If You’re Going to Buy Internet Advertising, Invest In Your Customer’s Process
I’ve read dozens of articles on creating effective landing pages for your Pay Per Click campaign (Lonely Marketer, Search Engine Land) , but as a non-clicker of PPC ads in search results I never have the chance to evaluate landing pages. That said, I do interact with banner and display ads from time to time if it hits the sweet spot with my interest.
Today as I was reading a news article on StarTribune.com, home builder Pulte Homes had a banner advertising low interest rates. I clicked the ad, not for the interest rate, but to see the areas, homes and floor plans Pulte was building (ad below).
Where was I directed upon my click? To a MN search page on their website. I was amazed (in a bad way). No further info on their low rate offer even though that is the WHOLE focus of the ad as you can see above. The landing page did not offer a single easy to use link or links to select a neighborhood or community they are building in. They wanted me to select a state to start a search … even though during the transfer to their site I watched the URL go through a Pulte.com/mn redirect. Someone tell Pulte that they, or their ad agency, is wasting their money.
How to Maximize The User’s Process - Internet Marketing Tips
1. Decide on the message of your banner ad. If it is just to brand, then linking to your home page is fine. If your ad is specific with an offer, service or product create a landing page. Most of the time, you should make your banner ad message specific, you will get better results.
2. Customize the landing page to make it a quick, understandable and easy process. Use your content to summarize the offer, product or service and offer a next step right on that page. Let the user buy, fill out a short form right there, or give directly related links to get more information.
3. Don’t make them work, think or guess what to do. A search, like Pulte gave me, is not the right route to provide. If I clicked an ad for an iPhone, don’t send me to a "search our products" page … show me the phone!
4. Track your ad. Use Google Analytics, set the landing page as a goal and the follow up page or checkout page as another goal. You can track the whole process, learn from it and tweak it to get the best results.
I hope that if you are considering a banner ad or other online marketing you’ll remember these tips … and it’s not too late to fix an ad you’re currently running.
Posted on August 21st, 2007 by Jeff Wagner
Filed under: internet, marketing, small business
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Aaron - great words of wisdom! There are still too many agencies out there that just don’t get it.
Aaron,
Absolutely an excellent post! You just highlighted one of the biggest wastes of online advertising dollars. There is absolutely no point in having that ad running if there is nothing for the searcher after the click. Great suggestions for landing pages!
Pat
Char- Thanks, I’m fine with them not getting it. Then I can make a ridiculous difference.
Pat- You’ve put more than a few posts out on this topic for PPC. I truly believe the process (landing page) is more important than the ad. But all the focus seems to be on the front end. Why?