Hello Rebecca!

Congrats on getting started with Adwords.  I quickly glanced over your landing page and I can see why new or soon-to-be authors might be interested in your service.

Looks like you go straight for the kill and have the Buy Now options as your call to action.  

Have you considered trying to exchange a form fill for a free proposal, free e-book or something that is less of an immediate commitment?

By continuing to improve your copywriting, social proof, visual aesthetics, incorporate video, etc. you may be able to go for the direct sale on the landing page.  Also consider retargeting and trying other sources.  For example, you may find more success with display ads on a site that is geared to new authors or soon-to-be new authors.  Be careful and review the actual search queries that triggered your keywords.  Nothing is worse starting off than thinking you are advertising to people looking for “book reviewer” than to find out you have been showing up for “free book reviewers”.

Just a few thoughts and opinions that came to mind 🙂

Best of luck,

Joe Faillace

Nexus Conversions

I agree with Joe, most people are not ready to buy the first time so you have to educate them.

But I see you also mention competitors prices, if you are focusing on getting your competitors traffic then that audience is usually more ready to buy the first time they visit your page.  (because your competitor already educated them) But you might get into trouble because your competitor will fight back and there might be some legal regulation too if you mention their name on your advertising materials. I think if you buy your competitors traffic and  do a landing page that just talk about how you compare to them you will get sales, but risk is higher.  (easy come easy go) 

I would go more with Joes advice and build a lead generation landing page where you give some document with testimonials or case studies (making sure all of them mention how your reviews helped them to increase book sales) and also include an incentive / urgency to that such as limited time offer coupon. 

Good luck!! 

Kenji

Thanks to both of you. I didn’t even think about not being able to mention a competitor’s name. I’ll have to remove that right away. One thing I just realized was that a lot of traffic came from mobile phones, and I forgot to work on the mobile phone layout. When I looked at it, it was a jumbled mess with components from the original template that I had removed from the desktop layout, but was still on the mobile layout.  OOPS. 🙂

Hi Rebecca,

Joe and kenji have touched up on a few key points, but I thought I would share my take on your page as well.

In regards to mentioning your competition/alternatives:

Comparing yourself to your competition is fine as long as you are not intentionally misleading your visitors. (ex. If Competitor X is offering the service for $50 you can’t say they are asking $250, etc.).

There are even a lot of SEO reasons to build specific Òalternatives to XÓ landing pages. Often times, people go on Google searching for cheaper/better/faster alternative to something. There is no reason why you shouldn’t capitalize on this by representing a valuable alternative to something people want. Plus, if you SEO optimize these alternative pages you can rank high organically and get ÒfreeÓ traffic.

Again, make sure what you are stating about your competition is actually true.

Here are a few examples ranking in the first few organic spots on Google:

https://www.formstack.com/hubspot-alternative

https://www.groovehq.com/vs/zendesk

http://www.helpscout.net/zendesk-alternative/

Solely dedicated alternative pages should be another type of page you put together and the copy/structure would probably differ a bit.

You can try advertising against popular competitors names as keywords and leading potential visitors to these alternative pages. (You won’t be able to do it if your competitors have trademarked their name and informed google about it. However, a majority of small/medium internet companies haven’t trademarked their names.)

pDISCLAIMER] The above is based on my experience and not a legal advice. If in doubt you should always consult a local attorney. Most offer free 30-60min consultations. Different states might have a different take on the use of competitors names.

Current landing page specific ideas:

Headline and Subheadline - You have a decent headline, which you can always A/B test. However, considered adding a subheadline that clarifies Òwhy I need a professional reviewÓ.

Consider using the dynamic keyword insertion feature of Unbounce to ensure proper ad>page message match. You can learn more about the importance of message continuity here: http://unbounce.com/ppc/poor-message-match/#messagematch and http://unbounce.com/conversion-glossary/definition/message-match/

Image https//lh6googleusercontentcom/xkUDXEPSVv0asKHaIvk-jfnsqx3AOz5UKJFd_LE3Y0Gh6kC6vhrMRWkG94RiNBAXjdDhyeZE619LXgT573yZ6wiYHw5NtavWVHdBCXyDMAVGVYk85XnZLq1zxepsbQi_DuhTmS6s1090×199

3. Questions vs. Benefits - Your above the fold area currently has 3 qualifying questions with no immediate answers. Test adding the 3 main benefits of the professional review instead.

Image https//lh3googleusercontentcom/pw_AdTT5EOhjb013TFe5k3ip-L0hIT0sB5O6Z1NuoGbx0aqs8TgSutUjQrzFsv-IwF-pZyenxBddgYp5agBGG3qClorGxPCiPFwjHCfc7DI0KBeAeerD18tzYuvfZScv2CHemJ3N1076×554

4. Call-to-action (CTA) vs. ÒWe Want…Ó - The area seems to be missing a key ingredient above the fold. A certain percentage of your visitors would never move past this area of the page. Therefore, you need a strong/visual CTA to try and get them to engage.

As previous comments on this thread have suggested, a relatively high-value purchase ($349) might need a bit of education and lead nurturing. Consider testing the page as a lead generation page, rather than a straight sale page.

