RISMEDIA, May 4, 2010—You’ve got a great website and plenty of on- and offline marketing funneling leads to it. But you’re finding your visitors are abandoning your site quickly, and page views and time spent on your site are low. What can you do to convert more of those visitors?
One way to get more stickiness out of your site is to create customized landing pages related directly to what the visitor is searching for; making a connection to you through the specific services you provide. These landing pages must have the right content and images, targeted to specific visitor needs. Site visitors today want to find exactly what they are looking for quickly and easily.
Your targeted landing pages should give your prospects a reason to engage with you and easy ways to do so. Make your visitors feel comfortable, like they are in the hands of the expert. The landing page should target and expand the ad content the visitor clicked on and provide them with just the right type and amount of information they need in order to engage with you. They should not have to click around your entire site to piece this information together.
Make sure key information is “above the fold,” in other words, on the top half of the landing page. You will likely need multiple landing pages for the real estate areas you work in and maybe even some pages that incorporate your local area attractions and advantageous living, educational or job opportunities.
Make sure these landing pages look professional and follow the key branding elements from your website. This is critical, as most consumers determine their level of trust quickly when visiting a new site.
Test your landing pages and make the necessary adjustments to increase their effectiveness. Try to keep page loading times under five seconds for the visitor and search engine optimization (SEO). You will find having varying landing pages and adjusting them properly from time to time improves your search engine optimization and boosts traffic, too.
Studies show companies that use their homepage only for their landing page have an average of 6% conversion rate and companies that use targeted landing pages average 12%. You will use your online advertising dollars more effectively, too, with targeted landing pages.
Chris Kaucnik is marketing director for Home Warranty of America, Inc.
For more information, visit www.hwahomewarranty.com.