Why can’t you just direct PPC campaigns to your homepage or an existing landing page? What’s the point in building a separate, custom landing page for every PPC campaign?
These are common questions PPC clients ask the Lead to Conversion staff, and they’re good questions. If you don’t have to spend the extra money on each campaign to get consistently strong results, obviously you’d want to know. Check out these four reasons you should (almost) always attach a custom landing page to every PPC campaign.
1. Targeted Marketing Needs to be Targeted
The entire premise of PPC marketing is that you only pay for relevant ads to display to users who are likely to be receptive to your message or brand. In theory (and in practice, if you’re doing it right), that means the users who see your ads are more likely to click through than other random users who don’t meet your demographic or online behavior requirements.
But your marketing effort doesn’t end once someone clicks the link. You have to carry through on that relevance on your landing page, or the click doesn’t turn into a conversion. And while you may have a landing page that performs beautifully for one segment of your target audience, it doesn’t mean the same page will perform for others.
In short, great PPC campaigns rarely target all of your audience. Niche marketing is more powerful, and drilling down to segments helps you drive more clicks and conversions — but only if your landing page is targeted to match the ads in question.
2. Your Landing Page May Be a Weak Link
If you’re not creating any new content to attach to PPC campaigns, you never know if your existing content is the weak link. Creating new pages lets you apply A/B testing to tweak content and design continuously, potentially increasing your return with every PPC campaign.
Even if your current pages are performing, there’s always room for improvement. Plus, unique landing pages for each campaign provide you with an additional way to track the performance of the overall campaign. Analytics lets you determine exactly what combination of digital marketing pieces brings you the greatest success, and you can even test different PPC ad campaigns and links with various landing pages to find the winning pair.
3. Custom Landing Pages Let You Address the Funnel
It’s not just about targeting landing pages to specific demographics or consumers. Unique landing pages let you tailor content, offers, and tone to address the part of the funnel that best matches your PPC campaign.
Individuals who are simply curious about a product won’t react to content in the same way a buyer in immediate need may, and landing pages should take that into account. If you pair a hard sell landing page that doesn’t really explain your company or product with a PPC campaign that targets users in the top part of the funnel (those seeking information and who aren’t ready to make a purchase decision), your advertising is likely to flop. On the other hand, if buyers are ready to make a purchase, they may not want to wade through informational content to find out how to do so.
4. A General CTA Doesn’t Always Work
Your on-page call to action should correlate as closely as possible to the intent of your PPC campaign to ensure higher levels of conversions. If your PPC campaign targets people looking to find out more information, the CTA may be to sign up for a newsletter or navigate to more information on site. CTAs for community- and brand-building campaigns may prompt readers to join in via social, forums or blog comments. And if your PPC campaign does target people who are looking to purchase a product or service, your version of a “buy now” button should be riding high above the fold and be accompanied by a short CTA toward the bottom of the page, at a minimum.
Work with Experts to Create Comprehensive, Targeted Campaigns
We almost always advise clients to customize landing pages to their PPC ad campaigns. We say almost simply because there are very few rules in digital marketing that don’t come with at least one exception, though exceptions to this particular rule are rare. The experts at Lead to Conversion can help you figure out exactly how to leverage PPC advertising and back it up with customized, appropriate landing pages that ensure a higher success rate with conversions.
https://leadtoconversion.com/blog/landing-pages-help-with-ppc-campaigns/