send a tweet, reblog on Tumblr, pin on Pinterest, upload an Instagram AND forward on to all your friends via email. That usually does not work . Just Consider they get your call to action entertaining website giving the opportunity to part of the success at no cost to them.
Consideration:
Clear, attention-grabbing titles and headlines
Concise, stylized, and refined ad copy
Reviews, testimonials, and other trust-establishing features
Links to an external website and/or crowdfunding portal
High quality media
Call to Action / Call for action!
2- During the CrowdFunding campaign
Direct traffic to CrowdFunding portal page
Home for :
Press releases and blogs
Blogs
3- After CrowdFunding campaign
Transfer the momentum from CrowdFunding Campaign page to the website
raise more fund through website shopping carts
Build more Crowd and community members
There are going to be people and friends who miss out on your campaign. It’s happened to many of backers. We put it off until it’s too late. Or we decide “actually, I really want that” after the campaign has closed. Your CrowdFunding website will allow them to be part of your success even after..
Thank you for this information Kat! It’s a really informative, how to article with and simple steps even I can implement – a total crowdfunding noob! :)