Posts Tagged ‘Landing Pages’

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How to Select Quality Links For Your Website

Posted by Kate Riley on June 9th, 2010

magnifying_glassYou need to be selective when choosing inbound links to your website.  Just having random websites link to you is not enough these days. You need to take a close look at them and understand that there are some important SEO factors and criteria to consider first. Read on to learn how to  improve your link building strategy overall.

Visit the link – how does it look?

First, visit the actual website. Does it look like a natural website that web visitors will enjoy reading? Does it provide good information or are you bombarded with spam-like images and banners when you visit it? If it looks like the website only exists to spam users or solely to provide a back link for many websites, reconsider using it.

Is the content relevant?

Now, if the link passes that test, the next thing to look at is if it is relevant to your website. Is the topic of that website related to your website?  Does it mention the targeted keyword terms that you want to rank high for in search engines? For example, if your business is a Casino, you want to partner with websites about the gaming industry and casinos, not football. Try to get inbound links from websites that are within your industry or field of expertise.

You don’t want a site that is overly saturated with keywords either, as this will make it difficult for users to read, and may lead to having a keyword density number that is high.  Search engines look upon this negatively.

What is the Page Rank of the URL?

Take a look at the Page Rank of the website. If the site is not related specifically to your website topic, but has a Google Page Rank of 5 or higher it may still be good to include it. For example, a local news station that has a link to your website is very helpful. Not only will a lot of people see this, but it will show search engines that you are connected to a high quality website.

Additionally, a website that has a link to your website on it and the domain ends in .edu, .org, or .gov is beneficial, because these websites are seen as authoritative and generally have higher Google Page Ranks.  Keep in mind just because the website extension ends in .edu or .gov does not mean necessarily it has a high Page Rank. A good rule of thumb is the closer your website link is to the home page of that .edu or .gov site is the better. If it’s hidden within a blog or forum, it won’t help as much.

Is the link set as a No Follow?

The link will not help your search engine rankings if the URL is set to “No Follow” and its page rank will not carry over to your website. “No Follow” discredits the link for search engine robots. A website may use the “no follow” attribute value if it is a blog or forum and gets a lot of spam.

How many outbound links does the website have? (more…)

New Developments in Google Adwords

Posted by Brent on December 7th, 2009

Here are some recent comments from our PPC & Affiliate Marketing Director, Keith Posehn:

As you may have heard, Google has been on a website banning spree recently. In the last 48 hours, they have apparently banned several thousand accounts – agencies, merchants and affiliates alike. Further, they have given some guidance as to what to expect moving forward.  Here are some key factors to consider for all pay per click advertising and affiliate marketing programs:

  1. Isolated landing pages and micro-sites are a thing of the past. When creating an AdWords campaign it is now essential to have a site that is ranked (and ranked well).  Addionally, is is crucial have a lot of quality unique content on these web pages.  Google seems to be placing more weight on content for PPC campaigns.
  2. It is important to note that you can have a landing page, but it must be on a ranked and on a trusted domain; also, you should have a link directly to it from a page on the site that ranks well for the keywords being bid on.
  3. Paid Search affiliates are largely gone – many affiliates are leaving paid search as affiliates. This is both a plus and a minus, because it means less competition but also fewer affiliates in the various networks.
  4. SEO is much more important, even more so than last week!  If a site has no inbound links or trust, it will not be awarded a good Quality Score.
  5. Google is not showing its cards in terms of what sites it does not like. There is a great deal of uncertainty right now.  Google is also now entering the market as a competitor directly (i.e. Google Affiliate Network)

What does this mean from an Internet marketing perspective (specifically PPC, Affiliate, and SEO)?

  1. SEO and content-heavy sites are now an even more important part of PPC and therefore it is imperative to be pursuing both avenues in an online marketing strategy.
  2. Every AdWords campaign needs much more content, trust and quality to survive.  This of course can be provided by Internet marketing companies as well as the brands/clients themselves.
  3. A much greater level of research and care must be taken when planning any pay per click campaign.  Many factors must be considered.
  4. It would be highly recommended that all e-commerce companies now have an affiliate program on the Google Affiliate Network.

We expect to see more developments over the next few weeks and will keep our readers informed!

More on Conversion Optimized Landing Pages

Posted by Brent on December 3rd, 2009

We have talked a lot about conversion optimization for websites and landing pages associated with any Internet marketing strategies.  Here is another great page used for paid search campaigns.  Each PPC campaign will have different conversion goals depending on the company’s needs.  The landing page below is designed to increase room bookings for the Tropicana in Las Vegas.  PPC will be used to drive the traffic. 

