Landing pages are crucial for both SEO and PPC, so if you find that your pages have a high CTR but a low conversion rate then it might be because your landing pages aren’t conversion friendly. In this article we are going to discuss how to create a great landing page for PPC that actually works, but these tips can be applied to SEO landing pages too!
It is important to remember that your PPC ads should never be targeted to your homepage. Your homepage is likely to contain a lot of varied information about you, your services, your business, promotions you are running, etc., so your customers may miss the desired action you want them to take. Traffic from PPC ads should always be driven to a relevant landing page where the desired action is clear and all the information the user is looking for is there to be discovered.
If you already have landing pages on your site, or are currently in the process of PPC landing page design, keep reading to see what elements your landing pages need in order to convert traffic into sales.
Improve your Page Speed
Speed is an important factor to potential customers and it is also a Google ranking signal, so if your landing pages don’t load in less than 3 seconds it is likely that the user will bounce and look elsewhere. Ensure that your site speed is up to scratch by checking your domain on Google’s Page Speed tool and implement the recommended changes.
Consider your Website Design
How is your website looking these days? Is there a lot of white space and ads scattered around your site? If your website isn’t visually appealing to users, it’s likely they will go looking for a site that is. Consider revamping your site and giving it a new look by adding a colour scheme that you can follow throughout the site and add some imagery to add extra value to your content. Imagery such as infographics are great at keeping a user on page and are also very popular on social media.
Keep The User Interested
If a potential customer clicked through to your site from a banner ad or a PPC ad, they were enticed by whatever your ad was offering. If in the headline of your PPC ad (or banner) you said “Download Your Free Fail Proof Business Strategies White Paper” then you should include this in the headline of your landing page in order to ensure consistency as well as keep the user on the page. It only takes a visitor a few seconds to decide whether or not they are interested in what you are offering, so repeating the phrase that initially attracted their attention will increase their time on page and the likelihood they will convert.
Write Enticing Page Content
A potential customer has a question and you hold the answer. Your landing pages should problem solve and give the user the information that they are searching for. Your task from the second a user lands on your page is to tell them why they need your product/service, and what you have to offer.
Visitors want to be able to find the purpose of the landing page quickly, so don’t pad out the page with paragraphs of irrelevant or repetitive text. Keep your landing page copy short and sweet; make your content clear and relevant to the ad with a clear message of what you want them to do after reading. Don’t forget to include the copy from your ad in your landing page copy, as this is one of the factors Google considers when determining whether or not your ad should appear for users search queries. If you have specific points that you want to particularly push in front of your audience, then use bullet points for a more user-friendly experience.
Amend Meta Data
When was the last time you reviewed your title tags and meta descriptions? If your descriptions are misleading and no longer reflect the content of the page, you need to change these otherwise users will bounce because the page doesn’t deliver what it promised.
You only have 155 characters to write a concise, informative description that will let users know what the page contains – make it count.
Consider Mobile
It has never been more important for your site to be mobile optimisation – especially now that you could get a site wide penalty for not being optimised! Mobile searches have recently outshined desktop searches in the UK so you could be missing out on a large percentage of your demographic is you don’t cater to their preferred device.
Include Clear Call to Actions
Having an attractive, fast and mobile friendly website is not enough to drive sales! Although the above points are important factors of optimising your landing pages, if you have no call to actions on your page how are you encouraging the user to invest in your service? Don’t be modest, if you are doing something that your competitors aren’t – announce it! Is there a limited time sale on or a free download available? These call to actions will drive more sales and keep the user on the page longer. Simple call to actions such as ‘Buy now’, ‘Download’ and ‘Get a free quote’ can make a significant difference to how your landing pages perform.
It needs to be crystal clear to a user what action they should take, so don’t confuse your visitors by having multiple different conversion points on your landing page. If your ad is promoting your free white paper download then the ONLY conversion action the user should be able to take on that page is to download the whitepaper. Having floating subscriptions widgets, quick enquiry forms or other action points will become a distraction to the user and may see your conversion rate decline because your desired action isn’t clear.
Remove Pop-Ups
We are in an age of ad-blocking and preventing disruptive advertisements, so it should be no surprise that users aren’t overly keen on annoying pop-up messages as soon as they land on your website.
Users like to feel like they can freely browse your website without being bombarded with unnecessary, and sometimes irrelevant, marketing messages. Whilst pop-ups do have their place on your website, they can appear pushy if used many times within one session. A subtle, easily to exit pop-up encouraging users to sign up to your newsletter is fine but a pop-up on every new page load about your daily deals or new product launch is too aggressive and will cause users to bounce.
Minimise Distractions
Whilst imagery is usually a great tactic in order to keep users interested and on your page longer, in this case it may have an opposite effect. Imagery and other clutter may distract the user from completing your desired action. Images of what you are offering are good practice, but keep it to a maximum of one image so your calls to actions aren’t diminished.
Maximise Visibility
Ensure that the desired action you want the user to take is prominent on the page; it needs to be in their face and be their main focus. For your white paper download you could include a large download form on the right-hand side of your landing page so they don’t have to scroll to complete the action. Use contrasting colours and large buttons to draw the user’s attention to your end goal.
Consider Colour Theory
There are several factors known to play a role in online success, however, one you may not have considered before is colour theory. It’s no secret that, in past years, the internet has come to heavily favour the aspect of aesthetics; if your website is not visually appealing enough, many users visiting your page will more than likely leave after just a few seconds of scrolling.
The basics of colour psychology may come across as fairly simple to some, i.e. green is used to bring around thoughts of nature and blue to present a calmer feel, while red can be linked to passion. However, these colours can also be subsequently linked to sickness, coldness, and anger, potentially having an adverse effect on your possible customers depending upon the context in which they are used within your company website’s design.
When implementing colours psychology to the design on your website, there are a total of three core issues that need to be considered within the decision-making process, these are psychological, cultural, and physical.
Physical aspects are the easiest to address, concerning those of visual impairment, such as those that may be colour blind. Your site should be easily accessible to everyone, but it should be kept in mind that, for some individuals, directions such as ‘click on the red button to learn more’ are not always the easiest to follow. It is vital to ensure that your website is easy to both access and navigation regardless of the sight held by your users.
Cultural factors also need to be taken into account, just as languages differ around the world, so do cultural perceptions and, consequently, views of varying colours. For example, in China, the colour yellow is associated with heroism, while in America the colour could potentially be associated with fearfulness and weakness due to the use of various phrases such as ‘yellow bellied’. Research into factors such as this is necessary when targeting your website to a number of countries; you want to make sure that your website is gender, age, and culturally appropriate.
When considering the psychological impact of colours upon the impression that your business website gives its visitors, it is important to, first of all, find the colours that suit your overall image and branding goals. A solicitor would opt for colours that convey trust and a great level of professionalism, where a toy shop is more likely to go for bright, fun colours that portray entertainment and happiness. This helps to set the tone of your website as a whole before you begin to look at other colours that give varying desired effects. For instance, under the circumstance that your business is undergoing a sale and you wish to draw the attention of your potential customers toward this, using red banners and lettering can be a great and very effective way to do so. Red is commonly considered a very impulsive colour, but it can also contribute to a sense of tension, creating an urge for visitors to look into your sale further. This method can also be used to encourage users to check out price drops and other various deals.
Find out more information on landing page optimisation here or get in touch with the team at In Front for more details on how we can improve your PPC campaigns.