Okay, so we’re switching gears here from Facebook back to Ads on Google.  Whether you have used Google AdWords for your business, are planning on using ads in the future, or are a consumer who notices ads appear as you search the web, you are a relevant piece of the puzzle and can learn something.

What EVERYONE looking to advertise online should know about writing ads is that all of the same principles of traditional advertising apply to advertising online. The principles are, of course: (1) an offer they can’t refuse; (2) a deadline or limited time offer; AND (3) a call to action. The only difference is the amount of space you have to make an impression and get your point across.  Thus, you have to be very creative and sometimes give something up!

When writing an ad to show on Google, you have only four lines of text to work with.  Google gives you a line for a Headline, two lines for Ad Text, and another line to list your URL.  Each line limits the amount of characters you can use (letters, number, punctuation, spaces, and anything else you push a key for count as characters).  The characters allowed per space are listed below:

Headline – 25 characters
Ad Text (1) – 35 characters
Ad Text (2) – 35 characters
URL – 35 characters

So, you basically have 130 characters to be creative.  Here’s what our experience has taught us:

Check out your competition (always a good place to start), because it’s important to set yourself apart!  Unless ALL of your competition is doing it, you will probably want to include your keyword or keyword phrase in your headline.  A free gift from Google: When you have the keyword in your ad that the user searched upon, Google magically bolds it in your ad copy!  There is some older research that suggests that putting the keyword in your headline will aid your quality score.  However; if most of your competition includes the same keyword in their headline, then put yours in your ad text.

Get into the minds of your customer.  Join the conversation your customer is having in their head by answering their question or need in your headline!  “Trouble with Pay Per Click?” And then tell them how you can help!  Steer away from talking about your company, and tell your ideal candidate how they will benefit or how your product will improve their life.

Common Mistakes of Ads:

No Call To Action (CTA).  One of the most common (and unfortunate) mistakes advertisers make is writing really catchy ad copy and then failing to tell the consumer what to do!  Advertisers who provide a strong call to action (ex: “Act Now,” “Call Now,” “Download Yours!”) get a significantly higher click through rate than advertisers who do not! It is a shame to catch the attention of a user or prospective customer and then not lead them to anything.

Using “we” and not “you” language.  It’s easy to use an advertisement to talk about what your company does from a “we” perspective.  But, it’s more effective to talk “you” in your ads.  Instead of “We help generate quality leads,” turn it around to focus on your customer: “Get quality leads for your business.”

Selecting an irrelevant landing page. Cardinal sin #1 is sending traffic you’ve paid for to your homepage instead of to a landing page that speaks to the intent of the visitor’s query.  This goes back to joining the conversation in their head.  There has to be consistency between the keyword they searched upon, the ad they clicked on and the landing page they landed on.  If not, you run the risk of loosing them faster than they came.  You have less than 1 second to grab a new visitor’s attention.  This means you better give them the answer, solution or resource that scratches their itch or you’ve just wasted the cost of a click.

Here’s a bit of homework for you:  Go to Google and do a search on the keywords for which you want to be found.  Look at the ads that are served to you.  See if you notice any patterns.  Evaluate how you can set yourself apart and lastly, make note if there are any ads including a call to action.

Please leave your comments below!

A Google philosophy is “Don’t be evil”.  You may take exception to that if you’ve sunk a small fortune into their AdWords advertising program and did not get the return you expected on your investment.  Google makes an attempt to educate its advertisers with online tutorials, but the truth of the matter is, there’s a lot Google doesn’t say that advertisers end up learning by trial and error or by reading about the experiences of those who have traveled the path ahead of them.

I’ve been managing AdWords accounts for a multitude of small businesses for three years.  In that time the AdWords software has changed a lot, but three things I do to ensure that I have the most control over my budget have not changed.

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