advertising

Landing Page Optimization that Really Works

This article was written by Ted Dhanik

The landing page is arguably the most important element of your campaign. By clicking on your ads, a customer has already shown some willingness to listen to your messaging. If your landing page isn’t doing a good job of following through with that message, you might lose the customer in the process. There are several changes you can make to your landing page that will make a big difference in what the customer sees, perhaps bringing more bounces closer to conversion. If you want optimization tactics that really work, read on for tips on banner advertising.

Tracking Code

The tracking code is the first part of the ad that you should implement. The tracking code will look at what the customer does on your landing page, and give some rudimentary ideas about where he came from. Many display advertising networks include a piece of code that carries a certain URL parameter with it. This parameter can be used to identify which campaign your traffic came from, helping you to narrow down exactly what triggered a conversion, and helping to cut down on bounces.

Targeting

Once you have tracking set up, it’s time to set the targeting for your campaign. Targeting refers to the demographics that you want your campaign to hit, like single moms with a certain income or families that own property versus families who rent. The more specific you can get about the age of your ideal market, their interests and their hopes, the better off your campaign will be. It’s the difference between advertising insurance rates on a site like Bankrate rather than advertising on a site like CNet. There is a chance the CNet viewer might also be interested in insurance, but it is much more likely that the Bankrate visitor will buy.

Goal Funnels

It’s also important to examine your goal funnels, and look for ways to improve upon the flow a customer takes towards a goal. In regards to this funnel, a goal refers to a conversion. It’s when the customer reaches the “Thank You” page, and it usually means you’ve closed a deal. You should try to decrease the steps between the landing page and the thank you page, showing the customer only in-between pages that are relevant to their interests. The most common example is a multi-stage signup form, which walks a customer through several steps to complete the goal. You could shorten the flow by placing all of those steps on one or two larger fields that take less time to click through.

Bio: Ted Dhanik provides insightful opinions of the online media industry through his personal blog. Ted Dhanik has over fifteen years of experience in direct marketing, and is the co-founder of engage:BDR. To find out how to launch your business with banners, contact Ted Dhanik.