5 Google Instant Preview PPC Ad to Landing Page Considerations

Google has begun testing “instant previews” for pay-per-click ads. This means it is now more important than ever to ensure your landing page design and layout look great and are optimized.

Example of Google PPC Instant Preview

Here are 5 really important considerations for making sure a preview of your landing pages helps you win the click (and win the conversion post-click):

1. Make sure your page is clean, scannable and the call-to-action is clear. If a searcher has to choose between a landing page that is 12 miles long and busy looking and a page that is short and to the point, which do you think they will choose to explore? Which one looks like less work? Which one appears to provide a quicker path towards getting what he/she wants or needs?
    
2. Make sure your page is branded. Google allowing visitors to see your landing page without even clicking the ad provides a huge branding opportunity.  We have always encouraged marketers to brand their landing pages. Well-known brands can establish instant trust be leveraging their branding, and small companies can begin increasing awareness and good will towards their brand by associating them with well-crafted landing pages. 
    
3. If you’re selling a product on your landing page, you’ll likely want a large image above the fold.  And be sure it’s an image of the right product — the one that matches the keyterm the searcher used to find your ad.
    
4. Your headline should be big, clear and match your ad. No longer is promising one thing in your ad enough to get you the click. Now visitors will be able to see if the actual page matches their search query and is relevant. If it’s not, what reason do they have to click and further explore your options?
    
5. Your copy should also have tight message match. Google will highlight the content on your landing page that is most relevant — make sure there is something for them to highlight to entice visitors to click.

These tips sound awfully familiar? They’re the same landing page optimization tips we typically talk about. They’re just doubly important now because the look-and-feel of the landing page will not only convert visitors into leads/customers but also help draw them in. 

For more tips, read through our 15 building blocks of great post-click marketing.

Are you making any changes to your landing pages as a result of instant previews? Leave a comment below.

21 landing page tips shared in #CROchat this year

Image created by #CROchat contributor, @gatzseoIt’s been eight months since we all started gathering on Thursdays at 10am PT/ 1pm ET to discuss conversion optimization in #CROChat. We’ve shared advice on testing, design, personas and more in both the lead gen and ecommerce spaces. And now it’s time to step back and reflect.

#CROchat will be taking a brief pause through the end of the year, and will return with fresh energy and ideas in 2011. That doesn’t mean though we shouldn’t still use the #CROchat tag to talk with each other and share conversion marketing tips. We must never stop sharing and learning! I’ll still frequently be using the #CROChat hashtag and hope you will too.

Here are 21 of my favorite landing page tips shared in #CROchat this year:

1. Some very important things to measure on the landing page include: time spent on page, registration numbers, behaviors (both that lead to conversions and bounces), keyword performance, and number of pages per visit.
2. Some key micro-conversions to track: downloads, social engagements, and video views.
3. To track conversions that take place offline you can use: coupons, promo codes, and tracked phone numbers. You should also train your sales reps to track this kind of info.
4. Getting the wrong people to bounce is a good thing!
5. Test what you measure and see how that impacts the evolution of your campaigns.
6. Conversion rate optimization and SEO balance each other out. 
7. SEO should be followed up by conversion rate optimization. Rankings lead to site traffic, but site traffic does not always lead to conversions.
8. Highly specific conversion bait is likely to be much more specific than link bait.
9. Landing page pet peeves: wrong message, information overload, and poor design.
10. When implementing video, beware of auto-play and make sure your video loads quickly and smoothly.
11. Homemade videos don’t seem to hurt conversions. Test them!
12. When working within a shopping cart, only ask for what you need and store addresses in user accounts when possible.
13. Using a progress bar will help set user expectations when dealing with both multi-part forms and shopping carts.
14. Monitoring Average Order Value (AOV) helps show the quality not just quantity of online sales.
15. Data transparency works when it’s understandable by all and impartial; filtered data is always skewed.
16. Testing price points on the landing page is important because value is in the eye of the beholder.
17. After “what’s in it for me?” the most important question is, “how much?”
18. When it comes to price on the web, the competitor’s price is a search away.
19. Include trust elements and social proof on your landing page to increase conversions.
20. Segment your visitors to increase your ability to provide really targeted information and offers.
21. Analyzing behavioral analytics gives us insight into user behaviors that lead to and away from conversions.

