Conversion—its the golden pot at the end of the rainbow. Its that measurable quality we all strive for in
PPC. It lines our pockets when we get it right…and sometimes it just doesnt make sense.

Trying to get inside our customers heads isnt easy. What we think should convert often doesnt—and vice-versa—leaving us shaking our heads and wondering if theres a magic formula no one has clued us in on yet.

But trust me, there is no magic formula. A lot of factors culminate to determine conversion, and any one of them can spell a campaigns success or failure.

Of course, your goal should be to keep visitors from “bouncing,” or leaving your site on the first page so you can convert them to leads. But how can you increase conversions if you dont have a clue how to hold them there?

According to research, once visitors land on your site you have only a few seconds to convince them to stay. If you want to keep them there, it should be immediately obvious that theyre in the right place, you have what theyre looking for and they can trust you to deliver it to them safely.

How can they know this in such short order? When they see relevant content immediately available, glance at your “about us” section and contact information, find a search function where they can quickly find what they need, and are confronted with a strong marketing message that compels them to buy, youve hooked them in. But sometimes that isnt enough. Increasing conversion requires assessing your sites strengths and weaknesses, then making changes to everything from copy and design to linking and photography.

If your conversions just arent up to par and youre not sure what to do about it, here are a few tips you can try. Keep in mind there are never any guarantees—but weve found many of these ideas helpful and hope you will, too!

1. Avoid sending traffic to your homepage or a multi-purpose landing page. Instead, create specific landing pages for each ad group. This creates consistency from keyword to ad to content. You may encounter more work up-front, but the payoff will be a lot of time saved making changes later. And your visitors will convert about three times more often!
2. Use large images on your landing pages—and include pictures of people. The bigger, clearer, more colorful and detailed your pictures, the more likely the consumer will turn into a lead. Pictures of people make your site more personable and enjoyable to consumers, and increases the likelihood theyll trust you with their business.
3. Gain their trust with third-party endorsements like the VeriSign or Better Business Bureau emblems. This helps counter their fears of giving you their personal information and boosts their confidence in the service you provide.
4. Keep your copy readable. Font sizes should be over 10 points, copy should be contained in one column and content should be informational in nature, yet to the point. Too long and you lose the reader; too short and youll leave them wondering if you really know what youre talking about. Experiment to see what works best for you.
5. Test, test—and test again! Thousands of variables can affect conversion, so start with the most obvious items, like your headlines, images, promotions and marketing messages. Try making one small change at a time and, with time and careful monitoring of results, youll find your own magic formula to increasing conversions!