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Tracking Print Ad Responses
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, Wilson Internet Rocklin, CAJan 26, 2005 - 2:46:00 PM
"We are running a substantial print and online trade campaign in 2005. Should we add a subdirectory to the web address on the print ads, and then redirect visitors from that URL to the homepage? That way I can track leads resulting from the print ads." -- Darlene Gray, Royal Group Technologies
I recommend that you add to the URL shown in the print ads a short, simple subdirectory name (such as www.domain.com/best) that can't easily be misspelled. (See below how to set up such a directory.) Ideally you'll have a different URL and subdirectory for each part of your campaign and a system set up so you can track click-throughs and sales conversions for each campaign segment. (See my article "Ad Tracking Helps You Improve Sales," Web Marketing Today, 11/10/2004. http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/convert/ad-tracking-programs2.htm). Without tracking, you don't learn. And if you don't learn, you waste money.
However, instead of redirecting visitors to your homepage, send them to a special landing page carefully designed to "sell them." I describe the rationale and techniques for this in my short book How to Develop a Landing Page that Closes the Sale (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/landing.htm). Home pages are usually multipurpose pages, general indexes to the whole site, and rightly so. But a general index isn't the best salesman. Instead, for each ad or ad group in your campaign, set up a separate landing page that is designed to sell to people who respond to that ad, dealing with each motivation and objection -- and ultimately landing the sale.
Technical note: Here's how to set up a subdirectory without naming a particular HTML file in the URL. Example: www.domain.com/best
- Create a subdirectory named "best" on your website using your FTP program.
- Place a file in that subdirectory named "index.html" or "index.htm" or "default.htm," etc. When your webserver sees a file in the subdirectory with one of these standard names, it will show that file when the subdirectory is given in the URL and no file within that subdirectory is specified in the URL. In other words, these three URLs will each work:
- www.domain.com/best (without the trailing forward slash)
- www.domain.com/best/ (with the trailing forward slash)
- www.domain.com/best/index.html
The simpler the URL, the better. Don't give those responding to your print ad any extra chances to make a mistake typing in the URL. They'll find their own creative misspellings without your help.
