It’s always the way, right? You’ve set up ads campaigns, methodically A/B tested keywords, strategies & audiences within an inch of their lives, but you’re still not quite managing to get the amount of conversions that you need. Have you considered that it might not be your ads that are the problem? Theoretically, if your product or service is viable, and your ads are correctly optimised and reaching your desired audience, there are two reasons that your ads might not be performing well:
- A landing page poorly optimised to encourage your desired conversions
- A lack of trust in your brand
Luckily, these are issues that you have the power to do something about! Here I’ll take you through a few tips on how to ensure that your landing page is optimised to make converting an easier and more desirable process for customers, as well as a few things you can do to your landing page to help users put their trust in you as a business.
Know What Your Conversions Are
This might sound super obvious, but the first step in optimising any landing page is to have a good long think as to what your end goal is. What is the intention of your ad? Are you trying to get people to register on your site? Buy a product via ecommerce? Contact you to book an appointment? Think from the perspective of a customer using your website – what would be the easiest possible way to engage with your business? For example, if you are a therapist, and you are using your website to book appointments with potential clients, the best way to get people to convert would be to use a number of easily accessible methods displayed prominently on your landing page – you would likely want prominent click-to-call and click-to-email CTAs so people can get in touch with you directly, but some potential clients might prefer to fill in a contact form giving their basic details and an overview of their needs. It may also be a good idea to create a calendar booking form using Calendly which allows customers to book appointments directly into your calendar, streamlining the whole process further.
Know Your Audience
To really capture your desired audience, you’ve gotta think like them. Like, really get into their heads. Why are they searching for your product or service? What problems are they having that you may hold the solution for? It’s always good to build the content of your landing page around answering as many pain points they have as possible while keeping the copy short, eye-catching & succinct. Likewise, it’s important to come up with a design for your landing page that matches the interests of the demographic you’re targeting with your ads. For example, a product or service aimed at younger users may benefit from more multi-media content such as short-form videos, as well as a dose of ironic humour, whereas a more serious-minded B2B business should focus on being classy, informative and professional.
CTAs, Responsive CTAs & Contact Forms
This is another one that may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many websites scrimp on call to action buttons. Unless your only method of converting is via one static contact form at the top of your page (and if that’s the case I’d still probably advise broadening your scope), call-to-action buttons are imperative and are the main way to get your customers from your initial landing page to that final converting stage. If you’re an e-commerce site advertising a range or category or products, you will need to link to these products in large, obvious ways across the page, often more than once. Likewise, if the main conversion route is contacting you, you will probably want multiple click-to-call and email buttons across your page after most major sections, along with anchor links to a contact form. I would recommend including a contact form at the bottom of the landing page for most businesses, as even if this is not the main method of conversion, it helps instill customer trust if they can see they can easily get in touch if they have any questions or issues with the process.
I’d also recommend responsive CTAs that adapt differently whether you’re using a desktop, tablet, or mobile device. For instance, a click-to-call button is an excellent, super fast way to get in touch when being viewed on a mobile device, however on a desktop without a phone function this will be less than useless. So it may be worth replacing this on desktop view with an anchor link to a contact form, or a direct link to your shop.
F Shaped Theory
Have you ever been sat designing a web page and wondered where’s best to put all of these buttons and forms that people use to get in contact with you? Well, to let you in on a little secret, there’s actually a scientific method used to determine where on the page each element should sit in a way that’s designed to get you more conversions. It’s called F-Shaped Theory, and it posits that the majority of users initially read web pages in a particular manner, moving horizontally across the top of the page, making shorter horizontal scans further down, and eventually just reading down the left side lower down on the page, all in what amount to an “F” shape in terms of content that has been engaged with. We can use this to ensure that all of the most important information and calls to action are positioned on areas of the page that users are more likely to actually look at, helping to grab their attention more easily and provide an easier path to conversion.
