The URL is actually a 2 part process. We are going to dive into both parts in this post. This is going to be a 2-For!
When building your online Pay Per Click ads you will need to decide on both a Display URL and a Destination URL. The Display URL is what will be shown to the reader of the ad. The Destination URL is where the reader will be taken when they click on your ad.
In the example above, the reader will see the Display URL and will be taken to the Destination URL when they click on the ad. It is important to note that the reader never sees the Destination URL until they arrive at your site. The page they land on is called the Landing Page. We will get more into landing pages when we cover Destination URL's.
DISPLAY URLS
There are a few tricks we want to keep in mind when we create a Display URL's.
- We must keep in mind that we are limited to only 35 Characters. Keep it short and to the point. NO HTTP or WWW.
- Choose a Domain Name this is highly relevant to your target market. For example, if you sell computers a domain name that sounds high tech will convert better than one that sounds low-tech. (This should actually be considered before you start building your site. But if you are still at the research phase then consider this now before you buy your domain name
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RELEVANT. This is the last chance to catch the readers attention. Make the Destination URL be equal to the type of content that will appear on the landing page.
In this example to the left, we can clearly see that the creator of this ad added HTTP and the www into their ad.
By eliminating the HTTP and www from the ad we save 11 of the 35 spaces we are allotted.
Another Tip is to use the First Letter Capitalization Strategy that we used in Part 1 Headlines and Part 2 Descriptions.
In the example to our right, we can see that I capitalized the A and the G to help the domain name stand out. But we can even take it 1 Step Further!
In this last example, we can see that we have added the word "Headlines" to our Display URL. This is highly relevant to the example ad that we have worked on. And because of this relevancy we are rewarded with having our keywords bolded.
DESTINATION URL
This is the actual URL of the page we are taking the reader. It is the exact URL path that takes the reader directly to the information they are looking for.
This first page that they view is called the Landing Page. Just as you split test your ads to see which ones get better Click Thru Rates and Convert Better you can also split test your landing pages to see which ones covert best.
If you are looking for a free tool to track your results, you can't go wrong with Google Analytics. You can use this to track what is going on within your website.
