What is a landing page?
Instead of presenting an overwhelming array of products and services, the landing page only provides the product / service the searcher is looking for as indicated by the keywords they entered in the search bar. The landing page provides a simple path for the searcher to purchase your product/service without having to sift through gobs of time consuming info unrelated to the user’s search words.
For example, a contractor has a page on his site completely dedicated to ‘kitchen remodeling’. When a user enters the keywords ‘kitchen remodel in Maryland’ in the google search bar, the contractor’s ‘kitchen remodel’ web page is displayed high in the google search results. The user sees the link to the landing page, clicks into it, and finds exactly what they are looking for resulting in an easy sale.
Conversely, if this contractor doesn’t have a landing page dedicated to ‘kitchen remodeling’, when a user searches for ‘kitchen remodeling in Maryland’, google will display many pages from other contractor’s websites that have more information related to the specific search ahead of your website. Without a dedicated landing page for a specific product/service, your website will display on google at the bottom of a very long list of other pages more relevant to the search.
In the above example, the searcher was looking for ‘Kitchen Remodel’ not bath remodel, roofing, siding, general contracting etc. Even if the searcher eventually landed on your homepage, she would feel overwhelmed with options, and would likely leave the site before contacting you.
Why Are Landing Pages Critical to my Business Success?
Google ranks Web Pages not Websites.
The more relevant web pages are to the search query, the more likely they are to rank well. A concise, service-specific landing page makes it far easier to convert visitors to take action due to the limited, and highly relevant options from which to choose. The best landing pages offer an ideal solution to a single problem.
Landing Pages, Quality Scores, PPC and Adwords
When it comes to PPC (pay-per-click), Google AdWords rates your keywords using Quality Scores. Those scores determine where you fall on search results pages and how much you have to pay for your position. Your score is measured by your expected click-through-rate, your ad relevance, and your landing page relevance. If your bidding on the phrase ‘kitchen remodel’, with an ad about ‘kitchen remodel’ that sends those clicks to your website’s homepage listing all your products / services, your google quality score will be low, resulting in a lower ad position and higher cost-per-click. The more relevant your landing page is to your keywords and ads, the higher your google quality score.
For businesses interested in catching leads/sales from web promotions, my goal is conversion, meaning after the searcher clicks through the ad onto your landing page, we want him to call you or email a short form.
When running marketing campaigns, regardless if they are PPC, social media, SEO, email or print, directing traffic to your homepage is a mistake. Particularly if you are paying for an ad, you’ve got to have a dedicated landing page for it. High quality dedicated landing pages are the most important factor for turning your visitors into sales.
Landing Pages allow for accurate ad result tracking
A huge plus of a dedicated landing page is that it allows for accurate measurement and tracking in google analytics and webmaster tools.
In google analytics, a report of your landing pages is available under the “Behavior” section. Once in the Landing Page report, you can add ‘Source’ as a secondary dimension to see which campaigns drove visitors to that page.
When is a homepage better than a landing page?
A homepage is effective for branded PPC campaigns where searchers are looking specifically for your company and want to interact with your brand.
Need a high quality landing page for your business promotion?
You’ve come to the right place! contact Mark for the ultimate landing page(s) for your business.
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