The Big Impact: Landing Pages

Welcome to our series on making small changes that are guaranteed to help level up your blog's look. Every other week we’ll debut a new post, profiling some great blogs for inspiration that employ Typepad's built-in features. We'll also offer up tips and tricks that can help improve your blog's appeal, gain new readers, and build a more engaged community. Check out our other posts in the series here!

Today, we continue our series on small changes to your blog that can make a big impact. Previously, we've talked about custom banners, sidebar headers, and navigation. Our latest topic is landing pages.

In our recent tips post on shaking up your front page, we mentioned several ways to do something different with the front page of your blog, including setting an informational page as the front page. When this arrangement is used, it is often called a landing page because when visitors first arrive at your blog, that is where they land.

Let's look at some Typepad blogs that make use of landing pages. First is Nonprofit Hearts. When you arrive at Nonprofit Hearts, the first thing you read is a special message they've written for readers about what their site is about and what they hope you learn from it. Nonprofit Hearts is distinctive in another way - it's not really a blog at all! Instead, the entire site consists of informational pages, and there is a table of contents in the sidebar to allow readers to easily navigate from page to page. We love to see Typepad members stretch the limits of what a blog is like this.

Next is The Daily Monster. Like Nonprofit Hearts, The Daily Monster uses their landing page to welcome readers and let them know what the site is about. Cute graphics, embedded videos, and links to the most important pages - this landing page has it all! (The site is also a great example of using sidebar header images.)

Finally we have Triline Sports. Triline Sports puts an image slider front and center on their landing page, along with photos linking to recent blog posts. Elsewhere on the page, they offer useful tools for readers, including a social media feed, testimonials, and a newsletter signup. All of this is done using Typepad's Theme Builder, a landing page, and code from a few third-party services.

Inspired by these examples and want to set up your own landing page? Be sure to check out our Knowledge Base articles on creating informational pages and setting them as landing pages. If you need more assistance with your landing page, Typepad Support is just a help ticket away.

All blogs featured in our current series can be found in the Typepad Showcase! If you think you have what it takes to be in the spotlight, submit your own blog today!