Keeping It Tidy
The internet has evolved quite a lot over the past 20 years, and the scrappy, endearing Web 1.0 designs of yore are just not gonna cut it in the 2020s. Visual website builders on sites such as WordPress, Squarespace & Wix have become the norm in terms of website design, making designing your own landing page accessible to all and no longer the province of expert coders. As such, the overall quality of simple, home made websites has dramatically increased in terms of usability & appearance. Customers now expect modern, professional & eye-catching website design from all businesses, and making your website appear smart & inviting is a great way to instill trust in your customers that your business is a modern, thriving operation rather than a DIY cowboy enterprise. Here’s a few tips for things you can do to show your business at its best:
- Make sure your margins are correctly formatted – Untidy margins can make a whole website look very messy.
- Make sure your headings stand out – Highlight your most important points by using heading tags rather than paragraph text, and make these bigger than the rest of your copy.
- Keep font and text formatting consistent – Don’t keep switching fonts and text size for no rhyme or reason – sometimes it may go with the design, but don’t overdo it.
- Use eye-catching images – Using images can really help improve the look of your page. Try adding an image as the background to the opening banner, overlaid with a heading and a CTA
- Keep your audience & brand image in mind – Keep the page tailored to the needs & interests of your target audience
- Take inspiration from your competitors – Now, I’m not saying “steal their ideas”, just take a look at other businesses that are successful in your field, and see what you like about their pages and design. Incorporate those elements where you can while still remaining distinctly “you”.
Use Keywords In Your Copy
Now, one important thing to remember is that Google often takes into account the relevancy of your ad campaign to your landing page when deciding which ads to show to an audience. One of the best ways to make sure that this lines up is to try to fit the keywords that you have chosen for your ad into the copy of your landing page. This ensures that Google can see that your ad is as relevant as can be to your business and that there is no reason for concern in terms of false advertising or scamming. Adding a keyword into your H1 heading in particular can work fantastically in this regard.
Customer Trust
Possibly the most important thing to consider when advertising your products or services is whether a prospective customer can trust your business to provide them without issue. This can be a particularly difficult hurdle if you are a small business competing against bigger, more well known fish, or if you’re new to the market. However, when optimising your landing page, there are a few things you can do (on top of following the tips elsewhere on this blog) to help this. You can:
- Add a review widget to your page – This shows existing reviews customers have left, on either Google, TrustPilot, TripAdvisor or any other independent review sites.
- Add links to case studies – Talking in-depth about other projects you have taken on is a great way to prove to customers that they’re in safe hands.
- List other companies you’ve worked with – This can be an awesome way to prove your legitimacy, especially if you’re a B2B business who have supplied many larger companies.
- Show brand partnerships & certifications – If your services are offered in tandem with another company, or if you are certified to carry out your services to a particular level by an official board, displaying these credentials is paramount to instilling trust.
- Add testimonials – Outside of reviews on other sites, you can also add testimonials and quotes from satisfied customers to your own website. Often, video testimonials work best here, as this is provable evidence of your success.
Testing
To be honest, the truth of it is you’ve just gotta keep at it. If your landing page isn’t bringing through the conversions that you want, keep making little changes and testing it. There are apps and programs out there that can help with this, but if you keep making little changes and sticking with what works, you’ll eventually have a page that brings you through the conversions your business needs to thrive! If your messaging isn’t quite working, try tweaking it to capture your audience’s attention better. If your page copy is too wordy, try shortening it. If people are starting to fill in your contact forms but not submitting them, try shortening the number of fields on the form. You’ll get there.
Hire Every Trick Marketing
That all sounds like way too much work, let’s be honest. But it doesn’t have to be! If you haven’t got the time to optimise and regularly test and change your landing pages to make sure you’re getting the most out of your ads budget, you can hire Every Trick Marketing for one of our monthly packages, and we’ll do the legwork for you. We’ll optimise and test your landing page and your ads, to ensure that you get the best return on your investment. What’s even better, we offer no minimum term contracts, and we only work with businesses we know we can make a difference for. Contact us today to book a free consultation!