The Demo Site

Before you can even begin to write your keyword advertisement text, you should have a finalized
list — or even multiple finalized lists — of keywords selected. If you’ve used a keyword research worksheet (like the one included in Appendix D), you can easily use this list to group your keywords according to topic. For example, if your keywords include dayspring, spa, aromatherapy,
lavender soap, relaxing herbal wrap, and mud bath, your groups will look something like those
shown in Table7-1.

It’s important that you keep your keywords grouped together, especially because they associate with the different pages of your web site. It’s these words that you’ll be working with as you create your keyword advertisement text. According to research done by major search engine companies, using keywords in your advertisement text can increase your advertisement click-through rates by as much as 50 percent. Keywords are important to your advertisement text, and the right keywords for the advertisement are vitally important.

Another thing to consider before you begin to write your keyword advertisement text is what you hope to accomplish with the text. Do you want visitors to buy something? Do you want them to call your office for more information? Do you want them to sign up for a newsletter or some other service? It’s important to know what you want users to do when they see the advertisement, because you’ll use some form of this in a call to actionin the advertisement.

It helps if you clearly write down several different sentences that express what you want the visitors to do. You don’t have to worry about writing the sentences in short form right now. Just get the ideas down on paper. You can whittle away unnecessary words as you move forward with writing the text.

Related Keyword Groups

Group 1 Group 2
Dayspring Aromatherapy
Spa Lavender soap
Mud bath Relaxing herbal wrap

One last thing to consider before you begin writing your PPC ad text is what the immediate bene
fits of your product or service are. These, too, will be used in ad text, so take the time to write out several benefits that you might draw from as you’re writing your ad text.

Once the preliminaries are done, you can begin to write your text. This job starts with your audi-
ence. Very often, when someone is writing ad text, they fail to take into consideration the udience they’re trying to reach. Each generation of people communicates differently, so different tones and styles of writing will be needed to reach them.

A good example is the difference between today’s teen generation and the senior generation. If
you’re trying to reach teens with your video editing software, you’ll want to write your advertisement in a language that will catch their eye and be understood. So, if your advertisement includes the call to action, “Show the world you’re an emo!” those teen users will immediately understand it means, “Show the world you’re part of the emotional crowd.” Senior visitors would not get that unless they happen to have grandchildren who have explained that the term emo in teen-speak is a designation for a group of people who openly share their emotions (incidentally, emo can also be a sub-designation for groups like Goths, Punks, and Metal Heads).

On the other hand, if you were trying to reach the seniors, your slogan might be something like,
“Share your precious memories.” To a senior, this says, “Hey, we can help you share your recollections with anyone you want.” To a teen, it says boring!

If you know your audience, you can write ad text that is specifically targeted to the most ualified potential visitors for your site. Sometimes, you’ll want to reach more than one group of people. In this case, you’ll want to write different ads for each group of people. Don’t try to reach everyone with one ad. You won’t. Instead, you’ll come closer to reaching no one at all.

Each PPC program has its own unique requirements for ad text, so take the time to learn the
requirements for the PPC program that you’ve selected. Also, the only PPC programs that rank
advertisements solely on the amount that the ad’s owner bids on placement are with secondary
search engines like Marchex and Kanoodle. Most PPC programs from major search engines use an algorithm that combines the amount paid for each click with the relevance of that ad and how
compelling the position of the ad is to the user. Ad position is everything. For example, Googleranks ads appearing in different places either at the top or side of a page. How relevant and compelling your ad is, combined with the amount that you’re willing to pay per click, will determine where in that placement scheme your ad will land.

The take-away is that if your ad text is well written and performs well, you could potentially pay
less for the ranking you want, or pay the same and achieve a better ranking than you expected.

There are, however, a few ad text requirements that will apply to nearly all PPC programs:

Include keywords in your ad text.As you’ve already seen, ads that contain keywords can perform up to 50 percent better than ads that don’t include them.

Make your offer.Tell potential visitors what you have and why they want it. Just be care ful not to exaggerate claims about the benefits of your products and services. Keep your claims accurate and compelling.

Call visitors to action.Study after study has proven that using a call to action actually does work. Include a call to action in your ad text to motivate the potential visitor to click through the ad to your web site to accomplish whatever it is you want them to do. One word of caution, however. Many PPC programs will not allow, or strongly recommend against, using the phrase, “Click Here Now.” It’s a seriously overused phrase that conveys no motivation at all.

Include keywords.Keywords should be used in both the ad title and in the body of the ad text if possible. Keywords are what make PPC ads relevant and compelling. And when your ads are relevant and compelling, you get far more exposure for a smaller cost per click.

Create a sense of urgency.It’s one of the oldest sales tricks in the book, but it still works amazingly well. Create a sense of urgency in your potential visitors by using words such as “limited availability,” or “expires soon.” Have you ever been told by a salesperson that you’re looking at the last or one of the last items available, whether it’s a car or television or something else? Did you feel a sense of urgency to make the purchase much more quickly than you would have if there were many of that item left? That’s the purpose of creating urgency — it drives the user to take whatever action is your ultimate goal with the advertisement.

Draw clicks, not views.Write your advertisement with the intention of enticing users to click on it. Though you shouldn’t use the phrase “Click Here Now,” that shouldbe the goal of your advertisement. The purpose in PPC advertisement is to draw potential visitors to your site. With that in mind, you should design your PPC ads to draw clicks, not simply impressions.It’s not enough for users to see your advertisement. You won’t build any brand recognition, and users won’t see it now and return to your site later. They’ll view it, forget it, and move on. Be sure that your ads are designed to collect clicks, not eyeballs.

Write your ad long and cut it.Writing your ad long is a copywriting trick that helps in reducing the ad to only the most relevant and enticing ad text. Begin by writing your ad in full sentences, using each of the preceding elements, and then cut those sentences down to only the strongest words that will entice potential visitors to click on them. Look at the ads that already appear in the PPC program that you’ve selected. This will tell you how long your ad should be and what works for others. You can then build on that to create ads that work for you.

Use strong, powerful words.Because you’ll have a very limited amount of space in which to write your ad, be sure that you’re using the most powerful words that you can conjure up. For example, instead of using the word “skilled,” use the word “professional.” And instead of “markdown,” use “discount.” Strong, powerful words convey more meaning and emphasis, and they do it in less space than other words or phrases.

Experiment tirelessly. Experiment endlessly. If your PPC ad is perfect right out of the gate, it will truly be an anomaly. What’s more likely to happen is that you write a PPC ad, it performs okay, and then you try something a little different. That’s how it should be with PPC ads. It akes constant attention and testing to find the right combinations of words, punctuation, keywords, and placement to hit the “sweet spot” in PPC advertising. And even once you do, you’ll likely find yourself having to readjust the ad frequently because of changes in your products or services. Plan a little time (an hour or two) to put into your PPC ad campaign. Only through experimentation and testing can you achieve PPC success.

PPC advertising has plenty of appeal. It’s quick, it’s effective, and it’s nowhere near as expensive
as other types of advertising. But don’t be fooled. PPC advertising isn’t all sunshine and light. It requires work and commitment to find the methods and combinations that work for you. Once
you’ve done that, you have to make the click worth the visitor’s time. And you do that by creating great landing pages.