Written on December 19th, 2008 at 12:12 am by Darren Rowse
Develop a Twitter Landing Page
Over the weekend I created a landing page for my Twitter account.
I got the idea off Laura Fitton (@pistachio) when a guest post on TwiTip highlighted what she’d done with her own Who is @pistachio landing page.
What is a Twitter Landing Page?
In short – a twitter landing page is a page on your blog or website that is specifically written for those arriving at your blog having clicked on the link in your twitter profile.
Why Develop a Twitter Landing Page?
I recently wrote a post on ProBlogger suggesting 3 alternatives to promoting your blogs homepage – the reasoning behind this post was that when you promote your blog’s front page you send people to a page that at times can be confusing and is less likely to convert people into regular readers.
The idea behind a landing page is that it can be tailored to suit the audience who arrives on it.
Think about why people click the URL on a Twitter profile?
Most times that I do it – I want to know more about the person behind the Twitter account. I want to know who they are, what they do and how I can connect with them.
Being taken to the front page of their blog doesn’t really answer all of these questions without me having to do some more work (looking for an about page, sifting through their latest posts etc).
A Twitter Landing Page can quickly answer some of these basic questions and at the same time give a strong call to action (what this Call to Action is will depend upon your goals).
My Twitter Landing Page
My Twitter Landing Page is designed simply to give more information and a relatively quick introduction into who I am and where people can find out more about the different aspects of what I do. It includes:
- A prominent personal picture – the the same one as my Twitter avatar which hopefully reinforces the brand. There’s also images of my book and the ProBlogger logo.
- My story – a very brief version of my blogging story – with a link where they can read an extended version
- Introductions to my blogs – links to where people can read more of my content
- A stronger introduction to ProBlogger – as my twitter account is centered around this blog I wanted to highlight what it is about and call people to subscribe to it.
- A call to follow me on Twitter and introduction to what people get if they do
- Introductions to my other projects – b5media, the ProBlogger Book, the Problogger job boards
In addition to that I’ve personalized the page so that people know it is written specifically for Twitter users in the hope that this personalization will make them feel a little more personally welcomed.
Extend this Idea
Of course Twitter Landing Pages are just the tip of the social media iceberg. Extend it further by creating Facebook Landing Pages, LinkedIn Landing Pages, Plurk Landing Pages, Digg Landing Pages and more.
79 Responses to “Develop a Twitter Landing Page” - Add Yours
Daniel Kemp
December 19th, 2008 12:28 am
That is a great idea. I am going to start working on my own Twitter landing page. Thank you Darren.
SATISH -- Technotip.org
December 19th, 2008 12:30 am
We had read about the landing page creation on DailyBlogTips and used it on our blog, and had a good result so far..In DailyBlogTips, it was about landing page for the 1st time visitors. Its nice idea to create a landing page for even twitter visitors
Steven-Sanders
December 19th, 2008 12:51 am
What an awesome idea! I’m sure more and more people are going to have a Twitter landing page shortly.
Katja Presnal
December 19th, 2008 12:54 am
And why didn’t I think of that..? :) Great idea, and I will follow the lead. Thank you for sharing this with us!
FFB
December 19th, 2008 12:58 am
What a powerful idea!
Salwa
December 19th, 2008 12:59 am
Just learned something new here. I never knew about a twitter landing page before. Thank you
A Maui Blog
December 19th, 2008 12:59 am
Great idea! But I think I’ll need some technical help, oh me o little tech knowledge.
oh amanda
December 19th, 2008 12:59 am
Love this! And can I say, I think your twitter background might be the best ever?!
Sarbartha
December 19th, 2008 1:00 am
Twitter is spreading like virus. And it’s a good idea to have a landing page.
Dennis Bjørn Petersen
December 19th, 2008 1:01 am
Good idea. It would be interesting to see how much extra traffic the landing page gets from twitter.
Btw the link to Pistachio is dead.
Tracy
December 19th, 2008 1:06 am
What a great idea, thanks for sharing it. I’m going to put it on my to do list. I have noticed a few hits a day coming from my Twitter profile.
ShriNagesh
December 19th, 2008 1:07 am
Thanks for the push, Darren. I always wondered if I should provide a link in the message after auto follow. A landing page sounds perfect. I actually spent reading your landing page and becoming a problogger page every line. Very fascinating.
Shri :)
Mark | Retroblique
December 19th, 2008 1:10 am
I’m currently torn about the notion of Twitter landing pages.
I think they’re useful if there’s a significant disconnect between the Twitter profile (and the posting style/habits/content associated with it) and the web site itself. There’s a lot of potential and necessity for some sort of bridging material there.
