The Clickable Search Engine Marketing Blog

A landing page should make an offer.

This statement should seem so utterly obvious, so breathtakingly banal, that there’s no point in making it explicit. And yet: how many times have you clicked on a search ad, made your way to an advertiser’s landing page, and gotten ― confused? Hundreds of words of text, a half-dozen headlines, two-dozen subheads, and pictures all over the place, most of them half-obscured by badges and starbursts.

This sort of thing happens quite often, especially if advertisers go beyond simple SEO best practices (like the ones Ehren and I have written about on this blog) and fill their pages with every keyword phrase they can think up. The result? A page that only an algorithm could love. By all means, apply SEO best practices to your landing pages. But, it’s important to consider your human users first, and the search network equations later.

So how should you make your offer? In the simplest, most straight-forward manner possible. As a matter of fact, making an offer on a landing page is similar to describing your offer in a search marketing ad. You don’t need to limit yourself to 35 characters, but you should still strive to be concise and direct. Here are a few examples:

1. “Order a new iPhone 3GS today”
2. “Serving all of your mobile, smartphone and PDA needs: Blackberry, Android/Chrome, iPhone, Palm, Samsung, Nokia. Accessories include headsets, car charger, cellular charger, car kits, cell phone holders, bluetooth, memory card, SIM card, cellular handsfree, faceplate.”
3. “Refurbished Kendall 7325 Response SCD, clinically proven to reduce the risk of DVT.”

Which one of these needs to be revised? That’s right: number 2.

The first message is extremely clear: the vendor is selling the latest iPhone. The third message is extremely clear as well: the vendor is selling a refurbished Sequential Compression Device. What’s a Sequential Compression Device? A specialized medical instrument that reduces the risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis in immobile patients. Got that? Neither did I, but I’m not in the market for devices designed for long-term care facilities. A user who was would know exactly what that last example was all about.

Simple doesn’t necessarily mean fewer words or syllables. It means speaking a language that your target audience understands. The third example above does exactly that.

And what about the second example? A perfect example of what happens when SEO trumps clarity: every possible smartphone-related keyword is included in the list, but it’s not clear what I can get on that page. If I searched for “Palm faceplate”, for instance, I want to go to a page that offers me Palm faceplates, with a big, clear message across the top like “Best prices on Palm protective faceplates.” The fact that a vendor also offers Blackberry car chargers and Nokia bluetooth headsets isn’t relevant to me, so I don’t want to see a page cluttered with that kind of information. Just offer me what I’m looking for.

At this point, the user knows that you’re addressing their problem, and they can see what you have to offer. Often, your offer will also include incentives like “Free Shipping” or “20% Off.” But, a user may need more than that before they convert. They need an answer to the question, “Why should I trust you?” We’ll answer that in the next tutorial.

Over the past month and a half, I’ve read each of Hanny’s weekly posts about building effective