I still see it all the time. One of the biggest mistakes that roofers make when advertising online is using a homepage instead of a specific landing page for paid traffic.
It’s one of the cardinal sins of advertising online.
I am not saying that is not been said many times before. Even if the information is out there people will still make this mistake. According to Unbounce, over 98% of PPC campaigns have poor message match.
Home Page vs. Landing Page
BONUS: If you read until the end I will provide you an example of what a good roofing contractor landing page looks like
First, let’s define what a homepage and landing page are.
A homepage of a website is supposed to act like your business card or a first impression. It should contain information like:
- What you do
- Who you serve
- Contact information
- Occupies your root domain (think www.yourwebsite.com)
- Links to other pages on your site
While a landing page should be
- Focused on a single and specific type of information
- Prompt visitors to take a single call to action
- Is designed for a specific type of traffic source
- Major goal is to turn website visitors into leads
Each web page is best suited for different scenarios. In the rest of the post, I’ll provide compelling reasons why a specific landing page is much more effective for paid traffic vs. sending traffic to a homepage.
If you are advertising with Adwords it can quickly get very expensive. To get a better understanding of why sending traffic to a homepage is a mistake you have to first understand the behavior of the traffic.
There several different types of traffic. Cold, warm, and hot traffic correlate to how well your audience knows your business.
You should take into account the traffic channels and how the traffic behaves for each channel. For example, Facebook Ad traffic is different than search engine traffic.
When you advertise on Facebook it’s considered disruptive advertising because you are interrupting someone’s newsfeed.
When you advertise through Adwords it’s not considered disruptive because people are actively searching for the keyword they typed.
Keywords with commercial intent provide traffic that is much further along the buying cycle. For example, when someone searches for the keyword “roof replacement Orlando” they are actively looking for roof replacement services in Orlando.
If your ad provides them relevant information they are much more likely to click on the ad.
This type of strategy won’t work as well on Facebook because people are not actively searching for these services. However, if you have a good idea of your demographics then your ad can be effective if your message is something that interests them.
Why sending traffic to a home page is a mistake
If someone uses Google and searches for asphalt shingles and they click on your ad which takes them to your homepage which has no information on asphalt shingles how would you think they would feel?
[thrive_link color=’red’ link=’https://roofingmarketingpros.com/free-strategy-session’ target=’_blank’ size=’medium’ align=’aligncenter’]Free Strategy Session[/thrive_link]
You are not giving them what they want. By not giving them what they want, you, make it harder for them to trust you.
Your Google relevancy score will decrease because your ad is sending them to information that is not relevant.
Google will penalize with a lower ad score and you will get dropped in the rankings while at the same time increase your spend.
This mistake leads to frustration, negative ROI, and wasted time.
The Two Pillars of a Successful PPC Campaign
There are two main strategies that make or break a successful PPC campaign.
- Attention Ratio: The number of links compared to the number of calls to action.
- Message Match: How well your message of your landing page which includes your headlines, calls to actions, and copy matches with the keywords that people searched to land on your landing page.
Here some examples of message mismatch.
When I search for the keyword “roof repair Austin” I get the following results:
Did you notice something?
All top 4 results paid to get to the top. The only ad that matches the keywords that I chose is the top Ad. Google calculated this result because it’s the most relevant.
Now, when I click on the ad I’m taken to this landing page:
This landing page is better than the competitors in this area but it still needs some work. The message match is not the best. I don’t see the keywords in the headline.
There are also a lot of links throughout the page that will distract users. It gives a lot of general information about their services. It’s well designed but it has a lot of clutter.
Now, let’s take a look at the second ad on this search result:
When I click on the ad I’m taken to this web page:
This is just the home page. The copy does have the keywords (roof repair) that I was looking for but it’s missing several things.
- No Call To Action
- No Testimonials
- No Web Form
- No Benefit Driven Ad Copy
- No Strong Headline
To get an idea of how much money these companies are throwing down the drain, let’s take a look at the suggested bid for these keywords. I searched for “Austin roof repair” and got the following results:
The average CPC (cost per click) is $15.50. Let’s say that the average conversion rate of a landing page is 5%. A good landing page should have between 20-50% conversion rates.
This means it takes about 20 clicks for a conversion. 20 multiply by $16 and the average cost per lead for this keyword is $320.
And, the best part is that this landing page doesn’t even have a call to action. This campaign is literally throwing money down the drain. If you just increase the conversion rates of the landing page by 5% you’ll decrease the cost per lead to $160.
Are you beginning to understand the power of conversion optimization?
This time the keyword “Roof Repair” appears in the headline, but it’s missing the keyword, Austin. When I click on the ad I’m taken to this landing page:
It’s clean and simple and the message matches much better with the keywords. It has the benefit-driven copy, trust elements, and a single call to action. The only thing missing is a few testimonials that will add trust to the message.
Of the three landing pages that I examined, I like this one the best. The first one is full of clutter, the second is a disaster (straight to the homepage), and the third is the cleanest.
What makes a good landing page?
I won’t go into all the details on what makes a good landing page. I will save this for another post. But for now, I’ll provide you with the two main elements of a high converting landing page.
Conversion focused design and benefit-driven copy.
The design should consist of the following:
- Your Buttons and Call to Actions should stand out
- Keep your Call to Action above the fold
- Use trust indicators like testimonials, press mentions, and guarantee seals
- Images and video should be related to the copy
For the copy it should consist of:
- Benefit Driven Copy- What’s in it for them?
- Attention Grabbing Headlines- Your Headlines should grab attention and make the visitor read more
- Strong Call Action
See an example of a roofing contractor landing page done well
FREE ROOF INSPECTION LANDING PAGE
Overcoming laziness
How do you feel about homeowners inspecting their own roofs? Do you think that’s a good idea?
Do you think they can miss something?
It’s the same effect when you are trying to do the marketing yourself or hiring an intern to do the other work.
Pros hire other pros. It’s as simple as that.
Let me tell you a secret.
It doesn’t matter what channel you choose to advertise online. They all work.
You just have to implement the right strategy for each channel and you will get a solid ROI.
And, the only way to figure out the best strategy for your business is to invest thousands of dollars in learning to do it yourself or hiring someone else to do it for you.
If you want to take a shortcut and increase your level of success you should hire someone who has done it before.
And, sending traffic to a homepage is something that you need to avoid.
Conclusion
In summation, don’t make the silly mistake of sending paid traffic to a homepage. You are throwing your money down the drain.
If you want to maximize your ROI you should be sending your paid traffic to multiple landing pages that primarily satisfy two requirements:
The right message match and a simple and clean attention ratio.
PPC campaigns on Facebook and Adwords are expensive and competitive in the roofing industry. You want to maximize your dollars never send paid traffic to a homepage.
Need Help In Getting More Roof Replacemet Customers?
[thrive_link color=’red’ link=’roofingmarketingpros.com/free-strategy-session’ target=’_self’ size=’medium’ align=’aligncenter’]Learn How[/thrive_link]
