Today in Digital Marketing - Here's the Perfect Landing Page

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today, Google's new integration could spell stronger brand loyalty for you. TikTok wants to be the next Quibi. Another platform dives deeper into AI. And from the hero image to the button, we break down what the perfect landing page looks like. It's Friday, June 3rd. I'm Todd Maffin. Here's what you missed today in digital marketing. Wait, I thought more suppliers were supposed to increase competition and drive down prices.

Starting point is 00:00:30 The newly formed Warner Brothers Discovery apparently didn't get that memo. Reports say they've taken an aggressive stance at the upfronts and pricing their CPMs up to 25% higher than equivalent ad placements went for in the past. Quoting Marketing Dive, The former Discovery Inc. has been selling a premier package since its 2018 acquisition of Scripps Networks, giving advertisers the opportunity to purchase premium ad slots at higher CPMs. In exchange, Discovery promised advertisers a reach equivalent to broadcast and access to millennial households and mobile viewers. The bundle was priced between broadcast and cable prime at the time, unquote.

Starting point is 00:01:10 So how does that compare with other online ad platforms? Surprisingly, that might be more or less in line with industry averages. According to revealbot.com, Facebook's CPMs are up about 21% compared to a year ago. A couple of weeks ago, we told you about a new Google Shopping ad feature that would integrate your loyalty program directly in Google Search. Often these things are announced, and then we don't see them in the real world for months or years. But this one might already be out there.

Starting point is 00:01:44 SERoundtable.com reports that some people are seeing it on retailer ads like Target. The way it shows up is as small text underneath the brand name, sort of like a site link extension. It's a little oddly worded. It says, link to see benefits on Google. So this might still be a test. When you click more, it opens up a little panel showing the loyalty program benefits. The Premium Newsletter today has an image of what that looks like. When Google announced this a couple of weeks back, it explained it like this.

Starting point is 00:02:13 Quote, First, you'll be able to easily integrate your loyalty programs in Merchant Center so that your free listings can display loyalty benefits to the existing program members that opted in to see them. Second, we're rolling out the ability for advertisers to attract new loyalty members when they use Performance Max campaigns for online sales with a product feed. Using Customer Match, you'll upload your loyalty lists to advertise your programs to potential new loyalty members only. There are a lot of moving pieces in selling something online. The ad, of course, but arguably the more important piece is what happens after the click. For many brands, they're not trying to get a purchase.

Starting point is 00:03:01 They want completion of a lead form. And how that landing page is designed can make or break a campaign. Yesterday, I spoke with Bob Sparkins of the popular landing page builder Leadpages and asked him for all the secrets, what the perfect landing page looks like. By the way, this mini interview runs seven minutes long. So if conversion optimization and lead gen isn't your thing, just skip seven minutes ahead. Or premium podcast subscribers, just tap the next story in your podcast player. First of all, the perfect landing page has to be able to communicate quickly to the perfect person on the other side of the computer. So if you have a mismatch between what you're saying and who's seeing it, that's obviously going to hurt you.

Starting point is 00:03:44 So number one thing is visually and with copy, it needs to click within two seconds. That means a great hero image. A great hero image means something that relates to the viewer, not to the expert who's selling something or to the company. So most companies make the mistake of showcasing their brand with a huge logo or with a picture of their team or whatever. Instead, the perfect hero image is going to reflect the positive outcome that the person who is viewing that page is going to have from whatever they get from your offer. Can you give me an example? Let's say that it's a supplement product or something like that. What would be a good hero image for that? So somebody who is in shape or preferably two or three people that are in shape, they're enjoying their life, they're likely outdoors, or they have energy in some particular way that the supplements assumedly have given them. It's not going to be a big picture of the

Starting point is 00:04:38 bottle. It's not going to be somebody who's tired and lethargic. It's the outcome that people will see, not the state of their current existence. All right, that's thehargic. It's the outcome that people will see, not the state of their current existence. All right, that's the hero image. Let's talk about headline. Yeah, perfect length is going to be seven to 12 words. Now, obviously, a sub headline can be, you know, 15 to 30 words, preferably short as well. Think about writing from that seventh to ninth grade level. But it's about emotional copy that speaks to the desired result of the person on the other side. It's not, I have this product for sale. It's not, I have these components of my product for sale. It's you want the end result,

