Below is a very basic but comprehensive guide to improve landing page quality that any PPC novice or PPC expert would benefit from reading. If the following four simple landing page optimization steps are considered, any PPC campaign can benefit from the effects.
So, without further ado, sit back with pen and paper to the ready and start making those first positive steps forwards in terms of improving Landing Page Optimization across all of your PPC campaigns…
Relevancy
Make sure that all landing pages are as relevant as possible to the advertisements that link to them. For example, fulfill all promises made. If the advertisement mentions a 50% promotion, this promotion must be visible immediately when the searcher lands on the page without any need for scrolling, searching, or making any kind of effort whatsoever.
Also, it is a really good idea that any text used in advertisements, which brings traffic to the landing page, is the text used on that landing page too. Keep everything consistent so that internet users can be sure that they have arrived to the correct page and that the link they clicked on was not broken or did not direct them to the wrong place for some reason.
Relevancy also means making sure that you tailor the landing page to the type of internet searcher that you are expecting to receive. The style of the page should reflect and accommodate the demographics of the internet user that has been targeted.
Regarding relevancy if you can create landing pages which utilize the keywords in your ad groups then this will improve your quality score.
In addition, remember that relevant landing pages should also be timely too. It’s not a good idea to have content that is never updated, or worse, that is actually out of date. Keep these important landing pages in your site fresh and current. This means that tapping into popular culture and current affairs can be a useful technique. Take a look at the post we have created on the World Cup 2010 about tapping into this particular current hype for marketing purposes as an example.
Interest
Don’t write boring copy. Don’t select boring topics to write about. Don’t have really long articles and large blocks of text that are unappealing to the eye. In short, don’t bore the internet user. One of the best things about the internet is the vast array of content available. That means that your landing page has got to have some kind of spark and pizzazz about it to compete against all the other sites that are in the same market area as you.
Be inspirational and be factual at the same time. Offer tons of information in easy to access formats, but that also force the internet user to think on a philosophical level at the same time too. PPC Management may be a whole series of actions and rules and formulas on the one hand, but there is also something artistic about being an effective PPC Account Manager who advises his or her PPC client to alter certain aspects of a campaign’s landing page. This creativity also needs to find its way onto the landing page to encourage user interest and an increase in conversions.
The most important thing to remember about making your landing page interesting is to combine the factual and informative elements of the page along with a flair and style in terms of delivery. Focus on this and Landing Page Optimization within any campaign will improve without fail.
Knowledge
By this point, your Landing Page should be full of relevant content. It should also be full of content that is both interesting and informative in order to maintain internet user engagement. The next step is to look at your landing page and decide whether an internet user is liable to “trust” the content of your site or not.
Ask yourself whether your site looks like an authoritative site. Does your site look as though everything has been researched thoroughly? Are there lots of links to different resources? Is your content vague or specific? Have you provided specific examples, with solid data that is used to back up what it is that you say on this landing page? Do you appear to be the best, the most knowledgeable, the most trustworthy source of information available from the look of your landing page?
If not, why not?
Get to work.
Share press releases, or awards, or qualifications that you have gained clearly on these landing pages. Help your internet user to trust in what you say on your page, or to trust in what you are selling. Everyone likes to feel secure. If your site appears to be misinformed or contradictory in any way, an internet user is going to begin to have doubts.
Keep those doubts out of their heads and make sure that they feel relaxed and comfortable on your site. Internet users who feel comfortable return time after time. Internet users are just like face to face customers in this sense. They are very loyal when they know that they are on to a good thing. Work on maintaining this reliable reputation via your landing pages and your conversions will grow.
Speed
This final Landing Page Optimization feature is perhaps the most important of all. The nature of the Internet and the reason why so many more people use the Internet to do research or to keep up to date with news, etc. is because it is the quickest way of accessing an endless bank of information. It is the quickest way. Speed is essential. If your landing page is slow to load, then you are going to have problems getting any conversions at all, as internet users are simply not going to wait around for the page to load. They will go elsewhere.
Speed is also relevant to Landing Page Optimization in other respects. For example, it is important to choose a landing page that is as close to the “BUY NOW” page as possible when selling a product. If trying to encourage users to sign up to your newsletter, the landing page must be the page where contact details need to be filled out. Don’t link your PPC advertisement to a page that gives background information about the product that you want the user to buy. This is the action of a PPC advertiser who doesn’t actually want their users to convert!
The less that an internet user has to do before converting, means that they are more likely to do it. In addition, the calls to action must be clear and simple. Provide very basic choices to choose from to speed up the process. Ticking a box is so much easier and internet user friendly than writing out a form by hand, for example. If your conversion is measured by someone filling out a form to receive a newsletter, make the newsletter as quick to complete as possible, otherwise lots of converters will quit half way through and many won’t even bother beginning to fill anything in at all.
Landing Page Optimization Concluded
So remember, there are four basic rules to follow if you want to improve your Landing Page Optimization:
Relevancy, Interest, Knowledge and Speed.
If you can focus all of your efforts in on these four areas, conversions will increase and your PPC campaign will be doing a lot more for your business. Please fill out our contact form if you want help improving your AdWords campaign including help with landing page optimization.
