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There is an infinite number of tips and marketing strategies that claim they can help you write a successful promotional ad from marketing advertisements. However, on the other hand, there are strategies that have already been tried and proven successful in writing ads that can achieve impressive results, making them the most suitable and worthy of application. We do not need to reinvent the wheel; it is better to start where others left off. 

Especially when it comes to writing PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads on Google, you will find a vast sea of different and distracting methods and strategies. There is a set of tactics for marketing ads to research, write, and optimize ad copy that you can always rely on; to improve click-through rates.

In this article, we will guide you through the basics of writing text marketing ads, and some proven strategies for writing high-converting PPC ad copy.

What are PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads?

PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads are an online advertising model used to direct visitors to websites, where the advertiser (website owner) pays the publisher (the platform where the ad was created) only when the ad is clicked by the target audience.

There are several types of pay-per-click ads, marketing ads, but one of the most common types is paid search advertising. This ad appears when people search for things online using search engines like Google.

What does a PPC ad look like?

Before you start optimizing your pay-per-click (PPC) ad copy to drive more conversions, it is important to first know the structure and format of a text ad on Google Ads.

You cannot get the most out of an ad without knowing the basic design parts of the ad and knowing which part readers pay the most attention to. Identifying the parts of your text ads that aim to convert the highest possible rate of customers to your site before you start writing is crucial.

Here is an example to illustrate the format of PPC ads:

When writing the text parts of your ad, you will find that the first, second, and third headlines make up the majority of your ad. All three of these headlines appear in prominent blue text above your ad's actual URL and will likely be the biggest factor in getting users to click, with the page URL displayed directly below the headlines, and finally, you'll have the description.

The marketing ad copy in the description is where you can start explaining your real offer; because here you are not restricted to tightly packing your keywords within the allowed character count, unlike the headlines.

The path to writing an attractive PPC promotional ad to convert users to your site

Now, after knowing how to create a PPC Google ad, it is time to learn how to write the best text copy for the ad to attract customers to your site. Do not let enthusiasm drive you to write quickly without knowing the right path to launch the ad; otherwise, you will waste your budget in vain.

To ensure you stay on the right track, here are the best proven strategies in writing attractive marketing ads that have contributed to attracting thousands of visitors to the largest online stores.

• Competitor Research

Keep in mind that all good digital marketing strategies begin and end with competitive research. You will always need to know your competitors; to be able to identify the closest target segment to purchase your products, as well as to discover their weaknesses so you can differentiate yourself to your audience.

You can discover this in simple ways, including opening an incognito browsing window in Google Chrome and searching for the five most frequently searched keywords in your industry. This way, you may see some ads published by brands you've never heard of before and discover new competitors.

Tracking competitors does not mean that you will follow the strategy they use in writing their Google ads, but you will discover the keywords that help them attract customers, as well as what they might do to increase CTR, and what distinguishes their brands and offers from other competitors. 

The more unique your appearance is to new users interested in your products, the more likely you are to grab their attention away from competitors who are all trying to offer the same thing.

• Ad Extensions

These are powerful ad copy tools that PPC advertisers can leverage to access more information about their users and increase engagement and qualified clicks.

Marketing ad extensions perform different tasks based on how you use them. They can help publish different relevant offers to interested users, provide necessary pricing information to customers in the market, and even display locations and numbers of local businesses looking to segment traffic by relevance and location, some of which we will cover in detail in the next part of the article.

• Calls to Action (CTA) and Purchase Intent

One of the most famous overlooked strategies in PPC ads, marketing ads, is using calls to action (CTAs) and aligning them with the level of customer need for your products. Simply put, the customer's level of enthusiasm to interact with your ad is measured by their level of need for the product and their purchase intent.

Do not be afraid to use direct, actionable calls to action in your ad copy, especially in the marketing ads headline, but it is important to also keep in mind the purchase intent level of the searchers.

If you are showing keyword ads at the top of the funnel that generate interest in your products, you do not want to lose potential conversions with too many hard sell CTAs like "Buy Now" or "Call Us Today." Choose the appropriate calls to action for the target customer's purchase intent level. Sometimes walking a long path is better to reach the right customer. Also, here are 7 sales-boosting strategies.

Tips to Help You Write Exceptional PPC Marketing Copy

Writing ad copy is not done randomly; it has conditions and standards to ensure its success. Each platform even imposes its own conditions for its text ad copy. For example: to ensure your ad's success on Google, the character count must be very small. Using any word randomly may harm your ads and negatively affect your results. Every character can make a big difference in your ad results; it is also essential to use the keywords you want to rank for.

The goal of the words in your ads is to drive potential customers to click on them. Fortunately, there are some tricks you can use, and some tried and true ideas that have been previously tested on dozens of stores.

