If you decide to use PPC or Pay Per Click as part of your overall marketing strategy, it's critical to ensure that the ads created to be triggered for your keywords represent your brand accurately while achieving a high conversion rate and ROI. This can be difficult considering that PPC ads are extremely limited in the amount of text that can be used. The following are some ideas on how to effectively use PPC ads to drive business to your website.
Read the Guidelines
PPC ads must be written in a specific format that varies slightly from one PPC engine to another. For example, a standard pay per click ad for Google will look something like this:
Black Leather Wallet (headline- 25 characters)
A Unique Wallet Flatters You. (description line- 35 characters)
Buy Your First Crocodile Leather! (description line- 35 characters)
www.exotic-elegance-handbags.com (URL - 35 characters)
Other PPC search engines like Bing have similar limitations, but overall most search engine marketing strategies must follow these and other guidelines in order to get your ads approved and to ensure that they convert:
• Use proper punctuation (For example, only one exclamation mark is allowed in the ad which cannot go in the title)
• Display URL has to match the destination URL
• Words like “best” or “Number 1” need to be verified by a third party displayed on the website
Make sure you comply with the guidelines of each search engine you market with or the ad will not be approved.
Create Compelling Copy
You must write PPC ads in a way that will immediately capture the searcher’s attention. The first thing to remember is that it’s an ad and is meant to draw an emotional response - a critical element of copywriting. Some things to consider in order to write a killer ad include:
• Stay consistent with your objectives such as selling a product or getting a sign up
• Review competitor ads for ways to differentiate your business from them.
• Use the brand in the ad copy if it is well known.
• Align the message with your offline advertising messages.
• Place your strongest selling points in the headline.
• Include offers like “free delivery” or “20% off” in the ad.
• Put a compelling call to action statement (buy today, sign up now, etc.) in the ad.
• Capitalize the first letter of each word
Be Relevant
Make certain that your ads are relevant to the searchers query. Since the search results page is crowded with organic and paid ads and displays, the searcher needs to immediately see what’s in it for them if they click on the ad. Adding appropriate keywords, customizing the URL (if possible) and most of all having the ad be consistent with the landing page (the page the user goes to when they click on your ad), are fundamental parts of maintaining relevancy.
Additionally, ad extensions are available in Google AdWords and provide added functionality. This includes a section to feature a location, products and relevant site anchor links.
Format Properly
PPC ads show in the top and side page positions within different formats. For the top position, line one can be combined with the headline. Therefore you will need proper punctuation (Black Leather Wallet- A Unique Wallet Flatters You) in order to produce a well-written ad.
Finally, assistance, training and tips are available on both the Google AdWords and the Microsoft Adcenter network, allowing you to learn how to craft the perfect ad for your PPC campaign that is both aesthetically appealing and returns a high rate of conversions.
This basic overview of PPC ad writing unfortunately doesn't provide much of an insight into how complex PPC marketing is. In fact, in order to run a campaign effectively you generally need at least one full time staff member to test ads and track and tweak the campaign. If this isn't possible or practical for you, call the number at the top of your screen now for an immediate consultation about how both paid and organic search strategies can be put to work for your business or website.
