So you want to run paid digital ads, but you want to make it economical.
Yeah, we get it.
We have 2 critical pieces of advice for you:
- To run a lean, cost-effective campaign — whether it’s Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn — you have to turn management over to experts. That’s because while the pool of paid ads is easy to dive into, it’s surprisingly deep; only those with knowledge honed from years of campaign management know all the right techniques to reach the deepest levels of efficient ad strategy. (When you crunch the numbers of conversion rates and costs per click over time, it actually costs you more not to hire a professional.)
We then have to recommend (no clickbait intended) the #1 way our Utah PPC team instantly boosts ad performance. Ready to explore their top tip? Let’s dive in.
It’s About the Destination
Your ad campaign all hinges on an effective ad. But that initial click is not the only component that determines success. In fact, where your audience goes after they click on an ad is the crucial connection between piquing interest and capturing the essential details of your next customer.
While your ad audience signals interest when they click on an ad, let’s face it: they are busy, easily lose interest, or are easily distracted (or all of the above). If they land on a web page that’s off-topic, confusing, or overwhelming, they have plenty of excuses to bounce. Not only do they leave the interaction a bit frustrated, but it costs you a valuable potential customer.
How do you avoid this? By giving them the right destination, of course. If the page they land on is catered specifically to their needs, your audience won’t want to turn around. Enter the custom landing page.
What’s a Landing Page?
A landing page is simply a webpage within your website that is
- built as a destination for specific audiences
- aimed at persuading visitors to take one primary action
Usually, that action is subscribing to an email list, making a purchase, or filling out a contact form. Every landing page has certain elements that give the visitor a better overall experience, which in turn will increase the likelihood they convert, or take the intended action.
In our experience, a landing page that’s customized to your ad campaign is one of the best ways to improve your ad campaign’s overall performance.
With a few simple changes, tuned to the specific interests of your ad campaign’s audience, this custom landing page will convert more effectively and more affordably for you. So where’s the best place to start?
Optimize Your Landing Page’s Prime Real Estate
“Above-the-fold” presentation is the most important element of a landing page. That’s the area of the webpage the reader will see first, before they have to scroll. It sets the stage for their entire interaction with the page.
Here are 4 essential elements in a landing page’s above-the-fold presentation. These elements apply to both desktop and smaller mobile screens.
- A concise offer. The reader should know what the benefit they’ll receive immediately and without question.
- A clear path with easy-to-understand next steps. If it is difficult to convert, or it’s unclear what will happen after the conversion, then the reader will be more likely to bounce.
- Social validation, typically in the form of testimonials or customer stories. This helps the reader feel they are not the first person to convert.
- Third-party recognition, such as awards, certifications, accreditations, memberships, etc. This makes the reader feel safe to convert.
When implemented, these ideas will ultimately provide a better landing page experience and increase the likelihood of a conversion.
The Strategy at Work
To put it into context, we’ll show you an example from one of our partner brands: Premier Equestrian. They’re global experts in horse arena construction and maintenance.
Premier Equestrian was looking to increase the number of leads who filled out a form for a free horse arena footing consultation. While they had an existing landing page and were already getting consistent results, they wanted to make sure they were maximizing the ROI of their Google ads.
We created a custom landing page for one of their ad campaigns and saw remarkable results. After the new landing page went live, we performed an A/B test to make sure the changes would produce the desired results. Our tests showed the updated landing page performed significantly better over the course of the first month despite getting 2% fewer ad impressions and 4% fewer clicks than the previous landing page. Here are the numbers after just one month:
By implementing a fully custom landing page that improved the visitor’s experience and focused on conversion rate optimization, we were able to exceed Premier Equestrian’s initial goals.
Quick Recap
Custom landing pages are one of the best ways to improve your ad campaign’s overall performance, and “above-the-fold” is always the best place to focus your attention. Real results show that custom landing pages simply work — and improve conversion performance for campaigns already deemed “successful.”
There are plenty of agencies or even in-house marketing employees who can manage digital advertising. However, to be successful, a paid ad campaign — or PPC (“Pay-per-click”) campaign — relies heavily on getting the minutiae right. Those tiny details and complex strategies can be the difference between average and amazing results. However, this level of skill is unique. Not everyone knows how to even begin looking for ways to maximize each and every campaign.
If you want to feel confident that your digital advertising investment is yielding the highest possible returns, look to our team at Red Olive. This example we’ve shared is just one representation of the daily, proactive problem-solving our Utah digital marketing team takes on for our partner brands. From ecommerce PPC management to B2B ads on LinkedIn, we can manage any channel for any audience. Our paid ad strategists have the knowledge, experience, and most importantly, results, that can give you confidence your digital advertising is in the right hands.
