Pay per click (PPC) advertising can be one of the most rewarding components of your online marketing plan, but the landing page that you use in your ads could determine how successful you ultimately become. There is no question that a PPC campaign will pull in increased targeted traffic to your website or blog, but are you ready to actually convert that traffic into sales?
It's much easier to get someone to find your link in a search results thread and click it than it is to get them to actually stay on your site for more than the blink of an eye. Remember, your competitors are also using PPC and getting that increased targeted traffic. If your landing page is not highly compelling and focused on the information your searchers want to find, they can simply click back to the search engine and click on your competitor.
Following are 5 components of a highly successful landing page. Without all of these elements in place, your PPC campaign is not going to be as effective as it could be!
Well Designed
Do not even start paying for PPC ads until you have a very well designed, visually appealing landing page. The colors should be welcoming and warm and the overall design should highlight and enhance the words on the page, rather than distract away from them. It should also have a professional appearance and a look of authority.
Well Spoken
Once you have the design in place, it is time to start adding content to the landing page. If you cannot write grammatically correct text in a conversational style that pulls the reader in from the very first line, do yourself a favor and either brush up on your writing skills or hire a freelancer.
A landing page riddled with grammar mistakes looks unprofessional and will drive many visitors away almost immediately. Content that is difficult to read or which makes little sense will run virtually every reader off within moments of reading the first paragraph.
Your content must flow nicely and must be conversational so you reach out to your reader and pull them into your world.
Focused Content
You cannot just place random bits of content on a landing page. This isn't the same thing as a personal blog! Every word on the page must contribute to your ultimate goal: convincing these visitors that they want to click through to your website and find out more.
In order to do that, the landing page content must be directly related to your website. You cannot fill a landing page with information about baby strollers and then lead your visitors to a website about diapers. Yes, parents are looking for both of those products but the ones you are talking to on that landing page want strollers at the moment!
Entertaining/Compelling
One big mistake of landing page content is to be too dull or dry. You don't want to sound like an entry in Wikipedia. You want fresh content that delivers valuable information to the reader without giving too much away. Pages that entertain with language and tone will convert more people than boring fluff.
Call to Action
Finally, your landing page must have a call to action that tells the reader exactly what you want them to do with the information presented. What should they do next, and why should they do it?
