PPC Ad Copy: How To Avoid Torching Your Marketing Budget

Digital advertising doesn’t work!

I’ve invested all kinds of money into ppc ads, and it was a complete waste of time!

They’re just trying to get your money. That stuff doesn’t work.

I keep bidding on keywords, and I keep paying for ads. We’ve seen a bit of traction, but nothing that’s really making a difference.

Does any of this sound familiar?

No matter how hard that you (or others) have tried, you’ve found that pay-per-click ads (PPC) isn’t working out the way you’ve hoped, to say the least? Maybe you’ve watched a few YouTube videos on the topic, or you might have even purchased a system taught by one of the digital marketing gurus of the moment, only to find that you’ve not been able to replicate the same results.

Well, I’m about to share a simple secret with you:

It’s not that digital marketing doesn’t work. The problem is, most would-be marketers don’t understand how to make it work!

That’s right! They mistakenly believe that just because they’ve invest time and money into the venture, they’ll be rewarded with more site traffic than they know how to handle!

Of course, when this doesn’t happen, the marketer becomes disillusioned, and in some case, bitter.

But here’s the good news:

Google isn’t out to get marketers. They don’t want to rob retailers of their marketing budgets!

I repeat: There’s no reason for you, struggling marketer, to experience the weight of victimization! What you will need to do is learn how to make PPC work for you, instead of against you.

Now, I’m not adapt at teaching the science of PPC. I’ll let another author handle that topic. But what I will do in this article is offer a few basics of how to address your PPC ads from a creative point of view.

Let’s get started with one of the most important aspects of your PPC ad: The headline.

Headlines are a make-or-break proposition

It’s been said by marketing legends such as David Olgilvy that 80 cents of every dollar you spend on your marketing copy should be spent on the headlines.

Wow! That underscores just how important your headlines are. Because let’s face it:

If no one is attracted to your headline, then they aren’t clicking on your ad.

And zero ad clicks lead to other outcomes you don’t want, such as higher cost per click, and higher bidding costs. Also, when no one is clicking on your ad, then you’re not generating leads, or retail sales revenue.

Therefore, a headline that’s ‘good enough’ simply isn’t good enough!

What that said, keep in mind that you’ll only have so much character space to play around with. This means that you’ll have to get right to your point, while invoking the type of emotional response that’s going to generate a click.

Here’s how to accomplish this:

• Keep things simple. This isn’t the time to practice writing poetry, or the great American novel.
•  Make your ad highly relevant. Don’t go off on tangents! Think about the type of customer you’d like to attract in your ad. Think about their needs and desires. Then use language that appeals to them. Remember, the ad is about them, not you.
• Make sure that your headline copy is tightly relative to your desired landing page.
  Since the headline is doing most of the heavy-lifting in the prospect’s decision to click the ad, it needs to be extremely relevant to the landing page you’re leading the prospect to.

Not only will you properly lead your prospect through your sales funnel, but in time, Google will reward you with a higher quality score. And this means that you’ll pay less money to bid on your ads in the future.

Of course, you want to make sure that your headline reads well. You don’t want your sales prospect to scratch their heads in confusion, or laugh unintentionally at the headline. You also don’t want to bore the reader, either.

Your PPC ad has a body, too

We all know why it’s important to maintain a physically healthy body, but did you know that PPC ads have a body that needs to be managed and maintained as well?

Here’s how you can make sure that its body is in great shape:

• Keep the language simple. Ideally, it should get to the point and read sharply.
• Use every competitive advantage at your disposal. This is the time to explicitly mention discounts, sales, exclusivity, scarcity, anything that touches on the type of emotional triggers that generates clicks.

Tie a bow with a call-to-action

In marketing, a call-to-action is known as a CTA. CTAs are the second most crucial aspect of marketing copy, after the headline. Yet, a majority of marketers fail to use them!

You’ve been exposed to CTAs in a variety of marketing mediums – from television, print, mailers, radio, you name it! You’ve heard the urgent calls of Buy now! Call this number! Fill out the form! Click here…and so on.

So why aren’t you using them? CTAs have been around for generations, and they’ll continued to be used way past your retirement…because they work!

Listen, if you haven’t instructed your sales prospect to take action, then you’re not finished writing your ad. It’s that simple!

Of course, there’s all sorts of sophisticated ways to give your PPC ads an advantage over your competitors. But if you’d only master a few of these basics, then you’d quickly learn how to stop burning through your ad spend, and start generating revenue.

Tagged ad copy, digital marketing, Paid Search, pay-per-click, PPC, ppc copy