If are using Adwords, you might be wondering why do I need a landing page if I already have a website? An optimized landing page that is relevant to your ad, drives more sales and leads than your homepage. Conversions are the percentage of leads you get based on your total clicks. For example, if you had 50 conversions from 1,000 clicks, then your conversion rate is 5%. According to WordStream, the average conversion rate across all industries is only 2%. Ideally, if your landing page is converting at 10% of higher, you are killing it. Here, we will share some insanely simple tips to improve your landing page conversion rate.
Clear, Relevant & Empathic Headline
Don’t beat around the bush. Your headline must match your Adwords ad. If your ad mentions one product then your landing page needs to follow through and showcase that particular product to be effective. It is crucial to emphasize the benefits of your product or service and how they can solve your prospect’s problems. 80% of people will read your headline but only 20% of those people will read the rest of your content so a strong headline is key to increasing your conversion rate.
Outline Benefits & Be Transparent
Share relevant information about your business and the benefits of your advertised product or service in a language that your target market understands. Your content needs to directly answer the user’s search query, mirror your Adwords ad’s messaging, and support your headline. You only have a few seconds to grab people’s attention be specific, brief and get to the point. If necessary, break up your content into more digestible chunks by using subheadings and bulleted lists. Most searchers, especially mobile users, are in a rush so eliminate the fluff.
Relevant Images & Video
Images and especially video are the secret weapon to conversion optimization because we respond to them without thinking. You see an image on a website, you act automatically. Adding images and/or video that support your content can significantly increase retention and more effectively persuade your target market. Images are not decoration. If you are selling a product, show the image. If you are selling a service, show the outcome or attitude. Prospects are much more likely to buy something after watching a video so include a short, custom video that shows off your advertised product or service to generate more leads and sales.
Remove Extraneous Links
One of the reasons why linking your Adwords ad to your website does not work is because people get lost. Users can get lost in your navigation, social media feed or exit your site altogether if you have included external links. You can remove all of these distractions with a landing page.
Clear & Contrasting Call-to-Action
Just like your Adwords ad, your landing page needs one, clear call-to-action. Whether you want your prospects to fill out a form, buy a product or subscribe to your blog, be sure to make it known what you want them to do. The button should be bold and stand out from the rest of your page. When all else fails, you can include an exit intent popup to give them an incentive to stay like a coupon for the product they want to buy.
Short Lead Capture Form
People are always reluctant to give away so keep your form down to 3-6 fields and only make the absolute necessary fields required like name, email, and phone. Since the best converting spot is the upper right corner, be sure that your form shows above the fold. Ensure that your page is free of clutter by giving your form breathing room and that everything on your page supports your ultimate goal: form submission.
Elicit Trust & Authority
To successfully convert your prospects, you must gain their trust first. Show them proof of what your product or service can do with a specific, measurable claim or a video of your customers and watch your conversions soar. If you cannot get your customers on video, show real pictures of them with their testimonials to set the record straight. Nothing can sell or generate leads better than loyal customers singing your praises. Finally, be sure to feature authority websites like if your business is accredited by the BBB or if your checkout has uses VeriSign to ensure secure transaction processing.
Mobile-Friendly
Even though it is 2017 and mobile users are now the majority, some small businesses still do not use responsive web design. If your landing page is not mobile-friendly, you are likely losing out on over half of your leads and likely paying more per click due to a lower quality score.
Fast Loading
If your landing page takes longer than three seconds to load, you are likely losing over half of your visitors. Optimizing your loading time improves your user experience and happy users mean more conversions. Here are some simple tips to reduce your loading time:
- Ask your web host to use GZIP compression
- Remove inline styles, have your CSS and Javascript files load externally and minimize the number of files used
- Use the “save for web” option in Photoshop to optimize your images to the exact size that you need them; Don’t use HTML or WordPress to resize
- Install a WordPress caching plugin like W3 Total Cache
- Embed videos with YouTube instead of directly uploading to your landing page
You can lose a lot of visitors if your landing page takes too long to load, especially for mobile visitors so it is critical to test your mobile speed.
Our Adwords Ad & Landing Page
Here is a screenshot of our Adwords ads and the mobile-friendly landing page that it links to that has a conversion rate of 16%.
In Conclusion
Adwords is a great way to drive more traffic and supplement your SEO strategy as it is impossible to rank on the first page of Google for all of your relevant search terms. Hopefully, this post has taught you how to optimize your landing page and get the most out of your Adwords budget. Contact us if you need a San Francisco web design and development team to improve your Adwords conversion rate.