Are you investing in SEO and PPC ads to promote your local service business and drive traffic to your website? Are website visitors contacting you for a quote or engaging your services?
To make the most of your marketing dollars, you need to turn as many visitors into leads or customers by optimizing the webpage on which they land when they click through your online ads.
Otherwise, you’d be paying for the clicks with little to show for. Here’s where conversion rate optimization (CRO) can help you get the biggest bang for your buck:
What’s Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)?
CRO is a tactic that encourages website visitors to take an action (e.g., request a quote, sign up for your email list) by designing and modifying certain elements of a webpage. Often, the goal is to turn visitors into leads or customers before they leave the website.
While CRO can be applied to every page on your website, dialing in the landing pages you use Google’s for PPC ads has the highest impact in converting online traffic into prospects and customers.
CRO helps you make the most of your existing website traffic sources so you can turn more visitors into customers without increasing your marketing budget.
How To Optimize Conversion On Your Landing Pages
By definition, landing pages are designed to elicit a specific action from visitors. They’re set up to minimize distraction by removing the standard navigation, simplifying footer information, and removing all hyperlinks except the call-to-action (CTA.)
Creating dedicated landing pages that match the messaging and offers on your PPC ads can help maximize results. Optimizing the conversion rate on these landing pages allows you to get the most out of your online ads.
Here’s how to make a landing page work harder for your local service business:
Hone In the Copy and Messaging
Most local business websites are rather generic – they have the essential information and are optimized for relevant keywords, but fall short when it comes to making visitors feel that the content is speaking to their needs.
Here’s how to fine-tune your landing pages’ copy and messaging to increase conversion:
- Ensure that the messaging matches the copy on your ad. For example, if you’re promoting “20% off” in the ad, include the discount in the landing page copy.
- Mention specific information that’s relevant to the local market or conditions to highlight the relevance of your services.
- Write a distinctive title that’ll capture the attention of your visitors. Again, include local references if appropriate.
- Tell the visitors why they should respond to your CTA by highlighting the benefits of doing so.
- Be succinct – focus on the pain points and desired outcomes of the audience segment you’re targeting on your ads.
- Incorporate local and long-tail keywords in your copy to signal relevance to both search engines and the visitors.
Direct Attention To the CTA
The purpose of a landing page is to get as many visitors to take the desired action as possible and you can do so by directing attention to the CTA on the page.
Here’s how to make your CTA more appealing to visitors and entice them to respond:
Arrange the landing page’s content to follow the F- or Z-pattern, which is how most people’s eyes travel when reading a webpage. This will guide the readers from the title through the copy and to the CTA.
- Use a heat map application to track how visitors interact with your landing page and place your CTA where their eyes naturally go.
- Use visual elements and images to direct visitors’ gaze to the CTA (e.g., a model looking at the direction of the CTA, a graphic that points toward the CTA.)
- Use CTA copy that’s relevant to the landing page message and make it action-oriented. For example, if your landing page is aimed at getting visitors to sign up for a video series on DYI house-painting, your CTA text could say, “Learn How To Paint Like a Pro Now.”
- Experiment with the size and color of the CTA button, which can have a significant impact on the conversion rate.
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- Place the CTA close to the top of the page to minimize scrolling. If you have a long landing page, put another CTA at the bottom so visitors don’t have to scroll back up.
Optimize For Mobile Experience
Did you know that 78% of mobile searches for local business information result in a purchase? In fact, mobile-friendliness is now the top priority for local businesses to convert online traffic into leads.
Here’s how to optimize your landing page for mobile users:
- Improve page load speed – a 1-second improvement can lead to a 27% increase in conversions! You can do so by using a mobile-first template, optimizing images, and making sure that the code is clean.
- Include your phone number at the top of the page and add a tap-to-call feature to make it easy for prospects to get in touch.
- Leverage geo-fencing technology to deliver the most appropriate content and an auto-fill function to streamline form submission.
- Ensure that the page is displayed properly on all browsers and devices. The fonts should be legible, and the key information should be shown at the top of the page.
- Reduce complexity in your CTA to make it easy to take action on the small screen. For example, request only the information you need immediately (e.g., an email address to download a lead magnet) – you can ask for more information later.
- Remove intrusive pop-ups and interstitials that will not only cause visitors to leave the site but also impact your SEO ranking.
Consider the Entire Customer Lifecycle
Your landing page is just one component in the buyer’s journey. You also need to consider what happens after visitors have taken the action on your landing page so they’d turn into customers:
- Set up a lead nurturing email sequence if you use the landing page to capture visitors’ email addresses.
- Contact prospects immediately if the CTA is to request a quote.
- Use a tracking phone number for each campaign to deliver a consistent experience (e.g., offering the same promotional package) when visitors call your business.
- Set up retargeting ads that match the messaging on the landing page to drive visitors who haven’t converted back to your website.
Get the Most Out of Your Online Marketing Budget
Conversion rate optimization strategies can help you increase ROI by making the most of your current market and existing traffic sources.
After you have implemented these CRO tactics for your landing pages, conduct A/B testing to find out what works and what doesn’t for your specific audience so you can fine-tune the copy, page design, and CTA.
Don’t forget to dial in other components of your online marketing strategy – from PPC ads and social media to online reviews and monthly analytics – so they work together synergistically to optimize results and maximize your marketing ROI.