1- Where is its position in the buyer's journey or decision-making stage?

Think from the visitor's perspective and write an ad that meets their specific needs and fits their location in the buying journey. Every visitor has a problem and different needs that drive them within your site. This search journey is similar to the buyer's journey we talked about before in a separate article. 

If the average conversion rate in e-commerce is around 1-2%, then what do 98-99% of visitors do when they land on your site? They search, browse, compare, and evaluate your products; they do everything except buy.

Awareness + Research & Analysis = Possibility of making a purchase decision 

Group One: People are suffering from a problem and have become aware of it, but they are still searching - or not aware enough - for the solution.

Group Two: They are a bit closer to making a decision and start thinking about finding a solution to the problem.

Group Three: Focuses on making a decision.

The most common reason for most marketing ad problems is that store owners advertise the wrong product to the wrong person at the wrong time; this is the reason why many ads do not succeed.

The ad itself, as well as the offer you are making, might be flawless, but your use of keywords that are inappropriate for the target segment is the root of the problem. Perhaps the customers you are targeting haven't yet realized that the most appropriate solution to this problem is selling the car; they are still stuck thinking about trying to fix it.

This error does not mean your ad cannot achieve results, but your knowledge of the search journey and the buying journey will enable you to save the situation. With some simple adjustments, you can move your ad "up" in the search journey to attract people who are still heavily stuck in the awareness phase. 

You may need to focus first on people in the awareness stage and then follow up to help them make a purchase decision. Therefore, focus first on the visitor's goal and then think about what you will write to attract them and move them to the next stage of the buying journey. Thus, you can learn about the 8 most important stages of the customer journey to your online store.

How to write a suitable ad for each stage of the buyer's journey?

• Find out exactly where the buyer is in the search journey/buyer's journey.

• Use the appropriate keywords for them when writing your ad.

• Customize your ad message to achieve a specific goal.

• Rely on traffic sources to discover where your target customers are coming from in 

every stage of the buyer's journey to know from where you will attract them to your site.

Suitable keywords for each stage of the buyer's journey: 

In the previous example regarding car transmission failure, you will find some appropriate keywords for each stage, such as: 

• Awareness stage: (repair - replace - discover the main cause of the failure).

• Research and analysis stage: (improve - tool).

• Buying decision phase: (quotes - pricing, discount).

These steps will help you determine where the target customer is, as well as what keywords can easily attract them and move them to the next stage of the buyer's journey. 

2- Match your ad with the customers' degree of need and their locations.

Writing an attractive and clear headline is great, but why don't target customers click on it? The problem is that your ad does not match the target customers' needs and location.

We have learned in the previous point to analyze the buyer's journey to determine which keywords are most suitable to use in your ad. When you discover the stage people are in, the size of the threat they face, and then target each of them in the appropriate ad for them according to their enthusiasm to buy and the platform they are searching on, you will lead customers to your store seamlessly as if you are practicing magic.

Putting ourselves in the visitor's shoes and determining their level of intent to buy is one of the most important factors in successful advertising. For example, display ads on Google usually attract unaware traffic. Marketing ads: the same applies to video and social media. People discover that there is a solution to their problem by chance, which sparks their interest to browse other things. But when they move to search, they search with more interest than just discovering a solution to the problem.

Coupons and discounts also attract these people. They want a quick and immediate solution to their problem, and they are not ready to fill out a long form or sit through an hour-long webinar (like those who enthusiastically compare alternatives).

3- Make the value you offer clear and explicit

It is easy to distract people's attention. Keep in mind that the target customer might be doing something else while reading your ad.

The trick you can use to grab their attention is to focus clearly and explicitly on what they will get in return for the cost, by using perfect and highly specific call-to-action phrases.

Note that in the previous screenshot, the value of the offer appears clear and explicit. The ad publisher focuses on the fact that you can buy a .com domain "value" for 3.29 SAR "cost" with a CTA of Buy Now. 

4- Guide the customer using a call to action CTA

 Once you attract a potential customer to your site, this means you have a better chance than competitors to complete the purchase process. It is time to guide the user on what you want them to do inside your site. This is where the call-to-action phrase plays the hero role in guiding the user and converting them to the next stage of the buyer's journey. 

Using a call to action in your ad copy is a great way to increase click-through and conversion rates. Common examples of CTA phrases include:

•  Buy Now

•  Shop Today

•  Contact Us

• Register Now 

Using these phrases will help you guide your visitors to the desired conversion point once they reach your ad's landing page.

5- Use the appropriate title and punctuation

In addition to words and the actual content in your text ad, format and punctuation are very important. We recommend using title case to write each ad. Title case can be used by capitalizing every word in your ad except for short articles and prepositions.

