When it comes to a successful PPC campaign there are many important factors including keyword selection, bid amounts, Destination URL’s, but one of the most critical is your ad copy.
Writing successful ad copy for your PPC ads doesn’t need to be rocket science. If you follow a few simple rules you can greatly increase your chances of not only drawing more attention and traffic to your ads, but also increase the odds of having this traffic convert into a sale.
One of the most common mistakes people make is they create one or two ads and apply it to their extensive keyword list, put it live and wait for the traffic. Each ad needs to be directly related to both the specific keyword, and the destination URL. Having the same ad copy and landing page for all keywords, while it may be successful, offers only limited possibilities.
Creating successful PPC ad copy can be broken down into three relatively simple tasks that will work for most PPC engines to help increase your conversions.
1. The first thing to do when setting up your ad campaigns is to break upyour keywords into very similar groupings. Sometimes you will end up with 1-word groups, sometimes 10. It all depends on how closely related the terms are. Include misspellings and plurals in the same groups. “widget, widgets, wiget “, etc.
2. Find a specific URL on your site that directly relates to each grouping of keyword phrases. This URL will be used as the “destination” page for the ad.
3. Write the Ad Copy including the target phrases within the title and body sections. Try to tie in aspects of the destination page within the text also. The key is to bring together the three elements; keywords, ads and the landing page, so that everything is obvious and makes sense to the visitor.
If a visitor searches for “blue widgets”, they are more likely to click on an ad that states “blue widgets”, and, if that visitor lands on a blue widget page, you increase the chances of a sale. Never make your visitor hunt around on your site to find what they are searching for – take them directly to the specific product. If they arrive at your site and it takes too long to find it, they will likely leave and buy elsewhere.
Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Search Engine Placement. Scott has worked with StepForth Placement since Aarly 2003 and has thoroughly enjoyed working in the search engine industry. When he’s not punching away at the keyboard he can be found spending quality time with his wife Lyndsay, or out on the golf course. Scott would be happy to answer any questions, and can be reached at scott@stepforth.com.
