In a recent blog, we looked at the rise of AI search and how it’s likely that we’ll start to see the opportunity for businesses to advertise within AI searches, in much the same way that they have within Google over the years. At the same time, it seems that Google Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising isn’t producing the same volume of traffic as previously, which could, in part, be down to stronger privacy settings. However, on the back of better data being fed into Google, the quality of that traffic has increased.
It's likely that businesses will need to better align their organic and paid marketing strategies, while the initial messaging needs to be increasingly tailored and creative and, we expect, more likely to be automated by AI.
In this changing market, if leads are coming to your website via PPC campaigns through Google, social media content or through AI paid-for ads, then, you’ll have probably spent a fair bit to have captured them but these leads will be better. After that, it’s down to you, as a business, to make the most of these potentially hotter leads and do what you can to convert that traffic.
The first priority should be focusing on your website to improve the conversion rate of these leads. For this reason, you should be really making any landing pages associated with your campaign really work for you – prioritising why you’ve led your potential customer there and providing minimal distractions and clutter in terms of text and visuals. It should focus on one purpose and your offer should be clear and compelling. This isn’t your home page, where you want to summarise everything about your business.
The landing page you create should match the ad or campaign that sent visitors there in the first place. If it doesn’t reflect the same offer, tone and design, then people will likely click away. Then there should be a very clear call to action – such as book an appointment or sign up for a demo or newsletter.
Once your landing page is in place, it’s important to track its metrics, including conversion rate, time on page, scroll depth and bounce rate. If it clearly isn’t working, then be ready to incorporate changes to make your messaging clearer. Then, after you’ve captured someone on your landing page, it’s important to track that visitor’s journey through your website, introducing personalisation where you can.
You really need to understand why that person has found you via a paid search and has ventured onto your website in the first place. For example, a budding entrepreneur might be looking for an accountant to support them with their Self-Assessment Tax Return and one of your paid searches has sent them to your website. At that point, you need to prove to them you are knowledgeable about that subject. If they arrive on your site and it’s clearly aimed at bigger businesses with lots of information about VAT and corporate tax and very little focus on somebody looking to complete a Self Assessment Tax Return, then it’s likely they will click away.
That means, all the money you’ve spent getting them there in the first place was wasted. Equally, one of our team was looking for a new bathroom recently and heard about a nationwide company that appeared to fit the bill. They Googled the company name and ‘bathrooms’. However, once they were on the firm’s website, the home page appeared dedicated to kitchens… and they had to scroll a long way down the page to read anything about bathrooms.
At that point, it felt like bathrooms were an after-thought – even though there was a potential customer on the website.
The lesson here is, while a landing page connected to a campaign should be specific to that particular search, your home page still needs to encompass the majority of what your business does. However, this is where personalisation can work for you. If you know that a person has been directed to your website through a search regarding bathrooms, then they should see a version of your home page where bathrooms have more prominence. For instance, if there’s a carousel of images on your home page – it would make sense for them to see bathroom photos first.
Also, if you have case studies on the home page, a bathroom case study should be prominent. Then, as that person navigates through your site, bathrooms should appear front and centre and, while they make that journey, your website will be gathering information about them to make each subsequent visit (and, hopefully, there will be more if they have a good experience the first time) more personalised. Equally, if somebody had Googled bedrooms, then their experience on your website should see them view bedroom-related content first.
Again, it’s important to point out that if you’re now potentially paying more for each lead, you need to nurture them as much as possible.
If you want to talk to us about improving your conversion rates, then contact Lake Solutions today: 0203 397 3222.