If you keep up to date with the articles on PPC.org, you will know that I have a series entitled ‘Analyse A Real PPC Campaign’ where I analyse real life campaigns from a range of different sectors (with the last analysis looking at Thomas Cook and Blurb). The reason for this series is because by looking at real life PPC campaigns enables you, advertisers, to see where the big companies are going right and wrong with their campaigns. From this, you will then be able to implement the right elements of these real life campaigns and try to avoid the bad elements too.
For this reason, I thought I would do a two-part article which looks at a range of different PPC adverts and point out their main pros and cons.
 

Sony

 
Pros

• Asks a question which engages the web user into the advert.
• Includes the brand name ‘Sony’ five times since Sony has got a great reputation.
• Uses a call to action in the description ‘Learn more now!’ This also suggests that the landing page is likely to be a product page or an infomercial.

Cons 

• The advert has three ad extensions which makes the overall advert look slightly cluttered. The problem is that all of the ad extensions are right on top of each other and not spaced out well.
• The review is about ‘AV performance’. Although some people will know what that is, the majority of people don’t.
• The site links used by Sony are not the best either. The selection of site links could have been better.

Sony have a good advert here. However, it is let down by the over cluttering of ad extensions significantly. Although much of what is said such as AV performance and Triluminous the web user will not understand, it will at least give them a reason to learn more about AV performance and new TV technology through clicking onto the advert.
 
 

M and M

Pros

• There is a good use of ad extensions. Although there is three ad extensions like there was with Sony, these ad extensions are more spaced out which does not make the advert look cluttered.
• M and M knew three ad extensions might make the advert cluttered. For this reason, the description is kept to a minimal offering a financial incentive and a short and sweet call to action.
• The rating extensions clearly show that consumers are happy with their service building confidence for the web user to use their store.

Cons

• ‘Free P&P over £50’ is not the best financial incentive. They could have had a better incentive to get the web user to click the advert.
• M and M did not choose to include their URL in the title like Sony did. This means if the web users don’t click on the advert, they probably won’t remember the URL as they won’t have looked at the URL section or description if they were just scanning. Therefore, they won’t be able to visit the website direct if they wanted to later.

Ultimately, M and M have a well optimised advert that takes advantage of ad extensions to create a brand image that web users will feel happy with when it comes to shopping for clothes online.
 
To read the part 2, click here.