PPC Fool » Ad Copy

So, what do you do …?

Dave — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:28:53 +0000

If you have been in this game for awhile, you will inevitably have to answer the question, what do you do for a living? I always kind of balk at this, because a majority of the time I will have to go down the path of explaining what affiliate marketing is, using google adwords, ‘how it works’, etc… and it gets kind of repetitive, especially when you get that stare like, that doesn’t make sense.

How easy it would be if I could say, a doctor, lawyer, engineer, IT consultant, architect, etc … but working as an affiliate is kind of vague isn’t it? When explaining it, I usually refer to amazon, as they were one of the pioneers of affiliate programs. I explain to them when they are surfing the web and they see an amazon book on a website, well if they click on that book it leads them to amazon, and if they buy, the website owner gets a commission etc… If that doesn’t work, then I will talk about one of the myriad of offline referral type companies and referral commissions, refer a friend to your bank = get $25, car insurance referral = get a free gas card, etc…

That being said, I still have to answer the question, What I do for a living. I’ve used the following in describing my profession:

I’m an affiliate marketer
I sell things online
I manage websites
I own an online media company
I own a home business
I’m an entrepreneur
I own an internet business

I’m ready for a new one now, so if you have any ideas, share.
(and no not a spammer )

In relation to the last post, google credited my account, THANK YOU!

Headline Optimization on Steroids

Dave — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:14:29 +0000

Writing good headlines is key to getting your ad noticed and a clickthrough. Your headline is your ‘first impression’ and contact with the outside world. Miss this and you will let opportunity slip by. In the world of paid search and on the content networks a sloppy headline can literally make or break a campaign. So how does one write effective headlines?

Fortunately for you, there is a place where you can go where thousands and thousands of headlines are tested everyday. Digg.com. The whole concept behind digg is to make stories popular or bury them all based on one thing … the headline! This mass social experiment is very beneficial to us affiliates.

It’s simple to use, just enter your core keywords into digg and hit search. The most popular headlines that match your phrase come up. This is definitely not an exact science and is not a piece of software that will spit out perfect ads for you every time, but it will definitely get your juices flowing and make you more creative. Feel free to play around with the advanced search features as well.

For example take ‘weight loss’, below are 7 of the top 10 results given:

Notice anything special? 6 of these seven all have numbers in their headlines … Hmmm that must be important. Anyways, just wanted to throw this out there. I’m sure some of you can use this. You may also want to check out my post Ad copy: rational vs. emotional.

I know there are a handful of other tools on the web that are similar to help you out with ad copy, feel free to share if you have any.

Don’t Launch a Campaign Late at Night

Dave — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:23:17 +0000

So I was up late last night working on a test campaign to get it going. As usual Adwords Editor was taking its sweet time to upload the campaign, after I had finished the keywords and ads. It was fairly late around 1am and I was sleepy, for some reason I get more done late at night

Well, I woke up this morning to find out I was over $700 in the hole! In my rush to finish I forgot to disable the search network as this was suppose to be a content only campaign. That little check box cost me a pretty penny. I hate to lose money, so any amount is not fun.

Yeah I could have had a lower budget, but content is usually slower to be approved so I figured by the time I wake up it would have just got going. Unlike search where it is usually pretty fast for me.

Moral of the story is don’t get sloppy when launching campaigns. I think I’m going to write up a pre-launch checklist just because of this as there are a handful of things that should be checked.

Can Rhyming boost credibility?

Dave — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:18:55 +0000

We all know headlines and taglines are key to keeping the reader on the page and convincing someone to take action. I recently read a piece on how throwing in a rhyme can actually increase credibility.

Memorability and Impact

The first is obvious. The reader is more likely to remember and can have more of an impact at first glance. It makes it easier for the reader to process information, which is important. Here are 4 examples:
Don’t get mad get _____
The quicker picker upper

How about:
My life my card
Safe happens

While the first 2 slogans are a little outdated they are still more memorable, GLAD and BOUNTY. The bottom 2 are American Express and Volvo.

More Accurate

The next reason is that rhyming can appear to make the statement more accurate. Having a statement, slogan, or headline sound a little more accurate can be the difference between a sale and a lost customer. For example, which sounds more believable:

Caution and measure will bring you treasure
or
Caution and measure will bring you riches …

How about the famous quote for you OJ fans:
“If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit”

I wonder why he didn’t just say
“If the glove don’t fit, you must let him go free”,
it was clear he made that rhyme for a reason … interesting to say the least

Increase CTR with Shock Advertising

Dave — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:26:54 +0000

I recently did a post about ad qualifiers and how to filter your traffic. I basically stated getting a high CTR for the sake of CTR is not always a good thing. That being said, there are times when you may want to increase your CTR on some of your campaigns.

