Not getting the conversions you think you should with Google AdWords? If you are getting clicks, have a good click through rate, but no leads or sales, the first place to really look is at your ad group and even keyword landing pages.
What makes a landing page great for creating sales and leads? Here are my top tips to consider as you design your own.
- Skin the page with your regular website look and feel and include your full website navigation. You are reinforcing your brand when you do this. I am not an advocate of having a landing page that does not look like your website or is just a big graphic with bullet points.l I like the legitimacy a fully skinned website page affords.
- Keep your page load speed snappy! You’ve got 5 to 6 seconds to make an impression, don’t have those precious seconds be in loading images or superfluous content.
- If you have a site search function, include it in the landing page or at the very minimum supply a link to your site map.
- Bulletize your content and condense your sales pitch. Most readers will scan your page – put that to work for you by creating bullets, visual graphics that are appealing, and white space that opens up the content.
- Include a path to the action you want the reader to take. I will typically encourage the introduction of a contact form at the bottom of the landing page content. I want to lead the reader into getting more information or a price fast with one click. I do not require any information on the form and usually just ask for first name, last name, email, phone, and comments. Again I do not require any fields I want to make the information request form process friendly and fast.
- Make sure your phone number is prominently featured on the landing page top and bottom. Many people will sit on that page and pick up the phone right then to chat with you.
- Do not include and excessive amount of content. Identify what your buyer wants to know and link to content that provides more information.
- Add graphics to break of the content or to reinforce your message. One page of text looks dull and if the paragraphs are too long, the reader may simply loose interest and surf off.
- Make sure you have a link to your privacy policy on your AdWords landing page. AdWords is scanning for this so make sure to have a policy in place and have it linked from your landing page.
- Keep all your important information above the fold of the page, that means visible so that someone does not have to scroll to read it.
Creating a landing page is like creating a marketing piece. Give the prospect the information they want fast and entice them to contact you to find out more. Give a sense of urgency to act on the information by offering a promotion with an ending date that encourages interaction to receive the incentive typically within the next week or 30 days.
Even after you have a great landing page, continue to test and refine your message. Find out what resonates with your clients and closes the deal by asking them and then build those items into your new landing page test.