How To Save Your PPC Campaign From Crashing and Burning

Airline runways are smooth. They're smooth for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is to ease the transition between gliding through the air and barreling down a concrete slab at 150 mph. Seriously, would you want to land on a rocky, uneven, unpaved runway? Probably not, because the chances that you'll make it thru the experience are pretty slim.

Believe it or not, your Google pay-per-click campaigns are exactly (well, a lot) like the airplane landing described above. Homebuyers and sellers who are searching Google for real estate in your area are the passengers on the plane. The runway is your landing page. If your landing page is well designed, well maintained, and provides a smooth transition from Google to your website, your passengers (aka visitors) will make it thru the process and are more likely to safely deplane (as in convert). If your landing page is rocky and rough, your passengers are not going to make it thru to your website. 9 times out of 10, they'll glance at your runway and quickly decide to try a different, smoother runway elsewhere (as in your COMPETITOR). And the 1 in 10 that does try your runway, well, let's just say he doesn't make it.

Now that I've made my point that a smooth landing page is critical, I'll dispense with the metaphors. But what really makes a landing page smooth? The connection between your Google ad blurb and the content of your landing page is critical. Do they tie together? Is your landing page delivering what your visitor thought they were going to get? Is it guiding them to exactly what they want or are you presenting them with all sorts of options that may misdirect them? If someone searches for "experienced realtor in Los Angeles", it makes sense for your landing page to have your biographical information that outlines your experience and knowledge. But, if someone searches for "homes for sale in Los Angeles", sending them to the same landing page is pointless. These searchers do not want to read your life story - they want to look for listings. If you don't give them listings, they'll go elsewhere to find what they're looking for.

How do you give searchers the listings they're looking for? The best way is to send them directly to your branded IDX MLS Search page. Powerful IDX tools allow visitors to quickly find the listings they're looking for AND have much more success in converting those visitors into leads. After all, buying traffic from Google is pointless if that traffic does not convert into leads and sales.

iHOUSEweb provides a pay-per-click service exclusively for REALTORS(R). It is designed to provide a smooth transition from a professionally written Google ad to a custom branded IDX Search page that converts traffic to leads. Try a Free Demo!