Shock Advertising

Believe it or not, there is a practice in the marketing world known as shock advertising.

Shock advertising is a type of advertising generally regarded as one that “deliberately, rather than inadvertently, startles and offends its audience by violating norms for social values and personal ideals.

Moving this to paid search, you just need to include some unusual or shocking words in your ad title or text to draw attention. How many times have you searched for something, only to see over half of the ads basically state the same thing? Boring. Having your ad stand out from the rest of the crowd can get you those extra clicks. Using uncommon words can sometimes do the trick.

Common Examples

Below are just some of the words that I’ve seen used. There is really an endless list to choose from, they don’t necessarily have to shock, it just has to be unusual and different.

Exposed
Scam
Naughty
Sneaky
Secrets
Wicked
Yucky
Disgusting
Gruesome
Fatal
Jealous
Traitor …

The trick is incorporating them into your ad text. I’ve really seen some off the wall ones, and don’t even want to put them up here. This is just to get your mind going, how you use them is up to you.

Caveats

Again, like I’ve said in the past if your pay per click CTR goes from 2% to 5% but your sales or leads don’t increase along with it, those are wasted clicks, assuming your adwords quality score stays the same.

Also, if you put words like scam or exposed in your ad title, your landing page better do a good job explaining this. If the visitor clicks and sees nothing related to a scam or exposed, they might get frustrated and leave your site. Something to keep in mind, before you start injecting shock words into your ads.

All in all, it couldn’t hurt to test this out. Setup a unique lander for some of the words you have in mind and turn them on. You could be in for quite a shock

Ad Qualifiers & Targeted Copy

Dave — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:20:32 +0000

There’s a lot written about CTR and how to get more clicks. While this definitely has its place, this is not always a good thing. When I first started out, I was always obsessed with getting a higher CTR. Writing goofy or shock and awe ads can usually do the trick, but is this the type of visitor you really want?

I would much rather have 10 clicks looking to take action, than 100 clicks landing on my site just because I had cleverly written copy. You can use ad qualifiers to filter your traffic and hopefully get more bang for your buck.

Below are some common ways to do this:

Include Price

Stating the price in your ad will definitely reduce your CTR, but those that do clickthrough will not be surprised to find on your landing page that you’re selling something.

For Men/Women only

If your product is gender specific, state so. Yes, the reverse psychology is strong and will most likely get the curious clickers, but even if you can get the ratio from 50/50 to 70/30 you still win.

Target Users

This is the same idea as above, but using it in a more general way. Beginners only, 21+, seniors only are all ways to try to narrow your focus to get those targeted clicks in your niche.

What to expect

It may also benefit to test putting your call to action directly in your ad, so when they land there will be no surprises. Is it an email or zip submit, state so … “email only” or “zip only”. If it’s a form to fill out state “simple form” or something. “Buy now” or “purchase today” etc… will also let them know you have something to sell.

As always test this out, you may find it to lower your CTR but increase your bottom line. There will always be a balance to this, as a higher CTR will lower your quality score. That’s something that you will just have to find yourself ….

AD Copy the Emotional vs. Rational

Dave — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:56:45 +0000

When writing ads, many times we don’t think what the searcher is really looking for, or what problem they need to be solved or relieved of. In my last post keywords and the search time continuum we looked at how keywords follow a process in how they are used for search. They are not independent events.

Ads are the same way, get inside the head of the searcher, what problem do they need solved. In our keyword example, her problem was losing weight. This is what plagues her, is on her mind, needs to be solved … talk to it.

For example look at the 2 ads below and see which one hits that emotional need …

The second ad, although a little harsh, clearly talks to the searcher and hits a nerve with them. This is what she fears, being alone, people look at her as overweight, unwanted etc… This is her emotional need admitting it or not.

People stay on the search page just for a few seconds deciding which ad to click, if you speak to that emotional side you should have a much higher CTR. Don’t make them think, if you address that need their emotions will act for them. (Just a side note, remember you should always try to incorporate your keywords in the title as well as test the ad for conversion.)

Don’t write dry ads … add a little color and people will more likely click on you

A Little Comic Relief

Dave — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:03:03 +0000

We all know that earning your living from the net can be stressful at times … the big “G” disapproving your ads, the offer that was your primary money maker was pulled, or that ’secret keyword’ is now flooded with new competitors.

So everyone needs a little humor every once in awhile. Below are some funny ads in the past and as well as some current ones: Go ahead and laugh its OK

Hmmm … Baby at Target, isn’t that illegal?

A search for Hillary Clinton gives you

Yes, I need some dirt!

Or if you just need some free monkeys, yahoo can help you out!

If you’ve seen a funny ad, shoot me an email and I’ll post it up and link to you. (And no creating your own)

Haha … baby at target, that’s classic. At least you don’t see those for Ebay anymore