Online ads are usually presented as a sure-fire way of generating leads and converting them into customers. Truthfully, when done correctly, they could be your number one source of revenue. In instances like this, they pretty much pay for themselves – and then some! You may have dabbled in some online ads, but you’ve yet to see the desired results. Instead of generating traffic and making conversions, you’re actually losing money. Why is this the case? Why won’t your ads convert? If we look at the anatomy of a great online ad, we can quickly identify three common reasons this is happening:
The ad content is poor
By ‘content,’ we’re referring to what’s on your advert. This relates to all sorts of online ads – across websites, search engines, or social media. If the content is poor, it won’t attract anyone’s attention. You need to design your adverts so they offer people something attractive. The content needs to catch their eye and draw them in. For example, the add should broadcast that you have a special offer on, or it should show specific products in all their glory. If your advert doesn’t include anything that gets people interested in your offer, nobody will click it!
Your landing pages suck
To put it frankly, your landing pages suck and are undoing any work that your advert did. Even if your ad design and content are incredible, landing pages can screw everything up. If you spoke to the professionals at a PPC agency, they’d probably tell you that this is the most common reason for losing conversions. Landing pages should be an extension of the ad, guiding users to make a decision. They should be designed specifically for people that have clicked on the advert, building on what you presented in the ad. Basically, this is your time to add value to your offering, showcase why people need it, and direct them straight to where they can buy it. One of the most common online ad mistakes is not having a tailored landing page and just bringing people to your homepage. As such, they’re lost and all the magic of the ad has left them!
You’re targeting the wrong people
Finally, adverts won’t work if you target the wrong people. Look at search engine adverts as an example – you bid on keywords and search terms to present your ads to the relevant people. If you’re bidding on searches and terms that don’t relate to your target audience, your ads are going to show for the wrong people. Your target market never sees them, which decreases their effectiveness. Much like the first point, this one stops you from getting clicks, which eliminates the effectiveness of your landing pages.
So, as a brief summary, your online ads aren’t converting because they don’t look good, your landing pages are awful, and you’re targeting the wrong audiences. If you fix these three things, you’ve built the foundations of a successful online advertising campaign. Already, you will see better results, with more conversions and sales coming your way.
