As you start browsing our website and looking at various PPC plans, you might notice something you didn’t expect to see – every PPC client we sign up gets a Ready Ads’ Microsite included with their plan that is built for their brand.
So why create a microsite? Doesn’t your main website have all the information about your company and what you offer?
The short answer is yes. Your main website DOES in fact have all of that information and more. But that in and of itself is the issue. It has literally ALL of the information. Pages and pages and pages of it. With only seconds to gain or lose someone’s attention, using your main site can cause more issues than it solves.
By creating a microsite, you get full control of the narrative and by doing so, can lead your potential customer on a specific journey that is more likely to result in action.
It’s all a part of what is called “The CLOSER” approach.
To explain how this approach works a little better, here is some terminology we’ll use throughout this article for anyone who might be unfamiliar:
Landing Page – In general a landing page is any webpage that visitors come in from (or “lands on”).
Microsite – A microsite is a streamlined miniature version of a website with a handful of landing pages as opposed to dozens or hundreds of landing pages. These sites are designed strictly to convert PPC traffic that often exists separately from your main website. Their main function is for customer acquisition and to make the customer conversion process as easy and smooth as possible.
Conversion – When someone takes the action the page directs them to take. For instance, if you have an ecommerce page, it will prompt a user to make a purchase. If you offer a service, it will prompt them to sign up, get a quote, make a call, or set an appointment.
Conversion Rate – The percentage of people or users who convert, or who take the action the page directs them to take.
Now to better demonstrate how a Ready Ads’ Microsite works vs using your main website for PPC ads, here is an example:
Step 1: A User Asks Google a Question
When you design a PPC campaign, you are using search engines to generate ads or “answers” to a question someone asks. If someone asks a question looking for something like, “Restaurant suppliers in Los Angeles” or “Find a dentist near Monrovia,” or “Where can I buy the dress Harper is wearing in The White Lotus, Season 2 Episode 6?” (That last one isn’t relevant, but inbox us if you have the answer.) Google uses keywords to display relevant PPC ads, which pop up with the answer.
Now imagine that question results in YOUR PPC ad popping up in the results. Perfect, that’s exactly what you want! That leads us on to step two…
Step 2: A User Clicks Your Ad
Your ad looks like it provides the answer to the question the user asked. Fantastic! They click on your ad and…
Step 3: A User Chooses Conversion or Diversion
What happens next is critical. It means they either convert – or divert. So what happens if they land on your main company website vs a custom Ready Ads’ Microsite?
Scenario 1: A User Lands on Your Main Website
If a user is directed to your main site, they will probably find an array of menus, options, distractions, and irrelevant prompts that not only don’t provide the answer to the question they were asking, but also quickly leads them to leave your website and pursue other answers. (According to research you have about 0.05 seconds to get them to convert or…they’re gone.)
This is especially relevant if your website is B2B or very niche because the questions you are providing answers to are most likely very specific.
Because of these factors, a lot of PPC campaigns that utilize a company’s main website’s homepage as their landing page have conversion rates that are…unimpressive.
Scenario 2: A User Lands on Your New Ready Ads’ Microsite
If they are directed to a custom Ready Ads’ Microsite, users are going to find exactly what they are looking for…NOW. This is because the Ready Ads’ Microsite page they found when they clicked the ad was created in direct response to the PPC ad itself – to give the user the answer to their question and establish relevant credibility.
While this might not seem like a huge difference to you, the actual statistics surrounding microsites vs company websites and PPC say otherwise, with most of the company websites we see used for PPC offering conversion rates around 1%.
Microsite landing pages on the other hand offer significantly higher conversion rates, averaging close to 10% or in many cases much, much higher. For instance, check out this client we were able to get a 77% increase in conversions for using a custom Ready Ads’ Microsite.
We promise, that wasn’t happening using their main website as a landing page. It took a custom Ready Ads’ Microsite that was built specifically to coordinate with their PPC campaigns to find and increase quality leads.
The Difference is in the Math
A Page Converts at 1%
To show you the true difference, imagine 100 visitors visit your main company website after being prompted by your Google PPC ad. Now imagine you are paying $3 per click. So that’s $3 for every visitor that is coming onto your website through your PPC campaign. If your page is converting at 1% (the average we see), that means you are paying $300 per conversion.
A Page Converts at 10%+
Now imagine you are still paying $3 per click, but you have a custom Ready Ads’ Microsite that is converting at 10%. That’s still $3 for every visitor that is coming onto your website through your PPC campaign. But if your page converts at 10%+ (the average we see), that means you are only paying $30 or less per conversion.
In Conclusion: Microsites Perform Better than Traditional Websites
In the above scenario, we are talking about the difference in paying $300 per conversion vs $30 per conversion. While one might be a decent investment for your company at $300 a lead, the other has the potential to offer your business a new gateway to monumental growth, possibly turning your PPC campaigns into one of your most valuable marketing assets.
With Ready Ads, It’s More Than a Microsite
If you saw the word CLOSER and presumed acronym – you presumed correctly. CLOSER stands for C – Credibility, L – Lure, O – Objection Handling, S – Social Proof, E – Ease of Use, R – Result. Using this method, Ready Ads creates custom microsites that are above and beyond just a page with a button.
We create custom catered content that coordinates directly with your PPC plan to not only establish your credibility, but help answer all potential user questions, alleviate any worry, and aid them in their journey from becoming some random Google user to your new loyal client.
Get Ready for Better Leads & Higher Conversion Rates with Ready Ads
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