The first page of Google's search results is a war zone. Are your ads winning the fight? Ill-prepared retailers will be overlooked and lose revenue.
-Who are you enticing to click your ads?
-How are you enticing them?
-What are you enticing them toward?
In this Retailer Web Clinic, Timothy Seward, founder of ROI Revolution, explores 5 real-world tactics to increase your ad click-through-rate and drive more sales by writing better ads.
Watch the On-Demand web clinic replay at http://goo.gl/P3oPXr
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AdWords Ad Writing Tactics for eCommerce Retailers
1. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Retailer Web Clinic:
Ad Tactics in AdWords
5 Ecommerce-Specific Strategies to
Drive More Results & Profits
Welcome to our Retailer Web Clinic: Ad Tactics in AdWords – 5 Ecommerce-specific strategies to drive more results & profits. We will
focus our attention on the skill of writing effective retail ads and other tactics to target shoppers searching for your products online.
The tactics you use in writing your AdWords ads set up the searcher’s experience for your site. Everything from the text to the landing
page is important to consider. Your ads are the only part of your AdWords campaign that a shopper is going to see. So you need to
spend time implementing these ad writing tactics to get your ads noticed by searchers and drive traffic and sales to your website.
2. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 1: Match the Headline & Ad
Text to your Keywords
Tactic 1: Match the Headline & Ad Text to your Keywords
You will want searchers to know that you are selling what they are looking for. So, use the keywords in the ad text and display URL as
well as in the headline of your ad. Google will bold any words in your ad text that matches the query and help get your ad noticed,
increase your click-through-rate, and lower your CPC.
3. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 1: Match the Headline & Ad
Text to your Keywords
So, here we have a query for wine bottle stoppers. Even though “Wine stopper” is included in the display URL, it is missing from the
headline and description lines. This ad doesn’t jump off the page as well.
On a separate note, Notice use of website in description line #2. This is using 16 of the 35 characters for the description line. Perhaps
a better ad message that incorporated the keywords here would be more relevant.
4. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 1: Match the Headline & Ad
Text to your Keywords
Here is another example of keywords being in the headline, ad text, and display URL. This query was for “framed art”. I don’t think
you can get more relevant than framedart.com, but they also use framed art in the headline with a clear call-to-action to Buy Framed
Art for Less with a discount, and they wrote their 1st description line so they benefit from an extended headline that has a second
bolded keyword term in it. This is a win on many levels.
5. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 2: Use a Clear Call-to-Action
.
Tactic 2: Use a Clear Call-to-Action
At the end of your ad text, tell the searcher exactly what you want them to do (e.g. “Buy Now!” or “Order Today”) Make it clear &
actionable.
6. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 2: Use a Clear Call-to-Action
Let’s look at some ads we found for “GPS tracking”…what are we supposed to do with these ads? While each ad has tells us about
benefits of their product, they aren’t telling me what to do next. Searchers need to be told – Buy Today or Shop Now.
Even though we found these ads in positions 6-8, you should ALWAYS have a call to action regardless of position.
7. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 2: Use a Clear Call-to-Action
Here is another example of using a clear call-to-action. In fact, they use ‘Shop’ in the headline and in the 2nd description line.
8. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 3: Use the Right Landing Page
Tactic 3: Use the Right Landing Page
Don’t dump all visitors on the homepage of your site. Your landing page should follow up on what your ad promised. A smooth handoff
from the ad to your landing page will ensure that the clicks you paid for will turn into profitable customers.
Here the searcher selected an ad relevant to their “helm seats” query and landed on a page selling helm seats.
9. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 3: Use the Right Landing Page
Here is an example of a perfectly written ad – it’s in the top position, it has the keywords in the headline, ad text, and display URL.
However when you click to buy your Halloween party favors, it takes you to an error page. Albeit a cute error page, this page won’t
generate a sale unless I’m willing to start searching the site. This is a gamble not worth taking. So, it’s important to send searchers to
the products they are looking for. In this case, the most appropriate page would likely be a category page featuring all Halloween
party favors.
10. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 3: Use the Right Landing Page
And finally this ad for puppy collars only takes us to the home page for these swanky collars. It’s not clear that they are specific to
puppies, so the user would need to search for puppy sizes. We’d recommend finding a better landing page for this ad on “puppy
collars”.
Let’s move on to our next tactic.
11. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 4: Always Test at Least 2 Ads
- Ad Testing Tip: Only
test one part of the ad at
a time.
- Ex: landing page or
headline.
Tactic 4: Always Test at Least 2 Ads
Every ad group should be testing 2 ads all the time. Over time, one ad will have a higher click-through-rate and/or conversion rate.
You can pause the underperforming ad and write another ad to try to beat the control. This is an ongoing process to keep improving
upon your ad text.
Ad Testing Tip: Only test one part of the ad at a time. For example, test different landing pages or different headings. If you try to test
multiple aspects during one test it will be virtually impossible to definitively decide what the winning element was.
12. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 4: Always Test at Least 2 Ads
So split testing your ads could be as simple as changing the headline or tweaking the offer. Even the smallest changes can have a big
impact. For example, if we had ads for bunk beds, we could test these 2 ads against each other and see if the phrase “overstock
sale” performs different that “100s of Bunk & Loft Beds”.
After running both ads for a period of time you would eventually choose a “winner” and then test that winner against another new ad –
either changed the phrase again or testing another element like the offer.
13. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 5: Use Ad Extensions
Tactic 5: Use Ad Extensions
Maximize your ad real estate by using ad extensions. These include: sitelinks of related products, call extensions, and location
extensions in your campaigns. When these extensions show, your ad will capture more real estate and stand out on the search
results page. In this example, there are 3 ad extensions live – sitelinks, location extensions, and social extensions - giving
hhgregg.com twice the normal real estate on the results page.
14. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 5: Use Ad Extensions
Let’s look at another example. A search for “swiss watches” produces 3 ads at the top of the page. Notice that none of the ads have
any sitelink extensions. The 2nd ad is showing a social extension for their Google+ page, but this is only triggered when your Google+
page reaches 100 followers. So these advertisers are losing out on expanded real estate with sitelinks or other extensions.
15. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 5: Use Ad Extensions
Sitelink extensions are the additional website links that can drive searchers to different parts of your website. All sitelinks must link to
a unique URL, so for this Disney ad you have 5 different links – the headline + 4 sitelinks each offering something different based on
where a searcher might be in the buying cycle.
16. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 5: Use Ad Extensions
For call extensions, you want to have them for desktop campaigns in the event people searching for you want to pick up the phone to
call. But, they are super powerful on mobile devices when the user may be more inclined to click that call button and your phone
number populates in the users phone to make that call. This is the click to call feature. You are charged for the call the same as you
would if they clicked your ad to visit your site. So as you can see in this mobile Google search for “haircuts for men” the 1st ad has a
call extension making it easy for me to call them from my mobile device.
17. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Tactic 5: Use Ad Extensions
Location extensions not only give searchers your address, when they are clicked a searcher is taken to Google maps where they can
get directions to your store.
For mobile ads, your location extensions will be listed as a link to “Get Directions” with the map icon.
18. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
The Ins & Outs of Ad Writing Cheat Sheet
Includes:
• Powerful Words
• Best Ad Writing Practices
• Example Ads
• Tips & Tricks
• Ad Testing Tips
• Ideas to get you started
• And more…
19. Slideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.comSlideshare courtesy of www.ROIRevolution.com
Still Want More AdWords Tactics?