Trop Lander

Google Quality Score parameters are becoming much more strict.  Notice the amount of content on the page.  Landing pages now must have quality (and relevant) content in order to gain a good quality score and have a productive PPC campaign.  Many landers tied to new URLs with no history require even more content in order to meet Quality Score standards.  It can often now take time to build the score, so keep adding good content to your pages!

Conversion Optimization Basics

Posted by Brent on April 10th, 2009

Conversion optimization was born out of the need of lead generation and e-commerce internet marketers to improve their website’s results. As competition grew on the web during the early 2000′s, Internet marketers had to become more measurable with their marketing tactics. They began experimenting with website design and content variations to determine the layouts, copy text, offers and images will improve their conversion rate. – Wikipedia

Conversion optimization is more important than ever as companies move more of their marketing budgets online seeking more cost effective ways to achieve their goals.  The approach has two angles.  The first starts with researching the industry and target markets of the company in need of improved conversions.  Once the data has been collected, a more targeted marketing message can be planned.  Secondly, comprehensive testing such as A/B testing is done to monitor results and make adjustments to continually improve the conversion rates. 

Conversion optimization is about achieving business goals and gaining the best possible ROI from the marketing efforts.  Here is a chart that outlines the basics:

conversion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The foundation behind conversion optimization is website design.  Once you have the marketing message put together and before you start running the campaign and testing results, you have to design the site and landing pages accordingly to achieve your goals.  Like anything esle there are some best pratices to follow when putting together a landing page.  The basics include the following:

  • Keep it simple and focus on the message
  • Message must be associated with ad campaign
  • Keyword association
  • Clear and obvious calls to action
  • Simple content (bullet points)
  • Trust factors
  • Short registration forms
  • Must be well designed and compelling

The bottom line is that a good Internet marketing company will first help you define your business goals, then help you assemble the message, and then put together the campaign, launch it and test results constantly.  Continually updating your landing pages will improve results dramatically which will lead to a well spent marketing budget!

Related Blogs

Why are Landing Pages so Important?

Posted by Brent on March 5th, 2009

We have talked a lot about conversion optimization and improving ROI for your marketing investments.  This of course has never been more important.  Most companies (though everyone is negotiating the waters of the rough economy) still undertsand they need to find cost effective and creative ways to market their products and services to their target audiences.  Understanding that marketing is essential is just the first step…spending your budget wisely is a whole new ball game.

There is no point is spending a a bunch of time and money building a fancy website if it is not optimized for the search engines.  Additionally, there is no point is spending time and resources driving traffic to a website or web page that is not set up to convert traffic into business.  A good Internet marketing company will help a client define their business goals (from an online prespective) and work backwards from there.  Defining these goals first is essential so that your website can be designed to reflect the conversion fatcors that will support these goals.

Remember that your website, and pages within your website should be designed to support all outside marketing efforts including online marketing like organic search engine optimization and pay per click advertising, as well as offline marketing like print ad or direct mail.  Let’s assume a website itself is set up well for basic conversions and has the proper calls to action necessary to take people through the sales cycle.  Even if this is the case, it does not mean that your PPC ads or print ads should be directing visitors to the home page of your site.  This is where landing pages come into play. 

A good landing page strategy has multiple advantages:

  • Helps you focus on the ad campaign rather than redeveloping the actual website
  • Gives you the opportunity to test multiple landing pages for optimial conversions
  • Gives you the ability to constantly change just one page based on goals and conversions
  • Can increase conversion by up to 40%
  • Helps you focus on a specific message and call to action
  • Can be used to capture business leads without any extra steps

What are the main components for landing pages:

  • Clean, simple, but compelling design
  • Very specific call to action (i.e. 7 day FREE Trial – REGISTER NOW) – in more than one place
  • Simple content (short paragraphs or bullet points are best)
  • The use of a Multi Step Process Guide (i.e. 3 Step Process)
  • A registration form is necessary
  • Trust Factors (i.e. certifications, testimonials, etc.)
  • The use of the same keywords used in your advertisements

Here is an example of a landing page we designed for a client running a PPC campaign for their new Loft condos in San Francisco, CA.  Notice the simpe design, bullet pointed info, clear call to action, and short registration form on the right side of the page: 

The goal for this client is of course to capture registrations from interested potential buyers for their property.  This helps them build a database and get their sales teams involved in building relationships directly with the customer.

So remember, when launching new marketing efforts, even if you have just redesigned your website, consider using landing pages to support the campaign.  It will help you target the customer better and improve ROI.

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