You decide to spend on a Pay Per Click campaign. Key phrases well chosen, ads artfully written for that small space. Best time of day to have the ads show up selected. You monitor, nurture and tweak as you watch the reports.

The reports say that lots of people are clicking-through, but you aren’t getting conversions. You’ve figured out your metrics and feel that out of X click-throughs at least Y should be getting in touch. But no one is – what’s happening?

What Do They See When They Get There?

Many people make the mistake of simply directing people to the home page or another existing page on their website. What you should remember is:

1. The searcher would be looking for something specific that triggered your PPC ad to come up, and that’s what they expect to read about when they click-through. Is that what’s there? Or is it a broad topic that includes it… somewhere?
2. The clicker is not familiar with the rest of your site, so the page they land on may have no context for them, like joining a conversation late.

Add more information to existing landing pages, like a special call-out that speaks to the ad, on the home page – as long as it doesn’t look weird to people who navigate there another way. Or, create a special offer with it’s own landing pages – an ‘orphan’ page that can only be arrived at by a special link, but once there one could navigate around the site like normal.

Put Yourself in Their Herman Miller

Put yourself in the place of potential searchers and pretend you are seeing the landing page for the first time and with no prior knowledge of your company. Many times I search in Google and PPC ads come up that aren’t exactly what I had in mind but present interesting thoughts or alternate solutions.

You have opportunities to capture people who may not have been looking for you. This makes it even more important for them to see what they would expect to see after reading your ad when they click-through and then having a clear and easy next step.

What’s the Conversion Motivator?

A conversion is when a site visitor takes an action that draws them into your sales cycle. Maybe it’s a ‘buy now’ button. Or they download a free eBook, fill out a request for information form or sign-up for your newsletter. There should be something there to capture them while the interest is there. Offer something of value.

What do You Ultimately Want Them to do?

Relying on people to like what they see and go hunting for how to get in touch is a little risky. If you include a device that provokes doing something easy, right then and there, you have a greater chance of converting them. This is especially true for B2B companies whose prospects don’t make impulsive buying decisions.

B2B searchers are likely researching, looking for options in your category. They may be interested in you, but not ready to buy. You can hope they remember and come back after more exploration, but what if you could capture their information so you can follow-up with them? It could be an offer for an obligation-free consultation or simply a sign-up for a brilliant whitepaper. If that doesn’t lead them to buy (yet) they could be automatically added to a low-pressure marketing tool like a newsletter list. Yes, you can and should have a direct call to action alongside your less direct ‘sign-up for my blog’.

PPC and the Marketing Map

Like all marketing tools, pay per click campaigns must be considered as part of greater marketing map. Look at how it fits in, how it leads prospects on the next thing and what you ultimately want them to do.