How to design a successful landing page for AdWords.

When running an AdWords campaign, the page that users are sent to is very important. This is where landing pages come in.

These standalone web pages play an important role in forming lasting impressions.

Good landing page = good first impression and a higher chance of conversion.
Poor landing page = bad first experience and lower chance of conversion.

Creating a high converting landing page can be complicated, there is so much conflicting information out there about the best way to do structure the page. I’ve read 100’s of different case studies that all say different things.

A landing page should have as much information as it needs…. By A/B split testing (explained further in this article), you are able to determine the optimal amount of goodness your landing page needs for conversion success!

Strong calls to action.

A good landing page should have a clear message. This should stand out on the page and tell users what they need to do next.

It could be anything as simple as ‘join for a free trial’, ‘get a free quote’ or ‘enquire now’.
This call to action not only needs to be very clear, but it is also important that it matches the call to action from your Google Ads campaign.

As this page will be specifically for the users coming through to your website from your Google AdWords campaign, it is recommended that this call to action appears above the fold or on the upper half of the webpage.

Mobile-friendly design.

The use of mobile devices on the web is increasing every day. It is very important to consider how easy your landing pages are to navigate and use on all types of devices.
There are many things that need to be considered when designing mobile-friendly landing pages, including making sure that buttons and fonts are both easy to read click. Users on a mobile device may struggle to click on elements if they are too small and text may be harder to read on small screens.

It is also important to include features such as clickable phone numbers to make it simple for people on mobiles to get in contact with you.

Make it easy for people to get in touch.

These days people are increasingly impatient. So, it is important to have your contact details boldly displayed above the fold on your landing page.

On many websites, the contact information is buried at least five links deep.
Some people prefer to just pick up the phone rather than browsing your website or filling out a contact form – make it easy for them to find call you!

Build trust with reviews and testimonials.

Do you ever read reviews about a business or a product before making your final decision?
If you do, you will understand how reviews play an important role in building trust.
First impressions do matter, and since your landing page is often the first part of your website users from a PPC campaign will see, it is important that you give the users no excuse to ‘bounce’ of the page.

Visitors are more likely to convert if they know that other people or brands, especially ones they know, have done the same. An easy way to do this is incorporating snippets of testimonials or reviews from clients on your landing page. (Super easy and effective!)
You can also do this by incorporating the logos of some of your clients on your landing page.

This helps to build trust between you and the users, so they feel more comfortable with purchasing or getting in contact with you.

Keep the contact form SIMPLE!

Although it can be tempting to try get as much information out of a user as you can. The reality is the longer your form is, the less people that will bother filling it out.
A well-designed form should make it easy for visitors to submit their information.
If the contact form is not easy to read and use, people will not bother getting in contact and you risk missing out on valuable information and leads. But there is a fine line between a short form that captures little information, and a form that brings in valuable leads.

Some forms that only ask for ’email address’ or ‘phone number’ may seem spammy and deter users from getting in touch, you also run the risk of not capturing enough information to act on either.

A/B split testing landing pages.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as set and forget. With landing pages chances are you won’t get it 100% right the first time. That’s why A/B split testing is so important.

We use a landing page tool called Un-bounce – super easy to use and even EASIER to split test on. Some things you could split test are headlines, content, calls to action, forms or images. For example, you could test which form is more effective. A 4 – field form, or a more in-depth 8-field form.

It is important to remember when you are A/B split testing to only test one thing at a time.
If you make multiple changes to the landing page, it will be impossible to know what changes effected the campaign performance.