Tracking Your PPC Results Through Landing Pages.

Recently we have been talking a bit about utilizing PPC search engines to deliver traffic to our sites however, one aspect that I realized we haven't spoken about enough is where we are sending those PPC hits when we get them, for many of us, we simply use the domain root for the site that we are promoting however, perhaps there is a better place to be sending this paid traffic?

Testing Out Your Traffic Flow.

First and foremost, whenever we start a new PPC advertising campaign we need to check our links and our adverts are working, the easiest way to do this is to head straight to the PPC search engine you purchased your ad campaign with and run a search on the terms that you entered. Once you find your PPC ad, click on the link and see where it takes you.

Do you go to your regular site index page or a specific section of your site wholly set up to receive your PPC traffic? If you are using your sites index page you may have some work to do, read on.

Where To Send This Traffic?

Your site needs to have a focus when utilizing PPC traffic, sending your purchased traffic to the same site that they could find using your regular search listings is, in my opinion, a waste of money, you need to make sure that these PPC landing pages are suited to your ad campaigns and, more importantly, suited to what the surfer hitting your site from these ads is looking for.

The people hitting your page have done so because your ad has sold them, they know what they are looking for and, more importantly, they may be wanting to buy from YOUR site, don't lose a sale due to poor management on your part. Lets take a look at how you should setup your PPC landing pages in some more detail below.

PPC Landing Pages.

The absolute first thing a visitor to your site from a PPC search result should see is the name of the site or product that made them click your ad in the first place, this may sound like marketing basics but, its really amazing how many marketers forget the basics because of being blinded by the bigger picture. If you are selling books about home baking for example and you own a bookstore that sells all types of books, make sure the ad link directly to the 'home baking' section of your online store. Often, making a surfer click various links can not only distract them but, can end up losing you a sale, if they want to buy books about home baking, make sure you have a link saying 'buy home baking books now'.

One Keyword, One Landing Page.

Following on from the example we used above 'home baking' lets say you have multiple keywords setup in your PPC campaign, cakes, cookies, bread, biscuits etc each of these keywords should, in essence, have their own landing page and, as before, one of the first things the visitor to your site should see is a 'buy home cake baking books now' link. Send these visitors directly to the type of product your ad drew them to, not to a generic 'home baking' page.

Information Sells.

In addition to providing your PPC traffic with a 'buy now' link you should also take a moment to explain in a 'little' more detail about why the books you are selling are the right books for them and, more importantly, why they should buy their home baking books from YOUR store. Nobody will buy anything if they don't feel comfortable doing so, convince your surfers as to why they need to be spending their money with you, if you offer secure ordering, tell them, if you offer a refund policy, tell them, put yourself in the customers position and ask yourself 'what makes me buy a product?'

Direct The Visitor To Make An Action.

If your customer has to click a link to purchase their book, tell them to do just that 'click here to buy now'. If they need to call your sales team, tell them to do that 'call us now at 1-800-555-5555' whatever the surfer has to do in order to purchase an item from your store, make sure you tell them at the start of the page, several times throughout the middle of the page and, right at the end of the page. Don't be afraid of using a call-to-action in order to make a sale, tell the surfer what they have to do and when they have to do it.

Pictures Sell To.

If your landing page is text heavy, throw in a picture or two, linked directly to the 'buy now' page, again, this may seem like a simple step however, many online stores do not use this method of generating sales, if a visitor has hit your site through a PPC ad, you know they want to buy, give them every opportunity to do so.

Test Your Landing Pages.

If you have multiple keyword campaigns set up, why not create multiple landing pages for each of the keywords? By setting up an exact duplicate of your PPC ad campaign, with different landing page layouts for your keywords you can begin to test which type of layout works best for specific keywords, perhaps you will find that pages with a white background work best for one keyword whilst pages with a blue background work best for another, never be afraid of testing your landing pages, you may just find a solution that works exceptionally well for you and your customers.

Finally, make sure that your landing pages are complete, that is to say, once the PPC surfer has hit your landing page, has read some basic information about the products you are trying to sell them and, is ready to buy that they can do. There is nothing worse than giving a surfer a need to buy something and them not being able to do so because you don't have a system in place to accept their order, sometimes, emailing your sales department just isn't enough, many of our site visitors want instant gratification, if they don't get it, they will move on to a site where they can get and, in the process, you will have lost out on a sale.

Article written by Lee.

http://www.webmasterconsultants.com