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PPC Ads: Words That Sell

If your company consists of only two people, one should be a capable copywriter. There is no single skill more important to the success of your digital marketing strategy than copywriting. None, nada, zip. And yes, there are complex technologies required to target and deliver the right content to the right person at the right time but it’s the words that move people, not the technology.

Your copy needn’t be verbose. One of the most powerful verses in the Bible – a book known for its powerful conversions – is also the shortest: “And Jesus wept.”

The length of a search engine ad requires you get to
your point with the directness of a .38 caliber bullet.

No copy you’re likely to write will be more concise than a search engine ad. You need to attract your prospect’s attention with a 25 character title, then sell them with an additional 70 characters. Search engine ads make the old Burma shave commercials along the roadside seem garrulous.

Writing Ad Copy for Search Engines

The constraint imposed by the length of a search engine ad requires you get to your point with the directness of a .38 caliber bullet. It precludes an ambling list of benefits, alluring images, SHOUTING, even bad punctuation!! You only have a few words to sell the click. How do you make them count?

Words That Sell is a wonderful book for PPC copywriters. Richard Bayan didn’t really write the book for search engine advertising. In fact, it was originally published in 1984 before PPC ads were even a gleam in some engineer’s wild eyes. The book delivers what the title promises, words that drive sales whether that copy is in a catalog, brochure, point of purchase poster, stocking stuffer or search engine ad.

Words That Sell includes 62 ways to say “exciting,” for example, and 57 variations on “reliable.” There are words to justify a high price (“living well is the best revenge”) or knock the competition (“clones”), 57 ways to advertise discounts (“lowest prices allowed by law!), 64 ways to say superior (“transcends the common”) and 58 other categories from Attention Grabbers to Special Strategies.

Writing effective ad copy is hard work, perhaps the hardest part of search engine advertising. Simply stringing together words from a book isn’t an effective strategy for writing PPC ads but it can help spark your imagination. Any help is welcome when you’re sitting in front of your keyword staring at an empty screen and the clock is ticking toward your deadline.

Writing Relevant Search Engine Ads

“Relevance is the single most significant factor
in getting your prospects to take action.”

The opportunity to snag your prospect’s attention with a PPC ad is similar to that of a billboard streaking past the passenger window at 60 miles per hour but with less text, a smaller font, and no pictures. What makes your PPC ad more successful than a billboard is relevance. Your prospect has expressed their intent through their keywords. The more you can speak to that intent, the more successful your ad.

“Relevance is the single most significant factor in getting your prospects to take action,” Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg wrote in Persuasive Online Copywriting (Wizard Academy Press, 2003). The keyword that triggers your ad is the bridge to relevance but for your ad to be effective, for it sell the click and move your prospect from search page to landing page, your ad copy must speak to them where they live – in the buying cycle.

The buying cycle begins with recognition of a need. It may be a vague, undefined need but it’s a need. After walking a trail on Cougar Mountain, my ankles ache and I realize that my Converse tennis shoes, although fashionably retro, are probably not the best footwear for a mountain. I need something better. I’ve recognized a need.

Researching a solution is the next step in the cycle. This is likely an iterative step as I become more informed about alternatives. I’ll probably begin searching on general keywords like “hiking boots,” then refine my search to “hiking shoes” as I progress through my research, and finally “light weight hiking shoes” as I define the features important to me. Finally, my search resolves to specific brands of hiking shoes. Each iterative step has its own set of keywords more specific than the one before. Each step requires different copy to remain relevant. Not only ad copy but landing page copy as well.

Don’t pitch your ad like a used car salesman
with a 10 gallon hat and a tiger named Spot.

For example, in my first search, an ad that prominently features “Hiking Boots Reviews & Guide” would appeal to my ignorance. I don’t yet know what I don’t know. When I realize there is something called a hiking shoe, then an ad that includes “Hiking Shoes – Find, Compare, Buy” might attract my attention. Once I’ve determined that I want a pair of New Balance M607gr, the competition becomes even more intense.

An ad with the title “new balance” that obviously used dynamic keyword insertion but didn’t bother to get the capitalization right doesn’t even make my short list. I might bite on “New Balance Blowout Sale” if it didn’t seem too brash, too much like a used car salesmen with a ten gallon hat and a pet tiger named Spot. “New Balance Clearance” tickles my interest but I’m concerned that clearance means either discontinued models or a company going out of business. Buying shoes online is risky enough already.

The ad that sells me has the simple title “New Balance M607gr.” It’s not clever or trendy but it speaks directly to my interest, to my query. It incorporates both the brand and the model. The ad copy offers free shipping and exchanges, increasing the offer’s value while decreasing my risk. The ad effectively sells the click.

Qualifying Prospects with Your Ad

PPC ads are hard working. They’re expected not only to sell the click but sell it to the right person. The more relevant your ad is to your prospect’s intent, the more highly qualified your prospect becomes, assuming that what you’re advertising is what you’re selling. If your landing page copy doesn’t reinforce the pitch of your PPC ad, then you’ve introduced dissonance into your sales cycle. But that’s a subject for another post.