If your ads aren’t getting the results you crave…

“The following information appears courtesy of Bob Bly’s Direct Response Letter.”

*Online ads and landing pages should use similar wording***

Check the bounce rates on the landing pages you wish would generate more business. If they’re too high and conversions are too low, you may have a message match problem.

To know for sure, look at the ads pointing to that page that receive the highest click through rates. Does your page use similar language to what’s in the ad? Do the images in display ads re-appear on the landing page? If you miss the mark on this, your landing pages are destined to fail.

Reason: 9 times out of 10, messages in the ad don’t correspond directly to what’s on the page.

The ad images differ from primary landing page images. Ad headlines don’t correspond to landing page headlines and the page, generally speaking, is not what the user expected when they clicked the ad.

I call this correspondence “online copy continuity.” Simply put, if your online ad headline says “Make Money as a Nanny,” the landing page the respondent arrives on should have the same headline.

Marte’s notes: If your ad promises promises help with a short sale, don’t send your visitors to a home page filled with homes for sale and a search function.
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I found this article about rotating banners of interest as well, because it agrees with how I feel. All this time I thought it was “just me” being cranky.

***The awful truth about web pages with rotating banners***

Using rotating banners on your home page? Don’t: Research shows
that rotating banners, while aesthetically pleasing to the viewer,
are less effective than a standard, static home page with fixed
copy the user can read at a glance, and not wait for it to be
gradually revealed as the banner rotates.

Reason: People get impatient and click away. The key message has
to be instantly displayed at a glance. See this article on why
rotating banners don’t work.

Source:
http://conversionxl.com/dont-use-automatic-image-sliders-or-carousels-ignore-the-fad

<em>Image courtesy of njaj / FreeDigitalPhotos.net</em></p>