I posted the following as a reply in a SEMpdx Forum thread. Thought it was cogent enough to reprise here 😉
This is in response to comments in the thread by Todd Mintz and related article, also by Todd.
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Todd I couldn’t agree more that ideally you would have a unique landing page for each exact Keyword string. As behavioral targeting and the privacy wars heat up we may even be talking about a unique landing page path for each visitor, maybe even each visit.
But in my world of micro-business, service professionals, and e-cottage entrepreneurs that ideal is very much a pipe dream due to resources, i.e. time/money.
Also, as you note in your article, I have seem some real disasters from people that create landing pages designed to “force” visitors into taking particular actions by limiting the navigation choices. The results can be extraordinarily high bounce rates and a bad experience for the visitor, bad juju all the way around.
So for my client base I would temper the “PPC landing pages should be radically different from the rest of your site” to something a little more philosophical.
Like; If there isn’t a current website page that is acceptable as a beginning landing page, we have a real problem with the website and content in general. If we do have pages that “suffice”, then what are we doing, within the scope of resources, to move from suffice, to better than that, maybe good, even great 😉
But overall Todd, you are as usual, right on the money. Be targeted, and be clever in navigation choices. Help the visitor as much as you can to stay focused on fulfilling whatever quest began with their Search Engine query.
That is worth saying again:
Help the visitor as much as you can to stay focused on fulfilling whatever quest began with their Search Engine query.
Without them feeling herded and bullied.
This is done with analysis, creativity, empathy, and time/money: not cookie-cutter dynamic insertion formulas, keyword overkill, or SEO tricks.
-T
Tom Hale
Internet Strategist – AdWords Specialist
http://ThomasCreekConcepts.com/
http://forum.sempdx.org/
