Get More Traffic to your Website with Effective Google AdWords Ads

How will your customers know you really have what they want? Your potential customers only see your ad when they type a search query. They do not see your campaigns, your ad groups or your keywords. So it is very important to grab their attention with a compelling ad. The buying customers know exactly what they want. So be very specific. If your ad is very general it will not tell potential customers what your business offers. A general ad does not usually stand out.

The most important part of your ad is the headline. Your potential customers will first read the headlines and pick all relevant ones before reading the description lines and display URL. So unless yourheadline captures their attention, they will not click on your ad.

Once the headline attracts attention, the description lines should be very specific in convincing the searcher to click on your ad. Below are a few tips you can use to improve you ad description.

Top 5 tips to improve your ad

1.    Differentiating points
What makes your product or service stand out from your competitors? Highlight these key differentiating points in your ad. Be sure to describe any unique features or promotions you offer.

Some differentiating points you can use are:
•    Save 30% when you buy online
•    Award winning
•    Free shipping
•    30 day money back guarantee

2.    Capitalisation
You can use capitalisation to your advantage by capitalising the first letter of every word in your ad. This will help bring more attention to your ad, but do not capitalise two or three letter words like 'in', 'and', 'of', 'the', etc.

3.    Filter out irrelevant searches
If your product or service has a geographical element, it may help to include that information in your ad. For example, a searcher who does not live in Brisbane is less likely to click on an ad that is promoting 'Brisbane Fitness Classes'.
If your product or service is aimed at high-end users only, you can discourage bargain hunters to click on your ad by describing it as 'Premium Quality' or 'Luxury'.

4.    Use keywords in description lines
Include your keywords in your ad to show users that your ad relates to their search. An additional benefit of including keywords from your ad group in your actual ad text is that those keywords will appear in bold when potential customers view your ad and will help in attracting their attention to your ad.

5.    Use a Call to Action
Your ad should convey a call to action along with the benefits of your product or service. A call to action encourages users to click on your ad and ensures they understand exactly what you expect them to do when they reach your landing page.
A clear call to action is especially important if your goal is to maximize your return on investment (ROI). Offering the user some guidance on what to do once they reach your site, such as 'Sign up Now!', may improve your campaign's performance. The call to action should reflect the action that you consider a conversion, whether it's a sign-up, an enquiry, or an actual sale.

Some call-to-action phrases are:
•    Order Today
•    Sale Ending Soon
•    Buy Now
•    Get a Free Quote
•    Sign up Online


Writing compelling ads alone is not enough to get a sale or a conversion. If your ad takes the searchers to a general page or to the homepage of your website, those searchers will not stick around for long if they do not immediately see what they were searching for. So it is very important that your ad takes the searchers to a specific page on your website where they will find the exact product the ad mentions.  For example, someone searching for backpacks should be taken to a landing page displaying only backpacks, instead of a main page where there are also laptop bags and hand bags.

How do you know which ad will work better?

One mistake advertisers make when advertising on Google AdWords is that they do not test their ads. The first ad you write is rarely the best one that will stand out from your competitor’s ads and bring more traffic to your website. This is why running regular A/B ad split tests with different variation of ads will determine which ad receives more clicks and has a better Click Through Rate (CTR). For a given ad group, you can test out several versions of ad text to evaluate which one performs the best for your business. Try to emphasize different points, qualities, features, or promotions with each version. You can find out whether potential customers respond better to questions such as, 'Need a Business Software?' or to statements like 'Simplify your Business Process'. You may find that a straightforward approach such as 'Decrease your Business Cost Now' works better for you than a vaguer, catchier phrase like 'Boost your Business Performance'. In any case, it will be difficult to predict what will perform best for you before you actually test it.

This article was posted by Manesh Ram. Manesh is Google AdWords certified and SEM Campaign Manager at Traffika. You can follow Manesh on Twitter @maneshram.