One of the key lessons we can take from recent years is that a digital presence is now vital for any brand. It’s no longer an optional extra. Whilst the world has opened up again, things can’t simply return to the way they were before, so website design must be an ongoing process to ensure your online presence remains strong as your business moves forward.

Whilst organic traffic is what all businesses should be aiming for, this does take time and care. As competition in the online space continues to grow, it’s important to find other strategies to augment your online presence. Investing in paid advertising through platforms such as Google Ads is a highly effective way to drive instant traffic to your website, increasing conversions whilst your organic search engine presence grows.

Before you launch a Google Ads campaign, it’s important to ensure that your website is fit for purpose.

Consider the journey that you want the users to take for each potential Google Ads campaign. Start from the end point (conversion in Google Ads) and consider what the user needs to do to get there. Whether your goal is for the user to purchase goods or services, to ask for a quote, or register for an event, effective website design will help them get to this point.

It is always helpful to put yourself in the customers shoes to better understand their end goal, along with the questions or frustrations the user experience of your website might create. As Google Ads will send users from the search engine directly to your website (in most cases), it’s up to you to ensure your site offers a simple user journey, paired with content that appeals to your target customer and encourages them to help you achieve your goal.

Depending on what your conversion goals are for Google Ads, there are different questions you may ask yourself in order to focus your website design effectively.

Lead Forms

If the aim of your Google Ads campaign is to generate leads by asking the user to fill out a form, whether this be to register for an event, seek more information or ask for a quote, it’s vital to ensure that your website design allows the form to work fully on all devices. If a form can be filled out correctly on a laptop or desktop computer but not on a mobile device, this can lead to a loss of conversion.

Another consideration to make about the design of your form is whether it is too long. Whilst you wish to find out more about your customer base, a form that asks too many questions or takes too long to fill in can also be a reason for the dropoff rate of your form to increase.

In some cases, you may be able to use Google’s Lead From extension tool, removing the need for users to click through to your website. Whilst you may not necessarily need to drive Ads traffic directly to your website, this does not mean that the content of your website is any less important. Remember, before deciding to fill out your form, a potential customer may decide to visit your website to do further research, so you should ensure that the content and language used on your website should resonate just as much as your Google Ads text.

Direct Sales

If the goal for your ads is to generate sales through your website, then a range of considerations must be with regards to website design.

Firstly, do you wish for the landing page of your ad to be direct to a specific product or service page, or a more generic page if you are hoping to advertise more of what you have to offer?

Once the user is on your landing page, is it pleasing to the eye? Is the design in keeping with the rest of your brand? Are the headings eye-catching and relating to the information you want them to take in?

You should also ask yourself whether the landing page provides enough information about your company and the products or services you offer, in order for the customer to feel confident in making a purchase. Whilst you may have provided clear and engaging information, you should consider that some customers may still have further questions, you should consider if there is a clear way for potential customers to get in touch with you prior to buying.

Once the user is ready to purchase your product or service, it’s important that it is clear how to make the next step. As with generating form fills, you must make sure that it’s possible to buy from your website from any device. If it isn’t possible to buy immediately using a mobile device, then the user may forget to try again on a larger device, or decide against a purchase altogether.

Pay Per Click advertising via Google Ads is an effective way to drive instant traffic to your website when users search for relevant keywords and phrases. In order to achieve success, the same level of research into keywords should be put into ad text as with the text on your website.

Whilst Google Ads do have the potential to provide instant traffic and drive conversions, the importance of Search Engine Optimisation can’t be ignored. As well as creating highly focused ad text, to ensure that your website also ranks well organically, well optimised text, combined with a website design following SEO best practices are essential.

Whilst you may not understand the need to focus on SEO when Google Ads are providing instant traffic, stop to consider that a user may see a particular keyword or slogan on your ad but not click instantly. If at a later point they wish to find you again but can’t remember the name of your brand or the keyword that they used in their initial search, if your website is well optimised around your keywords and phrases, then they should be able to find you regardless. Whilst paid advertising is fantastic in the short term, a website continually backed by great SEO will provide a lot more gain in the long term.

The importance of a website that is effectively secured should not be underestimated. When it comes to a successful Google Ads strategy, if Google finds that your website has been hacked or compromised by malicious coding, then your ad will be rejected.

When you set up an ad, Google continuously crawls your website through the specified landing page to ensure that it matches the intent or your advert, so if traces of malicious activity are found, then your ad will immediately be rejected, and repeated issues can even lead to a ban on your Google Ads account.

The best way to prevent issues with ad rejection is to make sure that your website is well protected during the initial website design and development stage. Your website security should also be reviewed on an ongoing, regular basis.

A successful Google Ads campaign requires a combination of effective ad text and targeting, and a website that provides a smooth user experience to achieve conversions. At Bluechilli, our team of website designers are here to help you maximise the effectiveness of your website for converting Google Ads into sales and leads.

Get in touch today to ensure your PPC campaigns are achieving their goals.