Conversion Rate Optimization for Your PPC Campaign

To your average Joe, the world of digital marketing, along with the all the digital jargon may seem a little like experimental physics.

However, there is an oversimplified explanation for why we do what we do and what our biggest goal as digital wizards is.

Firstly, when it comes to website design and SEO, we make sure we dot all our I’s and cross all our T’s.

Then, we work (almost) around the clock to make sure that we drive as much traffic to the website as possible.

Lastly but most importantly, we make sure that our efforts (and yours) result in online visitors converting into paying customers.

Many marketing strategies focus on driving more traffic to the website in the hope that some success will come from all the visitors.

However, is this the most effective approach? Is your website getting the right kind of visitor traffic? That’s where conversion rate optimization (CRO) comes in.

What is conversion rate optimization?

For those who don’t know, a conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your website who turn into customers or complete a desired call-to-action.

CRO is the process of adopting strategies which optimize your landing pages, website design and sponsored search ads in order to increase your conversion rate.

The focus being on not only driving more traffic, but making the absolute most out of existing traffic.

This is an easier, less-expensive approach to increasing your profits without spending more on advertising efforts.

Optimizing conversions rates from your PPC marketing campaigns

Firstly, understanding website conversion optimisation will help you maximise the chances that visitors who land on your website turn into prospects turn into paying customers.

You can increase your online conversion rate by:

• Testing the design of your landing page. Make sure you use the right layout, design and colours which are most likely to push your visitors to filling out your form, subscribing to your newsletter or making a purchase.
• Providing compelling, clickable PPC adverts. Ensure that the ads are entirely relevant to the search query or keyword used by your target audience. You will see the best results by targeting high-intent keywords used by searchers who are late in the buying process. These searchers are most likely to convert.
• Making sure your landing page is relevant. When the corresponding advert is clicked and your visitor is taken to your landing page, make sure it delivers on the promise of your advert. A landing page that is not relevant to the advert will result in your visitors leaving immediately and you would have not only lost a prospect, you would have broken their trust.

The importance of effective keywords when optimizing PPC conversions

AIDA – awareness, interest, desire, action. This is how we summarise the digital marketing funnel. It’s easy to get distracted with design elements in the low end of the funnel because this is where your prospects take action.

However, these elements are useless, so to speak, if there are no visitors in the first place. The first part of optimising conversions is making sure you actually have visitors to convert.

When it comes to search marketing, bidding on and optimising for the most effective keywords is what will increase your qualified traffic.

Subsequently, the data drawn from keyword traffic enables you to make improved decisions about your website and adverts. You will also be more likely to target the right customers.

Conversion rate optimization and landing pages

Your prospects arrive at your page as the result of a specific search query. If your landing page doesn’t offer relevant content, you instantly lose your lead.

Furthermore, poorly designed and constructed landing pages are penalised by Google. Your Google Ad cost per action and cost per click will increase, your ad rank will drop and it will become harder to win a place in Google’s ad auction process.

What makes a good landing page?

There are a few key elements when it comes to landing page design:

• Concise – Firstly, make sure your content is not drawn out or overwhelming. Keep it simple and to the point. Your landing page should clearly communicate your offerings as well as correlate with the keywords associated with the relevant advert.
• Compelling headline – Your headline should be striking and completely relevant to your PPC keywords. The aim of your headline should be to encourage your visitors to stay on the page and to complete your desired call-to-action.
• User-friendly capture form – Your form should include all fields necessary to fulfil your offer. However, it’s important not to overwhelm your clients with too many fields which may not be relevant or useful.
• Eye-catching – Your call-to-action buttons should be visually appealing and most of all, easy to see. It must be clear that it is a clickable button and should use short, focused text.
• Attractive – The overall design of your landing page should be uncluttered, clear, professional and visually appealing.