Lansing, I mean, Landing page Development
In these posts, we always try to bring to your attention the more overlooked elements of strong online marketing campaigns. I have covered ad text, timing, and accountability. My new topic is landing pages. I was recently reading a very good article on landing pages here, by Tim Ash on Search Engine Watch, and it tipped me off to an idea regarding landing pages within geographic campaigns. Many of our clients at Netvantage Marketing use geo-targeted campaigns, meaning that the search engine marketing we are performing are only serving ads for those Googling in certain geo-graphic pockets. A key piece of a successful geo-targeted ads is utilizing the local area within the ad text, as well as bidding on keyword variations with a geographic orientation. For example, instead of “copier suppliers” we may select “lansing copies suppliers”, and then write accompanying ad text that highlighted the geographic area you serve. It can be a great tool to increase click through rate and customers. But then what?
One of which is your landing page. Landing pages are an important element to your AdWords campaign. Sure, you can generate lots of traffic through your search ads, but are they converting? When users go to your site’s content, the real measure of success will be conversion to your goal. Landing page content gets even more intriguing when you enter in the realm of geo-targeted campaigns.
The first and more important recommendation I would make is to make sure that for each of your landing pages, you are taking into accounting utilizing geography within your content. This particularly important for your header tag structure. If a user has clicked on “lansing copier supplier” - have this be prominent within the lead h1 introductory text. Then be sure to use geography within the body content.
The second recommendation I would make is probably more work, but worth it. For each of your services offerings and corresponding ad copy, make a landing page for that geographic area. Your ability to convert customers from this page will certainly rise. So, if you are serving two geographic areas, or geographic areas that could have different names, construct landing pages that fit both. Using our copier supplier example - you may want to point users to a landing page that highlights “Lansing copier supplier” content, - and then also construct a landing page that highlights “Mid Michigan copier supplier”.
Of course, I am getting deep into online marketing strategy and I should stop to say, at the top of this process you should be running an entirely different ad group for “Mid Michigan copier supplier” versus “Lansing copier supplier”, including your keywords and ad text. This is what will make my landing page suggestion work the best.
Yes, this all seems meticulous. Yes, it is work. If you are starting out on your own, I recommend a few ad groups and corresponding landing pages to test and gain a comfort level. Once you are comfortable, add onto your campaign with this strategy. The overall major trend in search marketing is the power of localization — be sure to take advantage of this and use it your benefit with strong landing pages.
Small steps to improving your website in 2009 - Content
I have never been a big New Years Resolution person. My stance has always been, why wait until the first of the year to improve your life, right? Well, when it comes to the web the beginning of a new year can represent an opportunity to evaluate your website, and turn your attention to the small things that can make a big difference. I have found many companies take the time to do this in going into the New Year because there is some down time and let’s face it, many just tend to treat it as starting anew on many levels.
So, as you begin the first quarter of 2009 with your website, some points to ponder:
1. Content. Many companies evaluate their websites, and they want to change the design. However, due to budget, resources, time, etc. a full fledged redesign may not in the future. This doesn’t mean the site has to be a laggard.
Most sites now employ a content management system. Use it to your advantage. Your prospective customers like fresh content. Fresh content can lend itself to stronger positioning for your search engine optimization. Go through your home page and sub page content. Make sure it still make sense, and represents your business. Be sure products are updated, and services are still being offered. Have there been changes to your target audiences? Have their personas changed? In this macro economic environment, have their needs changed.
As you evaluate the tone of your content, be sure to keep an eye on keywords. If you are wondering if your target audience has changed the way they search and the keyword variations that they are using, take a look at the Google Keyword Tool. This is an easy and free to way to get some basic keyword volume data, and evaluate any trends in how users are searching for what you have to offer. Then, take this back to your base page content during your 2009 evaluation. Pay attention to how keyword variations are utilized within your content, and make the appropriate changes.
Evaluating your base web content can be very important for your website to have success in the New Year. Sure, your marketing deparment may be saying “no money for the web this year”, but that doesn’t mean it needs to lag behind what your business is doing. Or for that matter, have a negative impact on how search engines will index your content.
Be sure to that your content has came with you into the New Year. It will be good for your users, search engines will like it, and it is an effective way to improve your site without having to totally redesign it.
Tips and Tactics for your AdWords Ad Text Part 3
Time to finally wrap this series of posts up. (AKA, time to put the egg nog away and get back to work, but more on that in my next post)
So far, in our review of AdWords ad text tips and tactics, we have discussed the following points:
- Utilizing tight ad groups with small amounts of keywords in order to incorporate keywords into ad text.
- The tactic of using keywords in your Display URLs : www.example.com/giftbasket
- The importance of qualifying and providing incentive for your prospective users to click through with strong content writing in your headlines and text lines, given the challenge of the character limits.
- Setting up tangible business goals that are aligned with your keyword campaign.
- Evaluating your target audience’s mindset when searching and structuring your ads around that persona.
- Using the various keyword tools out there to select the right keyword variations, and then utilizing that as a guide for your ad writing.
- Evaluating your competiton and their ad text.
- Putting strong analytics into place for the measurement of your campaign success based on the different ads that your employ. (My business partner Adam Henige has some great posts on that subject)
