Patience Hurlburt-Lawton
Remember when you first launched your company website?
That thrill, that excitement, the anticipation that people would visit your page!
And again when you first created your Facebook Business Page and acquired your first hundred followers?
Now you’ve launched a pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaign and you’re on your way to getting more clients and selling more products or services. It’s exciting when digital marketing starts to work for you, isn’t it?
We think so, too.
To make sure you’re getting the most bang for your advertising buck, we wanted to call your attention to the importance of landing pages and the many ways they directly impact your PPC traffic.
Ultimately, your PPC campaign results directly depend on the quality and effectiveness of your landing page.
Quick review: What is a landing page?
As it pertains to pay-per-click advertising, a landing page is the page your potential new clients land on when they get excited enough to click on your ad to “Learn More” or “Buy Now” or “Try it Free!” Or, “Join Now!” Or whatever else you want them to do.
It’s a stand-alone page that’s main purpose is to convert leads into customers to generate new sales.
Engaging, clever ads may entice visitors to click, but once they get to your landing page, you have to make it easy for them to stay and fill out a contact form, or buy your product, or sign up for your outstanding offer.
It’s not enough to get visitors to click through the ad – they need to get to an equally desirable landing page so they don’t bounce without completing your request or becoming a new customer.
How do you create a simple, effective landing page?
First, optimize your landing page so it loads quickly.
There’s nothing worse than letting your potential new client sit there waiting while your landing page loads. If it takes too long, they’ll leave quickly.
Remember: The average web page attention span is less than a minute.
A slow landing page not only helps your potential client decide it’s not worth the wait, but Google thinks the same thing.
Page speed has been one of Google’s ranking factors for several years. If too many people bounce, it tells Google that your landing page isn’t a high-quality page, and therefore impacts your Quality Score, which can affect your PPC ad ranking.
See how it’s all connected?
In addition to page speed, Google determines your Quality Score by:
- Ad click-through rate (CTR)
- Relevance of keywords
- Landing page quality
- Landing page relevance
- Relevance of ad content
Side note: The higher your Quality Score, the lower your cost-per-click, so you get more value for the money in your ad campaign.
Ultimately, your landing page directly impacts your bottom line because of its ability to convert leads into new customers, and with a higher Quality Score, you pay less for each of these potential new converts.
Mobile friendliness counts in Google rankings, too.
Suppose your potential client clicks on your ad through their phone, tablet, or any other mobile device. If they can’t see the page properly, or have trouble accessing the call-to-action (CTA) button, they’ll leave.
More than half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, so it behooves you to consider this as an initial and important part of your landing page design and function, not as an afterthought.
Next, optimize your landing page content.
Content on your landing page should also be optimized and, as Google notes, “directly relevant to your ad text and keyword.” In other words, don’t pull a bait and switch tactic; give the people what they came for.
This also helps your quality ranking when your PPC ad and landing page SEO content is closely related. (See “landing page relevance” above.)
Make your landing page content as succinct as possible and aimed at your conversion goals.
Use bullet points instead of large paragraphs of information.
Remember: Your visitors are already excited about your product or service. They learned about it from your ad. Let your landing page recap the highlights so they’re excited to take action. Speaking of action…
Landing page visitors who come from PPC ads are ready to take action.
50% of users who arrive at your landing page from paid ads are more likely to buy than those who arrive organically!
These shoppers and information-seekers are prepared to make a purchase decision, or a CTA decision without additional persuasion as an organic lead might require.
This also makes it easy for your content to say less and do more.
Next, create one landing page per service or special offer.
Example: If your PPC ad promotes the amazing chocolate cake you deliver in 24 hours, your landing page should only let your visitor order a chocolate cake (or three).
This is not the time or place to go into detail about your large selection of fruit pies. That’s another ad and a separate landing page.
So, if you’re running a special on apple pies this month, create an ad and a corresponding landing page to convert your leads into more apple pie sales!
Remember your overall branding.
The theme of every landing page should reflect your business’s overall brand and relate in several ways – design, content, user-friendliness – to your website.
Each landing page is an opportunity to solidify your branding. Make it recognizable that it’s your company, so visitors know it’s you as soon as they click through your ad.
With this in mind, your landing page should still be specific to your PPC ad. The layout and design should be simple so visitors can easily fill out a form, read testimonials, click the CTA button, (order a chocolate cake) or all of the above!
One. Last. Tidbit.
Landing pages allow you to test campaigns. Are visitors more likely to fill out your form if you only ask for name and email vs. name, email, and phone number?
Separate landing pages allow you to track this data to determine which options have the highest conversion rates.
This is called A/B split testing – a subject for another blog.
That’s a lot to digest, we understand. It’s not as simple as it first appears, but with some trial and error, and following our tips (because, well, we’ve been doing this for a few years), you’ll get the hang of it. We promise.
And, we’re always here to help when you need us. Just stop by and say hello. We look forward to your click!
