How To Write Ads for More Clicks and Conversions

Sarah Burns

Ads that attract attention and compel searchers to click are more likely to convert. So how do you create ads that do both? Here are 7 key tactics you can leverage in your search campaigns to improve your click-through rates while also increasing conversions.

1. Attract attention with the headline or image.
Arguably, no form of advertising is more rooted in head-to-head competition than paid search. Your ads appear next to other search ads and organic listings, and are just a click away from competitive websites. The most effective approaches for grabbing attention in the headline require thinking through consumer’s motivations. Great headlines speak directly to their biases, fears or aspirations.

2. Emphasize benefits.
Ad copy should convey the end result that a searcher is looking for. What problem are you solving for a potential customer? If you’re selling a gadget that increases productivity because of your fantastic technology, focus on the productivity gains in your ad text rather than listing out technical features.

3. Differentiate your offering.
To attract attention to your product or service, include differentiators in the headline, ad text, or body of an ad. Good examples of differentiators are price, unique benefits, stats, and social proof. Consider these differentiators:

• If you have case studies of customers experiencing X% better performance or Y% cost savings, call that out in the ad. Percentages will catch the searcher’s eye if most of the other ads are text.
  
• Has your company won an award? Do you have a lot of impressive sounding customers? Including this in ad copy can lend a level of credibility to an ad that other advertisers cannot provide.

4. Address your audience’s pain points.
Get inside the mind of your audience and understand their pain points. Directly addressing pain points in your ad copy is a great way to grab a customer’s attention, engage them emotionally, and move them to action.

5. Include keywords where appropriate.
In many cases, including a keyword is a great way to increase click-through rates and conversions. Including the keyword in the ad reinforces the idea that your ad answers a searcher’s quest. It also bolds the copy. However, including keywords when it doesn’t naturally integrate with the ad copy, or when several advertisers in your vertical are already doing it, can be counter-productive.

6. Include a strong call to action.
A surprising number of ads don’t explicitly ask the searcher to do anything. Your ad needs to clearly suggest a next step for the searcher. If you’re offering a whitepaper, rather than closing the ad with, “Free whitepaper!” try including an ad with an explicit CTA like, “Download a Free Whitepaper Today!”

7. Continuously test your ad copy!
With so many different tactics and approaches to writing ad text, the only way to know which are successful is to test, test and test some more. If you don’t test many various possible ads on a regular basis, it’s likely that your click-through and conversion rates could be higher.

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