Website Formats for PPC Campaigns

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September 24th, 2007 by Nick

You can have the best pay-per-click campaign in the world, but if it isn't directing traffic and online search queries to a well designed, professional looking website it is all in vain. Whether a conversion is an online sale, a completed enquiry form, a phone call, a downloaded coupon or whatever, a website needs to be just as organised and well structured as the pay-per-click campaign that supports it.

Rule number one: all high volume, generic keywords need a specific landing page. If someone uses a search engine to find a “Bad Credit Remortgage Broker”, for example, the first thing they want to see when they click on an ad is a webpage with a big heading that says “Bad Credit Remortgage Brokers.” This may sound obvious, but it is worth emphasising. Too many specific search queries are directed to home pages or non specific webpages that encompass too many product or service categories. For instance, “cheap HD DVDs” search queries may land on a webpage selling new DVDs, used DVDs, HD DVDs, Blue-Ray DVDs and DVD rentals. Not good. Separate webpages (along with separate campaigns or ad groups) for (1) New DVDs, (2) Used DVDs, (3) HD DVDs, (4) Blu-Ray DVDs and (5) DVD Rentals, please.

Other golden rules to follow include:

Less is more. Too often, a landing page is cluttered with a wealth of information. If they have the time (unlikely if the user is comparison shopping), the user is required to scroll down too far (annoying if you have to use a mouse-less laptop) and read pages and pages of text. Big mistake – these webpages never convert. In their simplest form, the best landing pages have a big, bold heading; a brief, intriguing opening gambit; several bullet points of USPs and a strong call to action followed by a enquiry form, checkout facility, contact number or whatever is required for a conversion to take place.
The less is more rule applies twice as much when it comes to enquiry forms. There’s no way around it – everyone hates filling out these forms. And the longer you make them, the fewer the number of visitors who will reach the end and click ‘submit’. There’s nothing worse than seeing “Page 1 of 5” when you are filling out an online enquiry form, application form or quotation form. Keep only the fields that are 101% necessary when designing or reviewing enquiry forms. It is better to get additional information from a follow up call, than to lose the leads altogether.
Avoid the use of meaningless pictures. Too often, for ambiance and/or to obtain some kind of vague aesthetic feel to a website, a company will place a meaningless picture on their landing pages (usually it’s a picture of a man, woman or family showing off pearly white teeth). If these take pictures take attention away from critical USPs and from what you ultimately want the website visitor to do, then Joe Bloggs and the nuclear family need to go. If I’m looking for a “Bad Credit Remortgage Broker” online, I want to pertinent information on bad credit remortgages when I land on a website – not an irrelevant picture of smiling, pretty face wearing a call centre headset.

With these top tips, you’re website landing pages can’t go wrong!

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