The main purpose of a “landing page”, also known as “click-through page” (the page that a visitor lands on after clicking an ad with a link to a website) is to boost your digital marketing campaign and make it even more effective. It can help you turn potential clients into real ones increasing the number of successful conversions. This is the page on which a user will end up after clicking on your ad/banner/message somewhere online urged by the desire to learn more about your offer, product, service, etc.

 

Every landing page is unique in itself!

 

Therefore it will be very difficult to find a universal guide that can be applied when creating any type of landing page. In today’s article, we present to you the main and most important elements which can guide your way when creating the perfect and successful landing page for your next advertising campaign. But before choosing which ones will best fit your initial purpose, you need to answer the following questions:

• What do I need the user to do?
• Why does the user have to do it?

 

So, here are the fundamental elements which we recommend that you try to incorporate in your next landing page to make it more effective and successful. Choose the ones that will best fit your goal:

1. A headline, which should be short, precise and straight to the point about what you are offering. It will be even better if it matches the anchor text (the text that links to the “click-through page”). Do pay special attention to your word choice. Words should trigger a genuine interest in what you are offering. If you are not quite sure how to do it, read our blog article “How to write a good title”.

2. A subheadline that complements the main headline and gives more details about what the user will get in return for completing a particular action. Be persuasive!

3. Any additional explanations or descriptions should be included in case the main headline and subheadline do not provide all the essential information a user might need. For example the date and time of your webinar.

4. Advantages and benefits of your offer as well as what differentiates you from your competitors.

5. What will the user gain after doing what you want them to do?

6. What will the user lose, if he/she does not complete a particular action?

7. Logical flow of all texts in the “after-ad-click page”. Your persuasive thoughts should be expressed in a logical succession. Every bit of information should be a perfect addition to the previous one.

8. Images should be both attractive and informative. If your landing page promotes an e-book, a prize in a competition, a webinar or anything else, include a visual of it.

9. SEO optimization of the landing page images and texts (meta titles and descriptions, alt text, keywords, URL, etc.) so that search engines can index it and rank it better in SERP.

10. URL address that includes keywords describing perfectly the page content and is as similar to the main headline as possible.

11. Design that provides a unique user experience. If possible all important information should be presented on a single screen, so that the user does not have to scroll and do any unnecessary actions. However, if that is not possible, try to put the most important information first.

12. Responsive design that adapts perfectly to any type of device screen. Let’s not forget that mobile search has surpassed traditional desktop search. Your landing page design should follow this tendency.

13. Eliminate help menus, extra navigation, top, and sidebars (if possible). Research has shown that including these in your landings negatively affect their conversion rate.

14. Do not use your home page as a landing page. Why? Because in general home pages are filled with lots of information that would rather confuse the user than give him/her any concrete direction of actions. They might not be quite sure what is expected of them. Where to click and what the end result would be. Having a completely new landing page developed for a specific purpose would be way more successful in turning a potential client into a real one.

15. Positive feedback, client testimonials, user ratings, expert recommendations.

16. A Contact form, which can be short or long depending on your campaign requirements and the information you want to learn about your prospects. We advise you to personalize all generic buttons. Instead of using a “SUBMIT” button go for “I want this brochure” button. Do not forget to change the settings so that anyone who has already filled the contact form is not able to do it again.

17. Guarantees and certificates are a powerful tool for boosting the authority of the page, your products and brand as a whole.

18. CTA (call-to-action) is a definite must. Use phrases like “Download now”, “Buy now”, “Check it”, “Try it”, “Optimize your business”, “Win for free”, etc. It is not a surprise that these are among the most widely used CTA. They influence people’s decisions. Of course, the right CTA for your campaign should be chosen elegantly and with style.

19. Sharing options can be included to make the click-through page even more popular. This would help with increasing its traffic, views and consequently conversions.

20. Put a logo to boost brand recognition.

 

Fig. 1 Landing page example

*As we have already mentioned, every landing page is unique and it is not necessary to include all of the elements presented in this article. Elements not used in this example template: 5 and 19.

 

Is there anything more you would like to add to this successful landing page guide?

According to a recent survey by Statista shopping cart abandonment in the Retail industry for the second quarter of 2017 has reached 77.3%. This means that a very large number of users add desirable products to their virtual shopping cart but shortly afterward they leave the website without making a purchase.

 

Looking at the graph above, it seems pretty clear that this is the case across multiple industries. The matter of the fact is that the majority of your website visitors are simply looking around and are not going to make an order. However, obviously, your products and services have triggered their initial interest. So, why lose those potential customers? There is a way to attract them back and increase your successful conversions. It’s called remarketing.

