Do Your Landing Pages Suck?
Many don’t want to make the effort to find out …
I don’t know how many times I’ve clicked on a PPC ad to only “land” at a page that either doesn’t have what I am looking for, is poorly developed and/or simply doesn’t have a clue as to how to build confidence and cater to what I, as the searcher, “landed” there for.
Then, I listen to frustrated site owners who claim to be throwing away money on PPC campaigns with little to no conversions. A quick glance usually reflects not having the basics covered. One of the top mistakes is having all ads land on the top page of the site in lieu of a product specific or specially created landing page.
To help you out in making sure your site and landing pages are optimized as best they can be to encourage conversions, Google has two sites to help you do just that!
- Google’s Optimizer Web site: What if you could find the magic words and images that entice visitors to stay and become customers? You can, by testing variations of your Web site pages.
- The Official Google Web site Optimizer YouTube Channel: Google Website Optimizer videos can help you increase your Web site’s conversion rate. By testing different types of content you can design your Web site to convert more visitors into customers.
Did you notice that the word “testing” is used above? That’s because not one person on this planet can tell you emphatically what will work for your site and with your market without testing! Don’t test and experiment and you’ll never really know what works because part of testing is tracking results so you can make that determination. How you figure out that magic combo that get’s your customers to buy is determined by experimenting and testing!
Yes, there are some tried and true staples you must have in place such as:
- A quality presentation that lends to the perception of credibility and legitimacy.
- Product/service descriptions that include the details and information consumers need to make an informed decision. In other words, don’t hide the most crucial information in hopes of a potential customer filling out a form to ask for the most basic of info — they won’t. They’ll just find a site that does provide the details they seek with the least amount of effort and give their business to your competitors.
- Images and graphics that are consistent in size and quality to ensure customers can see exactly what they are paying for and that instill the perception of quality in your offerings.
- Content that is easy to read, clear in its purpose and sounds like someone with an education wrote it. No typos, mistakes in grammar or generic verbiage will do.
- Customer service contacts, policies, terms, conditions, shipping costs, time-frames — all that goes with doing business online has to be front and center. Think about the questions you have when you make an online purchase and make sure you cover that on your site — and then some.
While the above are just the basics, ensuring these issues are considered and included while testing and experimenting the various ways to present your products/services, is the only way to enjoy any tangible results.
It’s takes work and consistency, but your bottom line will love you for it!
At your service,
Judith
You may also enjoy:
- Landing Page Checklist
- Landing Page Quality = Conversions
- Does Your Landing Page Hook ‘em?
- Top 10 Domain Tips
- What Do Search Engines Want?
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