Effective ads entice viewers to click through, but a click isn’t necessarily a conversion. Landing pages help drive conversions with a strategically planned experience.
What makes a good landing page? How can businesses use these pages to increase the effectiveness of PPC advertising?
The website design and PPC experts at Forge Apollo in Philadelphia are here to cover everything your business needs to know.
Landing Page vs Website
Landing pages and websites differ in their purpose. A website serves multiple purposes to help visitors at every point of the buyer’s journey, from awareness to conversion. A landing page serves a single goal in that journey. The Philadelphia web design team at Forge Apollo ensures that websites match each step of your customer journey to drive conversions.
Search Landing Pages vs PPC Landing Pages
Landing pages created for search vs PPC are different. While both aim to get a visitor to take action, each is optimized differently.
Search landing pages are optimized for SEO with the intent of organic discovery in search results for a particular search query. Keeping users on the site and engaged is a win for these pages, even if the user doesn’t take action on that exact page.
PPC landing pages are optimized to be part of a user’s interaction with an ad. They aim to keep users on that exact page to take that single action.
What Are the Key Components of a Landing Page for Ads?
When designing a lead generation landing page, or a landing page for PPC ads, use the following components to make the offer clear and nurture the user toward conversion:
- Headline and Image – A prominent headline and relevant image should grab the user’s attention.
- Call to Action – Direct the user to take the desired action. If a form here is too clunky, use a button that takes them to a form farther down the page.
- Offer Features – Include the features of your offer and how they’re relevant to the user’s pain points.
- Offer Benefits – Many marketers forget this crucial part–make the benefits of completing your call to action clear so users understand why they should complete the CTA.
- Example of the Offer – Whether it’s a product photograph, a brief case study, or some other preview, show the user what they’re getting from the offer.
- Testimonials – Building trust is critical. Include a few reviews of your company, the product, or the service.
Landing Page Dos and Donts
Now that we’ve covered the basics of which attributes describe a good landing page experience, let’s dive deeper into crucial landing page dos and don’ts to remember.
Do: Give a Landing Page One Job
Before creating a landing page, settle on a single call to action on the page.
A study by Unbounce found that landing pages with a single call to action have an average conversion rate of 13.5%, whereas pages with 2-4 links only convert at 11.9%, and those with five or more only converted at 10.5%.
Don’t: Distract the User
Similarly, don’t distract the user from that single CTA. There should be no header navigation on the page because the user should only have the option to stay on that page.
There should also be no internal or external links that take them away from the landing page.
Do: Match The Ad’s Messaging
Make sure that when a user clicks on the ad that brings them to the landing page, they see similar messaging as the ad’s content.
For example, if Forge Apollo ran an ad about our award-winning video production team, it wouldn’t make sense to link to a landing page about our website designs.
Further, if the ad text promoted our video quality, the landing page heading shouldn’t switch to a message about low production costs.
Don’t: Forget About the Design
According to Xerox, colorful imagery increases readership by 80%. Also, 94% of first impressions on a website are based on design.
A landing page is likelier to engage and impress with a quality design.
Do: Pay Attention to Loading Speed
The conversion rate for sites that load in one second is three times higher than for sites that load in five seconds.
A fast loading speed is critical for capturing user attention and avoiding the dreaded bounce.
Do: Include Social Proof
Unbounce also found that pages including social proof had higher conversion rates. These signals build trust with the user and can include things like reviews, customer photos, and user-generated content.
Don’t: Forget to Test Pages
20% of companies with landing pages have no testing strategy. Implement a plan to test which CTAs, design choices, and messaging influence conversion rates the most.
PPC Landing Page Designers in Philadelphia
PPC landing pages are essential in ad campaigns because they take the user through that final step from click to conversion. An experienced PPC agency in Philadelphia can help your brand craft the perfect pages for your campaign. Contact the PPC and web design experts at Forge Apollo to improve your ads with effective landing pages.
