Your pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are strong. You get solid, relevant traffic to your website, your ads contain compelling calls-to-action (CTAs), and your click-through-rates (CTR) are respectable. Sounds like a recipe for success, right? But when your campaigns are as optimized as they can be, and your site is just not converting, it's time to take a look at your landing pages.
Sometimes, a well-tuned PPC campaign is just not enough. Visitors are great, obviously, but unless they're converting into paid customers, you're throwing money down the tubes. You have to ask yourself: is my online space good enough for them to want to stay on the site and buy from me? The best indicator is your bounce rate. It is high? If your bounce rate is over 35%, your landing pages can probably use some TLC. It’s a good idea to build specific landing pages to support specific ad groups within your PPC campaigns to extend their messages.
Here are a few elements to consider when building landing pages specifically to bolster the success of PPC campaigns:
- Keep your landing page clean and simple. Avoid clutter of text and images, and use simple design elements.
- Keep up with promises. You promised $19.99 cupcakes? Show them. Don’t try to push more expensive cakes and different products; give your visitors exactly what they came for. Buyers hate "bait and switch," so avoid that tactic. It will only give you a bad reputation and increase your bounce rate.
- Easy navigation. Make it easy for visitors to find information and navigate around your landing page. You can always link to extended product lines and services without cluttering the landing page itself.
- Create brand awareness. Make sure your logo and company name are displayed on the page and are associated with the product or service you provide.
- Extend your call-to-action. Create a form, and / or display your phone number. Use text that extends your PPC ad’s message. We always wish for more characters to utilize on our PPC ads, so here is our chance to describe our product with no character limits!
- Engage your visitors. Eye-catching call-to-action buttons are necessary for turning a visitor into a conversion.
- Include a map and directions to your business. If you have an e-commerce site, this is probably not necessary, but if you rely on local clientele, it's imperative.
- Test, test, test. Use heat maps to see where visitors like to click on your landing page. Also test different variations of your page. This includes different themes, different messages, different text, and different images. You never know what little elements will engage (or deter) your visitors if you don't test!