 

What is Google Remarketing?

First of all, let’s make a distinction between the terms “Remarketing” and “Retargeting“.

Historically speaking, when talking about remarketing, we mean collecting information about certain people and reaching to them later via mail or email, offering them a specific product or service.

Retargeting is used to display paid ads to people who have already visited your website. This is done by using information about the visitors’ actions that have been stored in their browser as “cookies”. The ad reaches targeted people using 3rd parties such as the Google Display Network.

Over time these two concepts have become interchangeable and marketers often put them on a par. Google even “borrowed” the concept of Remarketing and used it to name its retargeting campaigns.

So…

Google remarketing is an important part of digital marketing, also known among marketers as a retargeting. This method allows you to advertise your products and services to those visitors who have already viewed your website or have used your mobile app but have not purchased or ordered anything from it.

 

How does it work?

Once the user leaves your site, they will continue seeing your ads in different places all over the web – in their Google search results, in other websites or apps*, and the Display Network. Remarketing lets you run ad campaigns that meet your prospects’ needs. It encourages them to visit your web page again, and again, and again… Therefore, increasing their chances of successful conversions, such as purchasing a product from an online shop.

*Only if they have been registered in AdSense, they will have the permission to display ads.

 

Remarketing is a very successful and effective advertising method. Why? Because it is directly targeted at those users who have already shown some interest in your products and services. By reminding them of your online presence through a specifically targeted advertising campaign, you will earn a place on top of their mind.

Google AdWords allows you to run a wide range of remarketing campaigns and target visitors based on what they’ve done on your website. Therefore, the platform offers you several different types of remarketing – standard, dynamic, mobile applications, video, email, and search ads. For example, video remarketing allows you to show products or services to people who have watched your videos or browsed through your YouTube channel.

The benefits of Google Remarketing

Google remarketing will help your business. This is how:

• Successful Targeting – Google Remarketing allows you to eliminate target groups that are unlikely to convert. In addition, you can target specific audiences depending on their history of website activity. Implement this information in your next ad creative. For example, if a user has looked at a specific shoe model, you can show him/her a banner with the exact same shoes, while he/she is visiting another website.
• Higher CTR – Remarketing ads have a higher click-through-rate (CTR) compared to standard display ads.
• More successful conversions – As we have already explained, the purpose of remarketing is to remind users about your products and services. This will make them finish an otherwise unfinished action on your website. When do users need extra stimulation? When they hesitate, overthink a difficult decision and find it hard to make a choice. If you are operating in the field of consulting, software development and digital solutions, you most likely have noticed this indecisiveness in your customers. However, by running strictly targeted advertising campaigns you will catch their attention and make them convert.
• Less Cost – Remarketing campaigns are known for their cost-effectiveness. Just like PPC advertising on Google AdWords, you only pay when a user actually clicks on your ad.
• Higher return on investment (ROI) – a Higher return on investment in remarketing happens because of the narrow and concrete targeting it is based upon. First, you have collected additional information about your target audience. Second, you can send individually tailored ads to specific target groups.
• Brand recognition – When your potential customers come across your ad multiple times online, this greatly increases their chances of recognizing your brand more quickly. It will sink into their mind more easily.

 

Have you ever done a remarketing campaign? If so, we will be happy to hear about the results you got from it in the comment section below. If not, contact us to help you with a successful start.

In June 2017, Facebook announced that more than 2.01 billion people are actively using the platform every month. And the average stay of 20 minutes per visit! The impact of this social network is inevitable for both end users and businesses.  Considering the fact that most people visit it more than once a day.

What do people see in their individual News Feeds? Once they have opened Facebook the news are determined by a complex algorithm that is constantly evolving and improving. Why? Because Facebook wants to create a community, where the information you receive is specifically tailored to your preferences and interests. You have noticed that, right?

Let’s look at the changes Facebook made recently and what their effect on business is.

 

Fewer links to low-quality websites

 

One of the main goals is to reduce the negative experiences of users that have clicked on links leading them to poor quality web pages. Pages with non-informative content, and compulsive or shocking ads. After carefully researching and analyzing thousands of links, Facebook created a special AI (Artificial Intelligence). The algorithm that checks every single link. Those of them shared on the platform and will be ranked according to their content quality. In this way, links with bad ranking will appear lower in the News Feed. While those of good quality will be shown up in the News Feed. The result: users will see less misleading and more informative posts.

 

Effect on business:

These changes will take effect gradually. It is expected that in the upcoming months, posts leading to good quality websites will notice some increase in traffic. While those that do not – a slight decline in traffic. Of course, this will vary from user to user. And corporate pages will still be able to freely share stories and posts of interest to their followers. Therefore, you should carefully review your online shop and website content. Providing excellent online user experience will help Facebook rank your shared website links higher.