Additionally, recommend ending each description line with appropriate punctuation. Marketing ads: doing this ensures strong readability despite Google's display of your ad. Punctuation should be used in the description lines and not in the headline of your ad.

6- Try experimenting! Test, test, test! 

Writing great ad copy doesn't always happen on the first try. By running ad tests, you can find out what words make your customers hesitate and what attracts them immediately. Marketing ads: testing to reach the best that can be done is the way to continue achieving impressive results for your site.

7- Testing psychological approaches to writing the best ad.

The messaging used in ad copy can be a major selling point, but it doesn't have to be boring and repetitive. If you browse SERPs, you will find them full of this kind of pleasant messaging across all ad segments. This is an opportunity for you to stand out from others.

It is important to test different psychological approaches to ad copy to see which performs best with your target audience. Here is a quick summary of the main types of ad copy approaches:

Features: Emphasizing physical or intangible aspects of the product/service. (as soft as silk).

Benefits: Demonstrating positive outcomes the visitor will get from the product/service. (more comfortable sleep).

Problem: Focus on the actual problem at hand that the visitor is trying to solve. (tired of wasting time?).

Solution: Focus on solving the problem faced by the visitor. (save your time).

Testimonials: Using actual feedback/testimonials to leverage social proof. ("This product changed my life").

Reviews: Third-party ratings of the product/service, not from customers.

Rise to the Top: Write about any awards or ratings that show you are the best. (Best "Product" award in 2020).

Pre-qualification: Exclude people who may not be suitable for your service before clicking. ("Luxury Hotels", in an attempt to weed out budget travelers).

Once you test any of these approaches, reflect that on the landing page as well to create a cohesive feeling from start to finish. Choose images and calls to action that reflect those approaches whenever possible.

8- Use sitelink extensions.

Sitelink extensions are simply additional texts and links that can appear with the ad copy. You should leverage them to add supporting information to the primary ad copy in your ad group. These basically work for browsing the site, but directly in the SERPs.

9- Use ad extensions

Marketing ad extensions are an easy way to give you more space to work with in your PPC ad copy. The more space you have to write, the more valuable, powerful, and informative the marketing ads will be. There are many different types of ad extensions available to us. Here is the full list of Google Ads extensions:

• Use Callout Extensions

Callout feature extensions are easier than sitelink extensions. Just a line of text, no more than 25 characters.

This text can be used to put almost anything that helps support the ad. Similar to sitelink extensions, it is best for this text to be complementary and not repeat what is in the original ad. This could be a quick list of features, benefits, or further information (like "free shipping") if they don't fit in the ad body.

• Structured Snippets

Structured snippets allow you to create a list within the additional ad information. All you have to do is choose the header you want to start the list with, and then add the texts below with up to 25 characters for each.

There are a number of other ad assets that can be added to any campaign. Most often, it's best to have as many ad assets as possible so that any of them can be recalled at any time.

However, do not forget the primary reason for the ad. Sometimes, one marketing ad extension can be restricted and another type shown more often, which could cause a drop in performance. Keep this in mind when setting up additional ad assets. Get as much full coverage as possible, but do not sacrifice performance for extensions. Also, setting up payment gateways is of importance that you should know.

Conclusion:

Writing marketing ads is a blend of art and science. It requires you to look beyond the ad itself, to the landing page as well. Do not forget that we are targeting people, so by following as many of these practices as possible, you will be able to attract and convert them to your store:

1. Where is its position in the buyer's journey or decision-making stage?

2. Match your ad with the customers' degree of need and their locations.

3. Make the value you offer clear and explicit.

4. Guide the customer using a call to action CTA.

5. Use the appropriate title and punctuation.

6. Try experimenting! Test, test, test!

7. Testing psychological approaches to writing the best ad.

8. Use sitelink extensions.

9. Use ad extensions.

Always remember that the reason we are here is potential customers. In every ad and on every landing page, we are always talking to people. The last thing you should do before launching your ad is to review it carefully:

• Is this the link you want to click on?

• Does this look appealing?

• Does this ad make sense or is it just a bunch of keywords stacked next to each other?

• Does the landing page deliver the value specified in the ad copy?

Now, in your hands are the best practices and most important tips you can follow to run a successful ad. Try these best practices by easily linking your store to the Google Adwords program through the Salla platform, and let us know your results!

How to create your first ad campaign through Google Ads

In this video, we will explain how to create a new campaign using the Google Ads program, and we will walk together through the creation steps starting from logging into your account, passing through specifying your campaign settings, customizing your ad, and ending with determining your campaign budget.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFbnGGV1E6M