Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some initial thoughts on this. You've asked about optimising your landing page for Google Ads in Derby, and while that's a good question, I'm going to be brutally honest: focusing only on the landing page is like trying to fix a leaky roof by repainting the ceiling. The real problem is almost always deeper.
Most advertising fails long before a single person ever sees the landing page. It fails because the offer is weak, the message is generic, and there's no real understanding of who the customer is or what they're actually buying. We need to fix the foundations first. Once we get that right, the landing page almost writes itself.
So, let's put the landing page aside for a moment and walk through the stuff that really matters. Get this right, and you'll be miles ahead of your competition in Derby.
TLDR;
- Stop obsessing over landing page tweaks. Your offer and your understanding of the customer are almost certainly the real problems. A great landing page can't save a bad offer.
- Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) not by demographics ('people in Derby'), but by their most urgent, expensive, career-threatening nightmare. Your service must be the solution to that specific pain.
- Your ad, headline, and landing page must tell one consistent story. Any mismatch in the message between your Google Ad and your landing page will cause visitors to leave instantly.
- You MUST calculate your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). Without it, you're flying blind, unable to know how much you can afford to pay for a lead, which makes optimisation impossible.
- This letter includes an interactive LTV calculator and several visual diagrams to help you map out a strategy that actually works, moving beyond simple page edits.
We'll need to look at your customer's nightmare, not their postcode...
Okay, let's start with the absolute bedrock of any successful campaign: your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). And I don't mean "Businesses in Derby with 10-50 employees" or "Homeowners in the DE22 area". That's a demographic. It's sterile, useless, and leads to advertising that speaks to everyone and therefore no one. You need to stop thinking about who they are and start obsessing over the problem state they're in.
What is the specific, urgent, expensive nightmare that keeps them awake at night? What's the career-threatening issue they're facing? Your service isn't what you sell; the solution to their nightmare is what they buy. You have to become an expert in their pain.
For example:
- -> If you're an accountant in Derby, you don't sell "bookkeeping services". You sell "peace of mind that HMRC won't kick your door in" to a small business owner who's terrified of a surprise tax investigation.
- -> If you're a local IT support company, you don't sell "managed IT services". You sell "the ability to never again waste a morning trying to fix a printer while three deadlines loom" to a frustrated office manager.
- -> If you're a roofer, you don't sell "roof repairs". You sell "a dry, safe home for your family and an end to the worry every time it rains" to a new homeowner who just discovered a damp patch in the ceiling.
See the difference? We're talking about emotion, fear, and urgency. That's what drives a search on Google. No one wakes up excited to hire an accountant. They wake up in a cold sweat about their finances and search for a solution. Your entire strategy, from the keywords you bid on to the copy on your landing page, must be built around that nightmare.
This is not a fluffy marketing exercise. This is the blueprint for you're entire targeting strategy. Before you spend another pound on ads, you need to be able to answer these questions with absolute clarity. Doing this work first is the difference between burning cash and building a predictable lead generation machine.
Result: Speaks to no one. Competes on price. Ignored.
Result: Too broad. Doesn't tap into a specific, urgent pain.
Result: Highly specific. Identifies an expensive, urgent pain.
Result: A powerful, compelling offer that makes the buying decision easy.
I'd say you need to match your message perfectly...
Once you've defined the nightmare, the next step is to ensure your message is perfectly consistent from the moment they see your ad to the moment they land on your page. This is called 'message match', and it's probably the single biggest factor in landing page performance. So many businesses get this wrong. They bid on a keyword, show an ad with one message, and then dump the user on a generic homepage that talks about something else entirely.
It’s an instant recipe for a bounced visitor and wasted ad spend. The user's thought process is simple: "This isn't what I clicked for." And they're gone in seconds.
Your Google Ad is a promise. Your landing page is the fulfillment of that promise. They must be two sides of the same coin.