 

More informative links

 

According to one Facebook survey, there is a group of users who share a large number of links daily thus spamming other users’ News Feeds. To reduce the impact of spammers and the spreading of problematic links such as clickbait, misleading headlines, and sensations, the Facebook team constantly strives to decrease the visibility of those links. However, post ranking is not determined solely by this fact. So initially this new change will only affect links (link to an article, for example), and NOT domains, pages, videos, photos, check-ins, statuses.

 

Effect on business:

Most Facebook users will not notice any major changes in their News Feed. But this is not of no importance to the business. Тhose who reach a larger audience by sharing spammers’ links may see a small decline in the number of people reached by these specific posts (posts shared by spammers). In other words: Be careful what you share on your corporate Facebook wall. If you share a link posted by a spammer on your professional profile, this particular link will reach fewer people. And this leads to losses of potential customers. You don’t want that happen, right?

 

Prioritizing links to faster loading pages

 

About 40% of website visitors will abandon the page if it hasn’t loaded in three seconds. To reduce the user waiting time and improve their satisfaction, Facebook is taking actions. Prioritizing those links in the News Feed witch loads more quickly compared to slower ones. You too would rather spend your time reading something interesting than waiting for it to load, right?

Whether a link loads faster or not depends on both: website loading speed and users’ Internet connection. These two are also taken into consideration when Facebook places a link higher or lower in the News Feed.

 

Effect on business:

This adjustment will not cause any dramatic changes in your News Feed. But websites that load more slowly can see a drop in referral traffic. Therefore, it is important to improve your website loading speed as well as its mobile version. This is not important only for link rankings on Facebook but also in Google. Most of all it is fundamental for your customers’ satisfaction with your user-friendly design.

You wouldn’t like to miss sales in your online store because your website is loading slowly, right?

If you need more detailed information about how to launch your next Facebook marketing campaign, check out our 8 essential elements of a Facebook campaign.

Just a few years ago you would probably be reading this article on your desktop PC, behind your massive monitor, while the coolers gently break the silence around you. And now you are probably on your laptop, mobile phone, or even your smartwatch. Enjoying this piece on a rock, in a pool or by the seashore…

 

Our point is that the digital environment changes in great leaps, new communication opportunities pop up every day and our imagination is the only thing that can limit us. Speaking of imagination it’s good to mention the increasingly creative ways marketers are employing in other to impress us enough to buy their products. So today we will be talking about video marketing!

 

Video Marketing in numbers

 

The simple facts show that in 2017 visual media will continue to hold a key spot in the sales strategies of commercial and non-commercial organizations alike. Let’s leave the numbers talking:

 

-> video promotions increase the click-through rate (CTR) with 200-300%
-> video ads are responsible for about 35% of all ad spending online

-> video clips increase the landing page conversions with about 80%

-> around 90% of online users have their buying decisions influenced by video materials

-> mobile phone video consumption is increasing with 100% every year

 

Impressive, right?

 

What’s more impressive is the ton of benefits you can gain when using video marketing for your corporate goals. Not only you are representing your brand in a more interesting in an engaging way, but you are also leaving a permanent mark in the minds of your viewers. People are increasingly turning to visual media to save time and to process the influx of daily information they encounter more easily. Connecting text to visuals is a way to more clearly convey the message of your brand.

 

What about our favorite topic – SEO optimization? For starters, videos are a wonderful source of content. Content that Google and the other search engines are constantly striving to receive. So optimize your videos just like you would optimize any other content piece – relevant tags, titles, and descriptions, call-to-action, images. After that results are just a matter of time.

 

Of course, we should not go and blindly produce video content just for the sake of it. Not only it has to have a clear purpose and end goal, but a good video will also follow a few rules of thumb.

 

Don’t sell – tell a story!

 

We know how tempting it is to go directly for sales, but don’t let your videos focus on that. Instead, try to find added value for the end client. Of course, it’s always recommended you have a clear call-to-action but it has to be just part of your story, not its core. Relevance, value, emotional engagement – good practices are valid for all content types.

 

Educate the viewer!

 

People appreciate it when a video is not just amusing, but also useful, capable of solving a problem they might have. Take advantage of your specific industry insights and educate your users. Over 65% of people nowadays prefer to learn from video guides compared to more traditional articles and books. Webinars, client testimonials, case studies, and in-depth analysis – you have numerous opportunities to demand attention.

 

Start with a bang!

