If you’re running a PPC campaign on Google, Facebook, YouTube, or anywhere else on the web you should be using landing pages. According to Marketing Sherpa business can double conversion rates just by simply directing PPC campaigns to special landing pages. Marketing Sherpa also went on to state that if landing pages are fine tuned and measured businesses can increase conversion rates by 48% or more. If you’re not using landing pages now is an excellent time to implement a change in your PPC campaigns.
Let’s consider a random Adwords campaign. The ad below appears on the right hand column of Google’s search results, directly beside organic search engine results. The specific keyword used is “internet marketing”. The ad then directs visitors to their blog site as opposed to a special landing page. According to Google traffic estimator the keyword “internet marketing” has an estimated 169-206 clicks per day ranging between $169-$206 USD per day based on a max PPC rate of $1 per click. At minimum this particular campaign will bring in over $5070 USD per month. However, the reason why this campaign and many similar campaigns fail is because they simply direct traffic on the idea that website visitors will actually find their way to the landing page.

According to Anil Batra, the VP of Ijento, a consumer intelligence company, PPC campaigns that have unique landing pages have a significantly lower bounce rate than those without unique landing pages. The average drop rate across all campaign verticals is a whopping 25% variation between unique landing pages and no unique landing page. Using the example above we can determine that of the estimated 1,267 visitors will not proceed beyond the first page if there is no unique landing page. This equates to a loss of $1,276 USD on the low end to $1,565 on the high end. This does not even consider other variables like the exit rate and conversion ratios. If the campaign continues over a 12 month period then we’re basically looking at a loss of more than $15,000 USD. What’s even more disappointing is that all of this can be avoided if the company decided to implement a landing page for their PPC campaign.

You might be wondering, “what if we just directed that traffic to a features page, purchase page, service page, e-commerce cart, or wimpy blog post?” Well, you’d still have to deal with shopping cart abandonment and increased exit rates. The bottom line is you’re spending more money to direct customers to random pages as opposed to unique landing pages that actually work to capture information making your campaign more profitable and more successful especially since you are incorporating lead generation strategies.

Transforming a Haphazard Campaign into a Profitable Business Activity

The first step towards rectifying this revenue drain is to simply create unique landing pages for every campaign. Now we don’t expect you to spend weeks on end creating the ideal landing page. Instead find a landing page service like Hubspot that will help you easily generate high converting landing pages in no time flat. These services also help you integrate functions like A/B split testing. Analytics is always going to be a fundamental requirement for every landing page because it will help you modify and improve your campaigns to achieve optimal results.

Best Landing Page Practices

It’s obvious landing pages are not a faulty trend– they are actually either responsible for more profitable campaigns or in their absence a larger spend on advertising for equal results. Here are some best practices to help you build your first high converting landing page.

Know your customers

Remember your customers are the heart and soul of your business. Know who they are design pages around what pleases them. At this point it’s important to have a high level understanding of your consumer segments and target audience.

Make an offer sane people can’t refuse

Here’s the deal. You should not work hard to showcase Cracker Jack treats. People want more after all you’re asking them for their private a personal information so make the offer one they can’t refuse.

Enhance your offer

Boring landing pages are not criticized for their simplicity but rather the inability to make important messages standout. If you want visitors to pay attention to particular content you must design the information to catch their attention. This includes graphics, fonts, color, and video.

Create a platform of trust

Visitors need some assurance that your offer is not a waste of their time and of course that sharing their information is safe. Provide testimonials, offer guarantees, and be transparent about your business.

Final Thoughts

Creating unique landing pages is one of the most effective ways to run successful PPC campaigns. The good news is you don’t have to do it alone. If you need help doing so, just contact us and we’ll help guide you through the process.

Need Help?

If creating “Fail-Proof” landing pages is something that you are interested in but don’t know how to get started, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.