The Clickable Search Engine Marketing Blog

Clickable makes search advertising simple, instant, and profitable.

Of course, Clickable also provides me with income and health insurance and office space so you may not want to take my word for it—at least not without some supporting evidence. How's this?

In 2008, Clickable was the onMedia 100 "Newcomer of the Year."
In SmallBusinessComputing.com’s 2009 Excellence In Technology Awards, readers voted Clickable a top online marketing tool in the Online Marketing category, second only to Google AdWords.
Clickable was a finalist for an American Business Awards in the "Most Innovative company" category.
Clickable was also a finalist for a ClickZ "Marketing Excellence Award" last year.

Nobody likes a show off, I know, but the point here isn't to gloat — well, not only to gloat — but to provide independent evidence of the claim I made above.

Clickable's landing pages claim that our tools make search advertising easier, less time-consuming, and more lucrative. "But," a saavy user will ask, "why would I believe the company's own landing page? Of course they are going to say that they make the best tools on the market." One of the most effective ways to respond to this user would be to point him in the direction of others who make the same claim—and have no financial interest in doing so.

If you've won recognition from an independent and respected trade organization — from The Pulitzer Prize committee (if you're an author selling books) or J. D. Power and Associates (if you're a car salesman) — then by all means, mention it on your landing pages. Your brand name may not be recognizable to everybody who clicks on your ads (not yet, at least) but awards and accolades help compensate for lack of brand recognition.

But even if you don't have a prominent badge of that sort to add to your pages, there is another valuable third-party you should tap: your customers. At Clickable, we've found that customer testimonials are among our most valuable resources. When a prospect wants to be sure that Clickable is right for them, they often ask for evidence that Clickable has worked for our existing customers.

This doesn't mean that you should include long, multi-page case studies on your landing pages. Far from it: your landing pages should be as direct and concise as you can make them. However, if you have a customer who's willing to tell others how valuable they found your product or service, take them up on the offer. Every other word on your landing page will start to look significantly more reliable.

Search the Web, flip through guides , and nearly every bit of advice about your homepage will make the

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