Creating Effective Landing Pages & Conversion Paths for Search Engine Marketing Campaigns

I know, I know... What the HELL am I talking about, right? Let's start with the basics:

Have you ever clicked on a Google Sponsored Link or AdWord ad that appears at the top of your search results? The vast majority of the time, clicking on such links will take you to a very long URL with some mention of Google and most likely a key or ID of some kind. This string of characters in the URL is a unique campaign identifier that allows for easier tracking of you online marketing leads.

In essence a landing page is the initial URL that you are directed to upon clicking the advertisement from the search engine. This is different from a conversion path - which we will touch on in a sec...

There are a few key benefits that are acheived when using landing pages in online marketing:

• it allows online marketers to create highly targeted ad messages that match the original ad copy that generated a click;


• it allows easy tracking of campaign results (E-mail, advertising, keywords);


• it allows online marketers to create customized lead forms - ensuring that you gather the necessary information to transform a lead to serious buyer;


• it allows for wasy analysis of metrics, thereby increasing the marketers ability to consistently improve the metrics.

Now for the juice... How do you create an effective landing page?

1. Identify your prospect. Understanding the demographic of your prospects and their needs will go a long way and it will shorten the amount of time that you will spend honing and revamping your landing pages. Tailor your message to the targeted visitor - that is what they will expect!

2. Keep your landing page neat and clean. Visual distractions are sure to kill your lead. The ad copy and design should match the landing page.

3. Capture their data or contact information and don't ask for too much information. Keep all information requests to a bare minimum, get just what you need to follow-up. Don't ever hand over the material that you offered in your ad copy before you capture the leads information. If the lead gets what they were after before you can identify them, you can forget about transforming the lead into a customer!

4. Be concise and to the point. Reinforce the ad or offer that got them to click in the first place, capture their data, let them get what they were after and let them out! (in that order)

5. Make your privacy policy prominent and clear. In this digital age, consumers highly value their privacy. Assure them that you will maintain their privacy and the likelihood that they will give their contact information to you greatly increases.

6. Remove irrelevant navigation. Once again, the purpose of this page is to capture your lead and assure them that they are where they want to be. Don't give them any reason to think that they should stray away from your page - especially before they give you their information.

7. Keep important conversion messages above the fold (above the bottom of the page before scrolling) and in the center of the page. Make it easy for the lead to stay with your message and convert to a buyer.

8. After the lead leaves, FOLLOW-UP! Aggressive, but curteous, follow-up is key to online conversion!


Conversion Paths


A conversion path is a multi-step, but linear, process (allowing the marketer to ask the prospect: "Are you more interested in X or Y?"). Once the marketer has segmented the visitors by determining exactly which product or service they are seeking, they can more easily target the conversion message to the prospect.

Conversion paths generally offer a much higher conversion rate, because it is a more tailored message and give the prospect a choice.

Tips for Improving Conversion Paths

1. Keep your initial page (segmentation page) top the point. Don't overwhelm your visitors with multiple choices, two or three is best.

2. Keep the path clear and visually lead your prospect to the well. Buttons or links should be prominently displayed on the page above the fold and should not be overshadowed by side bars of irrelevant information or other offers.

3. Thank the prospect for their time and conversion.

4. Track the metrics/statistics of all pages within the path!


Keep in mind that these strategies come into play once you have a somewhat sophisticated online ad marketing campaign underway.

For more information or to learn how we can help you take the first step toward maximizing you internet presence, call us today at (202) 489-2867. If you have a question about the terms or concepts in this post, MEEBO us using the widget to the right.