How to Set Up a Solid PPC Campaign - Writing Targeted Ads

Now that you have all of your keywords well-organized into tight specific categories, it's time to write ads for these terms. Just as you were specific with the categories, you must do the same for your ads.

However, before we start, let's take a sample of terms to use for this exercise. This way things may be a little clearer. So for illustrative purposes, here is a sample list of keywords for the Spider-man category...

spiderman comic
spiderman comics
spiderman comic books
spiderman comic book
spider-man comic
spider-man comics
spider-man comic books
spider-man comic book
spider man comic
spider man comics
spider man comic books
spider man comic book

Now I know what you're thinking. Do I really need the different versions of "Spider-man?" The answer is yes and no. You could get away with one version (check it out at Google Trends), but I am very analytical. I like to see how the different versions perform. One term may be cheaper than the other. One keyword may bring in more leads or clicks. How will you know if you don't try? However, that is a debate for another post as this post is about writing ads. And there was a reason I used the different versions of "spider-man", which I will get to before the post ends.

So using this sample list, let's write an ad. Since Google Adwords is the most popular PPC platform for search engine marketing, we will write Google ads for now. Bing has the same limitations, but keep in mind, Yahoo's ad requirements can vary. However that may be moot soon with the MSN/Yahoo merger.

The limitations of a Google Adwords PPC ad are as follows...

1) The top line (Title) gets 25 characters including spaces.
2) The next two lines (adcopy) gets 35 each
3) The last line (display URL) gets 35 as well.

So we have Spider-man comic book keywords, and since we want to make this a very targeted ad, you want to have the main keyword in the title. This will not only entice clicks from people looking for Spider-man comics, but also help increase your quality score. So let's give this is a shot. We'll start with the title...

Spider-Man Comic Books

22 Characters and it contains the main keywords. So far so good. Now let's try the first line of the adcopy. I tend to favor two separate sentences in the adcopy, so we'll start with that method.

Huge Selection of Spider-Man Comics

Okay still going well. We tell our story in 35 characters. We have a lot of Spider-man comics and we work in the keyword again. Onto the next line...

I like my second line to be a strong call to action. Offer people something they want. Something that will make them come to your web site.

Free Shipping for orders over $25.

You can try other call to actions as well as long as they fit within 35 characters. Things like 10% on Back Issues of Spidey Comics or Free Graphic Novel with $50 Orders. Anything you feel will help increase sales.

One caveat. If you make an offer in your ad, that same offer has to be posted on your web site within two clicks of the landing page. Meaning, if you offer free shipping in your ad, you have to offer free shipping on your website as well. You can't just say "Free Bat Mobile with Every Order" and then not give away a free Bat Mobile.

Now the display URL seems like common sense, but there is a strategy to this as well. For example, which do you think is better.

www.MyComicStore.com

Or

www.MyComicStore.com/Spider-Man

Let people know that you are giving them what they want right away...within a click. A page about spider-man comics. Even though it's a display URL and not the actual real URL, it can help increase quality clicks and your quality score.

Also, with that in mind, send them to the Spidey page on your web site. Match the landing page to the ad, but we'll get to that in a different post.

As for capitalizing each word in the display URL, that is a personal preference. I've tested it both ways and sometimes the small letters do better and sometimes the CAPS do better. It may be something you want to test as well. I personally like it because it stands out a bit more and if you have a URL with multiple words it keeps them from running together. And who knows, maybe people will remember the URL easier, but I have no data on that.

So let's put it all together and see what it looks like...

Spider-Man Comic Books
Huge Selection of Spider-Man Comics
Free Shipping for orders over $25.
www.MyComicStore.com/Spider-Man

Not bad. We have a good targeted title for the ad, which uses the keywords. We tell our story using the keywords. We have a strong call to action. And our URL is even targeted. This should be a decent ad and should help the keyword quality score.

Now, one ad does not a successful campaign make, so you need to experiment. A/B test. You'll want to run ads against each other and see how they perform. Write different variations. Change the call to action. Test the display URL. And getting back to out variations of "spider-man", maybe try something like this...

Spiderman Comic Books
Huge Selection of Spiderman Comics
Free Shipping for orders over $25.
www.MyComicStore.com/Spiderman

Or this...

Spider Man Comic Books
Huge Selection of Spider Man Comics
Free Shipping for orders over $25.
www.MyComicStore.com/Spider_Man

See what I did here? I wrote different ads using the different variations of "spider-man". You may not have to get this granular, but if one of the versions is having a tough time with the quality score, this is an option you can use to boost performance. You may even give the varying keywords their own ad with their own category. It's up to you how granular you want to get.

And as for the two separate sentences in an ad. You may want to combine the lines and write one sentence in 70 characters. I'm not knocking that option, in fact I've had to do it myself on a few occasions (although I prefer the other way). That's why it's important to have different variations of ads. Try it with two sentences, try it with one longer sentence. See which will perform better. There are no set rules, this is just guidance.

So there you have it. Some different ways to write targeted ads for your target keywords. Once you're done writing your ads, web-sling your way back here and we'll discuss landing pages...

By the way if you ever want to look at an advanced method or ad writing, there are, in some cases, an opportunity to have more than 25 characters in the title of a Google Adwords Ad.