Improve Your CTR to Improve Your Campaign

Are you having trouble with your click through rate? Do you know how that affects your campaign’s performance? Do you know what it is? These are some questions I hope to help you answer now that we are in the midst of peak shopping season.

This measure or metric, usually designated as CTR, is an indicator of activity on your site, or the lack thereof. The click through rate, measured on the keyword level, shows how long a visitor spends on your site. The longer a visitor spends on a site, the better the chances that the click will convert for you. It also can tell you that the content on the site is interesting, either the ad copy or your particular offer and product.  If your click through rate is high, this indicates that the visitor clicked onto your site, scanned your content, and then quickly clicked away. This is to continue his search on another site. This may be due to an irrelevant search (the keyword was not connected to the site content), the ad copy was not attractive or professional (perhaps it even contained spelling or grammatical errors), or the site and product were not attractive. There are other factors (website malfunction, expired offers, etc.), but the most common issues stem from the landing page itself.

For your campaign, and for optimization, you should include CTR in your assessment of your activity. This can help you to determine what actions should be taken to change your results. Typically, if you have a high click rate, the issue is the content on your site.  According to Nick Stamoulis of Brick Marketing, there are standards to follow to improve your content. In his blog, “Content Mistakes That Hurt SEO”(http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/2011/11/11/content-mistakes/), there are 5 major guideposts to check on your site: No calls-to-action, too many ads, unfocused content, thin content, and content stuffed with keywords.

The first, no calls to action, asks you to ask your audience to do what you want them to do. If you have a site that asks for an email address, or a form to fill out, be sure that you are prompting your viewers to do so. “Too often site owners worry about creating the perfect lead form, hoping to find the magic word count that will inspire thousands to fill it out,” Stamoulis writes. “If you aren’t incorporating call-to-actions in your content, how will your visitors know what you want them to do?” Examples of this (from www.flyte.biz):

• Contact us today for a free report on wealth management.
• Learn how organic gardening can save you time and money.
• Get a free market analysis of your home.
• Buy this book now at Amazon and start losing weight tomorrow.
• See examples of our design work with non-profits and charities.
• Buy a season’s pass and never wait in line again!

The second, too many ads, is pretty self explanatory. Sometimes advertisers put all types of Google ads, or banners on their site, and a visitor doesn’t know where to look. How does it help you to make a sale when you confuse a visitor? Stamoulis writes, “No one wants to read around a dozen ads when visiting your site to find one piece of information. It looks incredibly spammy, pushes your own branding below the fold and has a negative impact on the overall user-experience.” It is more effective to focus your efforts. If you have a website that has several pages and items, consider running a separate campaign for each landing page. This can help you to cast a wider net and to test which combination of ad copy and keywords are effective for you. This also allows you to make a simple, concentrated message for each campaign, focusing your effort.

For example, if you have a site that sells canopies of all types, perhaps you create a campaign for each type. You might have a campaign for backyard canopies, one for carports, one for camping, and one for your porch. You can then create a specific message for each that would provoke an action on the user.

The third, unfocused content, asks the advertiser to simply keep it simple and direct. You have a message, and then you want to deliver it. You should reiterate the original message to make sure it is taken in. Too many times, I have seen advertisers that have gone off on all of this information that takes away from your original message. Be sure that you are staying on target. If you are promoting a line of cosmetics, avoid tangents on the history of perfume, or application techniques. Keep it to the important elements, like the unique benefits of your product or the price point. “Stick to as few main points as possible on each page of your site. You don’t want to overload your visitor with irrelevant information,” Nick writes.

The fourth, thin content, is quite the opposite. Nick writes, “Are there any pages on your site that you can condense or consolidate so relevant information is all in the same place? You don’t want to make your visitors hunt for the information they need.” Are you trying to stretch out material over several pages? Do you have a lot of space with only a scant amount of ad copy to fill it? Be sure that you have relevant, enticing ad copy that can help you deliver your message. If that’s a short video, go for it. If that’s attractive photos of products with links to more information, go for it. As long as it accentuates your central message, it can only help. You might even take a second look at your webpage layout. Are you able to change the size of your page or font? This can help you to make it easier for your viewers to navigate your page. When you are done, take a second, critical look at your page. Is this something I would want to visit? Is this a site I would enter my information into? If not, make it so.

The fifth, stuffed with keywords, is perhaps the most important. “Rule one of content marketing—write for humans first! You never want to write for the search engines because chances are you’ll be guilty of over-optimizing your content, which includes keyword stuffing. While it’s important to optimize your content and target related keywords, you don’t want to overdo it and make your content unpleasant to read.” Nick hits it on the head. We are still trying to reach humans. Obviously trying to improve your SERP listings is important, but one of the elements that lead to conversion is the human touch. If you can make your product relatable to their lives, they are more likely to move to action.

So take a second look at your work. Are you getting what you need? What could use some change? It may be your message.