However, when there’s an obvious symbiosis between the two, I don’t think a Twitter landing page is really necessary. There’s a possibility it could prove detrimental, much like those old-fashioned splash pages that require visitors to click past one or two “welcome” pages to get to the site’s actual content.
For example, my Twitter account was created specifically as an adjunct to my retro gaming blog. Visitors to my Twitter profile will see, very quickly, that there’s a gaming slant to the profile. Likewise, people clicking through to my blog via my Twitter profile will also get the picture pretty quickly. There’s no need for a splash page dividing the two.
If my Twitter profile were more “personal” and off-topic (with respect to my blog’s content), then I’d probably consider a landing page.
Also, if we’re offering landing pages for Twitter visitors, do we start offering landing pages from other locations? What about Facebook visitors? Linked.in visitors? Where do you draw the line with regards to which visitors deserve a landing page and which ones don’t?
Moomettesgram
December 19th, 2008 1:10 am
Terrific idea ~ I had been considering this as I have multiple online businesses. The hardest part for me is the technical end of uploading a template to my host in order to start the process.
Judy Rey Wasserman
December 19th, 2008 1:13 am
What a great idea! As I always check the links to the pages of my followers, I have experienced the confusion that can occur. I follow all my followers, although I follow other people too. And I interact. If everyone did this (or could) we would find it easier to get to know one another.
FB sort of has a profile.
Many Twitter users, myself included work to make our backgrounds so they contain info about us.
Well, thanks. And so my TODO list continues to grow!
o
Judy Rey Wasserman
On Twitter: judyrey
Julie
December 19th, 2008 1:13 am
I’ve intended to create a landing page since I read about the concept for the first time on TwiTip, Darren. This post is just the reminder that I needed. I particularly like the idea of mentioning what types of tweets my followers can expect. Will it be updates like “Going outside to shovel snow” or something more beneficial? (let’s hope for the latter)
David B
December 19th, 2008 1:18 am
Custom landing pages are nothing new in the SEO and other worlds, but nice reminder that it can be used here.
David
December 19th, 2008 1:32 am
Interesting idea. I’d like to extend this out for you a bit…
Most of the data on the about page would remain the same, no matter where the visitor is coming from.
In PHP (which I know most people use if they’re using WordPress), you could set up a simple switch statement on the http referer.
In pseudocode it would be:
switch on referer:
case: twitter.com
-do some stuff for twitter
case: digg.com
-do some stuff for digg visitors
.
.
.
default
-normal about page with no customization
The “do some stuff” part could be loading specific links, icons, colors, formatting, etc that is specific to the originating service. If someone is coming from twitter, you could have a link back for “follow me,” and if it’s from digg you could have a link for all your stories dugg or submitted on digg, or an “add friend” button.
Just a few suggestions. This would make it much easier to only maintain a single about page, but have some dynamic areas that cater to certain visitors. Low maintenance, high impact ;P
JOE GELB
December 19th, 2008 1:34 am
i have seen people do this with youtube and myspace too. i am deffinitely going to try this for twitter.
Paul Baranda
December 19th, 2008 1:37 am
Awesome article and idea Darren. Your twitter landing page just flows perfectly with great information. I hope to get one up soon.
Stephen D
December 19th, 2008 1:37 am
The simple ideas are always the best. Great stuff.
bonoriau
December 19th, 2008 1:39 am
Darren, this is really great idea. I just wondering where do you link this page to your Home Page.
Dave
December 19th, 2008 1:42 am
Wouldn’t it be better just to use your existing “About Me” page?
That way, you aren’t creating several new pages to maintain, you aren’t duplicating content all over the place, etc.
And if your homepage is confusing, isn’t that a usability problem you should address anyway?
Grant Griffiths
December 19th, 2008 1:46 am
I have a twitter landing page and it has been a great addition to my profile. Here is the link to mine: http://www.blogforprofit.com/welcome-from-my-twitter-page/
If your readers don’t have one, they really should. It just adds to the ways we can connect with our community.
Peter Cooper
December 19th, 2008 1:56 am
This is somewhat what a “homepage” has always meant to be – it’s just that the popular concept of a homepage died sometime around 2002 :) My “homepage” takes a more dynamic approach – I include my del.icio.us bookmarks, Flickr photos, etc.
One widget you might find useful for a home page is the one at http://duckduckgo.com/karma.html – it lets you make a “badge” that features links to and your karma at a fistful of various social media sites – MySpace, Reddit, Digg, Twitter, and so forth.
