1. 11/11/2009 IST440W

2.  Let’s try a three part definition: ◦ Any page within a website… ◦ Where your marketing traffic is directed… ◦ To prompt a desired action (i.e. conversion)  Your landing page should offer a customized sales pitch to the visitor. So consider the following: ◦ Intent (navigational, informational, commercial) ◦ Demographic (age, gender, ethnicity) ◦ Where did they come from? (i.e. traffic source)

5.  A well-targeted landing page increases conversion rates  And decreases the cost of acquisition of the customer.  In Google AdWords, this results in more money to spend on your maximum bids and daily budget  Which effectively can boost and maintain your ad positions at #1 to create a forward cycle of “win” for your campaign.

6.  Ad campaign for an online store that sells iPhone accessories  What would convert better? ◦ You click on an ad for iPhone cases, and it directs you to the homepage of iPhone-Accessories- Galore.com. The homepage features thumbnail photos of all of their different product lines. ◦ You click on an ad for iPhone cases, and it directs you to the iPhone cases category page. The page offers short descriptions of each of their cases with clear pricing and “buy it now” buttons.

7.  Take a quick moment to think about your current ad groups and their landing pages.  Are you offering 100% relevant information to the searchers who are seeing your ads?  Searchers have such a wide selection of other sites to choose from that they will easily leave your site if the landing page is not perfectly targeted.

8. To boost your conversion rates

9.  IMPORTANT: Does the headline on your landing page refer directly to the ad copy that brought the visitor?  This is critical to avoid visitor confusion and bounce.  This is the most important element of your landing page, but also very commonly ignored in practice.  Also the reason why ideally we should have custom landing pages for every ad that we write.

10.  Use graphical buttons or hyperlinked text  Tell the visitor what they need to do on your page ◦ E.g. “Click here to learn more” ◦ E.g. “Make a donation today” ◦ E.g. “Sign up to our weekly newsletter”  Use a minimum of at least 2 calls to action in a single landing page.

11.  How much of your content will be seen “above the fold” of the screen? (without having to scroll down)  Make sure there is enough appeal above the fold to keep the visitor engaged right away.

12.  Hero shots on landing pages are critical in internet marketing.  Quite often, a good or a bad hero shot can make or break the visit.  A hero shot is a single dominant photo that the visitor can immediately relate to.  E.g. pic of a sexy belly for visitors seeking a weight loss product.  E.g. pic of volunteers in action for a landing page seeking volunteers

14.  If possible, get rid of all distracting elements ◦ This includes navigation bars, links to other sections  You want 100% of your visitor’s attention directed towards the custom content of the landing page.  That’s why the long sales letter-style landing pages still work today. ◦ See the next slide for an example…

16.  Eye-tracking research shows that internet users scan content in an F-shaped pattern.  Align eye-catching elements to the left (e.g. images).

17.  Even after everything presented before, ASSUME NOTHING.  At a more expert level, the truth can only be discovered through A/B tests.  Your preconception is wrong most of the time, but a well-designed split test never lies.  For more information, look up Google Website Optimizer.

18.  An exercise to apply what we learned today: ◦ Choose one of your ad groups ◦ Launch the Dreamweaver software ◦ Mock up a landing page that would MAXIMIZE conversions and MINIMIZE bounce rate for that ad group. ◦ The point of the exercise is to realize how critical it is to have SYNERGY between your keywords, ad copy, and the landing page. ◦ Once done, compare this landing page to your ad group’s current landing page