Define Your Landing Page

In the world of online marketing you will often hear the term landing page – an important component in helping web sites appeal to unique visitors and measure their rate of success. Landing pages refer to the page on a web site that a visitor is taken if they click on a pay per click (PPC) ad or a link on a search engine results page. The page to which the visitor is taken is a continuation of that link or the full representation of the ad that is posted in the sponsored link section, so it is important that whatever is on that page is relevant to the click, so to speak.

In a pay per click campaign a company has placed a sponsored link at the top or along the side bar of a search engine results page. Those visitors that click on the ad are taken to the landing page – or lead capture page. With pay per click, the information that appears on the landing page speaks to the information provided in the ad and is optimized to include particular keywords relevant to the search. Such a page can be used for lead generation or for a specific call to action. Additionally, the landing page in a pay per click campaign can also be created to actually measure the effectiveness of the ad by measuring CTR (click through rate) which shows how often the ad was shown and how many people clicked on it during that time.

In a search engine optimization campaign, a landing page will deliver the visitor exactly to the page that has the information they are seeking. Again, the page is optimized to include those keywords that have been identified by the web site as being pertinent to what they offer and likely to be used in a search.

Commitment to SEO Starts Within, Part II

In the last post we talked about the practice of most companies to hire vendors to expertly handle those things that cannot be handled in-house. This is an important part of business; those companies that do not look behind their four walls to accomplish particular goals are missing out on a wealth of talent and expertise. In fact, such relationships help companies in all industries to be the very best they can be and to offer the most comprehensive service to their own customers and clients.

There are those projects that are best handled exclusively by expert vendors and from which companies can just step back. In this capacity such vendors ultimately become another arm of the company – working on the outside to meet internal goals. But when it comes to search engine optimization and other means to increase web site traffic, success is best achieved by a combined effort between the web site optimization firm and the client’s internal marketing team.

As we discussed previously, search engine optimization, pay per click, and other online marketing efforts are often looked at as something that can be done completely separately from a company. But while a reputable web site optimization firm will be able to completely manage and focus on a web marketing project it is most successful when an in-house marketing team is able to work alongside the web site optimization firm.

Why? Because marketing starts from the inside out and this is how it relates to online marketing:

• No marketing firm – including an online marketing firm – is going to be successful marketing a company that has not defined its branding. A company’s brand and message begins in-house and the web site optimization firm takes that brand and message and extends it into search engine optimization and pay per click programs with the use of keywords.

• No one knows their audience better than the company itself. Who do you want to reach online? Who are your customers? What are they searching for – what products or services? What keywords may they use to describe those products or services? Gathering this kind of information from the people who know best allows a web marketing firm to do its job most effectively.

• A web site marketing firm works on a company’s web site – tantamount to working in a company’s physical office space. The company knows it intimately and has the power to make the changes that can benefit their business. It is up to the online marketing company to make those recommendations – working hand in hand with their client to achieve success.