Paid search has plenty to offer small and mid-sized businesses, especially when those brands aren't ranking at the top of their desired keyword searches. But spending for this ad space needs to be carefully done so that you aren't throwing away all your marketing dollars. And even when you find the right bid opportunity, there's more work to be done: You need to have strong ad copy in place to take advantage.
Writing effective ad copy is easier said than done. This is especially true if you're a smaller organization without dedicated on-staff marketing writers. In this case, it often makes sense to outsource this work to a trusted partner that has experience creating winning ad copy.
Whether you do it on your own or hand the job over to someone more experienced, make sure that ad copy meets certain criteria. Here's a look at some of the basic objectives any successful ad copy will complete:
Speak to a Problem
Without well-written ad copy, consumers won't be compelled to click on your ad and check out your business. Positioning at the top of the page is great, but what's your ad offering? In most cases, you're addressing a problem the customer is trying to solve. The problem might be: "How can I increase foot traffic into my store?"
This problem should be the focal point of your ad copy. Ideally, the text will speak directly to that pain point and offer the potential of a solution. Striking an emotional chord is more likely to get better results. This could mean explaining how simple marketing moves increase sales volume and alleviate cutting costs. If you know your audience well enough, this should be easy to do.
Write Logically and Clear
Ad copy in paid search ads isn't really the place to practice your most flowery writing style. You have a limited space to communicate your message, and your readers are seeking facts and information rather than artistic style. Copy should be written in a straightforward way: The sentence should be laid out logically with a clear subject and message.
Meanwhile, the solution you're offering needs to be framed as a logical conclusion, whether or not that's actually the case. You might appeal to a person's high stress when discussing the challenges of increasing in-store traffic, but effective ad copy will provide a sense that clicking on the ad will lead to actionable solutions.
Take Advantage of Ad Extensions
Ad extensions use supplementary information to expand your ad and increase the potential for clicks and other engagements. According to Google, common extension formats can include location information, links and call buttons.
These extensions break down into two types: manual and automatic. Google automatically creates some extensions to expand your ads in relevant situations, but brands are encouraged to create their own manual extensions that can be deployed in relevant searches.
You might choose, for example, to use a different dynamic callout than the one offered through an automated extension. If that's the case, you can create your own extension to override the automatic extension. If you're good at studying your own search performance and predicting which extensions might be most successful, you can get better ad performance while also improving your website's quality score, and therefore its Google ad rank.
Since you only have a small space to craft a message for a paid advertisement, every word has to count. Allow yourself the necessary time to write and rewrite your ad copy, improving and refining your ideas until you have an ad that checks off all the boxes and is built for success.
