Landing pages: people aren't stupid.

I'm reviewing the results from a recent Marketing Experiments on-line 'diagnostic clinic' of some submitted test websites. They talk about a formula that encompasses visitor 'friction', 'anxiety', propositions ... all well and good.

What really stands out is the potential upside of paying attention to where you have people land on your website. And what they see when they arrive - 'Landing pages'

So there's the diligent research into keywords, phrases, categories and segments (right?), then the up-front come-on of the PPC ads, tailored to those categories ..... then .... pphhhht (that's the sound of those deflated expectations).

People aren't stupid. They expect the promise (ad) to deliver - with content that is not only relevant, but engaging to *them*. Not configuring landing pages to dovetail with the finely tuned visitor categories ... well, that's just silly. And wasteful of marketing dollars.

So really, how do you implement a landing page strategy?
What if you are using a CMS? Problem?
Who can best create / publish / test / the pages so they can be weeded out, just like an Adwords ad?

Stay tuned. We have some on-the-ground experience to pass on...

The Drill-Down #3: What? / Why? (Conversions)

3) Conversion Analysis:

That was fun – um, did we make any money?

And this is the big secret. With traffic, with analysis, - it is all assumptions until you can measure against your business goals. Are you getting referrals, leads? Do these convert to sales? Or just increase your costs?
Only then can you work back to determine what sources of traffic are worth paying for: most relevant, most cost-effective, and able to generate continued growth.

Hold your online results to business standards.

Our Process: a step-by-step

You can take away 'Our Process' as homework: what do you know, or think you know, about your online marketplace?

A typical engagement starts with:

Business Research Interview
Your viewpoint on your markets:

• what makes you unique, distinctive,
• what are the major drivers in your industry,
• who do you feel are your main and indirect competition,
• what are known and assumed audience influencers,
• and what are the audience segments you are currently aware of

Business Web Marketplace Profile
Obtain all the information that will allow you to craft winning messages:

• Unique propositions,
• distinctive characteristics,
• industry influences and trends,
• who is really the competition,
• revealed audience factors and segments

Campaign
Put all this good stuff on the road and monitor, test, and refine:

• Campaign design - use existing website as baseline
• Campaign launch
• Campaign monitoring and adjustment
• Campaign review (1,2,3 week, 1 per month)
• Website campaign modifications - high-value indicated modifications to organization, features and content
• Website search profile improvement - fold in learning from campaigns, monitor and adjust to seasonality