How To Rank Landing Pages In The SERPs

[Webpresence]

Hi, am hoping someone can give me a little advice..

We have created an Ebook for a client, which we will ‘hide’ behind a landing page for the purpose of collecting email addresses in return for a link to the Ebook.

We are thinking of using Unbounce landing pages, integrated with Mailchimp. The problem however is that I’m assuming it will not be possible for Unbounce landing pages to rank well in the SERPs.. which is essential.

The obvious solution would be to write a blog post detailing the contents of the Ebook, and then to ‘SEO’ this post.. this however will not provide a positive user experience as below;

1. Visitor lands on blog post
2. Visitor then has to click through to Ubounce landing page (very similar content)
3. Visitor completes form to download Ebook

My question is; What’s the best way to rank a direct landing page in the SERP’s, whilst providing the best possible user experience (less steps)?

Many thanks in advance, your time is appreciated

Lee.

[ocelot]

Depending on the actual value of the lead generated from the email have you also considered PPC?

But coming back to your point, if you create a blog post it needs to be of compelling content (not sure what your ebook is about) but your post must be interesting/useful enough for visitors to share and create a buzz online.  In my experience this helps it get picked up quicker in the search results.  The other option would be to frame the unbounce page within a page within your existing website?

[Webpresence]

Many thanks Ocelot, it's not possible to 'frame' or embed Unbounce landing pages within an external webpage.. looked into this yesterday! It would be the ideal solution too.

[Unbounce]

Hi Lee,

I'd approach it like this (it's also how we do it at Unbounce).

To get it ranking in the SERPs (and be successful in general), I'd do:

1. Write a blog post as you described. This would be the launch of the ebook. It should essentially be a preview of the ebook, either a chapter or some ket highlights turned into an original blog post.
2. Have all of the ebooks for this client live on a subdomain such as get.clientsite.com/ebook1/  get.clientsite.com/ebook2/
3. Make sure you have an XML sitemap listing all of the pages on that subdomain
4. Create a resources page on the client's website to provide another link into the ebook page
5. Allow two methods of digital currency in exchange for the ebook (pay with an email or pay with a tweet) - see this ebook landing page as an example - http://get.unbounce.com/conversion-centered-design-guide/. The tweet version allows the page to have a viral loop to maintain the momentum of the page.
6. Have the client email their list to drive more people to it. The more people see it the more will link into the page.
7. Have social share buttons on the confirmation page to get more exposure to the ebook landing page.
8. Do some outreach to friends, colleagues, blogs etc. that might be able to add a link to the ebook.
9. Do a guest post with another portion of the ebook expanded into an original piece.
10. Do a Slideshare presentation of the ebook. This will get you listed in the SERPs immediately. Make sure you have a CTA at the end of the presentation linking to the ebook landing page.

That's a few things off the top of my head

Hope it helps, cheers.

Oli Gardner

[Webpresence]

Wow, what a great response Oli, many thanks!

There are certainly some things we can do from this list, but others require additional budget which the client doesn't have.

Just one last question if you don't mind?

2. Have all of the ebooks for this client live on a subdomain such as get.clientsite.com/ebook1/  get.clientsite.com/ebook2/ - We currently use www.domain.com/ebooks, is there a particular reason you suggest using a sub-domain?

Thanks again, have a great weekend.

Lee.

[Unbounce]

If you're saying that each ebook landing page lives on your root domain then that's definitely better. I thought as you were using Unbounce for the landing pages that they would be on a subdomain.