Set up a lead magnet…examples:

• 
  

  eBook on benefits of professional reviews

  
  


• 
  

  3,5,7,etc. short case studies on how a professional review has made a change

  
  


• 
  

  Email drip course on for example Ò7 things new authors need to do before publishing their bookÓ, ÒDriving sales for your new bookÓ, etc.

  
  


• 
  

  A free 30,60 or 90min. strategy call for new authors

  
  


• 
  

  A checklist of things to do before, during and after a book launch

  
  


• 
  

  Any of the above suggestions as an infographic

  
  


• 
  

Unbounce offers a variety of choice for easy integration with the most common email marketing clients. You can even further expand these choices if you use Zapier.

Test your lead magnet as an exit intent offer through a plugin like OptinMonster or similar.

5.Visual cues - Visually guide your visitors and show them there is more content below the fold.

A few sections that you can test adding to your page:

Social Proof -

Numbers tend to be easier to comprehend. ex. 8765 published reviews, community of 304948 members, Books with editorial reviews tend to generate XXX% more sales, 12 years in business, etc.  

Testimonials - kind of meta but you need reviews of your review service.

Scarcity - You can only take on X amount of new reviews per month in order to ensure quality

Guarantee - A strong guarantee is a great way to ease some of the fears a potential customer might have. Unfortunately, your money back guarantee is buried almost in the footer of the page. Consider giving it a separate section or at least highlighting it better/higher on the page. 

Industry specific - You can’t ignore the Ò$5 fiverr reviewsÓ. Your customers probably also know that they can get about 70 reviews for the price you are asking. Consider educating them a bit about it and how Amazon has been recently cracking down on these services.

Copywriting - When possible avoid using 1st person plural pronouns (our, we).

Example: ÒOur reviews show up as starred reviews on Google’s search engine.  Because Google trusts our reviews.Ó might become ÒYour review will show up as a starred review on Google’s search engine. Because Google values and trusts genuine reviewers. Ultimately, giving you more exposure and visually separating you from all the other results.Ó

Last but not least, a few more things to use and/or try:

Google Analytics - You should be analyzing your campaigns/traffic/visitors through Google Analytics.

Hotjar - Install https://www.hotjar.com/ and start a few heatmaps/scrollmaps/recordings to get a better idea of what visitors are doing/seeing on your page.

Retargeting - As previously mentioned, a high-value offer can benefit from retargeting campaigns across Google and Facebook.

Custom Audiences - Facebook, now Google too, offer you a way to target customers/prospects similar to the ones you already have. Look into this as well.

Budgets - Always test with smaller budgets ($10-$20). See what works and iterate on it. No reason to blow a huge chunk of your budget up front.

I guess this review got pretty long and you shouldn’t attempt all of these at once. Just ideas to test and iterate on.

Best of luck,

Hristian

Great points, Hristian.  

I second HotJar to get great insights.  Recorded sessions feature can be a great way to see where you are losing people.  

Did they leave without scrolling below the fold?  Maybe your Headline and Subheadline lost them then.  

Remember that the headline’s job is two fold:

1. Reaffirm that they are at the right place based on the ad they clicked on (if PPC)


2. Get them to read the subheadline 🙂
   

Hristian’s email drip campaign suggestion sounds like it could work well for you.  

The more risk you can remove the better.  

Spend time crafting a guarantee that will make your target audience feel as though they genuinely have nothing to lose and that all the risk is on you. 

Lastly, I’d recommend trying to add exclusivity into the mix.

Maybe try inviting authors to apply.  

You control how you position yourself.  This will make you appear much more prestigious and authentic.  And the reality is you wouldn’t leave a positive review to a horribly written book, right?

Authors will know that they can apply and hear back from you within 48 hours.  At the least, they walk away with a great informational email course or guide that helps them on their journey as an aspiring author - maybe even a review of their first chapter.  

At best, you approve them and they are thrilled to have the honor to work with you.  

The challenge will be to build a barrier of entry and establish yourself as the authority on kickstarting authors’ book launches with thoughtful reviews.  

Best of luck,

Joe Faillace

Nexus Conversions

Thanks for your input. I will look into all of these points. Although, you do see to call into question the authenticity of my claim of the costs of the competitors. Anyone who is in this business knows very well these costs and these are not made up claims at all. They are quite expensive. The Fiverr reviews are completely different - those are ill-advised, fake Amazon reviews. 

Thanks! On the main site, they do apply already. Mostly pr reps. I get hundreds of emails per week asking for reviews. I just need a way, I suppose, to combine the two.

I understand.  All of this is conjecture and there is no substitute for A/B testing.

If you need any more help feel free to email me at hello@nexusconversions.com and I’ll be happy to answer more specific questions.

Best of luck,

Joe

Hi Rebecca,

I’ve never had the intention to call into question the authenticity of your claims.

That’s why I used two random prices to make my point ($50 and $250). My example was just that - an example to drive a point across.

Apologies, if I had offended you in any way.

Best,

Hristian