Free hint: a 404 page does not make the best target for your ad…
Tell me if this sounds familiar to anyone: Conceptualize the end result first. (Otherwise known as, have a goal…)
Many times, it seems as though there is no concept for the banner ad’s use, other than whatever is on the actual banner. Someone comes up with a great new marketing slogan, and an artist takes it and runs with it, and out of this creative medley comes a beautiful 728X90 ad that can only be summed up in one way: “Wow.” This wonderful piece of art is uploaded onto an ad server, and it is linked to a homepage, and customers flood your site. Once there, they poke around for a minute, maybe two, and your analytics for the month show an increase in two main areas: number of hits, and bounce rate.
Building your banner ads backwards, and starting with the goal first, then building the funnel to get to said goal, and finally ending with the banner ad, tends to have analytics that point to accomplishments, rather than simply traffic and bounce rates.
Directions we’d recommend:
- A landing page that allows the user to easily buy whatever goods or products the banner ad promoted.
- A landing page with useful information, a specific call to action, and tracking capabilities.
- A landing page with an interactive experience, like a game, that builds additional brand loyalty.
Note: All of these start with “Landing Page”. None say, “Dump them on your homepage, and hope they find something that catches their eye.”
There’s a ton of different outcomes for your landing pages; we discussed three general ideas. Feel free to brag about your accomplishments in the comment section below.
