A phone number in the header on every web page is something we highly, highly recommend to every client. It’s not enough to have it buried in the bottom of the page or only on the Contact Us page. We’re talking every page, in the header where it’s immediately visible.

And it’s not because we want you to get more phone calls, but we’ve actually seen a definite correlation between conversion rate improvement and having that phone number on your website. Here’s what we think is the reason why:

1. Having that phone number gives your site a subconscious vote of confidence – it shows you are an actual business. That’s why a toll-free number is great, as it has more legitimacy. However, a local number may work well too for businesses seeking local customers.
2. It lets the visitor know that if they have a problem when ordering, that there’s someone that can help them. And if they have a problem after they order, they know they can reach you too. Even if they never need to use it, they know they can.
3. Some people are still leery of ecommerce and using their credit cards on the Internet. You can miss out on those potential sales if the only way they can order is through your website. Why lose the sale just because you don’t list your number or make it hard to find?

Those clients who we’ve encouraged to add their phone number to their websites have not necessarily seen an increase in phone calls, but they have seen an increase in conversions. The benefits clearly outweigh the possibility of getting a phone call or two. So display it loud, display it proud and put that phone number in your header on every page.

More about Nikki

Every once in a while a new pay-per-click (PPC) advertising client will come in who considers their account CTR to be the benchmark by which their accounts performance is judged. Depending on the keyword strategy, it is most likely not a good idea to use CTR to judge an entire account’s performance.

True, we know that CTR has a big influence on the somewhat mysterious Google AdWords Quality Score(s). It is also a great indicator for comparing performance on your various AdGroups’ different ad copies. There are certainly many instances when Click Through Rate (CTR) is a very good indicator of performance.

Now, what about when low CTR is a good thing?

There are definitely times you want to eliminate a worthless click from a potential keyword, and while this would have a negative impact on the Click Through Rate (CTR) it would certainly have a positive effect on the account.

For example, a strategy that I recently adopted for a client really drives this point home.

One of my client’s competitors has a very common word for a company name. For the sake of confidentiality I will simply call it “widget.” Well, this competitor name “widget” is also the name of a very popular movie, an artist, a location overseas, a highway landmark, and dozens of other completely unrelated things. As you might imagine, the search volume for this popular term is through the roof, while the percentage of people actually using it for the company name we wished to target is extremely small. So small in fact, that it would almost certainly discourage anybody from even trying it as a keyword.

I thought it was worth trying, and to give it the best chance at success I used only the exact match version of “widget” in its own campaign, with a very specific ad designed to only solicit the searchers looking for my client’s services.

The results were surprisingly great. The campaign resulted in my client converting at half of his target conversion cost. The CTR for this keyword was a downright horrible 0.02%, however this was a good thing as it meant the ad was eliminating all of the unnecessary searchers and only targeting the exceptionally small amount of people looking for my clients competitor. In this case, the exceptionally low CTR was a good thing.

The low CTR also had a definite impact on the keyword’s quality score and forced my client’s minimum bid up to $10/click. Even with the the high minimum bid, the conversion cost was cheap and the quality of leads generated tens of thousands of dollars in new revenue for my client. Winner.

Now, the 0.02% CTR dramatically lowered the whole account’s CTR. If that figure had been used as a benchmark to judge performance, it would have been a huge mistake that would have cost my client a considerable amount of revenue. In this case, the actual conversion cost/rate was a far better benchmark than the pathetic CTR.

The bottom line here is that a low CTR can be a good thing in some strategies and is not always the best indicator of an entire account’s performance. Every account is different, just as every marketing strategy is different. Helping to determine the best strategy for your PPC marketing campaign is just one of the many unique skills that JumpFly PPC account manager brings to the table.

What’s your benchmark?

From a PPC advertising standpoint, a USP helps make you stand out from the crowd. If everyone is offering the same thing in their ads, you need to have a hook, something different to attract attention that has value to your potential customers. And not only that, your landing page needs to echo your USP, which definitely can help increase conversion rates.

