10 Tips to a Great Landing Page
If you believe in the power of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising you need to set up an effective PPC campaign.
The first part of the PPC campaign is the most important. You need to find the search terms that a prospective customer might use to find you. You can do this by the seat of your pants, or you can use tools like Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker or you can use the tools provided by Google and Yahoo. But the terms must come first.
The next step is to open an account in Google or Yahoo (or MSN or other search engines). Then you need to write ads keyed to your search terms. Finally you need a landing page.
The purpose of the PPC ad is to at get your prospect to click to learn more. (See our page on Writing PPC ads on this website.)
When you open your PPC account you will be asked for destination page for each particular ad. Many people simply make the homepage their destination. In most cases this is not effective.
Remember that the Internet is not like a library or bookstore. People don't come to read; they come to get answers. When somebody you don't know clicks on your ad, they want something and they want it right now. So unless your home page is very specific and exactly what you featured in your ads, you will get much better results directing your ad traffic to a landing page.
The purpose of the PPC ad is to bring in the customer. The purpose of the landing page is to convince the customer to move up to the next step in the buying cycle.
Here are ten tips that you can use create effective landing pages.
- Make sure the landing page provides a seamless transition from the ad. If your ad offers yoga lessons in Oak Park Il make sure that is the title of your landing page. If your ad for yoga lessons takes you to a page for a health club that offers yoga lessons, and 20 other services your prospect is going to be disappointed and will likely quick away. It's alright if you want to offer 20 services, just make sure that you have a landing page on your site for each one.
- Make sure that you repeat the search term at the top of the ad. Your prospect has just given you enough trust to click to your page. Reward that trust by re-confirming that he or she has come to the right place.
- Tell visitors why they should buy from you. Be clear and concise about your value proposition. This is the heart of your message; make sure it gets delivered strongly on your landing page.
- Keep it simple. Make sure your page is logical and easy to navigate. A clean, easy to read visual experience works best.
- Build Credibility. Once you tell the visitor you can solve her problem, quickly state your track record or credentials to assure that you are a reliable provider.
- Keep the flow going. Express your main selling proposition throughout your landing page in a way that is clear, consistent and compelling with no distractions.
- Don't say too much. Use bullet points. People don't read on the Internet - they scan. So organize your sales pitch and tell it in a few concise bullet points.
- Use testimonials. On the Internet, your prospect can't see you and are likely to be skeptical. Testimonials can help build confidence. Try to use testimonials that are as detailed and specific as possible. Not just "you guys are the greatest."
- Warm up your copy. Make your website sound like a person, not a label on the side of a package. Be factual but allow some personality into your written message.
- Create a powerful call to action. Make it easy for the prospect to get to the next step. Do you want the prospect to call you? Fill out a form? Do you have a special offer? The easier it is for visitors to respond, the higher your response rate will be.