The end-goal for any successful Google AdWords campaign is a conversion. But in order to achieve this objective, there are often 2 stages that are required in order to get there:
- The Advert – This encompasses the keywords, ad copy, extensions and more. It sparks interest and wins the click if the viewer wants to know more.
- The Landing Page – This provides additional information for the viewer and is often necessary for winning the conversion.
In this article, we will be focusing on 3 vital elements that are often overlooked when creating a landing page for your Google AdWords campaign. Let’s get started!
How Can I Increase Conversions from My Google AdWords Landing Page?
1. Provide a Solution That Matters
First of all, if you manage or own the business yourself you probably have the worst understanding as to why people actually buy your products or services. I recently spoke with the owner of a company that creates sheds and buildings for people’s gardens and his response was that his customers wanted to increase the value of their home and have extra space. This is a superficial understanding of the motivation behind his buyers and he was only scratching the surface with the ‘extra space’ comment.
Let’s imagine you work long hours in a stressful job and you come home every night to your child’s toys cluttering the floor, no dedicated space for you to indulge in a hobby and a constant noise flowing through your home. With this lifestyle, the idea of having a small, personal in your garden represents a sanctuary and freedom. Your own personal space to have to yourself where you can hang out with friends, indulge in a hobby or just get away from everything. Having this building could be seen as something to make life bearable.
Of course, this analogy isn’t only for the business owner I spoke to. A similar concept can easily be applied to any industry. The true reasons why people buy a car, hire a marketing agency or go on holiday are usually different from what the marketers in those industries believe.
2. Be Different
I think one of the greatest examples of where a company has been truly different from it’s competitors is the Uaccount (also known as ‘Unbank’) bank landing page when compared to the mainstream banks.
Let’s face it: Banking is a pretty boring subject and when you go onto the website of a bank, there is often a lot of information and nowhere near enough colour. Uaccount do things a little differently with their landing page and go all-out with a bright orange header (with a sleek little element where you can add your name to the top) and no more than 3 sentences visible when you first land on the page. To see more text, you need to scroll down. What this shows the visitor is that opening an account with this bank will be really simple and easy. The experience that the visitor anticipates is a reflection of the landing page design.
We’ve all heard the story before about how we generate a first-impression of a person within 7 seconds. However, with a webpage, that 7 seconds is actually nearer to 0.5 seconds. To get the most out of that half-second, you should consider what factors make up that first impression. According to research from Conversion XL, a user’s first impression of a website is made up from:
- 55% – The main image and colours
- 35% – Large headings and page layout
- 10% – The actual words on the page
With that in mind, be sure to put most of your attention on choosing eye-grabbing colours and a main image that helps to drill your message home. That smoothly brings us onto the third element…
3. Use Implicit Signals
The purpose of an implicit signal is to create a feeling within the visitor of where they will be after they’ve used your product or service. As an example, if you are trying to sell business coaching services, the implicit signal may be that the visitor will be rich and able to retire young after hiring your services. An explicit signal, on the other hand, is a more factual feature or benefit about your product or service. For the business coach, an explicit signal could be the average increase in turnover they’ve helped clients achieve over the years.
One such example of seeing implicit signals in practice is whenever you watch a perfume advert on TV. Perfume is basically just a liquid. That’s quite dull, don’t you think? The adverts will feature a man or woman applying the fragrance to themselves and then being suddenly surrounded by attractive members of the opposite sex. The implicit signal here is that if you purchase this fragrance, you will become irresistible to the opposite sex.
By looking back at the first point in this article and thinking about why the customer actually wants your product or service, you can then use implicit signals to show them that they’re going to get what they want if they choose your solution. As discussed in the second point, a strong main image can help to push that message even further. It’ll help people visualise themselves after using your product or service. Using the business coach example again, your main image could be that of a good-looking young person with a beautiful partner and an expensive car, surrounded by stunning scenery. The message in that image: If you use this business coaching service, you will become rich, be attractive to the opposite sex, be able to afford expensive possessions and have lots of time to take the holidays you’ve always wanted.
