By Owen Fay . Posted on August 17, 2022Nowadays, virtually every company employs digital advertisements to try to boost traffic, exposure, and ultimately sales. They can be an excellent approach to capture consumers’ attention and raise brand awareness.
However, it can be easy for a lot of marketing and design teams to overlook ad copy when creating new creative or campaigns. We can get wrapped up in the design process and disregard the message entirely.
What is ad copy? Ad copy is the language and text that drives visitors to your website and hopefully takes the desired action. Ad copy includes everything from your headlines, body text, and call-to-action (CTA), all of these elements need to be clear, concise, and compelling to get the most out of your digital ads.
By evoking emotion, conveying value, and removing doubt; compelling advertising copy boosts sales and profits. In marketing or advertising, you must understand how ad content can assist your business in generating revenue.
The beliefs that have endured through time all have two crucial traits in common:
- They result from a comprehension of human psychology at its core.
- Whenever new platforms and technologies appear, they migrate effortlessly.
PPC ad copywriting can be challenging. The best part is that writing competitive ad language doesn’t require you to be a particularly brilliant copywriter. In reality, taking a practical approach has its benefits.
We’ll go through 5 tips in this article for enhancing and refining your digital ad copy and creating a message that converts searchers into customers.
1. Create Powerful Headlines
The headline is the most important part of your ad, most users will only read your ad title to form an impression and decide if they want to learn more. You only have a few seconds to gain the attention of the user.
Consider these key tips when creating headlines:
- Focus on Benefits: You should show the user that you solve their problem or help them achieve their goals. Advertise a solution to a problem that relates to your product or services.
- Use Keywords: An ad headline needs to be direct. Connect users’ search intent to your headline to show them they are in the right place.
- Be Clear and Concise: Headlines should display value in as few words as possible. Make sure the headlines are short and to the point.
- Use the Google Headline Optimizer: The Google Headline Optimizer by Poll the People enables you to write user-friendly headlines that drive clicks with the help of AI-backed enterprise software.
A headline is essential to effective ads, make sure you spend time focusing on your benefits, user intent, and the keywords that users are searching for.
2. Use Keywords Throughout the Ad
Keywords should be used throughout the headlines, body copy, and landing page you are sending users to. Think about what words the target audience searches for. Consider the keywords that the intended audience uses when searching. Your ad copy must use the terms your target audience uses if you want to achieve your goals. The headline, description, and display link in Google can all contain keywords.
Creating ad copy that utilizes the correct keywords is a delicate process. You need to balance specific and general keywords throughout the copy to match the user intent to the business offerings while still being natural. Specific keywords gain the attention of the target users, general keywords target a more general audience. It is important to have a mix of both to create the most effective ads.
Above all, make sure the copy is easily understood. Don’t force keywords into the copy, stuffing keywords can make the message unclear and confuse users. You have a small amount of time to communicate your message, too many words will create ineffective ads and you will lose the interest of the audience.
The intent around your keywords makes a big difference in reaching users. Why a user is searching for information? Do they want to make a purchase? Are they looking for a specific website or solution? Think about the user first, what they are trying to accomplish, and develop copy that matches their intentions.
Write focused and unambiguous text for shorter search queries that suggest purchase intent. Direct messages with offers, discounts, price, and perks create the most effective ads. Focus on the advantages you provide for longer-tail keywords and the most valuable information.
3. Always Add Value
Adding value through your digital ads goes hand in hand with using the right keywords. You need to write ad copy that speaks to the target users. Don’t waste their time with unrelated offers or using words that don’t match what your business does just to get clicks.
Sometimes we see ads that receive a lot of clicks and want to create copy that just maximizes them. Qualified clicks from users that are more likely to purchase or sign up are much better than clicks from a user that don’t intend to convert.
Defining your target audience before you create your digital ads is vital. Create buyer personas, created from user research and insights from the audience. You should ask yourself the following questions:
- Who is the target user?
- What kind of problems are they trying to solve?
- What are their demographics?
- Which types of content do they consume?
- How does my product or service make their life better?
This will help you understand who you want to capture through your ads and allow your team to speak their language when crafting your ads. Ad writing that is data-driven will enable you to respond, modify your copy, and boost conversions based on feedback. You can take this even further when you gather data about your competitors.
4. Remember a Call-to-Action
What’s the end goal of your ads? After reading your ad, what do you expect the searcher to do? The best advertisements have a call-to-action that urges the reader to take action, whether it be clicking to learn more or making a purchase right away. A call to action, often known as a CTA, is essential for persuading readers to proceed. You need to clearly tell users what you want them to do and what they are getting out of clicking on your ad.
Never assume that once someone shows interest in your business, they will understand what you want them to accomplish. Give clear instructions on what users must do to take advantage of your offers in simple, direct language. Remember to keep your CTAs brief, concise, and make the most of the interest your value statement created.
Consider the end goal of your ad when writing a CTA. Do you want users to sign up? Purchase a product? Are you just driving traffic to your website? Collecting leads? For example: if you want users to buy your product include “buy” in the CTA. If you want them to read an article include “learn more”. Make sure to use strong language and action verbs in your CTA to grab attention and tell users what the next step is.
The campaign’s goal ultimately informs the call to action. To determine which CTAs motivate customers to take action after viewing your advertisement, you can test a variety of CTAs. To get visitors’ attention and indicate what to do next, utilize powerful language as well as action verbs in your CTA.
5. A/B Test your Ads
A/B testing your ads is a great way to stay agile and understand what elements of the copy need improvement, what is the most effective, and if your ads work.
A/B testing is a way of comparing two resources to understand what works better. A lot of organizations run live A/B tests but this will only tell you the “what” behind the ad, can take days or weeks to complete, and cost hundreds.
A great alternative is Poll the People usability A/B testing. It allows you to gather quantitative and qualitative feedback in under an hour to optimize parts or entire ads. You will get the same value from this test as a live A/B test all while spending far less. For a full breakdown of testing with our platform take a look at this page.
Consider using different word combinations in separate ads to see which copy is more effective. Using two different headlines or body copy to compare ad designs. You could focus on the benefits in one ad and the features in another, compare both ads and determine which copy is more effective with the help of real user feedback.
Conclusion
Ad copy is more complicated than it might seem and has a much bigger impact than most people think. You need to focus on the message you are trying to communicate, the intent of the user, and gather their attention as quickly as possible.
The ad copy is more than just words, it’s a complex process. Keep it clear, concise, and persuasive to create effective ads. Utilize tools like the Google Headline Optimizer and A/B testing by Poll the People.
Whether you are producing digital advertising for the first time or have expertise with these campaigns, keep in mind all of our recommendations, if you pay attention to your ad copy and take steps to optimize them, you can anticipate more leads and conversions from advertising on any platform.
To help people make decisions more quickly, simply, and affordably, Poll the People was developed as a usability A/B testing platform. We specialize in testing for advertisers and designers who want to maximize ideas, designs, usability, and user experience. When you’re ready to begin refining your digital ads to increase conversions, you can sign up for a free account at Poll the People and use our end-to-end user testing tool to guide you in making your next great advertising decision.
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