When you’re paying good money for clicks from a search engine to drive traffic to your site, it only makes sense that you would want the landing page that users arrive at to be engaging and informative, right?

What seems obvious to some of us may go unnoticed by others. The importance of first impressions on converting visitors has been talked about at length, but it’s one of those old adages that is seriously important. That is, if you want your PPC campaign to be worth anything.

That’s why WM has studied a variety of broad industries (food, travel, apparel, entertainment and services) to look at common best practices that various websites employ to engage and, hopefully, convert visitors.

We used a unique query for each category and selected what we thought was the best PPC landing page that our search returned. While there was a lot of localization and personalization that affected the results and PPC ads that we saw, we're confident that all of these landing pages present great design examples in their particular industry.

The results are below:

“Order Chinese Food” (Food)
The website for Hong Kong Express offers an eye-catching design that immediately signals to visitors to “Order Online,” clearly highlighting just how and where to do that. The landing page also lays out other crucial information, such as restaurant hours, phone number and address.

“Bed and Breakfast Wisconsin” (Travel)
This landing page entices visitors with stunning images. However, it doesn't sacrifice information for aesthetics, as specific paths are available for users without being overwhelming. The page also features clear contact information and a call-to-action for users looking to book their stays right now

“Orange Shoes” (Apparel)
If you’re as big fan of tacky footwear as I am, this landing page for Zappos is for you. While relevant product matches clearly take up the center of the page, Zappos also offers visitors the option to narrow down their searches through a variety of categories and specifications to help find the perfect pair of shoes. It also features navigation options at the top of the page that lets users alter the way in which results are organized.

“Buy Theater Tickets” (Entertainment)
Anyone who wants to see a good show should look no further than Broadway.com, which displays some of New York City’s hottest performances in the middle of the page, with clear call-to-action buttons encouraging them to buy tickets. Additionally, visitors are able to toggle between different types of shows or search to find the one most interesting to them.

“Mechanic Chicago” (Services)
This sleek landing page is one of the best, with engaging visuals, a clear call-to-action button that stands out from the rest of the page and important information laid out in unobtrusive but easy-to-find locations.