Starting point is 00:05:16 then keep reading. That's the key to the copy of the hero section. Okay. So let's talk body copy then. there's really two schools of thought. I think there's the short and punchy. And then there's the Ogilvy method, which is just dump everything in this endless, seemingly endless long page. So everyone has the details. At Leadpages, you've got access to a ton of data. Which of those two perform better? Yeah, it depends. And I don't want to hear the it depends. No, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. Give me the real answer. There are two schools of thought because there are two types of people, those that know how to write and those that don't. And so if you know how to write and you know how to tell a story, then longer copy can certainly

Starting point is 00:05:52 win. But what people need is the ability to know how and do this quickly. How can you help them out now? And so if you can do that quickly, then you should, there shouldn't just spout out a bunch of sentences and paragraphs because you like to hear yourself talk. Instead, we always find that the shorter the landing page outperforms the longer landing pages, as far as products that are, you know, under $200 or so. If you have a landing page for an opt in gift, you certainly don't want to go on and on and on about your free thing because people don't need that much information to decide. If you have $1,000 $5,000 product, then you're going to need to explain a little bit more about why the value

Starting point is 00:06:35 of what you offer is worth the price that you're paying. So when I do say it depends, it's because there are a couple of different factors that go into it. Typically, shorter wins out on longer in all levels. And if you are a really good copywriter and can tell a good story, then you're able to tell that over a longer period of time. But always try to trim, always try to concisify whatever it is you're trying to say. Concisify. I like it. Let's talk about the form now. Obviously, the best practices has been the fewer the number of fields, the better. Does that still hold true? Like if I need a bunch of fields in it, like I really need first name and email and I don't know, phone number. What is the tipping point where at some point there's a magic number, I guess, of the number of fields where the number of people who don't complete it, that starts to fall off. How many fields is that tipping point? Yeah, so from one field to two fields, there's a minor drop off. From two to three fields, it's a little bit more.

Starting point is 00:07:32 From three to four, it drops off significantly. And so what I ask your listeners to do is think about what's the critical information that they need in order to continue the conversation? And what's the most obvious information that a person on the other side would be willing to give to you? If you are a real estate agent, and you're doing a home value quote of some kind, it makes sense to have an address, right, or a zip code, at least. It also makes sense to have a phone number. But if you're asking people for an email to get to download a checklist or a guide of some kind, then an email alone is fine.

Starting point is 00:08:07 The other side of this, though, is if you want a more qualified lead, then feel free to ask for more information just to weed out some of the tire kickers that might otherwise be looking at your information. But even if you're selling something on your landing page, consider if you need their shipping address, or can you just get away with their zip code in order to charge appropriately the credit card. A lot of people do ask for way too much information. And usually you can have people opt in or buy something with as minimal information as possible. And then on a second or third communication, say, hey, I'd love to get a little bit more information about you or your business, your company, or whatever the case may be. And you send them to a subsequent form for more progressive profiling. But shorter, the better, preferably just the one

Starting point is 00:08:49 field for an opt in and only relevant information that would make sense to your and to your visitor. All right, that's hero image, headline, body copy form, the final and what I actually think is kind of the dark horse of landing pages, the button. What is the right color of the button? The right color. The color matters to contrast with the background and shouldn't be jarring, but it should stand out clearly. So we do find different industries use different colors effectively, blues and darker greens for sass, oranges and yellows and reds for a little bit more emotionally driven copy. But the most important thing is that it does stand out. And so if you have a color that's part of your brand, be consistent and keep using that same color.

