The Ad Promised Something Specific
Here's an example to visualise: an ad offering same-day boiler repairs in Hackney sets two clear expectations.
Their service: same-day boiler repairs. Their location: in Hackney.
When a visitor lands on a general homepage with a slideshow about the company's founding story, they have to hunt for what they clicked on, and many won't bother. It's a waste of prime real estate and your visitors' time. A potential customer landing on your landing page isn't searching for the brand's narrative; they're searching for the service the brand's ad has promised them.
Message Match
The fix is simple enough, and the problems only arise when unnecessary factors complicate the work. The headline on the page should repeat the promise the ad made, in nearly the same words, so the visitor knows at first glance they're in the right place. Building separate pages for separate ad groups sounds like a lot of extra work, but a good template makes everything easier.
Overlooking Local Details
London searchers are used to being shown national chains with generic pages, so a local business has an easy way to stand out. A page that mentions the borough they operate in and shows a local phone number tells visitors it was written by someone nearby, which is much of the appeal of hiring locally in the first place.
Anyone running pay-per-click advertising in London already has a head start here, because location targeting narrows the audience before the ad is even shown. The landing page needs to carry that through. A locksmith covering Walthamstow can mention the streets and neighbourhoods it works in, and a dog groomer in Clapham can show photos taken in the salon rather than stock images of a spaniel in a field somewhere.
It's a small change on the page that visitors see right away, and it gives them a reason to stay that a national competitor can't easily copy.
Forms That Ask Too Much
There's a bad habit of adding fields to enquiry forms just because the sales team wants the information. These include company size, how the person heard about the business, and a dropdown for preferred contact time. Each field appears harmless on its own; however, when they're stacked on top of each other, they turn a quick enquiry into a whole ordeal.
Most of that information can be gathered on the follow-up call, where it comes up naturally anyway. Only ask for information that is explicitly vital to the service; otherwise, you risk creating a dead end on your landing page.
Reviews Banished to the Footer
Reviews and accreditations often end up at the very bottom of the page, which is an odd place for the most persuasive material a business has. A visitor weighing up an unfamiliar company wants reassurance near the button, at the moment they're deciding whether to get in touch.
Moving a short run of genuine reviews up beside the call to action is an easy change to make. As is placing trade body logos near the top for businesses where credentials do the work instantly. Visitors in specific sectors are looking for exactly that sort of thing before they commit, and they shouldn't have to scroll to find it.
Specific reviews do better work than vague ones. A customer mentioning that the plumber turned up on time and cleaned up afterwards says something worth using. Five stars and the word "great" say very little, if anything at all, even if it's lovely to receive. Use your testimonials strategically, and they'll operate as social proof, objection handlers, and an extra piece of copy that costs nothing to add.
Testing in Small Steps
Aim to change elements gradually, ideally in isolation, and give each change enough time to affect the landing page's traffic before declaring a winner.
- Headlines are usually a good place to begin, since they do so much of the persuading.
- The hero image is another, and swapping a stock photo for a real picture of the team or the premises can sometimes work wonders.