Are You Paying For Traffic But Not Getting Results?
Use These 5 Tips To Convert Visitors into Buyers
Every company wants more traffic to their web pages. After all, there is a direct correlation between traffic and sales. The more targeted traffic you have, the more sales you can expect as a result of your efforts.
So how can you attract more targeted traffic to your pages?
There are numerous methods to increase traffic online such as search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing on social media platforms. Both strategies are effective to reach target audiences and build brand awareness. But the downside is that it takes the time actually to start seeing results. With SEO for example, it can easily take months or even longer to rank on the first page of the search results.
What makes paid search such an attractive option then is the potential to drive immediate traffic to your landing pages.
With Google AdWords, you bid on keywords that are relevant to your business. Ads you create are then displayed in the search results where prospective customers can click (or tap) through to learn more about your offer. But traffic alone won’t guarantee sales as conversions depend on some factors from how compelling your offer is to how well the site is designed.
Here we at look at five ways to ensure that paid search traffic converts.
1. Build Targeted Landing Pages
Sending paid traffic to the home page is a common mistake that many business owners make.
Imagine you were searching for outdoor hiking boots and you click on an ad that matches your search query. But then the ad takes you to the home page which displays other offers that are not relevant to your search. The chances of you converting are relatively small in this case.
The importance of relevance throughout each step cannot be stressed enough as illustrated in the example above. Landing pages that closely match a search query are far more likely to convert. So to maximize your paid search efforts, build out relevant landing pages for each ad group to increase conversions. This approach requires far more effort but is well worth it.
2. Include Testimonials
Social proof is defined as:
“a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.”
In other words, behavior is greatly influenced by external factors which also extends to purchasing decisions. If a product you were interested in has mostly positive reviews, you would be more confident about your purchase. But if the reviews are overwhelmingly negative, you would likely think twice about it.
This is an example of how social proof can affect sales.
One way to leverage it in your marketing is to include testimonials and customer reviews on your landing pages. Here is an example of social proof in action on the Dropbox business page:
Social proof is a way to leverage the credibility of other firms. Use testimonials on your landing pages to increase conversions.
3. Implement Remarketing
Visitors to your landing page may decide not to purchase for various reasons.
Unless you collect their email addresses, those visitors would be lost forever. Remarketing is a feature in AdWords that lets you reach visitors who have previously visited your site. A tracking pixel allows you to “follow” visitors as they browse the web.
The benefits are obvious.
Remarketing enables you to segment your audience so you can make your ads even more targeted. If a visitor lands on an individual product page, you could then display ads that are related to that page. Using Remarketing enables you to convert visitors who may have previously left without making a purchase.
4. Split Test Ads
Split testing is perhaps the best use of your ad spend.
The way it works is relatively straightforward. Instead of having only one ad for an ad group, you create a second ad with a minor change to the headline or description. Then you let the ads run for a period while the data collects. 
Split testing is a highly effective strategy that can be used to increase the click through rates of your ads. Once you find a winning ad, create another one. Split testing can also be used to measure conversion rates for your landing pages. But be sure to let the ads run so that sufficient data is collected to make an informed decision.
5. Improve Loading Times
Loading times are another overlooked aspect.
Even with a well-designed website, the reality is that visitors will not stick around if a page takes too long to load. In fact, 47% of consumers expect pages to load in 2 seconds or less. Every second count as a few seconds delay can have a negative impact on conversions.
Take steps to boost loading times to increase conversions. Use Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool for a complete analysis of the desktop and mobile versions of your site.
Then follow the suggestions to improve loading times.
6. Collect Email Addresses
Not all traffic to your landing pages will convert.
Visitors leave a page without making a purchase for various reasons. They might need more time to research their options, or they may have only gotten distracted with something else. Collecting email addresses can be incredibly lucrative as it gives your business another opportunity to convert visitors with drip email campaigns.
In fact, email delivers one of the highest ROI compared to other marketing channels:
Give visitors a compelling reason to enter their email addresses. Offer an exclusive guide or other content that visitors can download instantly. With email, you have yet another marketing channel to drive more sales to your business.
Conclusion
Paid search is one of the best marketing channels to drive more targeted traffic to your landing pages. Platforms such as Google AdWords offer an excellent ROI when compared to other channels. To maximize your marketing efforts, follow the strategies as outlined above to boost your conversion rates and increase sales.
Roy Dopaishi manages content marketing at Paidtraffic – the experts at Google Adwords and Pay Per Click advertising for small and medium businesses. Paid Traffic is a digital marketing agency powered by Digital Monopoly. Paid Traffic was launched in early 2016 with the sole purpose of providing results oriented pay per click advertising on Google and other PPC platforms.
Paid Traffic specializes at helping small and medium businesses maximize inquiries and sales through Google AdWords, clients start at any budget and pay only for results. Facebook + Twitter