PPC Landing Pages Will Make or Break Your Ad Campaign
Do you plan to buy pay-per-click advertising this year? Good. Worried you may not achieve a positive return on your PPC investment? Smart. Think your PPC landing page is important? Very smart!
Want to Pay for Clicks? First Define Your Objective
Getting clicks is easy. But you’re going to pay for each one, so unless you have money to burn, you’ll want to define your PPC campaign objective before starting your campaign.
Stick to One Objective
Pay-per-click advertising can be a cost-effective way to achieve various objectives, such as generating leads, selling products, or building an email marketing list. However, to maximize your ad-spend return, isolate each campaign to focus on one objective only.
What Happens After They Click Your Ad?
What do visitors see when they click your ad? Your landing page. Effective landing pages explain your product or service, build excitement, and compel visitors to action.
Do Your Landing Pages Get Results?
Why waste your money sending visitors to a page that doesn’t convert? Crafting a high-converting landing page rarely happens by chance.
At Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we specialize in creating effective PPC landing pages by designing and writing pages that engage and communicate.
Design and Copy
Professional landing pages integrate design and copy in a blend of art and science. Below are just a few of the principles we follow at Charlottesville SEO Web Development when crafting effective landing pages for our clients.
Elements of an Effective Landing Page
While design styles for web pages vary greatly, landing-page design typically follows a proven formula that includes the following components:
- Headline — The headline should speak directly to the product or service’s unique selling proposition. This can be a benefit statement. Explain in a few brief words exactly what problem the product solves. Your statement should be concise and consistent with the ad that originally steered the visitor to the landing page.
- Subhead — A subhead should elaborate on the headline.
- Copy — Keep copy to a minimum. Bullet points are an effective way to summarize features and clarify the benefits of your offer.
- Testimonials — Quote one to three of your most satisfied customers on what they love about your product or service. Limit quotes to three sentences maximum.
- Pictures — Include one or more pictures of the product or service. You might even consider including a brief video if it will add clarity.
- Call to Action — Your CTA should be a straightforward statement telling the visitor what to do next: complete a form, click a link, download a document, or make a purchase.
- Form — Ask the minimum number of questions — usually just a name and email address — as they may not feel ready to provide more personal details at this stage.
- Logo — Include your logo for brand recognition.
Minimize Distractions
Unlike a home page that serves multiple purposes, a landing-page layout and design should be simple and clean. Clutter can confuse and overwhelm visitors. Remove non-essential links and images.
White Space
Well-designed landing pages contain ample white space because a clean, simple visual presentation works best.
Draw Attention to Your Incentive
If you’re building a mailing list, motivate visitors to complete your subscription form by offering an incentive. Possibilities include a free e-book, a white paper, or perhaps a webinar. Display your offer prominently on the landing page to ensure it isn’t overlooked.
Communicate the incentive’s value to the prospect with compelling copy, and graphics too, if appropriate. Then, present just one offer with no options to compete for your visitors’ attention.
Above the Fold
When designing a landing page at Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we maximize visibility for the most important information by placing it above the fold, the area visitors can see without scrolling.
Color Considerations
Choosing the right colors to represent the look and feel of your landing page can be difficult. Much like selecting a paint color for your living room, you need to consider what impression the colors will make. The wrong choices could distract visitors or convey an unintended message, resulting in damage to your brand and fewer conversions.
Readability should always be a priority. For that reason, avoid colors that are too light and keep reverse text (white type on a dark background) to a minimum. To further increase conversions, make important elements like headlines and your call-to-action button stand out with bold color.
Use Photos and Illustrations for Impact
At Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we recommend using your company’s photos or high-quality stock photography. Lesser-quality stock images that have a generic look can negatively impact your brand and lower conversions. Real photos, especially those that include people, will increase the impact of your page.
Place photos with care and use them to direct attention. For example, a picture of someone looking in the direction of your headline or contact form can serve as a visual ‘point’ to direct the reader’s eye.
Limit Links
One or two links in addition to the call to action may provide value. But think hard about whether they’re necessary. Remember, don’t steer the visitor down another path. They may not return. Encourage them to remain on the landing page until they have converted.
The landing page should not display global navigation tying it to your main website. Again, unlike a home page, you want to limit your visitor’s options here. Links to other pages create distractions that will lower your conversion ratio. Help visitors remain focused until they take the desired action.
Why Guess When You Can A/B Test?
At Charlottesville SEO Web Development, we take the guesswork out of designing landing pages. For example, we use A/B testing to randomly show visitors two different versions of the same landing page and track which one gets the best results.
We start with a control page, and then change a single variable at a time, such as the headline or call to action. Testing determines the winner with certainty, the landing page design that’s most effective for the audience you’re attracting.
By testing and optimizing your page, we can increase leads, sign-ups, downloads, or sales, while also providing valuable insights about your visitors. And by measuring the impact of little changes, we can maximize the overall effectiveness of your landing page.
Add Landing Pages to Your Marketing Mix
With online competition continually growing, you need an edge to promote your products or services. Tightly focused, well-designed landing pages are a proven strategy for generating leads and sales. They deserve a prominent place in your marketing mix.
Charlottesville SEO Web Development can create persuasive landing pages for your organization. We can help you speak directly to your target customers with meaningful photos and compelling copy, maximizing your PPC investment return.
Contact us today to discuss what effective landing pages can do for your business.
