In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about how filler ads make landing pages so important.

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As a result of being a presenter at Social Media Maine's Breakfast last week I have some new Twitter followers and I have promised to tweet more often. I wouldn't say I am converted just yet but I am about to do something that will shock many of you....

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All the best,

Filler Ads & Landing Pages

Earlier this year I wrote an issue of Web Enlightenment on Cost per Click Marketing. I talked about the three key parts of CPC advertising - Keyword Selection, Ad Creation, and Landing Pages.

If I have just confused the heck out of you let me try and fix that - we're talking about the ads you can buy from search engines that make you appear on the top of the results. Most people that use these don't do well and this is especially true if they have no professional guidance. You need to pick the right words, you need to write a really good ad, and you need to not ever send people to the homepage of your website. This is called the "dreaded homepage error" and professionals always cringe when they see it.

Landing pages are web pages that are specifically created as a place for people to go that have encountered an ad - and the best ones are directly related to the benefits within your ad. Great landers also contain the keywords a person searched for and they always have very clear calls to action.

Lots of folks figure that great "landing pages" would be nice to have but they are unaware of the incredible danger caused by filler ads that makes sending people to anything other than a great landing page such a big problem.

As many longtime readers know I used to breed and sell Green Tree Pythons on Spruce Nubble Farm. Since then I have moved to Augusta and I am actually getting ready to setup a Redfoot Tortoise herd but that is a subject for another day.

A Green Tree Python is a weird tropical snake from Indonesia that costs about $1,000. It is hard to imagine a product better suited to CPC marketing.

Here is what happened the other day when I searched for Green Tree Python on Google:

It is kind of hard to see it but that ad on the upper right asserts that "PriceDumper" has Green Tree Pythons on sale and I can save 73% if I buy one. Well that sounds interesting, so I gave it a click and here is what I got:

If you are feeling a bit confused right now, welcome to the club - the site did indeed put me on a landing page that features iPod's and encouraged me to compare prices on them.

I have no idea what the correlation is between expensive exotic reptiles and Steve Jobs but I am sure that people a lot better at the task than I will ever be could come up with some sort of Apple and Snake joke.

Here is what Internet Entrepreneurs need to know: CPC results contain "filler ads" like these - from Ebay to price comparison sites most of these folks have made a deal to purchase excess ad inventory in bulk.

As a result many people are used to the idea that just because there was a search engine ad for something it doesn't mean that in fact the site sells that item or is in any way related to it - this is what they are often thinking when they arrive at your site from a CPC advertisement.

So the next time you feel tempted to skip the critical and time consuming process of creating great landing pages for each of your ads remember the toxic peril that is filler ads and make sure that you never make the "dreaded homepage error" yourself.

Congratulations CobraHead

Congratulations to my client CobraHead on the launch of their new website.

For those of you that may not be familiar - these lovely folks make a really amazing garden tool. I have been making extensive use of mine this season and it really does make weeding go a heck of a lot faster.

In addition to doing a great job of nailing weeds (why is it oh so satisfying to remove a weed and let loose with a triumphant yawp) this happy tool does a great job of digging little holes for seedlings and it seems quite indestructible to me. I've bashed rocks and other immovable objects and the blade has stayed happy. I even used the handle to drive a few wayward nails and it has held up great.

I know it was wrong of me but last week when I was in my garden I spotted a beetle munching on my plants - I stabbed it with my CobraHead. I know that should not make me happy, all life is precious, but it really did.

Garden Stir Fry

This time of year the garden really starts to produce here at Sunshine Acres Farm.

In a wok on my stove you can see some yummy Chinese Bilko Cabbage, Chioggia Guardsmark Beets, Provider Beans, a tiny amount of El Jefe Jalapeno Peppers, and some Sweet Thai Basil. All of these delicious things were grown right here in my garden.

For those of you with a particularly sharp eye you may notice that some chicken sausage also made it into the stir fry. Despite the fact I keep planting chicken sausages in the yard, and I water them regularly, I have been unable to get any Sausage trees to grow here on the farm - it must be a soil problem. As a result the sausage still comes from the store for right now.

Our next Sunshine Acres Farm garden report is very likely to be focused on Tomatoes.