If you’re struggling to get good results from your PPC campaigns, your landing pages might not be up to scratch. Whether you’re new to PPC or an expert, these best practices will help you optimise your ad campaigns and convert more visitors into leads or customers (depending on your goal).
Technically speaking, a landing page is the first page you “land on” after clicking a link (or ad). This could be your home page, a blog post, a product page, a lead capture page…you get the idea. However, as simple as this definition is, when we talk about “landing pages” in PPC, we’re referring to a page that has been specifically designed to receive and convert traffic from a paid campaign.
Knowing where to start when designing a landing page can be tricky, but these tips will help your campaigns go from adequate to amazing – let’s delve in!
The number one rule to PPC is to create landing pages that are unique to each campaign. The best results come from campaigns with a targeted approach. Instead of directing all your traffic to the homepage, think about other pages that will help your customers convert. Is there a category page or product page or even a blog post that will achieve your goal? The answer is most likely to be yes, so what are you waiting for? Get those landing pages changed now!
All PPC ads, banners and landing pages must have a clear CTA so that your audience knows the next step to take on the path to conversion. For example, if you’re running a summer sale and offering 25% off on your entire website, the headline should read something along the lines of Get 25% Off or This Week Only: Save 25% Off Everything. Then, align the CTA with the offer using copy such as “Save 25% Off Everything” or “Get 25% Off.” Remember to keep the CTA above the fold, too.
Also, you should back your (main) CTA with another secondary CTA for those who aren’t ready to convert. A secondary CTA’s aim is to get a point of contact you can work with e.g. an email address. So free trials, free downloads, newsletters and other soft conversions are always good approaches to take. You can then follow up with these potential customers through email marketing.
Improve your landing page experience by building customer trust and confidence with your brand. Things like previous customers’ testimonials or product reviews are great as people like to know what their peers think of products and services, so make it easy for them to see by displaying this. Here’s an example from Ikea‘s website:
In addition, display security assurances, certifications and guarantee seals to prove that your website is trusted and reliable among online shoppers. This is especially important for first-time visitors who are typically hesitant to purchase from a brand they’re unfamiliar with.
Designing effective forms, whether that’s to generate leads or account registration, can be particularly tricky for landing pages. As a result of this, most experts suggest you go for short forms, using no more than 3-4 fields. This is because the number of form fields and conversion rate are closely related i.e. as the number of fields in a form goes up, the conversion rate goes down. That’s why it’s important to limit the number of required fields − only ask for the absolute most important information. A standard recommendation is to ask for a visitor’s first name, last name and email.
Additionally, providing a way to create an account through a social media profile is another way to shorten form fields. ASOS is a good example of doing just that. As you can see below, when asking if they are new to ASOS, they include the option of logging in via Facebook, Google or Apple.
When people search on Google, they expect to see relevant search results. Therefore, you should optimise all of your PPC landing pages to ensure that they include relevant content that matches the keyword(s) in your campaign. For example, if a person searches for “coffee tables,” don’t send them to a landing page for “dining tables.” The intent behind that specific search is to find places to stay − not to persuade them to visit.
There are plenty of ways to create a sense of urgency on your landing pages and, once again, the best approach will vary greatly on what you’re selling. Most landing pages nowadays use something called implied urgency, which is where phrases like “Buy now” or “Sign up today” feature so heavily in CTAs. By using time-sensitive words you’re implying that the longer people hesitate, the longer they’ll be missing out on your fantastic offer.
To really get the most out of your landing pages, you’ll need to test different designs. Pick an element to test instead of trying to test everything at once. Some common places to start testing are headlines, images, CTA copy or button colours.
We hope our 7 PPC landing page best practices help you to improve your paid advertising results. Start by making changes to one campaign at a time and remember to keep testing your changes!
If you’d like to know more about creating landing pages for your PPC campaigns, get in touch!
Drop us a line on 01785 279985
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