Happy Tuesday!
This week we're looking at tips for creating successful lead-capture forms, a checklist for your landing page, and new Google Ads automated tools. We're also covering how a site redesign can impact your SEO and tips to run a successful Instagram contest for engagement.
Nine Tips for Optimising Lead-capture Forms
When a consumer is faced with a lead-capture form, they’ll either commit to it or abandon it. What can your business do to increase the odds of a customer filling out a form? Nikki Gilliland looks at nine examples and offers tips on how to increase conversions.
Visitors are unlikely to convert if they have to fill out lengthy forms so keep it short and simple and use with less copy to make the process as easy as possible. Only ask for essential information that you require like their name and email address. Offering alternatives, such as Facebook or Google, to login and submit information is preferred since minimal details are required. Through these options, a user can easily login in through their social media account. Another tip Gilliland offer is to avoid using a ‘Submit’ button. Instead use words that imply action once a button is clicked like ‘Get Started’ or ‘Click to Download'.
For more lead-generation form tips, click here!
A 20-Point Checklist to Rank Your Landing Page
Your page can be ranked high but if it doesn’t match the search query, you can see your CTR go down, bounce rates increase, and fewer conversions. If your business finds itself in a situation where the wrong page is ranking for a targeted word, here’s what you can do according to Aleh Barysevich.
First, the page that is ranking high may have elements in it that are better optimized for your target keyword. Compare the two by looking at title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and content. Look at the visual components on your page—does it include Schema Markups such as star ratings, images or reviews? These snippets will make your page stand out in SERPs. Other visual optimization elements to audit include the above-the-fold content and the use of media.
For more optimization factors that your page could be lacking, read further!
A Guide to Redesigning a Website Without Affecting SEO
A common misconception surrounding SEO is that it only needs to be done once. During a site redesign, for example, a number of things can happen that can negatively impact SEO and the growth of your site. However, if a redesign is executed correctly, it can do wonders for your SEO. Here, Pawan Sahu discusses steps on what you can do to ensure your SEO remains unaffected while you make changes to your website.
The first step is to download the sitemap so you have a full list of all the pages on your site, along with the URLs. Next, you’ll want to set up a temporary URL for your site and copy your site over. Never run a redesign on your existing site. If you’re changing any URLs, the best thing to do is to set up 301 redirects to avoid 404 errors and to ensure you don’t lose any SEO benefits associated with the old URL.
To read the full list of steps for a site redesign, click here.
5 Tips on How to Run a Successful Instagram Contest
Instagram has been in the news lately as it continues to rise in the ranks of social media platforms and the rate with which it’s adding new features and tools. This growth and expansion mean more opportunities for a business to reach more people. One way for a brand to boost its engagement via the platform is through Instagram contests. In this article, Larry Alton looks at why your business should consider this channel and offers tips for a successful contesting campaign.
Before running a contest, you should be aware that Instagram has certain rules when it comes to promotions and following them is a must. Be sure to spell out any rules, eligibility requirements, etc to enter the content. The best course of action is to create a landing page to dedicated to the contest and publish all the pertinent and necessary information there.
There is a lot to be gained by studying what your competition and other marketers are doing so don’t hesitate to check in what they’re doing. For more of Alton’s tips, read here.
5 Things Google Ads Can Now do Automatically
It seems every month, Google is bringing out new automated features to its ad and analytics products. As exciting as these developments are in machine learning, they can’t do everything that PPC professionals can. To help you better understand what is possible with today’s Google Ads automated tools, Frederick Vallaeys offers a rundown of what Google Ads offers, how the automation works and what you can do to further improve results.
First up is Smart Campaigns—this type of campaign will be the default option for new advertisers and is aimed at small businesses. Smart Campaigns will automate ad and landing page generation based on data from Google My Business. They are almost entirely automated based on the type of product or service being offered and campaign goals include phone calls, site visits and requests for directions.
Next up is Goal Optimized Shopping Campaigns. This campaign subtype makes it easier for retailers to get started with Shopping Ads. With this campaign, a retailer will have their Shopping ads and remarking ads run on the Google display network. Google will use data to predict bids in order to achieve maximum conversion value.
Read more about the different Google Ads automated tools here.
Check out these additional articles for more internet marketing news!
6 Great Email Lessons From the GDPR Deluge of 2018
The Secret to Get More Views: Newsletters
Get to Know your Virtual Audience via Their Digital Body Language