Harley Pebley
December 19th, 2008 2:22 am
Extend it further by creating Facebook Landing Pages, LinkedIn Landing Pages, Plurk Landing Pages, Digg Landing Pages and more.
I wonder if it would it make sense to have a single page with something like a WWSGD plug-in function to do minor customization for each referrer.
A similar idea for those real life meetings where you don’t have a hyperlink across your forehead: create an “ImetYourNameHere.com” landing page. All they have to remember is your name and “Imet”
Cheers,
@hpebley3
Mike Wilton
December 19th, 2008 2:25 am
This is a great concept Darren and something that might be able to applied to not only twitter but many other social profiles. On my blog I write about a potpourri of topics ranging from SEO and SEM to Music and more. Obviously with such a grab bag of topics and interests I belong to a number of niche social sites. Creating niche/social media specific landing pages might be something to consider for more than one social network.
Cosmin Ghiu
December 19th, 2008 2:31 am
darren:
great idea. i was noticing as twitter gets more automated, people have been using URLS in their auto direct replies for their new follower.
I even saw links to actual free PDF ebooks as an instant value to the new follower.
more to come i assume as twitter begins to become defined in how to be used for marketing purposes.
DJ
December 19th, 2008 2:35 am
Nice. Something like ‘Personal About Page’ for Twitter ‘market’. ;)
ted
December 19th, 2008 2:41 am
I used this suggestion – and it was great. Another great suggestion is to customize your twitter profilepage. You can add logo and pics pretty easily.
http://www.justinpopovic.com
PublicRecordsguy
December 19th, 2008 3:03 am
Your link to DPS is wrong. The anchor text is correct but the actual html to the site is misspelled and dropping you off somewhere else.
Blog Expert
December 19th, 2008 3:24 am
Awesome ideas by Darren and everyone commenting. I like free ebooks for new followers.
C.J. Harley
December 19th, 2008 3:29 am
Great idea. I will definitely have to desgin a twitter landing page over the weekend. Thanks for the tip!
Surender
December 19th, 2008 3:51 am
Thanks Dareen this is very useful post because I love blogging and twitter both.
Karen McAllister
December 19th, 2008 3:55 am
love this iead…now i just need to find time to do it!
Karen McAllister
December 19th, 2008 3:56 am
love this idea. now the trick is finding time to do it…
Dave
December 19th, 2008 3:57 am
Hi I agree too. A great idea (but I do think the personal greeting with a video is a ‘little’ over the top. I have seen that in the wild!).
I have a ‘vanity’ url. Shared with my family (lucky we have an unusual name)
So I get dave@spathaky.name as my email address and
http://dave.spathaky.name as my own internet ‘profile’ home page.
It is getting to look a little like Google’s profile page that they are slowly introducing but I think it is cool to have ‘control’ over your own profile and avoid the branding that all the ‘commercial sites offer
It is also nice to be able to include a simple ‘About me’ link at the bottom of each email that just links to the same landing page.
All the best Dave
Shane
December 19th, 2008 4:10 am
Darren,
As far as SEO goes, would it be wise for people to actually name their twitter landing pages something like:
“www.problogger.net/twitter-landing-page-darran-rowse” ?
Just curious
Shane
twitter: shanearthur
Mechele Pellebon
December 19th, 2008 4:12 am
Darren, What a great idea.
With the new age of Twit-marketers connecting with new readers and followers everyday through Twitter, a personalized landing page is not only smart and timely, but a natural progression towards breaking through the marketing clutter.
As usual, this post is great. It’s full of forward-thinking advice and easy to implement examples for content providers and online marketers. You’ve inspired me to create a customized page for my site this weekend.
Wendy Merritt
December 19th, 2008 4:30 am
Fascinating idea! I am thinking I will give it a twhirl (pun intended) later today.
Shane, that is a great idea. As long your doing it add a little SEO to the mix. Bravo.
blessings,
Wendy
Twitter: WendyMerritt
Affiliate Coffee
December 19th, 2008 4:42 am
Hi Darren,
Excellent post again. Twitter landing page, now that’s something! I was thinking with some programming may be we can make the landing page more dynamic. Such, as if someone were to come from Plurk, it’d display the custom text we’ve specified for that domain and so forth. Something along the lines of a wordpress plugin called Referrer Detector that greets people like “Hello fellow Digger, If you like this page – then don’t forget to digg it”. Now, that would be super cool :-)
jamie
December 19th, 2008 4:47 am
I’m totally with you on what a great idea this is but haven’t a clue how I would create one. I’d love a follow up article with some tips or resources!
