When it comes to the realm of online advertising, Google AdWords is the undisputed king. Over the course of the last decade, Google’s Pay-Per-Click service has made it simpler than ever for small businesses to expand their digital profiles.
AdWords helps companies to track down likely consumers, enhance their marketing reach and generate scores of invaluable sales leads. That being said, it can be extremely difficult to try and sell your business in just a couple lines of copy. When you’re that limited for space, you’ve got to make every word of your text ads count.
That’s why we’ve rounded up 15 top tips that will ensure you’re able to write the most clever, effective and marketable text ads on AdWords.
Writing Effective Text Ads for Google AdWords
1. Look at Your Competitors
It doesn’t matter whether you’re just getting started on AdWords for the first time or you’ve been using it for a decade – you should always be keeping an eye on the competition. On the one hand, that’s because you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel. Take a look at how your competitors are using AdWords, what their ads say and whether that copy seems to be effective. But on the flip side, be sure to look at what your competitors could be doing wrong so that you can avoid their mistakes.
2. Highlight What Makes You Different
Even if you’re operating in a relatively homogeneous industry, there are going to be loads of small, key differences that help your business to stand out from the competition. Your AdWords promotions are the perfect place to highlight some of those differences. They could be unique menu items, professional accreditations or a dizzying selection of products. If something makes you special, let your customers know about it.
3. Include Exclusive Deals
One of the easiest ways to draw attention to your AdWords entry will be to include a special deal that customers won’t be able to find anywhere else. If you haven’t got any key discounted products or services, use your ad copy to include a special discount code that customers can enter or quote during the checkout process. Handing out a ten percent discount as a loss leader could help you to dramatically bolster online sales.
4. Tell Customers What To Do
Google doesn’t give you a whole lot of words to work with, and so there’s no point beating around the bush. Your copy needs to be concise, direct and active. If you’re selling something, tell customers what to buy. If you’re offering services, tell them what they want to receive. Use strong verbs in your call to action that will instill customers with a bit of confidence before clicking through to your website.
5. Use Keywords
The beauty of AdWords is that it helps you to target customers based upon their keyword searches. Bearing that in mind, why on earth would you not include those same keywords directly in your ad description? Include up to three keywords or phrases that will be sure to capture the attention of consumers. That being said, don’t waste time over-stuffing an entire ad description with keywords. If your ad doesn’t look natural, nobody will click on it.
6. Create a Bespoke Landing Page
If you’re creating an ad to push one specific product or service, it’s worth having a think about how customers will be exposed to it after clicking through to your site. Your ad copy should fit in with the general tone of your product landing page. Try and carry a key phrase or call to action over onto your website. Likewise, ensure you’ve optimized the landing page itself so that you’re showcasing the best of your website.
7. Don’t Make Silly Mistakes
AdWords might be a relatively affordable PPC avenue, but it still costs money. You don’t want to waste money on an advertisement riddled with typos or inaccuracies. Before submitting copy, double-check your grammar, ensure you’ve filled in every line and fact-checked your ad. When in doubt, always ask for a second opinion from a trusted colleague.
8. Keep It Current
One way to attract would-be consumers is to update your copy to ensure it’s time sensitive. First and foremost, it helps to keep things fresh by highlighting new offers or including trending keywords. If your AdWords numbers seem a bit static, don’t be afraid to update your copy. By keeping things up-to-date, you may end up turning a few more heads.
9. Be Specific
Customers generally like to see some sort of number in order to validate your marketing claims. That’s why your AdWords entry is a great place to brag about how many customers you served last month, how many bottles of wine your restaurant has in the cellar or how many miles your delivery drivers have covered.
10. Get Personal
When drafting AdWords text ads copy, you should always make a point of directing your customers directly. That generally means writing in the second person. Try to avoid talking about “we”, “me” and “us”. Customers want to know about what you’ve got for them. Tell them directly.
11. Go Local
One of the most helpful aspects of AdWords is that the service allows you to limit your campaigns based upon geographical area. It’s also possible to target multiple markets at once — but it always pays to cater your copy to appeal to each individual location. Customers want to see products that cater to their needs. If certain products are more popular or useful to certain regions or towns, push them in your AdWords promotions.
12. Explore Extensions
Google also lets you add extensions to your entry that will help it to stand out from the crowd. Location and sitelinks extensions make your ads look bigger and more dynamic. Users can also better engage with your AdWords promotions.
13. Consider Mobiles
No matter what type of business you run, a vast number of consumers are probably going to see your text ads while searching for something on their smartphone. You should really be catering to those individuals. Ensure the landing page associated with your ad is mobile-friendly. You can also use Google’s phone numbers extension to allow customers to instantly phone your business after spotting your ad.
14. Customize Your URL
Believe it or not, the URL included at the bottom of your AdWords entry is almost as important as the ad itself. You should always include a concise, memorable URL in case users are not able to click through to it immediately upon seeing it. That way, it’s easy for them to find you again later.
15. Never Stop Testing
When in doubt, you should never stop testing different text ads. Explore various copy options, different offers and statistics. Find out what works best by creating several versions of each ad and launching them on a smaller scale simultaneously.
AdWords Photo via Shutterstock
With the upcoming changes to AdWords text ads, it will be even more important to test your ad copy because everyone will be dealing with the new, longer headline and short description text.
Zack
Great piece, but would have been a bit better if we had one or two examples for each item discussed.
Thank you for this article. The 15th tip looks like the most important 🙂
I noticed that some ads, from which you never expected a big flow of traffic, can bring an enormous amount of the visitors.
You never know before you try.
Couldn’t agree more about the custom landing pages. Building unique pages for ads is the perfect way to track and analyze. Great post altogether, Nash!
With Google AdWords, there is no minimum investment or monthly ad spend, which means there’s much less of a risk when compared to other advertising options with larger up front costs.