How To Make PPC Friendly Landing Pages
Struggling with your PPC campaigns? Try implementing a PPC landing page! The below is a simple guide outlining what you should consider to ensure your pages are PPC friendly.
So… You have set up your PPC campaigns, they follow all of the best practises, have highly relevant targeting and a reasonable budget. The perfect formula for success right?
Your campaigns have been running for a few weeks and you decide to login and review their performance. It is then you are met with the metrics you only hoped to see in your nightmares, high spend, zero conversions and a bounce rate above 95%. You begin to wonder where you went wrong when everything was built to align with what the marketing gurus have told you.
Although your campaigns are optimised for PPC, are your landing pages?
If not, this article will talk you through the key check points you can implement on your landing pages to improve landing page experience for the user and optimise them more for PPC.
Are Your Pages Mobile Friendly?
Browsing the internet via mobile phones has become more common now than ever, in fact the vast majority of searches are being carried out through mobile more than any other device. With this in mind you really want to be catering to these users as much as possible, right? Google thinks so too and actually prioritizes websites that are optimised for mobile.
You might be asking yourself “how do I know if my landing page is optimised for mobile?”
To help establish this, ensure your landing page ticks the following boxes:
- Fast site speed
Site speed is key, this not only makes Google happy, it will also make your visitors happy. No one wants to wait a long time for a page to load, a fast page load speed can help lower your bounce rate, making clicks far more beneficial.
You can check your page speed for free by using either of the following online tools:
–Page Speed Insights- Google Developers Guide
- Your page fits to the size of a mobile phone screen
Ensuring your page is responsive to a mobile phone limits the amount the user will have to scroll throughout the page, making overall navigation for the user a lot easier. The easier it is to navigate the page, the longer they will likely stay to read your content, improving the likelihood of a conversion.
- There is no hidden content
Ensure that all content of the page available on computer and tablet devices is also available on mobile. If not users could be missing out on vital information that may convince them to convert.
PPC Landing Page Conversion Rate Optimisation
You could have the best looking PPC landing page in the world, but if it doesn’t align with your goals and is hard to navigate, you’re not going to get the results you are likely looking for.
First of all you will need to establish the goal of your page- what you want the user to do once they have clicked on your ads.
From your landing page, do you want to generate:
-Phone calls
-Purchases
-Form submissions
-Downloads
Once you have established this, you can work on improving the layout of your page so that it caters around what you want the user to do.
Page Layout Tips
-Ensure all important information is implemented above the fold-this means in the top half of the page, i.e. phone numbers, click to call buttons, usps (unique selling points) about your business etc. This will allow users to get in touch with you easily, as well as allow them to see beneficial aspects about your business upon entering the page.
-Try to keep all of the relevant information on the same page so users are not having to navigate between multiple pages in order to come to a conclusion-the less steps required in order to convert the better.
-Implement calls to actions throughout the page to guide the viewer on what it is they need to do next. Ensure these cta’s are clickable buttons where possible. Directing the visitor through the page is a great way to improve site navigation and the user’s experience.
-If your goal is to generate form submissions, make forms quick and easy to fill out without asking questions that are too invasive. Complicated forms that take a long time to submit can be a major turn off to users and you could lose out on a potential enquiry.
-If your goal is to generate phone calls, then add click to call buttons so users can easily get in touch and don’t have to manually write/type your phone number.
Page Content
Your landing page is essentially the visitor’s first impression of your business, with this in mind it is vital you highlight the aspects about your business that would likely convince users to convert.
This could consist of any pricing reductions that make your services more affordable than your competitors, free trials, guarantees, additional services etc.
Reviews
Featuring reviews/testimonials can help build trust between yourself and the consumer, as well as give them reassurance that your business would be a beneficial choice for them.
Video Content/Tutorials
If you have a tangible product that you can feature in a video, add this to your page! Let visitors see your product in use and how great it is.
Social Media Links
Link out to your social media pages! Implementing social media links will allow users to further research your business. This not only helps legitimise your business in the eyes of the viewer, it is also a great catalyst for both brand awareness and plays a vital role in the path to purchase. When implementing social links, it is more beneficial that they open in a new tab, keeping the user on the original page. This reduces drop-off rate and improves the user’s experience on the site as they can easily return to where they were initially.
Imagery & Copy
Ensure both imagery and written content is relevant to your targeting. Relevant content can not only improve ad relevance, which in turn can improve keyword quality score within the GoogleAds platform, it can also reduce bounce rate and allows the business to appear more professional in the eyes of the consumer.
Images should also be of high quality, much like the video content, featuring the product in use would benefit the page.
Cater to your target audience with your PPC landing page content. This is not only referring to imagery but written content as well! Ensure you are writing in a way that they can relate to. This will allow the page to be more personalised and improve the connection between both yourself and the user.
Track Your Performance!
It is absolutely vital that you are tracking the performance of your page. This includes tracking purchases, form submissions, phone calls etc. as well as additional factors such as bounce rate. Tracking these will allow you to really gauge an idea of whether your page is heading in the right direction and what changes are beneficial.
Key Takeaways
In short the key takeaways to get your PPC landing pages on the right track to being PPC friendly are as follows:
- Mobile friendly-responsive to mobiles and no hidden content.
- Fast site speed.
- Optimise your landing pages to be goal focused.
- Keep important information and key unique selling points above the fold.
- Keep all relevant information on the same page.
- Make conversion actions (such as form submissions) easy to complete.
- Implement call to actions throughout the page/direct the user.
- Build trust with the user by adding reviews/testimonials and linking to social media pages.
- Show your product in use where possible.
- Ensure content is relevant to your targeting.
- Cater to your audience.
- TRACK EVERYTHING!
