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?

Yesterday Plovdiv was the meeting point for hundreds of IT professionals, enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, the reason being Digital4Plovdiv 2017. This year the conference was dedicated specifically to online marketing and e-commerce. It took place on 30 November at the St. Petersburg Hotel, Plovdiv. Ivan Totev, the mayor of Plovdiv, gave a welcoming speech and started the discussions.

Our team was pleased to be a part of the conference and learn in more detail about the hottest topics and the latest practices in digital marketing and online shop optimization. More than 30 specialists presented the most effective tips and tricks for the successful development of e-commerce businesses and increase in sales.

The conference program was held in three different halls. There were lectures, presentations, workshops and case studies. Everyone found something new and interesting to learn and apply to their work or business, including our team. Among the most discussed topics were Behavioral economics, SEO audit, SaaS, ERP systems, Internet security, video marketing, remarketing and many more.

All lecturers were prominent experts in their field with extensive work experience. It was a real pleasure for us to be part of over 300 participants at the event. More information about Digital4Plovdiv 2017 can be found on the website.

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.

Are you a newbie in digital marketing? Or you are simply looking for ways to promote your brand online? Anyways, you must have heard about CPC and PPC advertising campaigns. What do these two abbreviations mean? Should you implement them in your next digital marketing campaign? We’ll give you the answers to these questions right now.

What does PPC mean?

 

You have probably noticed that when you search something in Google, ads relevant to your search appear along with organic search results in the SERP (search engine results page). That is PPC.

 

PPC literally means pay-per-click. It is an online advertising method that allows you to advertise your products and services in popular search engines like Google when users search for something specific in these search engines. The example above shows how your website about telecommunications and software services will look like a PPC ad if a person was to search “buy Softswitch” in Google.

You will only pay for a PPC ad if the user actually clicks on it. Hence it’s name – pay per click. Quite useful, right? Just imagine: 15 000 people see your ad, but only 80 of them click on it. You will get to pay only for those 80 clicks. The metric that indicates the amount you will pay for a single click is called CPC (cost-per-click). This amount is very unstable and spontaneous. It can change by the minute, over and over again. Why? Because it depends on both: the search volume of specific keywords at the given moment and on your competitors. CPC may be fixed per click, but you may also choose a fixed daily budget for your PPC campaign.

*Note: Sometimes CPC is used instead of PPC, although CPC is only part of PPC.

How do I create a PPC advertising campaign?

Every business wants to have their websites on the first page of Google. Unfortunately, you can not just pay a certain amount of money and have a top position guaranteed. Google’s mission is to ensure its users’ free access to quality information. All the time. Therefore, the only way to run a PPC campaign is through platforms like Google Ads and. You can use Google Ads for text and display ads, banners, video ads, mobile app ads, and more. Your PPC ads may appear in Google or be posted on websites (Google as the intermediary). The sites get a percentage of each CPC.

Keywords are the most important element in your PPC advertising campaign. These are words or phrases that are relevant to your business or that are of importance to your customers. You and your competitors must bid for these keywords. The one that has bid the highest price is the “auction winner” and earns a place in the organic search results in Google. The algorithm used by Google Ads to determine who will receive an ad space is very complex. Google takes into consideration not only the bid price itself but factors such as:

 

• the relevance of your website to the keywords you have bid on
• the content of the ad
• the history of your other Google Ads campaigns
• and more

Why use PPC campaigns to promote your business?

 

Conversions
PPC advertising is a very useful marketing method especially when your goal is to get conversions like sales, email and newsletter subscriptions, filling in a contact form and more.

Traffic
One of the key benefits of PPC is that it increases your website traffic. The more people view your ad, the more people will follow the link, and therefore actually visit your site.

Targeted Ads
Google Ads allows you to reach your target audience much more easily – choose location, date and time, keywords, websites, and more.

Brand awareness
Even if you do not generate enough sales, it’s important to note that many people will still see your brand name on the top of the SERP in Google.

On a budget
How much you are going to spend on your PPC campaign depends only on you. You may even run several campaigns simultaneously.

Research analysis
You can use the accumulated data for your business purposes. You will receive systematic results – cost, profit, views, clicks, visits, and more. Implement this in your next PPC campaign.

 

PPC advertising campaigns are a tested and proven method for higher conversion rates. Respectively more sales, and “more sales” is “The thing” that every business aims for, especially the eCommerce business. Therefore, it must be included in your overall digital marketing campaign.

Do you have any experience in running PPC and CPC campaigns? If so, share in the comments below which of its functionalities you find the most useful and practical!