Landing pages for Google AdWords

Of all the various kinds of websites and webpages a designer could possibly be asked to create, designing landing pages, and more specifically, landing pages for Google AdWords, ranks as one of my favorite kinds of projects to undertake. Landing page projects usually offer the clear cut challenge to inform and convince the visitor in mere seconds that they should choose this particular service or product rather than clicking back to their search even bothering to check the next ranking competitor. Designing specifically for AdWords means that that I don’t have to take SEO into as much consideration like I usually would because I don’t have to worry about Google indexing the page or ranking it based on content.

Landing page projects are usually short term

The other reason I really enjoy designing landing pages is that they’re usually short term projects. I am my own worst critic which means that projects that are more long term and require more time give me more opportunities to go back, evaluate, and rethink my decisions which usually means designs take longer because I require more time to be satisfied with my work. Landing pages are usually a single page and can be conceptualized a lot faster so the project reaches completion quicker also. And though I’ll always look back on the projects I’ve done and see room for improvement, once the page is live and the campaign is running, it’s all about testing and making specific design alterations where deemed necessary.

Simple design

A visitor who has clicked on your ad means they’re searching for something specific and that person wants results fast. Search engines like Google make it incredibly easy for Internet users to find what they want, and if they don’t find what they’re looking for, there’s a whole page of search results which they assume does. So it doesn’t help if a visitor lands on your campaign page and has to figure out what it’s about or has to spend more time looking on your page when they’re already searching Google, they simply won’t bother.

I usually aim for clean, simple and to the point design which allows visitors to instantly evaluate their decision to click the ad. Once they’ve decided that this might be something they could use, BAM! you’ve bought yourself a window of time, a few seconds tops, to get your message across in slightly more detail. Beautiful and clean design helps with this a lot. If your landing page looks like it was designed by the neighbor who designs websites for a hobby, forget about it.

A clear, short message that sums it all up

Landing pages for AdWords means the campaign is paid per click, so every visitor counts, and so does the message you’re trying to get across. Whether you’re selling wine or Windows software, the message needs to appeal to the simplest of minds and to the complexity of geniuses alike. What are you advertising? What are you selling? Why is it better than other products and services out there? What’s your edge?

Honesty

Probably the most important aspect of any landing page if you were to ask me, is honesty, in both your message and design. Cheesy iStock images of happy smiling and laughing people won’t help you sell as much as you might think (unless you’re selling a joke book). Look it up, there’s enough research out there that has shown that people are sooner annoyed and pissed off than attracted by pictures of idealistic, beautiful people with ridiculously white teeth who don’t seem to have a care in the world.

False advertising doesn’t help you either. Not so much in the sense of advertising a product will help you lose 20 lbs in a day. What I mean is more along the lines of if you’re advertising a per month price and then showing an annual contract after the visitor has decided to click your CTA button. If they walk away after clicking, you’re in essence no further than if the visitor had simply clicked the back button on their browser while they were on the page (or sometimes that extra button on their mouse… or swiped three fingers back on their Macbook Pro touch pad).

In countries like Holland where the consumer is used to seeing prices that already include taxes, it’s generally not great practice to display pre-tax prices only to have the potential customer not complete the purchase because the amount they expected to pay is suddenly higher.