You may be tempted to rush into advertising your website online.
Let me caution you; if you don’t have all the pieces in place your expectations could get crushed by reality. Everyone expects that their landing page will earn back its keep. However, the reality is that if you bolt in without a plan and a solid foundation, your efforts will come up short.
Landing Page Tips
Your landing page is where the action happens! To assure that you get the best results possible, the devil is in the details.
Is your landing page secure and mobile-friendly?
If not, don’t waste your time, energy, or ad budget. The leading search engines now proactively warn visitors that they’re about to visit a scary website that can’t be trusted. That’s bad for your business reputation and gives people a good reason to leave your site immediately.
Social networks and other ad platforms have the traffic capacity to exhaust your ad budget, regardless of what landing page you choose to advertise. It’s your responsibility to offer an intelligently designed landing page that turns visitors into conversions and sales.
Your visitors expect a secure browsing experience. They want to know that your company takes their privacy seriously. If any details are out of place, it results in lower conversions, and higher ad spend. Effective marketing is all about having a precision focus. If your offer and landing page aren’t completely aligned, the chances are good that you’ll end up paying more for the ads. Remember, no ad network guarantees results, so it is up to you to assure that your campaign is structured correctly.
Landing Page Best Practices
Landing pages that lack conversion optimization are expensive to promote. Generic or unfocused web pages are not ideal landing pages. Many times, they lack focus or confuse the visitor, especially if they don’t find what the ad promoted quickly.
Always make sure your Landing page is optimized to get the best results from your ad budget spend.
Technical details can make the difference between the success or failure of your ad campaign. Here are some pointers to get your Landing page in alignment with today’s modern internet visitor:
Security – Does your website have a “Green Padlock” to protect visitors while they browse your site? If not, consider fixing this issue before embarking on a costly advertising campaign. (To learn more about security protocols online, please visit Google Support.)
Speed – In today’s fast-paced world, people don’t have the patience to sit around and wait for a website to pull up. A fast loading landing page improves the overall user experience and reduces bounce rates. Further, access to AMP pages helps to resolve common issues with site speed.
Focused Navigation – The more direction you offer your visitors, the better – especially when working with conversion goals in mind. (IE: Sign up for a newsletter or complete a sales transaction.) If your page has ten other navigation options available, the chances are high your visitor will meander around your site for a while and leave.
While this approach might be great for brand awareness or generic traffic generation, it isn’t a perfect fit for meeting conversion goals.
Responsive Design – In 2011 the amount of mobile internet traffic was relatively insignificant. Fast forward to the present day. The use of mobile devices to access the internet now surpasses desktop traffic. As you can imagine, this change in user habits has changed the playing field for all website owners and operators. If your site doesn’t look great on mobile, you lose out on this valuable traffic.
Calls To Action – If you’ve ever visited a favorite tourist spot, such as Orlando Florida, you probably noticed there are signs posted everywhere. These signs help “out of towners” find what they’re looking for – whether it’s an attraction or an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. The same rules apply when building an effective landing page. “Calls To Action” are the equivalent of roadside signs. By telling people where to click or what to do, you increase the chances they take the desired action.
Breaking down in any of these critical areas degrades the user experience and burns advertising budgets. The modern web visitor is savvy and expects an optimal experience. Errors or weaknesses detract from the brand.
For many companies who have invested time, effort, and money building a top reputation, the thought of throwing away credibility on a web visit is painful. The only solution is to square away all aspects of the landing page before launching an ad campaign or other steps to increase traffic.
It’s one thing to have one poor performance with a potential customer.
It’s altogether another to come up short for every encounter!
Don’t discount your visitors and their satisfaction. They demand fast-loading, informative and functional web pages. Shortchange them at your peril!
If it’s been a while since your site was new, now is an ideal time to upgrade. New technology, specific web pages in combination with a focused advertising campaign is a strategy for online business success!