One of the most reliable strategies for boosting conversion rates is landing page optimization. When you make your landing pages really effective and targeted to your individual campaigns, you can enjoy an increase in sales, subscriptions, and other forms of beneficial engagement.
The problem is, there are so many things said about landing page optimization that can throw you off from the effective system that you may already be using. According to a number of Search Engine Marketing experts, a significant percentage of information about landing page optimization is misleading, and implementing any of these can actually do more harm than good.
In order to put a halt to the proliferation of bad practices that can hurt your online marketing, here is a short list including some of the most common landing page optimization facts or fiction that our MGR Team has experienced and you can use as guide.
Fact: Landing page issues may affect your conversion rates.
Fiction: When you have low conversion rates, that’s always the fault of your landing page.
Poor conversion rates are not only created by landing page problems; there’s a vast array of factors that may be causing low conversions. One of the most critical factors is location targeting. If you’re not targeting the right location/s or if your location settings are too broad, no matter how flawlessly created your landing page is, your conversion rate won’t budge.
Another important factor is your selected keywords and match types. Are you using generic keywords or long tail keywords? What type of keyword match do you have in place to pre-qualify your landing page traffic? Are you excluding negative keywords that use up your budget but never convert? Remember, you are looking for quality traffic, not so much quantity. The more you pre-qualify your audience the higher will be your conversion rate.
Fact: Landing pages are intended for conversions.
Fiction: Landing page is the last “Hail Mary” for conversion.
In certain cases, creating a landing page is not the last and only option. There are other online marketing strategies that can yield favorable results in terms of conversions. For example, you can create “call only ads” optimized for mobile devices; for shopping carts and product sales, posting your offers on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest can be a great advantage; in other cases, you may just need a well-designed web form to capture your visitors’ information in exchange for some type of free reward (download a white paper, enter sweepstakes, etc.) So it is best to experiment and diversify so you don’t rely exclusively on landing pages to increase your conversions.
Fact: Landing page optimization benefits from A/B testing.
Fiction: Landing page optimization is A/B testing.
While it’s true that A/B testing contributes greatly to optimizing landing pages, it’s not the only thing you can do to really make your landing pages work to the advantage of your business. Those tiny differences in placements, the color of CTA buttons, or the wordings or typography, can help you determine what must comprise a perfect landing page. But over time, too much attention to these details can limit the potential for more conversions. If you really want to see a spike in your conversion rate, turn away from the small stuff for a while and think big. Think about the message you’re delivering through your landing page – tweak your offers, such as your promos, deals, and discounts. Changes in numbers (lowered prices), or setting up limited time offers and additional perks or benefits rarely fail at securing conversions.
Fact: A landing page should be a stand-alone page created exclusively for your particular ad.
Fiction: Any web page can be used for your campaign landing page.
Finally, one of the points that most experts do agree on is the fact that the home page of your website is very rarely the best landing page to send your campaign visitors. In fact, it is rarely that any of your website’s existing pages would be the right choice. Typically, any website page is built for the casual visitor, for visitors that are browsing around trying to learn more about your business, your location, your offers, etc. That doesn’t mean that any of those web pages actually answers any particular question or includes what the web searcher is looking for after they click on your ad.
Landing page optimization is solely intended to improve conversion rates. However, make sure that you have the correct understanding of its value so it doesn’t outbalance and reduce the results of your online marketing campaign. As the name implies, the “landing” page is the final destination for your campaign and your only chance for a great first impression.
If you need assistance reviewing or implementing your AdWords campaigns, be sure to contact our MGR Team for a free initial consultation.
Thank you for reading. Until next time, this is Manuel Gil del Real (MGR)
