How to Use Landing Page Optimization For Your Website and Local Business!
John Mignano
What does a landing page mean to you?
Do you think of PPC (pay per click campaigns) or some other form of internet advertising?
Do you use landing pages for your offline advertising also?
A landing page is a crucial web page, typically hidden from the site’s menu bar and other navigation, meaning the only way you can get to the page is to type the URL directly into the browser.
The web page is directly related to the ad campaign that listed the URL.
For example:
Only the people that have seen the ad will land on this page (because the URL isn’t advertised any where else), you as the website owner know exactly what the visitor is looking for and you can offer this immediately.
And for that reason, this type of web page is also referred to as a Dedicated Landing Page because it is dedicated only to the ad that brought in the visitors.
Landing pages are critical to your success on line; in fact, they’re often the makers or breakers of your ROI (return on investment) and ROMD (return on marketing dollar).
If you’re just getting your feet wet in the use of dedicated landing pages, I suggest starting small.
Google AdWords is a great way to start small since you can easily limit your budget.
Here are a few other tips to follow when creating your dedicated landing pages:
You must use a consistent message, this may sound logical although many business owners believe they need to have one message in the ad and another message on the landing page.
They think their visitors will get bored reading the same thing over and over, so they showcase their expertise by talking about every single one of their skills.
Look we all want to maximize our advertising dollar, yet this is actually distracting by getting out as many messages as possible and exactly the opposite of what you want to do.
Allow me to expplain…
Today’s audience is busy and overwhelmed.
Studies show you have less than 3 seconds to grab your site visitor’s attention.
You want your prospect to arrive at your dedicated landing page and immediately say “Yes, this is exactly what I came here for.”
By targeting and presenting the same message that you gave in your ad, your visitor will know he is in the right place.
A few years ago, several ingenious web marketers discovered that by removing all other distractions from your landing page.
For example: remove the navigation bar, remove your logo linking back to your home, get rid of any other offers and advertising, etc…
This is the best way to increase your conversion rate significantly.
Landing Page Optimization Tip: If you want a stronger message to market match, remove all other offers and distractions.
Of course you’ve got to test headlines and offers to see which one or combination pulls best.
There are no one-size-fits-all, do-or-die solution to increasing your landing page conversion rates.
You’ve got to know your business, know your message, and above all know your market. For some audiences, the bare bones, no graphics, no branding web page technique might look like spam.
If your branding is strong, your visitors might think they’ve landed at the wrong page.
Extremely web-cautious visitors might think it’s a phishing scheme. You get better results when you know your target audience and their expectations before you drive traffic to your landing page.
You want to do split testing, my biggest word of warning is to pay attention to all the details. Test and measure results as much as possible!
Just last week I consulted with a new client that advertised one landing page in Publication (A) and another landing page in Publication (B).
Since the second landing page received more conversions, he was convinced it was the winner and prematurely was ready to roll it out on a full scale.
However, we discovered that the demographics for Publication (A) readers were very different than Publication (B) readers.
The success of the second landing page couldn’t necessarily be attributed to the page itself, since the visitors being sent to the page were more highly qualified for the offer.
After running series of split tests, we decided the best combination was to advertise the first landing page in the second publication.
Bear in mind as you’re testing your ads and landing pages, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples.
Google Website Optimizer is a great tool for running online split tests which sends 50% of your visitors to page 1 and 50% to page 2 (you decide how to split or divide your traffic).
It’s never safe to assume just because your prospect landed on your website, he wants to respond via the internet.
If your dedicated landing page is offering a product for sale, the prospect might not want to give their credit card over the web.
You’ve got to take into consideration that your prospect might be on a computer that has scripting disabled.
The prospect might be on a shared computer and hesitant to send personal information or he might need a little more convincing before the final leap.
Whatever the case may be, different visitors may want to respond in different ways. so offer multiple ways to respond.
Make sure to include your contact information and allow your prospect to place an order (or request your free report, or sign up for your newsletter, or register for your webinar, etc)…
- Over the telephone or via Skype
- Through direct mail
- By visiting your brick and mortar location
In other words, use whatever is applicable to your own business.
Take Advantage of Your Thank You Page
Remember all the other offers and stuff that you wanted to include on your dedicated landing page?
Well, here’s a great place to take advantage of some of that content.
Your Thank You page is the web page that visitors are taken to after they have responded to the call to action on your dedicated landing page.
This is an extremely underutilised asset for most businesses.
Instead of presenting a plain old boring message like “Thank you. We received your submission and will respond shortly”…
Why not present another product for sale?
Remember, customers that have recently purchased from you are the ones most likely to purchase again.
Or how about presenting a freebie bonus offer to really win the hearts of your new customers?
You can present a survey to gather additional customer data (your customer data is your single most valuable business asset) explain a complimentary service that you offer, advertise an extended warranty, encourage your new customers to refer their friends, etc.
The possibilities for your Thank You page are almost endless,…
And since this page will typically receive a very high response rate, this is an opportunity that you definitely want to take advantage of.
In conclusion: To get the most ROI on display ads, make sure you test and use dedicated landing pages for your online marketing as well as offline marketing.