Part 8 – Successful Sponsored/PPC Ad Creation

This is Part 8 of a 9 part series dealing with the creation of a successful Sponsored Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Pay-per-Click (PPC) campaign.

At this point in this series you have identified your products/services (benefits and features), your target customer, your online competition, your unique selling feature, the keywords you will be bidding on, and the pages on your website that each individual keyword ad will be linked to.
 

The examples used in this article will be Yahoo! SM (Overture) and Google AdWord ads. The principles discussed will be applicable to most Search Engine Marketing text ads.

“Remember to listen to your customer.””

There are many books, articles and courses on ad copy writing. If you are new to copy writing, please take the time to read up on this essential skill before you embark on ad writing. Ultimately, you will find it of great value to you and your website. While many of the standard ad copy rules and guidelines apply to Search Engine ads, there are significant differences in this medium that you will need to account for.

Relevance

In Parts 5 and 6 you identified the keywords that are relevant to your products/services, relevant to your target customer, and relevant to your Sponsored Search Engine Marketing campaign goals. In Part 7 you identified the relevant website pages that each of your chosen keyword ads will direct your target customer to.

Your ad copy must also be relevant to your target customer, relevant to the specific ad keyword, relevant to your products/services, and relevant to the web page that each different ad will link to. It is recommended that each keyword have an ad specifically designed for that keyword.

Beyond being relevant, your Search Engine ads will need to attract your target customer, keep their interest, and encourage them to click through to your website. It is essential that your ads also be accurate in their description of what will be found on their corresponding landing page.

Attracting Attention

Use the keyword in the title of your ad.

Your target customer has already told you what they are looking for in the search term they used. This is a unique situation in marketing – and one that savvy Search Engine Marketers take full advantage of. Remember to listen to your customer.

To see the power of using keywords in your title, imagine that you are using the MSN Search Engine to search for the term “relevant keyword.” Which of the following fictitious ad titles gets your attention?
 

Discover the Secrets of SEM - www.blabla.com

Relevant Keywords – Use Their Power - www.blabla1.com

SEM Professionals Can Help - www.blabla1.com

Take a look at search results in a number of Search Engines – the major ones like Yahoo!, MSN, and Google all display the search terms that appear in ads and listing in bold print. Why? Because Search Engines know that searchers are looking for occurrences of the search term they have just used as an indication of relevance as they quickly scan through the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Search Engines want to make it easier for searchers to find what they are looking for.

An excellent example of the power of keywords in titles is from one of our clients who came to us with a fairly successful Google AdWord campaign that was averaging a healthy 7% CTR (click-through rate = clicks/impressions). All of their ads had the same title – which contained their extremely respected brand name. We convinced them to test the effectiveness of using keywords in the titles rather than just the brand name, and as a result their CTR increased to 9%. A 2% increase in CTR is very rewarding when your ads are averaging over 2 million impressions per year. A 2% increase in CTR is also extremely rewarding if your average ad impressions per year - is in the tens of thousands.

Sustaining Attention

Although the style of the description content will differ greatly between Yahoo! SM ads, which allow 190 characters, and Google AdWords, which allow 2 lines of 35 characters each; the first step in holding the attention of your target audience for both types of ad is to ensure that the keyword appears in the description.

In the case of Yahoo! SM the keyword needs to appear in the first 70 or so characters of the description, as not all of the 190 description characters are always displayed.

Let’s revisit our earlier title example where as a searcher you have typed in the search term “relevant keyword” and you are presented with the following imaginary results from Yahoo!:
 

Discover the Secrets of SEM Without the search terms in a description, there are no bold words to catch the eye. Even a longer description that uses up all of the available characters does not have the same eye appeal. www.blabla.com   Relevant Keywords - Unlock the Power The presence of relevant keywords in this ad helps to keep the attention of people who were often first attracted by the words found in the title. www.blabla2.com   Use The Power of Keywords The presence of even only one of the keywords is enough to help make the description stand out from other ads. It is even more effective if all the words appear in the description. www.blabla3.com

The ad in the middle catches the eye quickly and appears more relevant – more of its words have been given ‘weight’ by being in bold font.

Now let’s do the same imaginary search for the search term “relevant keyword” on Google and view the effects of keyword usage:
 

SEM Secrets Learn the secrets of successful search engine marketers. www.blabla.com Relevant Keywords With a little effort you can make relevant keywords stand out. www.blabla2.com OK Keywords It is difficult to put the words you know you want in here. www.blabal3.com

Encourage Action

Our research at Enquiro has shown us that most searchers make a decision on which SERP listing or ad to click on in a split second. This means that the presence of the bolded search term in your titles and descriptions will be the main encouragement or call to action for your ad. However, if your target does take the time to read your title and description (see our white paper: Inside the Mind of the Searcher) then your description will need to:

• be relevant to the target customer,

• be accurate and relevant about what the searcher will find if they go to the page linked to the ad, and

• not be too promotional in tone, but encourage the target customer to learn more about your product, your site, etc.

In Part 1-3 of this series you identified the benefits of your products/services, your ‘big picture’ intangible, and your unique selling feature. Where possible, elements of these factors should be worked into your Search Engine ads as they will help to encourage your target customer to click on your ad.

General Style and Content Guidelines

Yahoo! SM (Overture) has some of the clearest general Search Engine ad text guidelines available. Take the time to read them over.

Always remember who your target customer is and write your ads to them. Keep your ads consistent with the wants and needs of your target customer.

Keep your ads accurate. Your landing page must continue on with the message delivered in your ad. This need for your landing page to mirror your ad’s message was one of the main reasons you identified your landing pages (in Part 7) before you wrote your ads. Knowing the landing page and what the searcher will find there – enables you to write a better, more accurate and relevant ad.

Summary

The steps that you completed in Part 1 through 8 of this series have made it possible for you to be ready to launch your Sponsored Search Engine Marketing campaign. Whether you are creating and submitting your ads yourself or having a professional do it for you; by taking the time to work your way through this series you have laid the foundation for a more successful Sponsored Search Engine Marketing campaign.

In Part 9 of this series, we will review the ongoing work that will need to be done to your campaign to keep it on track, profitable and ever improving.
 

**PART 1 - Campaign Goal Building, Focus and Product Identification
**PART 2 - Target Audience – Identification and Understanding
**PART 3 - Online Competition & Your Unique Selling Feature
**PART 4 - Setting Campaign Goals & Success Metrics
**PART 5 - ‘Best’ Keywords for Your Campaign
**PART 6 - Campaign Strategy
**PART 7 - Successful Landing Pages
**PART 8 - Successful Sponsored/PPC Ad Creation
**PART 9 - Campaign Management - Monitoring Your Success