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How to Create a PPC Ad People Will Click On

PPC is perhaps one of the best known but least understood forms of internet advertising.


If you utilize PPC advertising to increase sales, then you know that most PPC advertisers are always looking for ways to increase click through rate (CTR) — the number of users that clicked on a specific link.

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Did you know? “PPC is perhaps one of the best known but least understood forms of internet advertising. In short, search engines allow advertisers to bid against each other for prominent positions in search results for certain keywords.” (Source: Versio2)

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Nevertheless, many do not realize the first step to achieving high CTR is with a well-designed ad. Without a good ad, your company website will perform below par in terms of site traffic and conversions.

 

A Pragmatic Approach to Improving PPC Ads

Photo: Entrepreneur Jacob Baadsgaard, CEO of Disruptive Advertising
Photo: Entrepreneur Jacob Baadsgaard, CEO of Disruptive Advertising

The main aim of PPC ads is to get online searchers to click on them. But sometimes that is easiere said than done. As Wordstream writer Erin Sagin explains, “Writing ad copy for PPC can be a tough feat. The good news is, you don’t have to be a super-creative copywriter to whip up competitive ad text. In fact, following a pragmatic approach can be advantageous.”

One of the ways to make this happen is by using relevant keywords in your ad copy’s title and content. When you identify the right keywords it will help increase CTR and sales. Why? Because if your PPC ad matches what an online searcher types in a search engine they get the impression you have exactly what they need, so they will click on your advertisement.

However, identifying a list of keywords relevant to your business is not enough – you need to group them into a logical hierarchy. Using semantically, grouped keywords will make it easier for you to create PPC ads because the copy will apply to all of the related terms at the same time. Additionally, search engines can recognize when PPC ad groups have related keywords and this works to your advantage. So, your goal is to group keywords into small, themed segments and only bid on relevant ones.

To that end, there are powerful keyword grouping tools you can use to group keywords according to their frequency and relevance. These tools come with filtering preferences to help group the keywords into a desired hierarchy. There is also a central interface to help turn keyword groups into ad groups for your PPC campaign.

Ultimately, the right keywords have to be used in a manner that makes sense in order to yield a desired outcome. The random use of irrelevant keywords in ad text will not help you accomplish much. Also, check spelling and grammar otherwise prospective customers will judge you negatively — even on the simple mistakes. There are many options, so online users will not waste time on your ad if they cannot understand it.

 

Moving the PPC Needle With Targeted Content

Remember that online searchers are looking to fulfill a need. According to Search Engine Journal, “93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.” And “a study by Outbrain shows that search is the #1 driver of traffic to content sites, beating social media by more than 300%.”

PPC ad copy needs to convince online shoppers that your product or service will help them achieve their desired needs, wants, and goals. The aim of your PPC ad copy is to elicit a strong emotional reaction to compel them to click.

“For copywriting to be truly persuasive, you need to know that it’s all down to human emotions. All buying decisions are based on emotion. By using emotion and then adding in logical reasons to back up what you have said, you’ll be able to make the sale.” (Source: San Francisco School of Copywriting)

Brian Clark, the founder of Copyblogger, attests to this fact by mentioning that “the value of your content and/or your offer is what ultimately matters. And yet the words you use to demonstrate that value and present that offer will determine to what degree people take action.” For example, rather than dwelling on the features of your product, concisely showcasing benefits will yield more clicks and conversions.

 

Evaluate PPC Performance

PPC advertising requires continuous evaluation to ensure set goals are met. This includes gathering and analyzing data on various aspects of your PPC campaign (e.g., keywords with high clicks, conversion rates, and PPC spending). Michelle Kelly, a Sr. PPC consultant explains that “as with any marketing initiative, it is important to measure your results. The focus is generally on calculating Return on Investment (ROI) for the spend incurred, but there are other important metrics that are critical to your success.” So, decide which metrics are important to you and stay on top of them.

 

This article has been edited and condensed.

Jacob Baadsgaard is the CEO of Disruptive Advertising. He is a passionate digital marketer and entrepreneur with 7 years of enterprise digital marketing experience. He personally managed over 40 million dollars in annual marketing budget and consulted many of the Inc. 100 companies while at Adobe, including groups like: GE, John Deere, Citibank and Home Depot. Connect with @DisruptiveAds on Twitter.

 

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