Write a landing page that gets results with this free Google Adwords guide.

Why? Because, 99 times out of 100, your homepage will not be relevant enough to someone who clicks on your ad. Think about it. Your home page is essentially your intro page. While it is certainly the most important page in introducing customers to your site, it's too general to use when you write a landing page.

You don't want your prospective customers landing on your homepage and then having to search around for they information they want. That's a quick way to fail with Google Adwords!

Let me talk about the last point just a bit more because many people don't realize that Google looks at the quality of your Adwords program to determine your minimum bid on keywords. Google calls this set of criteria the Quality Score. So, how do you improve the Quality Score of your landing page? By following the below suggestions as much as possible.

The bottom line here is that if you are not providing value to the Google searcher, then Google may start increasing the cost of your keywords until you can no longer afford them. Remember, Google is in the business of providing relevant searches. If you write a landing page that ignores the above bullet points, Google WILL reduce your quality score and your Adwords program cost will start to rise. Provide real value to your prospects and you'll be just fine.

Now, here are some valuable tips as you work to write a landing page that provides value and gets the conversion.

Tips for creating your landing page

Tip #1: When someone makes it to your landing page, you literally have just seconds to keep their attention. Make sure your landing page builds an emotional bond within the first few sentences.

Tip #2: Keep in mind the keywords that are tied to your ad. Your landing page should use at least one of those keywords in the first sentence.

Tip #3: Your landing page can be as long as you wish but be quick to focus and get to the point.

Tip #4: If you are selling hard goods, pick the one hard good that is most relevant to your ad. Trying to sell different types of products on a landing page will most likely confuse the reader.

Tip #5: Scratch your reader's itch. Are they looking to buy a DVD recorder? Include the price, a "Buy Now" button, and testimonials for the product. Make it as easy as possible for your prospective customer to find relevant information.

Tip #6: Before you write a landing page, look at the landing pages of your competitors and spend some time critiquing them. What information on their landing pages makes you want to buy? What elements seem to turn you off? Find out what your competition's strengths and weaknesses are on their own landing pages. This can help tremendously when designing your own.

Tip #7: Don't just start out trying to sell your product or service. You will simply turn people off. You first need to establish credibility and trust before you push your products. Create an emotional reaction, make your readers like you, show them the benefits of your product or service through testimonials or stories before pushing the product in front of them. Build trust before attempting to sell!

Tip #8: Avoid using flashy graphics and banners. Graphics are important but must help convey your message. In other words, each graphic must support the words around it. Devices that can help establish trust include adding audio and/or video to your landing page. Just remember, if you do this, the audio/video must be relevant to your ad and relevant to the main message of your landing page.

Tip #9: Add credibility by using well-known logos such as PayPal and site verifications like Authorize.net or other verified merchant graphics like the Better Business Bureau's BBB Online Reliability Program. Adding links to your privacy policy, terms and conditions, as well as your product guarantee can go a long way to help establish trust with your reader.

Tip #10: When you write a landing page, keep the flow light and readable. Try to make paragraphs 3-4 sentences long if possible. Use bullet points to summarize product or service benefits. Use photographs only where it enhances information or credibility for the customer.

When you write a landing page, you must accomplish one very important goal - to define to the reader what it is you want them to do. This is called your MWR.

You might simply want your customer to give their contact info in return for a free sample, report, DVD, or trial. Or you might want them to give you call or request a quote. And yes, depending on your product, you MWR may be to get them to click on that "Buy Now" button! Whatever it is, you need to make it very clear and you need to make it easy for the reader to execute.

Going for the Hard Sell

Remember, depending on your unique product or service, going for the hard sell immediately is usually not be the best choice. If your product or service is expensive, getting your customer to opt-in to your informative newsletter is usually a better option - especially since you will be able to market to them in the future. It all goes back to building trust and confidence. Then, when the prospect is ready to buy, you may be the first one they think of.

Take your time when you write a landing page. If you find you get a lot of click-throughs on your ad but few people are following through to your MWR, then design a new landing page. The benefit of Google Adwords is that you will have many tools at your disposal to measure where readers are getting hung up. You will be able to zero in on these problem areas and change them for improved results.

But before you can fine-tune your ad, you have to get one up and running! That's the subject of the next installment of this series.

Write A Landing Page For Results - Part 5