Is Your AdWords Copy Powerful?
PPC plays a significant role in almost every affiliate campaign. While you might think running a great AdWords campaign starts and ends with choosing the right keywords, you’re wrong. Keywords are only half of the battle. The other half is writing great copy that makes buyers click.
What can you do to create powerful AdWords copy? You can start by following these simple tips.
Identify Your Main Benefit — Your headline needs to immediately connect with the customer. Remember, consumers just want to know “What’s in it for me?” That’s why your PPC headline needs to focus on the main benefit your product offers. Let’s say you’re selling an e-book for students taking the SAT. A good benefit-driven headline would be “200 Points SAT Increase.” Why is this headline effective? Because it clearly states the benefit of the product. And the fact that it has a specific number makes the benefit less vague and more believable.
Be Different — One thing I’ve noticed about PPC ads is they’re often all the same. Usually, there’s no compelling reason to click on one ad over the other. That’s why you need to be different. Take a look at the competition’s PPC ads, and try to figure out what you can do differently. If their headlines are statements, make your headline a question. If they all focus on the same benefit, choose a different benefit to target. Do everything you can to make a searcher’s eyes lock onto your ad instead of a competitor’s.
Create Urgent Call to Action — Now that you have a powerful headline, you need to seal the deal by following it up with a strong call to action. Use powerful ad words like: save, free, you, now, and today. For instance, on the earlier SAT e-book ad, you could follow up the headline with “Save 25% when you order today.” Or, “Get Your Free SAT assessment today in under 10 minutes.” The point is this: potential customers need to feel like they need to take action right now.
Don’t Forget the Keywords — By now, you know the importance of including the right keywords in your PPC copy, so I won’t insult your intelligence by exhausting this topic. Just remember to seamlessly blend your keywords into your copy and URL.
Always Try New Copy — Never just write one ad and stick with it forever. The only way to know you’re running the most profitable AdWords campaign is to always be testing. Try new headlines and new calls to action. Keep experimenting with different copy until you find one that achieves the highest profit for your campaign.
Deliver on Your Promises — Of course, the best AdWords copy is meaningless if your landing page doesn’t deliver on the promises you made. In other words, if you promise a “200 Points SAT Increase,” your landing page better tell the reader how that’s going to happen. Make sure to include testimonials that drive this point home. The best PPC campaigns include ads that are unified with highly targeted landing pages.
Do you write powerful Adwords copy? Share your Adwords copywriting advice with us in the replies!
Urgent calls to action often seems so desperate to me, especially if you're selling high end goods or services. Experiment with ads that avoid the call to action entirely. Focus on compelling reasons why they'd want to visit your site, not buy. I know that's not what everyone else says, but try it and see what happens.
Emphasize what is ahead at the next step, not the close – consumers are sophisticated today, going for the close too early makes you look like you've got no focus on the consumer experience at all.
Instead of this:
Save 25% when you order today.
Try these:
Won 2009 Best Online Yarn Store.
Over 4,200 Yarn Colors & Textures.
Fast Loading Mega Yarn Site.
Yarn Color Matching Tool.
Quick Sort by Price, Brand, Color.
Yes, people are price sensitive these days. But remember, when you advertise on price, that's what you get, price shoppers. To build sustainable repeat customers (who won't always want 25% off), pitch your focus on making THEIR shopping experience YOUR primary goal.
Cheap is good, but choice and experience is superior. If they want cheap, they'll often be shopping at Amazon, eBay and price comparison engines. If they're searching for a particular product, don't pitch your cheapness… pitch your desire to give it to them real good.
[...] as I was reading an article on the ReveNews, “Is Your AdWords Copy Powerful?” I read one of the best blog comments I have read in a long time by my friend Pat Grady of [...]
Pat,
You make some great points. I 100% agree with your point on the dangers of advertising on price alone. I only used the "25% off" as one simple example of a call to action, but I fully agree that being the lowest priced brings you the lowest quality customer.
It's one of the first things I learned when I started freelance copywriting. When you're first starting out, it can be tempting to take whatever offers come your way, but you really only devalue your work when you accept low bids. Plus, from my experience, price shoppers are the biggest headaches of all consumers.
As for the urgent call to action vs. reasons to visit your site, I guess it all depends on what your goals are for your PPC campaign.