Case in point: I had a client at one time who really couldn’t tell me their USP. They were a new company, offering a service via the Internet. They were similar to several other offerings out there, some of them free. Their website was nice looking, but there wasn’t a huge amount of “meat” to it. They assured me that they were working on more web content, and that they had done their competitive research and their prices were in line with the industry. I really didn’t have a lot of great selling points in the ad, but I did what I could. We started their PPC campaigns and people clicked at a decent CTR, especially in the competitive space they were in, but no one was buying. A few people signed up for a free trial, but definitely not at the level this client wanted. After going back and forth with the client, I started to do some competitive research and found out that not only were they not competitively priced, they cost almost $10 more per month with only half of the available services than their competitors. When I pointed this out to the client, they seemed shocked that it should actually matter. With no USP and a higher price point, they didn’t stay a client, or in business very long.

Also, use the header area to tell a potential new customer how long you’ve been in business, what your strengths are, if you’ve won any type of awards, or where you are actually located if you are running a local business. Use the header to tell a potential customer about any special offers or shipping deals. This is prime selling/information space and should be use to its utmost potential.

Make it easy for a new customer to contact you. Make it easy for a new customer to learn who you are. Make it easy to instill confidence and excitement in a new customer who likely has no idea who you are upon first landing on your site.

By making productive use of your header, you can use your PPC campaigns to land customers as close as possible to the product they are looking for and still give your website a strong sense of identity.

1. A short, clear headline and possibly a smaller sub-head at the top of a page that shares what the page is about: this helps the person who lands on the page know that they are in the right spot, and helps cut down on “bounce” (someone landing on the page and immediately hitting back because they didn’t think they were in the right place).

2. Your company name and toll-free phone number are clearly indicated on the top of the page: this lends credibility to the site and helps the visitor know that in case they have a problem, they can reach someone for help. They may never call you, but we’ve found that something as simple as a phone number in the top right corner can increase conversion rate for many of our clients.

3. The page is simple, clear and uncluttered: don’t try to muck up the page with links to every other product or page on the site. You can distract a potential visitor that way and derail the action that brought them there in the first place.

4. Everything important is “above the fold.” Above the fold is a newspaper term that’s carried over onto the web: above the fold means anything visible on the newspaper without unfolding; on the web, it’s anything visible on the page without scrolling. Graphics shouldn’t take up the whole page, nor should a header or navigation. Allow the headline, subhead, some text and a small graphic to show.

5. You haven’t drowned them in text. Give them enough information to know what they are buying, but not too much that they get bored reading. Use bullets, sub-heads and thumbnails to break up text blocks and allow people to skim for the information they need.

6. The action you want the visitor to take is communicated clearly. If you want them to order, have a Buy Now button prominently placed. If you want them to call, show your phone number often. If you want them to fill out a lead form, guide them to it. Don’t assume that they’ll know where to go or what to do next.

7. You’ve answered the unspoken question of why they should trust giving you their money or contact information. If you’ve been in business since 1892, you’re ranked in the top three of your field, you’ve got an iron-clad return policy, you’re the number one realtor in your area, whatever it is that shows experience, trustworthiness, credibility, share it. Toot your own horn, but don’t lie or stretch the truth.

8. You’ve shared your unique selling proposition: if you offer free shipping, 10% off all orders over $25, a discount if you sign-up with 10 days, a free 28-day trial, a no-obligation quote, display it prominently. This is your one chance to sell yourself over your competitors.

9. If your action is to have them fill out a form so you can contact them or to sign up for a newsletter, include the form on the page. If you want them to order, include a Buy Now or Add to Cart button on the page. Conversion rates go up when the person doesn’t have to click to another page. Don’t ask for more information than you need on a form. True story: I’ve been to websites where in order to request more information, I’ve had to enter my credit card number. Do you think I filled out that form?