Rahul
December 19th, 2008 5:01 am
I’d also gone though your last post regarding Twitter customization. I’ve also tried a few hands on it to change from the default theme. I did try a few things. But I know there are a lot of things still to be done in my account.
Please do check out my twitter page too: http://www.twitter.com/nepal
Chris Cliff
December 19th, 2008 5:01 am
That is a great idea… But damn you that is one more project to put on my list of things to do…
Great concept though and make a lot of sense!
Shane
December 19th, 2008 5:11 am
ps. And as Wendy noticed and followed, to bring this concept fulll circle, I can’t see why anybody from this point fowards would not include their twitter handle at the bottom of their comments on other blogs.
Shane
Twitter: shanearthur
Shane
December 19th, 2008 5:12 am
pps. I meant to say “from this point FORWARD (no s)”
John Lessanu
December 19th, 2008 5:14 am
Very simple yet valuable idea. Thanks for the tip. Now I need to put “Twitter Landing Page “on my todo list.
FFB
December 19th, 2008 5:19 am
I just created my landing page! I’d love to hear what you think.
http://freefrombroke.com/twitter
Thanks for the great idea Darren!
http://twitter.com/freefrombroke
izzat aziz
December 19th, 2008 5:34 am
this idea in other way also make one visitor who reach the landing page felt more welcome compare to reach at home page.
very fresh and nice idea though.
Philip May
December 19th, 2008 5:46 am
Well … it seems like your Bolg:
Digital Photography School (a blog and forum on digital photography)
Has been captured from a domain grabber?!
J.D. Meier
December 19th, 2008 5:46 am
I think you did a really good job creating a nice simple entry point and roadmap for folks for your online life.
You menionted you’re relatively active on Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg, StumbleUpon and FriendFeed. Thoughts on MyBlogLog? … Do you have any summary posts on how you spend your time and make the most of your activity across the social sites?
Erica Ross-Krieger
December 19th, 2008 5:59 am
Thanks so much, Darren. I had no idea…on many fronts. No idea about the possibility of a landing page; no idea about your first blog; and, no idea you do something called TwiTips (I’m headed there now). I follow you on Twitter but I guess I never found my way to your landing page, because I came aboard before you had it I guess. So thanks again. I’m off to work on this new landing page project:)
Jesse Hines
December 19th, 2008 6:26 am
Excellent idea.
Excellent.
Jade Craven
December 19th, 2008 6:42 am
Thanks for the reminder :)
This is something I intend to do for all my social media outposts, so that those who click can get targeted information.
I’ve thought that the idea could extend to blog comments and even creating specific landing pages for when you do high profile guest posts.
I’d go so far to highlight posts that may be relevant to that particular reader.
It was an idea I’d put into action on a previous version of my blog, but forgot to reintroduce it. Will add it to the to do list!
David Risley
December 19th, 2008 6:46 am
Now my question is: Why wasn’t this idea more obvious? :-)
Great idea.
Katrina Cummins
December 19th, 2008 7:36 am
This is really good idea.
I like the concept of giving information before the reader is reading my blog.
Kind of like an introduction to a book, outlining what the person will find and can expect when they click on the blog.
Sounds like I need to put this task on my to-do list.
Cheers,
Katrina.
Thaya Kareeson
December 19th, 2008 8:20 am
Good idea, but I’m not sure if you need a whole page for giving a quick introduction for users who click through from Twitter. If you use WordPress[.org], I suggest you give the WP Greet Box plugin a try.
The plugin automatically detect people who have clicked through to your page from Twitter (and many other social media sites) and display a customized message to them. In your case, you can specify a quick Twitter introduction there.
ATLANTA WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER
December 19th, 2008 9:00 am
This almost sounds like linking to your about page. You wouldn’t have really any different information and you would just put the @name as one of your contacts. thanks.
Stuart Lander
December 19th, 2008 1:04 pm
Darren – This is really smart. Thanks for sharing. Kicking myself that I didn’t already think about doing this.
Joshua Collins
December 19th, 2008 2:57 pm
Wow! I am glad I found this blog.
This is only the second post I have read, and I have felt compelled to reply to both posts! They were that good…
I am a week old blogger (well a little over a week), and I think I am getting off on the right track. Now, reading this post I will start adding some landing pages from social sites such as Twitter and the like.
I love the idea, and you are totally right! When I click on someones link from Twitter I am not really wanting to now about their blog — at least not yet — I am wanting to find out more about them and possibly get some information on what they Twitt about… In your case this blog ;)
I think you have won yet another avid reader!
