This is the final post in my 18-part series called "Pulling PPC Levers" (click to see all posts).  I've saved one of the most important "levers" for last - custom landing pages.

When you set up your pay-per-click campaign, you decide where to direct a searcher who has clicked on your ad.  It can be to your website's home page or a page deeper in the site.  Alternately, you can send them to a page custom-designed just for that search and that ad.  This way, your prospect doesn't have to wade through your entire site to find what they're looking for - the solution to their problem is right in front of them.

Typically, we put a conversion form right on the landing page so we don't have to rely on the visitor clicking around the site to figure out how to respond.  Good landing pages usually have a brief amount of compelling copy (enough to encourage the prospect to take the next step), along with a short form to fill out and a telephone number for those that prefer to call.  The landing page normally does link to the main website at the bottom (for people who may need more information before responding), but people cannot navigate to the landing page from the main website.

Your PPC campaign probably has a number of different categories and ad groups within it.  Best practices call for developing numerous landing pages, each tailored to a different topic.  For example, if you provide EDI, broadcast faxing and telex services, you'll want at least three different landing pages, one for each service.

We often see significant increases in conversion rates with custom landing pages, since searchers are presented with exactly what they're looking for and we've made it easy for them to respond.  Another benefit of custom landing pages is that Google AdWords Quality Scores tend to rise, which will lower your average cost per click and increase your average position/ranking.  (More about Quality Score.)

Pay-per-click, like all things search marketing, is always changing, so now that we've laid the groundwork regarding the "levers" you can pull to improve your campaigns, stay tuned for PPC news and updates as they occur.