The great thing about pay per click advertising is the level of customization an advertiser can perform to their campaign. For adverts, they can have text or image adverts in a wide range of sizes that recently have just been extended. For this reason, it is quite difficult sometimes to know what makes a successful PPC ad. What should a PPC advert include to make it gain a high CTR and encourage conversions? Below are some universal reasons to what makes a successful PPC ad.
The Use Of Ad Extensions
Ad extensions are crucial to search adverts in the sense that they provide much more contextual detail to an ad which will encourage the web user to click on it. Let’s take an example:
This advert of Auto Trader’s is good. They promote both the fact they have new and used cars for sale with a few extras mentioned in the description. However, does that really explain everything Auto Trader has to offer? If they sell new and used cars, does that mean people can advertise their car on Auto Trader too then? Let’s look at the same advert with an ad extension:
From just using the site links extension, the advert has opened up the opportunity for the web user to click onto different areas of Auto Trader’s website that relate to them more such as bikes or to sell a car. Site links should be used by all advertisers nowadays since they can significantly increase the CTR and conversation rate of a PPC campaign.
The Use of a Call To Action
A call to action is the simplest way to boost your PPC ad’s performance. All it does it tell the web user what you want them to do and doing so, they are more likely to do it – how can you expect the web user to do what you want if you don’t tell them what that is? Let’s take another example:
This advert is good, but it is not amazing. It only informs the web user of their services. Now, let’s put a call to action into this advert.
With just three words, the advert is transformed completely. The web user will feel more inclined to click on the advert now with the addition of a call to action. They really do work! Here’s a tip – it is usually best to have call to actions at the of the descriptions.
Short and Sweet
Web users generally don’t read long adverts. Why? Because they are long. Unfortunately, web users have a very short attention span because they know the alternative is just a click or scroll away. For this reason, the shorter you keep your advert, the better. A shorter advert will be read much more than a longer advert with the same amount of information in it. Take Apple for example:
The advert is to the point, has a call to action and is short and sweet. Once you have the click, you know the web user is interested and that is when you can put more information onto the landing page for the web user to digest – not before the point when they are unsure if they are interested or not.