 

20% of online viewers close the videos in the initial 10 seconds. If you miss your chance to wow them in those 10 seconds then you might as well count them gone. So don’t get wrapped up in complicated introductions while gradually getting to the point. Simply make sure that you have an explosive start that will glue the user to the screen from the first moment.

 

Don’t be boring!

 

This might be self-explanatory but let us specify what we mean exactly. If you are creating a video with a purely marketing purpose you risk to lose the viewer’s attention and make your piece non-shareable. This is especially true in B2B where clients and decision-makers are a little more specific. But just because there is a serious businessman on the other side doesn’t mean that they are lacking any sense of humor. Hubspot is one good example of how you can impress your B2B audience while avoiding the dry and boring presentation of info.

 

Optimize away!

 

How do videos work? You shoot/create it, edit, montage and upload it online, right? Wrong! Long before we should think about the public distribution of our video, we should make sure we have taken care of its optimization. As we mentioned earlier, the important elements are the same as with other content pieces – make sure to put proper titles and descriptions, add relevant tags and add your video in a sitemap. You have to be ready for the search engine robots long before they first crawl your new content.

 

Well, do you feel more confident in using video content already? Bursting with ideas for your next video marketing campaign? Or you simply feel you need a refresh of your brand identity? Regardless of the case, we will be happy to learn more about your projects and ensure their success.

It’s already 2017 and there is no point talking about the Internet and social networks as if they are some new phenomenon. Most likely each one of you has a Facebook (probably that’s where you’ve come across this article) using it for your personal purposes. As an essential part of digital marketing, Facebook is also looking ahead and made efforts in becoming more accessible and popular in business circles too. Today we will talk about the effect of ads on your Facebook campaign and the elements that are essential to their success.

 

1. Clear goal

 

Once you decide it’s time to have a Facebook campaign there is always the possibility of simply “boosting” a certain post, which will inevitably have “some” success. To maximize it, you’ll need to fine-tune the details and that starts with defining your goals. The “right” way is always different whether you’re looking for an increase of conversions, traffic to your site, or simply a promotion of your page. This is why Facebook constantly updates its “Ads Manager” and adds new options and ad formats that are suitable for every budget.

 

2.Target audience

 

Before targeting your clients, it’s a good idea to get to know their behavior, to find out who they are, how old are they, whether they are positioned in your city or across the country, what are their interests. Once you’ve defined these variables, you just have to input them. Don’t forget the word “relevance”. If you already know your target audience through Facebook Pixel or other tracking tools, you won’t have to go through so much hassle. Custom Audience is the key factor to keep track of.

 

3.Time positioning

 

Despite the popularity of Facebook, people do not spend their entire day in it. This happens on average for about 2 hours a day and, as you can guess, at different times. Find out when your audience is active and target your ad during this time period. You can make an interesting experiment and run your ads 1-2 hours BEFORE the ideal time period to avoid competition and risk your ad being lost among many others.

 

4. Call to action

 

A well-known term in the eCommerce business, sales, and marketing. Each ad application needs a “Call to Action” type text/button. There is a subconscious influence of the phrasing, whether it is “Get a Discount …”; “Buy now!” or “Subscribe!” Is a must-have for every Facebook campaign because it’s the driving force that pushes the user to the final purchase!

 

5.Budget

 

The bigger the budget, the more people will see your ad. This is a valid general conclusion, but when we have cash limit, we have to figure out how to spend it in the best way. You have 2 main options: cost per click (CPC) or cost per impression (CPI).
You can distribute your budget by day and target specific audiences. It is a good idea to constantly monitor your budget and adjust it when necessary.

 

6.Fine tune Ads

 

As already mentioned, Facebook constantly updates its platform. Along with that, all the little details related to ad creation in social media are being automated more and more. You can now choose from the following types:

 

 

Each ad has its own technical differences about image size, proper dimensions and their correct setting, which can make-or-brake your Facebook campaign.

 

7.Testing and optimization

 

Good marketing practice is to create and test 2-3 variations of the ad. Use a different design, text, and message with slight changes in audience and interests. It is advisable to start with a small budget. Test different options. Analyze the data and determine the best set to achieve optimal performance. This will increase the chance for your ad to be seen by more people in their News Feed.
Needless to say part of the successful Ad is also the branding element or, in other words, the name of the company, product or service.

 

8. Customer satisfaction first

 

So far so good. Everything is ready, the ad is out there, you are accumulating the first likes and shares, getting first Inquiries. Traffic to your site is increasing.
Going for full success, the advertising campaign must end with well-served and satisfied customers. This means you have to check your resources – enough staff, a well-optimized system or a fast site. This is a great opportunity to turn the satisfied client into an ambassador for your brand. Which means only one thing – productivity and success of your advertising campaign!

Good luck!