I’m sure we’ll still see each other around the #CROchat watering hole during the next couple of months, and I’ll definitely still be tweeting with you about landing pages from the @ioninteractive account.

Happy tweeting and in the words of frequent #CROchat contributor, Carey Gatz: cro rulez.

Sincere apologies and lessons learned

What a day. Last night a prospect emailed us about a fulfillment piece we use as conversion bait and set off a chain of events that is just now coming to a close. As it turns out — we may be the post-click experts — but we are fallible. In a big way.

Good intentions. Bad result.

Near the end of August we released all new support resources for our customers. This was a huge upgrade for them — better content, better search, better help and so on. We moved hundreds of pages of support content from our website to our new support platform. And launched flawlessly, sort of…

For technical reasons, we couldn’t redirect the old URLs to the new. But we did a bunch of things to mitigate the impact on users — or so we thought.

The piece we didn’t consider was older PDF files distributed all over the web. One in particular spent the last two months silently haunting us, until last night.

Thank goodness for a prospect angry enough to vent.

Our ‘31 Ways to Improve Your Landing Pages’ post and PDF fulfillment have been great drivers of conversions for us. We use the PDF as conversion bait in paid search with hundreds of conversions each month.

‘31 Ways’ includes 31 links back to our website. But for the past 60 days, those 31 links have found only 404 errors. That’s right, the ‘post-click experts’ have delivered thousands of 404s to our most important visitors — after they’ve converted.

Last night an angry prospect finally called us out and brought the issue to our attention. But for nearly two months no one at ion knew. And for those two months we were spreading bad brand all over the web. Our good intentions are meaningless to those affected. Our reputation is sullied and surely our business was and will be impacted. It’s bad all around.

But what if our angry prospect hadn’t called us out? Each day we would have continued to unknowingly damage our brand and our business. (And yes, we do have SEO monitoring in place. And no, we were still blissfully unaware of the problem.)

Lessons learned for all of us as online marketers.

We’ve fixed the broken links. And of course, we’ll reach out to the affected visitors and try and make it up to them. But we can’t take back the 60 days of brand damage.

What I’ve learned from the last 18 hours is that we have to be very careful in terms of what we distribute as marketers and how we maintain the continuity of our programs over time. Things live on beyond our memory and beyond our technical evolution. And those things can have tremendous impact our brands.

I sincerely apologize to all of those affected by our mistake. And I’m forever grateful to one prospect engaged (and angry) enough to vent. Thanks to you, we learned a lot.

5 Ideas for boosting your landing page conversion rates

As you start digging into your holiday campaigns, and begin thinking deeper about your plans for 2011, I’d like to offer these ideas for boosting your landing page conversion rates. 

1. Differentiate - It’s so easy to fall into the pattern of following patterns; this is especially true in the world of landing pages. It’s easy to always use the same formula: headline, subhead, image, form, blah blah boring.
   
   In a post on landing page differentiation earlier this week Anna said, “I get what drives these similarities - if the format works, why break it?” but she also asks, “Isn’t it our responsibility as marketers to push outside the boundaries to find something that both works and helps us stand apart from the competitive fray?” And the answer is, of course, yes.
   
   In a competitive world where everyone is starting to look the same:
   
   
   Do you dare to be different? 
   
   
   In this case it lead to a HUGE lift in conversions. 


2. Mirror your target - Help your landing page visitors quickly picture themselves as a customer. Swap out images, videos, headlines and copy as needed based on what you know about your audience. Maybe your male audience should see this:
   
   
   While your female visitors see the above image with the female model. A strong visual cue that says “Look! You’re just what we’re looking for” can quickly win you the conversion. 


