In a previous article I wrote about the Adwords Quality Score and in it I wrote that one of the factors that Google takes into account is the landing page. In this article, I give some tips on how to increase the effectiveness of your landing page to both increase your Quality Score and increase your conversion rate.
1. Keep it simple
The general aim for a good landing page is to state the customer need, state the solution, and then demonstrate that you are perfect to provide that solution. With a landing page, you don’t need links going off in every direction. You don’t need to clutter the page and explain the unnecessary particulars about your product.
2. Make it neat
The design for a landing page has to be very neat and extremely easy to read. Often when people are searching for something, they will have multiple tabs open and will just scan a site to assess its relevance. Even if your site IS relevant, if the viewer can’t find the content (or the content is unappealing to read), they will disregard your site and move on.
Your page also has to look trustworthy. A site that looks like it was shoddily put together will turn buyers off and lower your conversion rates. It’s important to have a clean and professional look and feel so that buyers feel safe making purchases.
3. Answer customer questions
Rather than push your product directly at the customer, structure your landing page so that you’re answering customer concerns whilst pushing your product. A good example comes from one of my clients, Skydive Nagambie. Skydive Nagambie offers skydives from a higher altitude than anywhere else in Victoria, but when a customer has questions about skydiving, they usually don’t even realise that altitude should be a factor in their decision, and 95% of people don’t ever ask about it. So, while we mention our competitive advantage, we focus on other things like safety and price, because that’s the information that customers are after.
4. Establish yourself as a leading provider
So your customer is satisifed that your product will suit his/her needs. Job done right? Nope! Your landing page has to also demonstrate why the product is best purchased from YOU. Ideally it should be a competitive advantage you have, and not something airy fairy like “excellent customer service”. Everyone expects “excellent customer service”, and every business that is around for any length of time provides it.
Another way to establish yourself as a leading provider is through testimonials and samples. In the example landing page below, you can see how samples can be used to give credibility.
5. Call to action, incentives to convert
Don’t make the customer figure out what to do next. TELL THEM! It should be very clear and easy to take the next step and make a purchase.
Some businesses may have an extra little something to offer as a bonus when they convert - maybe a free ebook or a free report.
6. Quality Score stuff
If you’re suffering from a low quality score, theres things you can do to your landing page to increase it.
1. Decrease the load time of your landing page - Google has recently started taking the load time of your page into account. Read official google announcement.
2. If you have a form on your landing page, have a link to a privacy policy and be clear and upfront about how you use the data you collect.
3. Some people have reported that having a link to a sitemap increases quality score.
4. Make sure the content on your landing page is relevant and original.
For Googles official advice and more details on how to increase the quality score of your landing page, Googles landing page quality guidelines can be found here.
Source - http://www.lukevdp.com/2009/01/04/6-adwords-landing-page-design-tips-and-an-example/