Joshua Collins
http://ISeeNewPeople.com
rizzy-Follow me on Twitter
December 19th, 2008 6:37 pm
Nahh I don’t think this is a good idea. See for a popular blogger like Darren it might work well, because it is advertising the book and who he really is. People, at least I am not really curious about getting to know the person from his website, instead I would get to know him through social network.
Regards: rizzy
http://twitter.com/rizzy81
Takumi86
December 20th, 2008 12:11 am
wow this is really a great idea, its simple but really hit on the spot
Kadir
December 20th, 2008 12:53 am
I think this is perfect idea to grab more followers. I will use it in my blog.
krissy knox
December 20th, 2008 1:38 am
I’m thinking that if I did a landing page that took those who read my twitter profile over to the landing page, then I would have an explanation of twitter on this landing page also, something you didn’t have. The reason I would do this is because — I would have a link from the front of my blog to this same landing page. That way my readers woud have both my twitter address and an explanation of twitter. A good number of my readers/commentators, believe it or not, don’t know what commentators are. So I would make the page be a landing page from both directions! Thanks for the ideas you have given to us!
Krissy :)
my main blog: Sometimes I Think
my twitter: http://www.twitter.com/iamkrissy
Eric Hall
December 20th, 2008 7:56 am
Great idea. I’m going to work on my own.
I’ll work on putting it up in the next day or two….
my site is http://www.designedbyeh.com, so I’ll work on http://www.designedbyeh.com/twitter for my landing page.
YourMortgagePlanner
December 20th, 2008 11:49 am
This is why he is the ProBlogger…
Denise
December 20th, 2008 12:17 pm
Great idea. I blog on several sites, so this will help me get everything organized – which, BTW, is the theme of my new website.
George "Urban Jibaro" Torres
December 20th, 2008 1:50 pm
This was a great idea…I just put mine together, I cannot wait to see what it will do to raise awareness about who I am to my followers.
great job…damn I love this site!!!!
As I am,
George Torres
The Urban Jibaro
Sofrito For Your Soul Media, Inc
bugsy
December 20th, 2008 5:44 pm
Good topic, Darren. Just earlier today I was thinking of landing pages for blog comments. Have you touched on this subject before? Clearly I don’t have one yet. I was thinking it may be most useful to leave a blog comment URL that goes to an about page. Thoughts?
Dantanner
December 20th, 2008 7:46 pm
WOW! Great idea, originality and simplicity. I am going for creating landing page. I saw one at Pistachio but that is much more folksy.
Eileen Brown (@SuperEB)
December 21st, 2008 3:59 am
The Ryze network has a great set-up for personal pages that allow you to make it your very own.
I hope this might be what you mean: http://www.ryze.com/go/verbatimeb
I can add anything I want – change it on a daily basis if necessary!
Todd Smith
December 22nd, 2008 12:33 am
I’ve seen this idea tossed around, but you really do it justice. I love the way you introduce yourself to Twitter readers on your landing page. Now I’m thinking hard how to do something like this. Thank you!
Zara Green
December 22nd, 2008 8:17 am
Excellent! Must add to the top of my already extensive Internet Marketing “To Do List.” Thanks!
@ZaraGreen on Twitter
Jeffrey Alexander Brathwaite
December 23rd, 2008 10:41 pm
I saw this mentioned on your new blog Twitip.com and had to know more. I am so glad I did. I have since created a twitter landing page for my blog. Thanks again for the great information.
All the best
JB
@jbrath
Misty Faucheux
February 4th, 2009 8:41 am
I’m so going to suggest this to my manager. I think that blog.viscape.com really needs this.
Thanks for the great post!
@Mistyeyed
Mark Heywood
March 7th, 2009 3:31 am
Having a specific landing page for a particular audience should be more responsive than a one-size-fits-all vanilla homepage.
Mark
Lauren McMullen
April 1st, 2009 7:35 am
I have been using Twitwall like a Twitter landing page and I wonder how you feel about that approach?
@laurenamcmullen
website optimisation
April 29th, 2009 11:33 pm
Yes indeed good idea! In this way it will be so easy to count statistics how many visitors you get from twitter and thus to judge how effective is your online twitter activity.
Shannon Nelson
May 14th, 2009 12:09 am
This is a great idea Darren–but can a Twitter/facebook/etc. landing page be the same as one’s “about” page and just simply put a direct link to that in your Twitter bio than the link to the homepage?
@ShannonNelson
Comments will be closed off on this post 90 days after it is published. Apologies to those this impacts but it's a regrettable and temporary measure to combat a growing comment spam problem. See our most recent posts where you can comment here.