Seperate page for PPC?

[chrisJumbo]

We use Yahoo and Google for PPC. At the moment, Google is suspended.

We don't have an ecommerce site because we actually have to talk to people to complete a transacation. It has been hard to know if a PPC made the trade or a call because of our rankings.

Should I create a special page for the PPC ads to point to, so at least I can track the seperate clicks. Maybe even offer a PPC customer discount. The page could tell them to use a "code word" to receive a 10% discount or something. Our traffic has increased and sales have increased, but so has our rankings.

Just want a better handle on whether PPC is helping.

Thank you for your suggestions.

[chrisJumbo]

Anybody out there? Please see previous post for the question.

Thank you,

[fctoma]

We've started doing this for a few different reasons, mainly to show others that people do click through PPC listings. Plus to satisfy my feelings regarding this issue. We've just created a few and point most all of our PPC to those pages.

Its a nice way to jazz up any page with all the marketing crap one must put in to try to get the person to download our software, or to call us. Its somewhat fun building these pages as I don't worry about what words are where, how many KWs, placement of terms... because we do not link to these pages anywhere, EXCEPT from the PPC. So, the spiders haven't picked them up on the index yet. If they did, sure there would be duplicate content. But, since they don't we continue to use them, have done well with them. Plus, for any one asking, you can say "the only way they got here is from PPC"...

Hope this helps.

Frank in Idaho

[fctoma]

We've started doing this for a few different reasons, mainly to show others that people do click through PPC listings. Plus to satisfy my feelings regarding this issue. We've just created a few and point most all of our PPC to those pages.

Its a nice way to jazz up any page with all the marketing crap one must put in to try to get the person to download our software, or to call us. Its somewhat fun building these pages as I don't worry about what words are where, how many KWs, placement of terms... because we do not link to these pages anywhere, EXCEPT from the PPC. So, the spiders haven't picked them up on the index yet. If they did, sure there would be duplicate content. But, since they don't we continue to use them, have done well with them. Plus, for any one asking, you can say "the only way they got here is from PPC"...

Hope this helps.

Frank in Idaho

[spenland]

Hi Chris,

I have always used landing pages for my PPC campaigns, just be sure that your robots.txt files forbids them from being indexed by search engines so that they don't compete with your other pages for organic rankings.

I like landing pages for PPC campaigns because it allows me to do a double check amount of hits google or yahoo says that I receive from my campaigns.

I'm not sure about your wish to include what I assume is a form of some kind where users will enter in information. I've seen some of my competitors do this but I can't imagine to many people want to fill out a form when they are looking for information. It may be interesting to have a few different landing pages and see how they perform against each other.

good luck!

[Heal3r]

Yes, It's called a landing page. You build a special page for those who find your services via PPC. You paid good money fopr those leads. You want to know the conversion metrics, you want to make sure you do the best you can to get a chance at their business. I would have speciifc landing pages for specific keywords you are targeting based on audience.

Then just use code in your tracking software, google and overture have their own tracking codes you can use to track "decisions".. Read about it in the help sections. Research landing page tracking.

[incrediblehelp]

I have never been a fan of doing this. I don't see much increase in the conversion by doing it with clients, plus it just seems like double work. Any organic page can market to PPC visitors just the same.

Of course the main thing to be concerned with right now is Google spidering and judging the weight or credibility of your PPC AdWords pages.

[SnerdeyWebs]

You might be a canidate for a Pay Per Call service so you don't have to pay for ad's unless they call.

Also.. Just about any web site can be created to match any business model using a story board of events that run through the normal Q and A or even an extensive flash content site designed to process to preorder to help reduce overall call times.

Just a thought =)

[AxiomTrend]

Hi Chris,

A couple of suggestions, One way to do it would be to have a separate landing page with a separate toll free number that you would only list on your landing page, so when numbers come in on that line you know what generated the call. As far as separating the calls from Google or Yahoo, you could either have yet another number, which would be a pain, or instead I would create two different extensions, one for Yahoo, one for Google, (and have a slightly different landing page for each with only the phone extension being different.) So your Yahoo page would have the number 800-###-#### ext. 3, and your Google page would have 800-###-#### ext. 4, (or what ever extension you decide.)

a great service that you can use to do this with is GotVmail, it's cheap (like $9 a month is all,) and will allow you to do this kind of setup, including forwarding the call to what ever phone you want with a call intro message telling you what extension the call is for so you can know if it's from your Google or Yahoo generated ads.

There are also some Pay-Per-Call search engine services debuting that you might want to look into. It's like PPC, but you only pay when someone calls your number listed in your search listing. www.miva.com , (formerly FindWhat,) is one doing this now. AOL is doing it too, and others.

You can also ask people you call in where they saw your number or heard about you. If they say online, ask where, what search engine, what keyword they used, etc. But this won't be as accurate but is better then nothing.

