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Five PPC campaign no-no's
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PPC advertising can make sense (and dollars!) with the right approach.
Image courtesy of thesellerdoor.com
Trying to say something useful in the 95 characters you have available when writing a Google AdWords ad is tough. You want to drive people to your web site, have them stick around and maybe even make a purchase. But you don't want to have to pay for clicks that are essentially misunderstandings or mistakes because people misinterpreted your ad. Ideally, a PPC ad should match the thought in a reader's mind about what they are looking for. Then, it should move that person to the appropriate landing page with a click.
To increase the odds of getting that to happen, here are some things NOT to do when creating AdWords campaigns (Remember, a double negative becomes a positive!):
DON'T include your chosen keywords in the ad title
While a lot of Google users (myself included) probably don't put enough thought into their search terms, when they do type something like "auto repair" into the search box, they're already pre-conditioned to recognize the phrase "auto repair" in their search results. So, if you DON'T include "auto repair" in the title of your PPC ad (instead, maybe offering a benefit like "guaranteed service satisfaction"), it's likely the prospective customer will scan right by it - simply because they're looking for the phrase they typed in.
Of course, different users will probably search using different terms, so using multiple keywords is a must. Google AdWords enables a user to create multiple ad groups for a range of important search terms. Each ad can then be written to optimize a particular word or phrase.
DON'T make your ad title interesting or relevant
With Google AdWords, there are only 25 characters for a title. So it's easy to think you can't do much with your ad title, but if it doesn't work, no one will click on your ad. So someone writing a PPC ad has to deal with the conflict between including keywords in ad titles and the need to say something compelling. This suggests you consider bidding more on some of the shorter keywords in your "preferred" group. For example, "auto repair" uses only 11 characters. "Automotive service" uses 18.
DON'T use short words
If it's hard to say nothing in 140 characters on Twitter, imagine how hard it might be to get someone to do something (i.e., click on your link) in 95 characters on Google AdWords? The message may be perfect, but if you're using eight- or 10-character words when you could be using four- or six-character words to say the same thing, you may run into character limits. "Satisfied" can become "happy," "complimentary" can be "free," and "choose" or "select" can become "pick."
Also, it's important to remember that a PPC ad serves a very specific function - to get someone to click on a link to your landing page. It is not the place to communicate feature/benefit information about your product or service.
DON'T be targeted and meaningful
Your PPC ad will not sit by itself on an empty page, nor will it distinguish itself with snappy Flash graphics, bright colors or captivating visuals. So, if your ad says more or less the same thing as every other organic listing and PPC ad on Google's search page, it'll be tough to earn that click you're looking for. One way to stand out is to be highly targeted in your messaging. For example:
- Don't sell printers, sell color laser-jet printers
- Don't sell baseball gloves, sell 111/2-inch infielders gloves
The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to catch the eye of people who really want to buy
DON'T test your ad copy or your landing page
A PPC ad needs to be handled with TLC. Keyword rankings can change and the information on your landing page always needs to accurately reflect the promise made by your ad. Among other things, this means you always need to test your PPC ad copy against certain metrics. What are its bounce rates? Where do people leave your site? How many new visitors does the ad generate? How many sales did it generate? And so on. You may want to try saying the same things in different ways to see what generates the best traffic and the best engagement. Google Analytics can give you all this information by keyword, ad group and campaign.
In the end, that's really all you need to know about creating an effective PPC ad capability. You can make every other mistake in the book - but if you're willing to test and keep testing until you get the results you want, you'll get the attention of the prospects you want and convert them into clicks and sales.
Pop-under ad - an ad that displays in a new browser window behind the current browser window.
Rectangle ad - any one of the large, rectangular banner sizes suggested by the IAB. (300x250)
Rich media - new media that offers an enhanced experience relative to older, mainstream formats. Formats to be familiar with include video, point roll and i-blaster.
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