If you’re running Google Ads, you’re probably investing a decent budget into them. This means that every click that comes from your ads, you pay for. One of the worst things you can do is waste that click and money. How can you waste the click? By sending the user to a crappy landing page. Nothing will turn a potential customer (and Google) off more than a landing page that is not optimized or user-friendly.
In this blog, we’re going to talk about what makes a great landing page… One that will make your customer know, like and trust you and one that will be rewarded by Google.
Elements of A Good Landing Page
Real Photos
We preach this all the time… Real photos help customers know, like, and trust you by giving them a glimpse of what your shop looks like and who they can expect to see when they visit your shop. Not only are stock photos cheesy (insert picture of man in coveralls holding an oversized wrench), they don’t set the right expectation with your customers. Establish confidence with your target audience by showing them how clean your waiting area and shop are, show them who will greet them at the counter when they walk in, and use photos of your technicians performing services they might be coming in for. Basically, don’t be a catfish.
Clear Calls To Action
Whether you’re using a one page landing page or sending ads to an optimized page on your website, you should have clear calls to action in multiple places throughout the page. This gives a potential customer multiple opportunities to call your shop or book an appointment. Don’t make it hard for someone to give you their money! Include a clickable phone number and simple scheduler or web form in multiple places so a visitor can take action as they scroll. Which brings me to another point… Have some kind of contact or book an appointment form on your landing page – this could be the most important part of your landing page. That way, if someone sees your ad and visits your landing page after hours, they still have the option to contact you while no one is there to answer the phone.
Display Your Services and Amenities
One of the questions we ask all of our new clients is: What services are you trying to bring in more of or what services are most profitable for you? We ask this so we can put those services front and center in their ads and landing page. By listing out these services, Google will recognize those service keywords you are targeting (more on that in a minute) and customers will know what they can expect from your shop. Be specific and make it eye-catching using real photos or icons. Below are two examples.
Copywriting
Give your copywriting some serious thought. Write how your customers would speak… Meaning don’t use all that technical shop jargon. You want to seem relatable and as if you’re speaking directly to the person who visits your landing page. But most importantly, you want to “keyword stuff” where it fits and seems natural. What I mean by keyword stuff is include the keywords you are targeting in your Google Ads in your copywriting. For example, if you’re running an ad for auto maintenance, you may write in your intro/about section…
“Peak Automotive is changing the automotive maintenance experience in Hammond, LA.”
This one sentence includes the keyword you’re going after plus the location you are targeting.
If you need copywriting help, don’t forget that resources like ChatGPT can be a powerful tool in your shop’s marketing.
The Back End: Tracking Codes
Perhaps one of the most important parts of an ads landing page is the part your customer doesn’t even see – the tracking codes on the back end! Without tracking measures, you’ll have no way of knowing how your ads or landing pages are truly performing. Google Tag Manager is a super user-friendly tool that allows you to set up tracking measures without the help of a web developer. In your Google Tag Manager account, consider setting up the following tracking measures:
- Vanity phone numbers – track the number and quality of phone calls coming from your ads/landing page
- Google Analytics – track how much time people are spending on your landing page and if they’re taking action
- Google Ads conversion tracking – to count web form fills from ads
- Meta Pixel – to gather visitor data and use it for audience targeting purposes
You can learn more about tracking your ads and the tools we use for tacking in this blog: A Look at the Importance of Tracking Digital Marketing
Why This All Matters
Seems like a lot of work for one landing page, right? You’re not wrong… But your landing page can make or break your ads. And if they break your ads, they can break your bank, too. A good landing page that contains all of these things will ultimately be rewarded by Google with a good quality score. A good quality score can lower your cost-per-click (CPC) making your budget go further, increase visibility of your ads and your click-thru-rate (CTR) and improve your overall ad performance and relevance to your audience.
So when building out your ads, think about the entire funnel, including your landing page. As always, if you need help with any of these pieces, we’re here. Just reach out!