Also, I took a look at your web site. Unless you are already experiencing great success with this site I would suggest upgrading its design. No offense, but if I came to your site, just based on the look of your site, I would assume you guys were amateurs and wouldn't invest through you, let alone a $50,000 investment. Some might disagree with me; some might say it lends credibility to your being to busy investing for people to make your site look pretty. You don't need anything too fancy, but I would suggest something more modern, sharp and simple. You can get someone one Elance.com to do a good site for reasonable rates or even just get a good template through a site like www.templatemonster.com. That's my two cents for ya! :)

[merv123]

I see from your post that you need to contact your customers to make a sale.
Total advertising lets you the advertiser contact the person who clicks on your ppc listing by both email and text sms message.
Also all ip addresses are logged and barred once a click through has occured to eliminate click fraud and you can from your account check the IP address of all click throughs, the time , date and keywords used.

Visit us here at Total Advertising featuring Total Recall

[eagent]

Hi Chris,

Excellent question.

We've learned a few hard lessons (how fast Google will suck-down your PPC budget if left alone...;-), and some great one's about page design to align with PPC visitors. Here's a short thumbnail:

1) We get the best results when we:

• • Offer a FREEE download of some sort (PDF, Whitepaper, Poster, Demo software),
  • Keep the page simple and short.
  • Align the copy of your PPC Ad with the landing page
  • Limit any form fields to Name, email, location.

2) Definitely code and track the page(s) you use for PPC and specific ads. We've seen a dramatic increase in results when we clarify the complete "lead=>sales cycle" by closing the loop between all of your lead generation to phone sales events.

3) Don't worry much about organic results on the page. Write short, clear, bulleted copy for best results.

4) Compose your copy to align with your top 3 existing clients personalities. Don't write fluff copy if your client is a scientist-type. Go visit the Myers-Briggs chart to get a better grasp of how to profile your clients.

5) Pick up Marketing Sherpa's Benchmark Guide to see how people view a page (heatmaps). Once you realize that people view pages more like Web 1.0 than anything else, you'll realize that less is more...

A cool approach I use effectively with most of our clients is:

1) Create a series of online press releases to act as your PPC ad.

2) Optimize the press release for good SEO (Title, Summary, Body copy with keywords; internal links; SEO-friendly attachments).

3) Use internal links in the PR to point to your landing page (the PR is actually a sort of 350-700 word long-form ad, but somewhat neutral in tone, and supported by integrated quotes and testimonials). Craft your landing page to be a short conclusion to your press release.

4) Stack a series of releases over time (2 per week) and watch the results.

I use PRWeb for this, and find that I can, over about 6 weeks, dramatically reduce my PPC campaign cost, focus on new PPC angles, and create long-term traffic to my site that results in excellent conversion.

Let me know if you have any questions on any of these, and keep us posted as to your success as you fine-tune your PPC programs. Right now we're turning our PPC programs OFF during part of the very early morning because we were finding that our leads were just garbage, but costing us a lot. Little hints like that can mean a lot to your business over the long term.

Best of success!
ME

[totallysoccer]

My business faces much the same issue where a call triggers the sale and makes the ROI investment difficult to determine - organic or PPC?

We've turned to providing special offers through specific landing pages that are designed to address the conumer's stated need through the keyword they've used. I don't know if you're using a canned system, but I disagree from another poster that existing pages should be used. Certainly, they can be used, but they won't maximize your ROI. And, since we're in business to generate profits, I'm willing to do a significant amount of work to maximize that ROI. A well-done, "personalized" landing page can make a customer feel unique and lucky to have found you. Assuming your content is on-target (if you're bidding for the term, I'm assuming that it is), it should trigger an emotional response that provides the impetus to call you. From there, it is all up to you.

The fact that PPC allows you to tailor these pages is a gift from the direct-marketing heavens. You can test variables (i.e. do people respond to a 10% offer? is there another offer that drives demand in a stronger manner?) and receive immediate feedback on that test. On these pages, you can speak exactly to the search term that they've typed in to the system, which is always going to be more effective than a generic page that is "good enough" to fit the bill. You can provide a depth of information that you may not want to "burden" the everyday user with unless you were 100% certain that they asked for that information. And, ultimately, it provides you with an opportunity to learn if you are spending your money in fruitful marketing endeavors. To me, in addition to all of the above reasons of why you should provide landing pages on your site, this is the greatest reason to do "go through the extra effort."

After all, whether you own it or are the marketing manager, it is incumbent upon you to know if your efforts are providing a return. I wonder if the previous poster would consider hiring an individual to show up everyday without ever knowing if this individual was actually providing value to the enterprise. Showing up just isn't good enough anymore; it's much more complicated than that.

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by totallysoccer

I disagree from another poster that existing pages should be used.

So if someone types in "soccer balls" from PPC in AdWords and someone types in "soccer balls" from an organic search they should get 2 different pages from the same company. I don't think so, but hey to each its own.

I do agree the great thing about PPC is that you can tailor your pages and provide different image/flash based pages. If you have the time to do it and it helps your conversions, by all mean DO IT!!!

Not everyone that buys PPC has the time to do this and if they read this thread they could get the impression that creating a separate page for PPC is some magic formula for better conversions. That is just not simply true in all cases.

