PPC Copywriting Tips and Mistakes

Econsultancy recently published a great post chock full of PPC ad writing tips and some examples of how to screw it up.

Here are some of the highlights below along with my ideas specific to affiliates.? You can read the full post here.

First of all, read the rules.? Google, Yahoo, and Bing are not hiding their rules from you, so read them…and follow them.? Here are their rules:

Google - Yahoo - Bing

Headlines

1. Be simple and relevant - easy enough
2. Use the keywords that were searched
3. Use Dynamic Keyword Inclusion.? Google has great advice on this here.? Basically this is where you match what was searched automatically with your headline.

Body Text

1. Give them a call-to-action.? “Buy,” “Order,” “Act Now.”
2. Use “Power Words,” such as “Amazing,” “Unique,” “Award-Winning.”
3. Brag! Now is not the time to be modest.
4. Less is more…sometimes. Experiment with NOT using all 35 characters (or whatever the limit is for that search engine).
5. Change your ads to match the sales of the merchant.? If we are running a sale, mention it in the ad.? Guess what?? WE ARE RUNNING A SALE NOW!

Everything Else

1. Experiment with different display URLs.
2. Be short with the display URL.
3. Spell-check…use it!
4. TEST!

Yeah, it’s pretty elementary, but sometimes we need these reminders nonetheless.