Writing Quality PPC Ad Copy

There are lots of different ways to make your PPC ad campaign work. Start by picking keywords, bid for them, then make sure your ads are working and making money for you. However, the way the ad reads is very important, too. It’s the component that convinces the customer to click.

These three lines of text might be small, but they’re the springboard for the rest of your campaign. They have to be noticeable, encourage potential customers to read, and then to click on them. If that doesn’t work, then all the best plans will be worthless.

Conventional marketing does well using long copy, and framing the product in a story. Unfortunately, this method doesn’t work when all you have to use is three lines. You’ll have to attract attention and get a click with very few words indeed. That means that all of them have to be good ones. If you want to make your PPC campaign work, one of the most important things is understanding how to make those lines do their job. Go from writing sales novels to ad haiku!

Like many other situations, the 80/20 rule applies. Here, it means that the majority of an ad’s effectiveness is in the headline – about 20% of the ad itself. This is true in other forms of writing, and it’s definitely true in a PPC ad campaign. In fact, in a PPC campaign, this is even more true, since there’s no way to make up for a bad headline.

Your ad’s copy has to be perfect, or as close to it as possible. You have a few available words to sell your site, so the words you use must be the right ones, and spelling and punctuation are very important. A wrong word or a spelling mistake can mean you’re kissing customers good bye- and your money, too! Even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, the finished product looks unprofessional, and people who would have normally clicked on that ad will avoid it.

Make sure you get the customer’s attention. Remember, you’re competing against other ads here, so maybe do some research and see what the others are doing. Standing out in a crowd can be difficult, but when you do everyone notices you. Concentrate on that headline and grab the customer’s attention, then make them need to know what’s on offer when they click.

Keyword placement is very important. The keyword phrase (or a variation on it) needs to be in the headline. Next, make sure that your second line is relevant and really eye-catching. Don’t use phrases like “quality service” or state however long you’ve been in the business. These types of approaches don’t wok with pay per click.

The last line of your ad is just as important as the rest of it and can easily make the sale on its own. Inform the viewer why your product is the best option for them. Maybe you could put in a special offer or a special deal. Ads with this type of content increase their chances of a clickthrough and sale conversion. A word of warning, though. Avoid the use of deceptive wording to try and get more clicks. It’s likely that you’ll end up paying for an expensive campaign that gets very few sales.

While the ads are shorter, PPC campaigns aren’t any easier to write than other types of advertising. Make sure that yours are attention getting, clear, and effective – you’ll stand out from the rest and increase your sales.