When it comes to creating a successful PPC campaign, there are many elements that you need to get right and a big one of those is ad copy.
The text in the ad is what is going to encourage the user to click and visit your website, so it’s important to write something compelling and enticing.
Bear in mind, however, that you want to make sure that the right people click, the people that are most likely to complete your call-to-action (CTA), whether that is buying something or getting in touch with you, so it should also be accurate and informative.
Here are ten tips for how to write ads that will entice the right users to click on your ads:
1. Include keywords in your headline
Make it reflect the query the user has typed into the search engine. Google highlights keywords that match, making your ad stand out and if yours says exactly what users were searching for then they are far more likely to click.
2. Be descriptive
You only get 2 lines of 35 characters (including spaces) so it needs to be punchy and informative enough to make the user want to click on your ad instead of the other 9 ads on the page, not to mention the organic, shopping, local etc. links that are also distracting them away from your ad.
3. Use the characters in the Display URL
The domain has to match the domain of the landing page, but depending on the length of your domain, you may have characters left. Make the most of your money and use as many as possible.
4. Highlight your USPs
Include your brand’s USPs in the ad copy where you can. Do you offer free / next day delivery, or can you guarantee the lowest market price? If so, let the user know.
5. Try including your pricing in the ad copy
If you are selling a product and it’s cheaper than your competitors, this could entice people to click. Similarly if you offer a luxury item with a higher price tag, making the price visible to users in the ad can deter clicks from customers who simply aren’t in your price range, saving them time and you money; you don’t want to pay for clicks that are unlikely to convert.
6. CAPITALISE
Some people believe that it’s best practice to capitalise every word – or at least every important word – in their ad copy in order to make the words stand out. However, this is something to test and experiment with as you go along, as it’s not a one-size-fits-all technique.
7. Include a CTA
Include a call-to-action in your ad e.g. ‘Call Us’, ‘Buy Now’. Giving an instruction will make it clear to the user what you expect them to do.
8. Get your spelling and grammar right
Poor spelling and grammar sends a bad message about your brand. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes: “if you can’t be bothered to check your own paid advertising, how can I trust you to deal with a complaint if my product is faulty? Or how can I be sure that you’ve recorded all the correct information when I book my flights through you?”
9. Use extensions
Google offers all sorts of extensions now enabling advertisers to include more information, more than they’d ever be able to fit into the ad’s character limit. Site links, callout extensions, call and location extensions – use what you can to help get your message across.
10. Use dynamic insertion where appropriate
From real-time updates and keyword insertion into headlines, Google now offers a few nifty little tricks to allow advertisers to dynamically create parts of their ads based on the date or the user’s query. Dynamic keyword insertion allows them to populate the headline with the user’s query (this must be used carefully) and a new feature, customising ads with real-time updates, allows advertisers to dynamically count down to a one-time event – genius!
Once you’ve got the user to your landing page, you can then encourage them to carry out your CTA. For more information about choosing the right landing page, read our post about it!
