Color me surprised by the following stats released by comScore:

I am not all that surprised that search, as an e-commerce sales driver, is a bit down in 2008.  The search space is getting more and more cluttered, cost-per-click and cost-per-acquisition prices are rising, and at the same time many companies are cutting budgets.

The surprise is in the email marketing category.  We all complain that we’re getting more and more email, and most of it remains boring, irrelevant and impersonal.  While these figures may simply reflect a heavier use of email by etailers, perhaps what we’re seeing is marketers getting smarter about email.  Maybe marketers are finally embracing the one-to-one customer relationships that email can nurture if the audience is chosen carefully, the content is relevant and timely, and the overall communication personalized for each recipient.

Wishful thinking on my part?

I’ve addressed this question three times in the past week, so it finally registered on my blog-worthy radar.  Microsites and landing pages are certainly related.  Close cousins, yes.  Siblings, no.

Landing Pages

Let’s start with the landing page.  Landing pages are typically one-page creations.  They focus on one particular offer, and specifically on getting the visitor to take advantage of that particular offer.  Sometimes called lead capture vehicles, landing pages are used primarily for direct marketing programs – pay per click search engine marketing, direct mail, print advertising, etc.  Well-designed landing pages are critical to the success of these campaigns, and the savviest of marketers use and test hundreds of different landing pages in order to optimize conversion rates.

For visual reference, here is an example of a Gold’s Gym landing page touting their 7-day free membership:

Gold’s Gym Landing Page

Microsites

Microsites, sometimes called minisites or sitelets, typically consist of a cluster of web pages and are used for a variety of purposes:

• Large consumer goods companies may use microsites to independently market a new product, because the primary company website may leave the product underexposed.
• A newspaper may use a microsite to cover a time-sensitive and popular event, such as the upcoming presidential election or the Olympics.
• A business-to-business software company may use a microsite to provide prospects with deep information on a product, information that cannot be handled via a landing page.

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I’ve always said that writing ad copy for pay-per-click ads, particularly for Google AdWords, is an extremely challenging task.  Here’s why:

• Google gives you what seems like 10 characters in which to fit your entire marketing message.  OK, I am exaggerating, but most marketers and copywriters are long-winded folks by nature, so restricting us to somewhere in the range of 100 characters is tough. 
• As opposed to a print ad or radio spot where writers and creative folks are able to express concepts with supporting visuals or audio cues, the typical ppc ad is relatively lifeless.
• Your ads appear right above or under ads from 3-20 of your closest competitors, depending on your category.  Not exactly exclusive territory.
• If you’ve designed your ppc campaign well, you’re controlling which ad copy is appearing under individual keywords.  That being said, even knowing which keywords a search engine user is searching for does not mean the writer knows the search engine user’s ultimate goal of searching.

OK, OK.  I’ll stop giving copywriters and PPC professionals a reason to ask for a raise, and instead focus on a real-life example of solid ad copywriting.  I was recently searching for a plumbing/heating company to repair our water heater, and realized that we’ve never really liked any of the plumbers we’ve used.  Without much time to ask for any referrals from friends/neighboors, I did what most folks do these days – I googled it. 

To protect the innocent, I am going to remove the actual geographic descriptors and company names from the remainder of this post.  Here’s how the next steps unfolded:

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