[CompuGeneration]

Originally Posted by totallysoccer

We've turned to providing special offers through specific landing pages that are designed to address the conumer's stated need through the keyword they've used. I don't know if you're using a canned system, but I disagree from another poster that existing pages should be used. Certainly, they can be used, but they won't maximize your ROI.

Exactly! You should always be working toward revising your copy to receive more actions from your prospects. Don't be afraid to try different bait to catch those fish. Imagine if you only used worms when you went fishing!

You should always be revising / improving your PPC ads for increased click through rates (get more visitors). Then you should always be revising your landing pages to increase actions (filling out a form / send an email / call your company / purchase your product / download PDF / etc.).

Originally Posted by totallysoccer

Showing up just isn't good enough anymore; it's much more complicated than that.

The Internet can be soo profitable for smart marketers. This isn't because "Everything is virtually free", quite the contrary. It's because you have the ability to measure your actions, your client's actions, and improve them almost instantly. Your content/copy distribution is live. Therefore we can realize the results as fast as we can receive traffic.

For example let's say you get 1000 impressions on your PPC ad each day for a particular keyword or similar group of keywords. Then we'll say you get 40 people to click your advertisement and view your site (a particular page). That's a 4% Click Through Rate. Now, of those 40 visitors, 4 decide to take your desired action. That's a 10% action/conversion rate. 365 days in a year = 1460 actions from that PPC ad.

Now you decide to work at it and get your CTR up to 5%. 10 extra visitors / day, with that same 10% action rate will get you an additional 365 actions / year. To further that, if you can boost your action rate up to 12% you'll receive an additional 365 actions / year. So you started with 1460 actions / year and you ended with 2190 actions / year.

Would a 50% increase in actions / conversions be worth the effort for your business?

[SemAdvance]

Not everyone that buys PPC has the time to do this and if they read this thread they could get the impression that creating a separate page for PPC is some magic formula for better conversions. That is just not simply true in all cases.

Actually Time = Money

Therefore one should make the time to improve landing pages, as they will indeed lead to increased conversion in every instance that I can see.

Increased conversion = More Money

More Money = Time

Stating otherwise, is saying not to bother to improve something, which is not the best business advice.

A simpler way to keep organic seperate from PPC is to use another domain name for the PPC side.

PPC Motto

Test Test Test and when you're done testing...Test again.

Oh and watch for ppc waste, not fraud,,,,,,

Peace

[incrediblehelp]

SEMAdvance agree, agree just wish all people believed in:

Actually Time = Money > Increased conversion = More Money > More Money = Time

[SemAdvance]

incredible hekp

We can lead them to the water,

Cannot force them to drink.

Keep up the good work!

[totallysoccer]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

So if someone types in "soccer balls" from PPC in AdWords and someone types in "soccer balls" from an organic search they should get 2 different pages from the same company. I don't think so, but hey to each its own.

Yes, indeed, it should land on two different pages - there isn't even a consideration between the two. In comparing a page that is written as a sales pitch to a page that is optimized for organic placement, it is naive to think that the sales pitch wouldn't perform more admirably than a normal page in the site. It is hard to imagine that anyone who has spent time at this would disagree. When unburdened with multiple masters (customer's perspective and search engine placement), the sales pitch will have a stronger voice and will undoubtably become more effective.

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

Not everyone that buys PPC has the time to do this and if they read this thread they could get the impression that creating a separate page for PPC is some magic formula for better conversions.

I think that someone that doesn't have the time to manage their campaigns properly (and I see strong landing pages as part of that process) should stop advertising and wait until they have the resources to do so. You're making it seem as if creating a landing page is some type of vodoo magic formula, when, in fact, it is simply good direct-marketing strategy. To advise clients to continue to spend without optimizing this landing page is just simply wrong; it is as fundamentally wrong as me bidding on "soccer" as a keyword. Sure, I might get some traffic, and some of it would eventually convert, but otherwise it is a real waste of resources.

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

That is just not simply true in all cases.

While we can civilly continue to disagree, I can't imagine any scenario where a well optimized sales landing page would not outperform a page that is optimized for organic placement. It may not be a magic bullet, but to not optimize these pages would be as foolish as not following standard SEO procedures for your "organic" pages. Ultimately, I see them as one in the same: I file it under "Optimization." Perhaps more importantly, when you don't optimize your site for SEO, there is only an opportunity cost that is associated with it. This is in direct contrast to PPC where there is a tangible cost that is associated with not taking advantage of the traffic you are paying to come to your site.

For those advertisers that are too busy, I would recommend identifying your top few keywords and optimizing a landing page that sells your prospects on those terms. From there, begin testing offers and see what works. The small investment in time will certainly improve your ROI and display first hand that you're not really too busy to tend to this most important and fundamental DM concept. As my grandfather once told me, "The easiest and most direct way to make more money is to find ways to trim your costs." Engaging in this fascinating exercise will enable you the tools to maximize your ROI while reducing your costs on poor performing keywords.