10. If you’re selling different brands, have a landing page for each. Don’t try a one-size-fits-all approach. Even if you’re only selling one brand but different items within that brand, have a landing page for each. Let’s say you sell red, blue, orange and gold widgets – instead of one page selling widgets, make a landing page for red widgets, another for blue, another for orange and another for gold. That way your page headline can clearly show exactly that they’re getting exactly what they searched for.

11. Every single landing page should be considered a mini home page. Don’t slap it together or consider it an after-thought. A huge majority of visitors to your site might never enter through their home page. Make your landing pages look as nice as your home page.

12. Testimonials: if you have them, use one or two. They boost credibility and make you look good in someone else’s words.

Time and time again, I’ve had clients ask me what they can do to get more business out of their PPC advertising efforts. Landing pages can make the difference. I can send all the qualified traffic in the world to a site, but if it doesn’t convert, it’s wasted money. Mike Tatge, JumpFly’s Co-Founder, said in his blog on May 20th, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” In my opinion, landing pages make the water more drinkable.

First – a definition of a landing page: a landing page is the website page that you send a potential customer/client/contact to from some sort of web-based marketing. For the purposes of this blog, it’s the page of your site that the person “lands” on after they click your PPC ad.

• A landing page is NOT your home page.
• A landing page is NOT an About Us page, unless you’re a service company where what you are really selling is yourself.
• A landing page is NOT one-size-fits-all, unless you only sell one product or service.
• A landing page is NOT where you want to advertise every product or service that you sell or offer.
• A landing page is NOT a place to try out all the fun web technology like flash, pop-ups (or unders), dancing images, frames, dynamic pages or anything else that your web designer says is cutting edge.

Landing pages are very important to the success of PPC Advertising. Landing pages can increase your conversion rate, meaning more orders or leads for the same amount of money spent. It can decrease your CPC (cost per click) because Google AdWords, and to a lesser extent Yahoo, grades your landing pages and the better they deem them, the less you may have to pay for your clicks. Combine the two and your advertising dollar goes farther and gains you more ROI.

PPC Advertisers who get what a landing page is, who understand that it’s not simply a home page or a one-size-fits-all solution, who spend some time putting together well-thought out and designed pages, can really see their investment pay off and quickly. So what makes a great landing page? Come back next week and I’ll share my thoughts.

Having an Established Business

First of all, business online and offline is always business. Where there’s a market and profit to be made, there is or will soon be competition, and PPC is no exception. I always say, “We can bring the horse to water, but we can’t make ‘em drink.” A well-managed PPC campaign should be structured to drive as much relevant traffic possible for a desired cost and/or budget. From there, the advertiser is responsible for providing a website which will promote visitors to take a desired action. For the most part, the companies that do well are those that are already doing well for themselves prior to talking with us. They already understand how to take care of their end of the deal once a targeted person walks through their door, or in this case, visits their website. Established businesses usually earn higher conversion rates. Some conversion-driving traits include credibility, integrity, understanding of market, understanding of competition, established customer service, clear purchase and return policies, a professional and user-friendly website, clear and relevant pictures and information.

High Profit Per Sale

Business models with a high profit per sale do well with PPC advertising. Realistically, most advertisers see conversion rates of 0.5% to 5%. If on a good day, 5 out of 100 visitors take action, you are paying for 95 visitors that did not. If your business has a high profit per sale, you can afford to pay for many visitors that do not take action, and still earn a good return on those that do. Example of high profit per sale businesses include: realtors, fee for service physicians, software sellers, B2B products and services.

Earning Repeat Business

Again, paying for visitors that take no action drives the need for making money from those that do take action. Businesses that routinely earn repeat business do extremely well with PPC advertising. These models can hit “home-runs,” meaning, for the price of one click, a new relationship can be born, earning years and years of loyal business and revenue. If your model earns repeat business, odds are PPC is right for you.

The Bottom Line – If you are an established company with good margins, and you earn lots of repeat business through building lasting relationships you can’t go wrong with PPC advertising.