- -> Keyword Intent: "emergency plumber derby" (Urgent, problem-focused)
- -> Ad Headline: "24/7 Emergency Plumber in Derby. Fast Response - Call Now!" (Promises speed and availability)
- -> Landing Page Headline: "Need an Emergency Plumber in Derby? We're On Our Way. Call Us Now for Immediate Help." (Directly mirrors the ad and keyword, confirms they're in the right place)
Contrast that with a common failure:
- -> Keyword Intent: "emergency plumber derby"
- -> Ad Headline: "24/7 Emergency Plumber in Derby. Fast Response - Call Now!"
- -> Landing Page Headline: "Smith & Sons Plumbing: Quality Plumbing Services Across Derbyshire Since 1985." (Generic, doesn't address the emergency, promise broken, visitor leaves)
This sounds incredibly basic, but I'd estimate 80% of the accounts we audit fail at this fundamental level. They're using their main website homepage as a landing page for all their ads, regardless of the keyword. This is a critical mistake. You need dedicated landing pages for your main ad groups, each one tailored to the specific promise made in the ad.
You probably should do the maths before you do anything else...
Before you can meaningully optimise a campaign or a landing page, you have to know what a customer is actually worth to you. Otherwise, you're just guessing. The most important question in paid advertising isn't "How low can my Cost Per Lead go?" but "How high a Cost Per Lead can I afford to acquire a great customer?" The answer is found by calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
This single number transforms how you view your advertising. It moves you from a cost-mindset to an investment-mindset. When you know a customer is worth £5,000 to your business over their lifetime, paying £100 or even £200 to acquire them suddenly seems like an incredible bargain, not an expense.
To calculate it, you need three pieces of information:
- Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA): What's the average amount a customer pays you per month or per year?
- Gross Margin %: What is your profit margin on that revenue? (Revenue - Cost of Goods Sold) / Revenue.
- Monthly Churn Rate: What percentage of your customers do you lose each month? (Customers Lost in Month / Starting Customers).
The formula is simple: LTV = (ARPA * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate
Let's take our Derby accountant as an example. Say their average client pays £300/month (ARPA), their gross margin is 70%, and they lose about 2% of their clients each month (churn).
LTV = (£300 * 0.70) / 0.02
LTV = £210 / 0.02 = £10,500
Each client is worth £10,500 in gross margin. A healthy business model often aims for a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. This means our accountant can afford to spend up to £3,500 (£10,500 / 3) to acquire a new client. If they know their sales team closes 1 in 5 qualified leads, they can now afford to pay up to £700 per lead (£3,500 / 5). All of a sudden, worrying about a £50 Cost Per Lead from Google Ads seems silly, doesn't it? It looks like an incredible deal.
This is the maths that unlocks aggressive, intelligent growth. Without it, you're just tweaking button colours and hoping for the best. Use the calculator below to get a rough idea of you're own numbers.
You'll need a landing page that actually converts...
Right, now that we have the foundations in place—a deep understanding of the customer's nightmare, a perfectly matched message, and a clear grasp of the economics—now we can finally talk about optimising the landing page itself. With the groundwork done, this part becomes much, much easier because we're no longer guessing. We're building a page specifically designed to fulfill the promise we made in the ad to the specific person we're targeting.
Here are the non-negotiable elements your landing page must have:
1. A Headline That Mirrors the Ad: We've covered this, but it's worth repeating. The first thing a visitor sees should be a headline that is a near-identical match to the ad they just clicked. This provides instant confirmation they are in the right place.
2. A Crystal Clear Call to Action (CTA): This is where most businesses fail spectacularly. They ask for too much, too soon. The "Request a Demo" or "Book a Consultation" button is often the most arrogant CTA in business. It presumes your prospect, who is likely busy and just starting their research, is ready to commit to a sales call. It's high-friction and low-value.
Your offer's only job is to deliver a moment of undeniable value for free. You have to solve a small, real problem to earn the right to solve their whole problem. Instead of a high-friction CTA, offer something of immediate value that's directly related to their nightmare:
- -> For the accountant: "Download Your Free Guide: 5 Common Tax Mistakes Derby Businesses Make."
- -> For the IT company: "Get a Free, No-Obligation IT Security Scorecard for Your Firm."