Starting point is 00:09:39 Make sure though that that color is not used all the way throughout the page, except for the call to action. And if you have more than one call to action button, which I wouldn't recommend most people do, but if you're skilled at it, make sure it has no color, use a line around a line button instead of a flat button. So that the the ability to for you to make a hierarchy between here's my primary thing and people should click on should be super bright, good color contrast, and then a line button that says this is some more information you might want to find out about, but it's not the thing I want to draw your attention to. So I would test out first, you know, the typical red and green do a split test, the blues and the oranges if you're

Starting point is 00:10:18 doing a little bit of a different flavor. But again, it's needs to be consistent with your brand and it needs to stand out from the background of where it is on your page. Bob Sparkins is a marketing manager at Leadpages. Their site is leadpages.com. They also have a podcast called the Lead Management Podcast. Do you have business insurance? If not, how would you pay to recover from a cyber attack, fire damage, theft, or a lawsuit? No business or profession is risk-free. Without insurance, your assets are at risk from major financial losses, data breaches, and natural disasters. Get customized coverage today,

Starting point is 00:10:58 starting at $19 per month at zensurance.com. Be protected. Be Zen. Remember when this upstart company called Quibi used $1.7 billion to try to make a business out of original TV shows that fit vertically on a phone? And remember when they gave up and sold their entire catalog to Roku for less than $100 million?

Starting point is 00:11:18 Well, a new company is trying it out, but this one might actually work because that company is TikTok. Hollywood Reporter is reporting that TikTok is about to launch an original eight episode comedy series, which users will be able to subscribe to for four dollars and ninety nine cents for the season. Yes, five dollars for one season of one show. Episodes will be 30 minutes long and could get people used to watching longer video there. Already, the platform accepts videos as long as 10 minutes. Longer videos are, of course, more monetizable, as that gives more opportunity for mid-rolls.

Starting point is 00:11:58 Pinterest has bought the AI platform The Yes, quoting Adweek. The Yes enables users to shop a personalized feed based on their active input on brand size and style. It has an extension fashion taxonomy that combines human expertise and machine learning to power its algorithm, and Pinterest said its brand relationships and shopping expertise can potentially be applied in other areas like beauty, food, and home, unquote. Pinterest did not say how much, food, and home, unquote. Pinterest did not say how much they paid, and the deal is expected to close in Q2. It says it also plans to close the Yes's existing app and website once that happens. And finally, Dave Clark, Amazon's head of the company's worldwide consumer business,

Starting point is 00:12:43 announced this afternoon he is resigning effective July 1st. He's been with Amazon for 23 years. The company says Clark is resigning to pursue other opportunities and plans to have an update on the search for his successor in the coming weeks. So I made a colossal mistake in picking my specials for Fallout 4. I maxed out on Intelligence and Luck, which, you know, is good for those things. And I completely, for the first time ever in an RPG,

Starting point is 00:13:12 I didn't even touch Charisma, which normally is not that big of an issue. You fail some checks, but in this case, it also means that I don't have the local leader perk, which means I can't connect my settlement. Anyway, long story short, I've got a lot of work ahead of me this weekend to fix my poor decision

Starting point is 00:13:28 making in video games. If you are in the PPC world, stick around. After the credits, there is something for you in the post roll. Today in Digital Marketing is produced by EngageQ Digital on the traditional territories of the Snunamic First Nation on Vancouver Island.

Starting point is 00:13:47 Our associate producer is Steph Gunn. Production coordinator, Sarah Guild. Podcast music licensing by Source Audio. Ad coordination by Red Circle. And, you know, I have been texting my friend and our show's theme composer, Mark Levis, what I think are, like, really good jokes. And it's been radio silence, not even a disappointed emoji. But I know the reason

Starting point is 00:14:10 why you keep your silence up. No, you don't fool me. The hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows. I'm Todd Maffin. Have a restful weekend, friends. I'll see you on Monday. Are you a PPC practitioner looking to break into speaking opportunities? Do you manage or mentor someone who's ready to start sharing their knowledge?

Starting point is 00:15:06 Then check out PPC.zone. Thank you. can apply to be a speaker. No experience necessary and mentorship is available upon request. Anyone can tune into the free YouTube live stream accessible in every time zone. No steep travel or conference fees. During PPC Zone, three speakers will each share a seven minute presentation about a trend, tactic, observation or tip, something new and valuable for PPC practitioners. Then the speakers gather in a panel discussion to answer questions from the moderator and the global live audience. To learn more, add an upcoming event to your calendar or to apply to speak, visit ppc.zone.

Today in Digital Marketing - Here's the Perfect​​ Landing Page

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Today in Digital Marketing - Here's the Perfect Landing Page