According to Forbes, nearly half of all businesses lack a clearly defined digital strategy. As a small business competing for your customers' attention, you simply can't afford to ignore the value of digital marketing and paid search.
A critical piece of any digital marketing campaign is pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns. Successful PPC campaigns can drive traffic to your brand's digital properties and increase lead conversions, but some small business marketers elect to link their PPC ads to their website instead of dedicated landing pages.
Linking your PPC campaign to your website is an avoidable and costly mistake. A dedicated landing page with a targeted message based on your PPC ad allows you to capture valuable visitor information, get prospects excited about your brand and interact without being distracted by your website's many options. If you’re still not convinced, check out these six reasons why smart small business marketers use dedicated landing pages for PPC campaigns:
Boost Conversions with Landing Pages
PPC campaigns have the power to drive traffic to your business, increase brand awareness and improve conversion rates, but only if they're accompanied by well-crafted landing pages. Here's why your small business needs a dedicated landing page:
- Performs well on mobile. Landing pages that are well-designed perform better on mobile devices than cluttered, image-rich home pages. With half of all internet searches originating on mobile devices, your PPC campaign needs to deliver a pleasant viewing experience.
- Encourages focus on advertising message. Because PPC landing pages are designed to speak to a well-defined problem your customer is having and offer solutions, they encourage the reader to focus on the advertising message and push out other digital distractions.
- Engages a specific audience. PPC campaigns are designed to target leads searching for a very specific item or service. Unlike your standard website, a landing page is tailored to the needs and pain points of a defined buyer persona.
- Gathers valuable data. Each visitor to your landing page will leave behind clues about who they are and what they're looking for. Through an analytics review, you can then use this data to inform future paid search strategies and create advertising messages tailored to these specific wants.
- Gives Google good feedback. When a prospective customer clicks on a link and is taken to your homepage, they're less likely to immediately find what they're looking for, and your bounce rate will skyrocket. When landing pages are used for PPC campaigns, the content is specifically tied to the viewer's search criteria and adds value. Google loves meaningful content and will improve your overall SEO.
- Increases conversions. With a landing page, you're providing a specific solution to your customer's immediate need while outlining the benefits of choosing your brand. For this reason, they are more likely to fill out your landing page’s form and convert into a lead.
Approximately 1 in 4 adults say they're online constantly with more than 75 percent of adults reporting they go online at least once a day. To capture their attention with your PPC campaign, create a well-designed landing page that compels them to take action.
Without an effective digital marketing plan, small businesses can get overshadowed by bigger brands on the internet. The best SEO strategies feature a mix of paid and organic search, especially if you own a small business. To effectively invest your marketing dollars and experience the highest return on investment, be sure to use landing pages for your PPC campaigns.