3. Be credible - Your landing pages should convey a strong sense of trust. If you’re a big brand, you’ll likely be able to achieve this easily through brand recognition, but if you’re smaller you have to win the trust. Two of the most effective ways to do this are through: expert recommendations and independent recognition through peers (testimonials, reviews, rewards). We also recommend using client or customer logos and media mentions to build trust and credibility. 


4. Have velocity - Test many landing pages, and often. In the least you should have one landing page dedicated to each ad campaign you’re running, but having many very specific landing pages can help increase your conversion rates. 
   
   For instance, when we started working with Overland Storage that had less than five landing pages and also less than a 1% conversion rate. After they started creating thousands of campaign specific landing pages their conversion rate increased to 8% (double the industry average!). And they’re not the only ones, when we started working with Bronto Software their conversion rate was 2% and they also had less than 5 landing pages. They now have thousands and are converting at 18%.
   
   You may be thinking that you don’t have the resources to work on that many pages, but it probably isn’t true. If you’re working with landing page templates and landing page software, you can do it. Read their case study here, and an interview with their director of lead generation here.


5.  Experiment - This one goes along with differentiate. Don’t be afraid to create outside-the-box landing pages. Test what you know works against what you’re not sure of. Try using tabs, try multi-step pages, swap out an image for a video, try anything that can get you a conversion lift. 
   
   One really important thing that is easy to forget in the world of landing page testing is that your pages should be disposable. Testing a page means going through lots of trial and error, being able to make fast edits/tweaks, and getting new, optimized pages out as fast as possible. 
   
   You may be afraid to experiment because your current process requires weeks or months to create and launch one new landing page. And if that’s the case, I don’t blame you. However, landing page software can help you create high-quality experiences in minutes, hours or days (depending on whether you’re just making small changes or creating entirely new landing pages). 

Your conversion optimization environment should be highly dynamic because it’s in a constant cycle of evolution. Don’t be afraid to differentiate yourself and experiment with new ideas because new and different doesn’t mean scary or bad. It means moving one step closer to the next big thing that will skyrocket your current conversion rates.

Shorten the B2B buyer cycle with landing pages

The B2B buying cycle is much more complex than the B2C cycle.

Often multiple opinions are considered by various players who each have an interest in the new solution, career risk and opportunity is assessed (if I make a bad decision will I get fired? If I make a good decision will I be given a bonus?), and B2B offerings often just more complex in nature requiring careful consideration of the purchase.

B2B landing experiences can help shorten the buying cycle and persuade users to choose your solution over a competitor by building trust, a relationship, and brand.  All of this is achieved through specific, consistent, credible, and professional content delivered post-click.

B2B Landing Pages at Conversion Conference

View more presentations from ioninteractive.

Sending a B2B buyer to your home page after they click an ad means forcing them to do a lot of digging to find the right material to help them make a decision.

Sending a B2B buyer to a campaign specific landing experience means acknowledging their specific interest (via message match from the ad they clicked) and providing really targeted information to help them make a decision faster.

Check out this high-converting case study that shows how SurePayroll is using campaign specific landing pages to achieve a 200% lift in conversions. “We’re killing the industry average!” said Scott Brandt, VP of Marketing at SurePayroll during an interview with BtoB Magazine published in late 2009. And SurePayroll has continued to “kill it” all throughout 2010 as well!

If you’d like to learn more about creating, testing and optimizing B2B lead-gen landing pages, sign up for Anna’s presentation during the Landing Page Success Summit. She will be talking about:

• How to segment and qualify leads
• How to reduce media spend but increase conversions
• How to put together a strategy for continuous improvement

And will top it all off with Fortune 500 conversion case studies!

Register for the summit here, and let us know if there is anything specific you want to get out of the presentation by leaving a comment below.