- -> For the roofer: "Request a Free 10-Point Roof Health Check & Quote."
These offers are low-friction and high-value. They provide a tangible benefit, build trust, and get you a qualified lead you can then nurture towards a sale. A great offer can easily double or triple your conversion rate compared to a generic "Contact Us" form.
3. Social Proof and Trust Signals: People are naturally sceptical, especially online. You need to immediately prove that you're credible and trustworthy. This is even more important for a local business in Derby. Your page should be littered with proof:
- -> Testimonials: From real clients, ideally with names and photos. Even better if they are from other recognisable Derby businesses.
- -> Case Studies: A short "Before/After" story of a problem you solved for a client.
- -> Logos: If you've worked with any known local companies, display their logos.
- -> Trust Badges: Any accreditations, certifications, or awards (e.g., Checkatrade, Trustpilot, industry bodies).
Without this, your claims are just empty promises. You need others to vouch for you.
4. Copy That Speaks to the Nightmare: The text on the page shouldn't list features. It should agitate the pain you identified in step one, and then present your service as the clear, obvious solution. Use the 'Problem-Agitate-Solve' framework. Start with the problem they know they have, twist the knife a little by highlighting the consequences of not fixing it, and then offer the cure.
5. Simplicity and Focus: A landing page should have one goal and one goal only: to get the visitor to take the desired action (your CTA). Remove everything else. Get rid of the main website navigation menu, links to other pages, social media icons, anything that could distract them from the single action you want them to take. It should be a dead end with only one way out: through your offer.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
This might all seem like a lot, and it is. Proper paid advertising is a strategic discipline, not just a matter of turning on some ads and hoping for the best. To make it clearer, here is the exact process I'd recommend you follow, in order.
| Phase | Action Item | Why It's Important |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundation | Define Your ICP's 'Nightmare'. Interview past clients. What was the urgent, expensive problem that led them to you? Write it down in one sentence. | This is the core of all your messaging. Without a specific, urgent problem to solve, your ads will be generic and ineffective. |
| 2. Strategy | Calculate Your LTV & Affordable CPL. Use the calculator in this letter to determine what a customer is worth and what you can truly afford to pay for a lead. | This replaces guesswork with data, allowing you to make informed decisions on budget and bidding instead of chasing an impossibly low CPL. |
| 3. Offer | Create a Low-Friction, High-Value Offer. Instead of 'Contact Us', create a valuable asset (guide, checklist, audit, free tool) that solves a small piece of their nightmare for free. | This drastically increases conversion rates by lowering the barrier to entry and building trust before you ever ask for a sale. |
| 4. Implementation | Build a Dedicated Landing Page. Create a simple, focused page with NO navigation. The headline must perfectly match your Google Ad. | Ensures perfect message match, reduces distractions, and forces the visitor to focus on the one action you want them to take. |
| 5. Optimisation | Test Your New Funnel. Drive traffic from your Google Ads to the new landing page with the new offer. Monitor the conversion rate for leads, not just clicks. | This is the final step. Only now, with a solid foundation, does A/B testing headlines or button colours become a worthwhile exercise. |
As you can see, optimising a landing page is the last step in a much longer, more important process. It's not about making small tweaks; its about building a coherent, persuasive argument that starts the moment someone types a search into Google.
Executing this strategy correctly takes expertise, time, and a relentless focus on testing and data. It involves understanding market psychology, writing compelling copy, and structuring campaigns in a way that allows for clear measurement and optimisation. For many business owners, trying to manage this on top of running their actual business is simply not feasible, which often leads to wasted money and immense frustration.
This is where expert help can make all the difference. An experienced paid advertising consultant doesn't just 'run ads'; they build the entire strategic system I've outlined above, from defining the customer to crafting the offer and optimising the entire funnel. It's a process that turns advertising from a gamble into a predictable engine for growth.
If you'd like to have a chat about how this approach could be specifically applied to your business in Derby, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can take a look at your current campaigns and website and give you some actionable advice you can implement right away.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