Request our “50 Ways for
Retailers to Drive More Sales &
More Profits with AdWords”
booklet.
www.roirevolution.com/50-ways
Hinweis der Redaktion
TIMOTHY
Welcome to our Retailer Web Clinic: Ad Tactics in AdWords – 5 Ecommerce-specific strategies to drive more results & profits. We will focus our attention on the skill of writing effective retail ads and other tactics to target shoppers searching for your products online.
Victoria –
Tactic 1: Match the Headline & Ad Text to your Keywords
You will want searchers to know that you are selling what they are looking for. So, use the keywords in the ad text and display URL as well as in the headline of your ad. Google will bold any words in your ad text that matches the query and help get your ad noticed, increase your click-through-rate, and lower your CPC.
Victoria
So, here we have a query for wine bottle stoppers. Even though “Wine stopper” is included in the display URL, it is missing from the headline and description lines. This ad doesn’t jump off the page as well.
[Notice use of website in description line #2. This is using 16 of the 35 characters for the description line. Perhaps a better ad message that incorporated the keywords here would be more relevant.]
Victoria
Here is another example of keywords being in the headline, ad text, and display URL. This query was for “framed art”. I don’t think you can get more relevant than framedart.com, but they also use framed art in the headline with a clear call-to-action to Buy Framed Art for Less with a discount, and they wrote their 1st description line so they benefit from an extended headline that has a second bolded keyword term in it.
This is a win on many levels.
TIMOTHY –
Tactic 2: Use a Clear Call-to-Action
At the end of your ad text, tell the searcher exactly what you want them to do (e.g. “Buy Now!” or “Order Today”) Make it clear & actionable.
TIMOTHY
Let’s look at some ads we found for “GPS tracking”…what are we supposed to do with these ads? While each ad has tells us about benefits of their product, they aren’t telling me what to do next. Searchers need to be told – Buy Today or Shop Now.
Even though we found these ads in positions 6-8, you should ALWAYS have a call to action regardless of position.
[potential to point out other issues with these ads – double punctuation in ad #2, a couple of the headlines are not as specific to query as they could be, etc]
TIMOTHY
Here is another example of using a clear call-to-action. In fact, they use ‘Shop’ in the headline and in the 2nd description line.
Victoria –
Tactic 3: Use the Right Landing Page
Don’t dump all visitors on the homepage of your site. Your landing page should follow up on what your ad promised. A smooth handoff from the ad to your landing page will ensure that the clicks you paid for will turn into profitable customers.
Here the searcher selected an ad relevant to their “helm seats” query and landed on a page selling helm seats.
Victoria
Here is an example of a perfectly written ad – it’s in the top position, it has the keywords in the headline, ad text, and display URL. However when you click to buy your Halloween party favors, it takes you to an error page. Albeit a cute error page, this page won’t generate a sale unless I’m willing to start searching the site. This is a gamble not worth taking. So, it’s important to send searchers to the products they are looking for. In this case, the most appropriate page would likely be a category page featuring all Halloween party favors.
Victoria
And finally this ad for puppy collars only takes us to the home page for these swanky collars. It’s not clear that they are specific to puppies, so the user would need to search for puppy sizes.
Let’s move on to our next tactic.
Victoria –
Tactic 4: Always Test at Least 2 Ads
Every ad group should be testing 2 ads all the time. Over time, one ad will have a higher click-through-rate and/or conversion rate. You can pause the underperforming ad and write another ad to try to beat the control. This is an ongoing process to keep improving upon your ad text.
Ad Testing Tip: Only test one part of the ad at a time. For example, test different landing pages or different headings. If you try to test multiple aspects during one test it will be virtually impossible to definitively decide what the winning element was.
Victoria
So split testing your ads could be as simple as changing the headline or tweaking the offer. Even the smallest changes can have a big impact. For example, if we had ads for bunk beds, we could test these 2 ads against each other and see if the phrase “overstock sale” performs different that “100s of Bunk & Loft Beds”.
After running both ads for a period of time you would eventually choose a “winner” and then test that winner against another new ad – either changed the phrase again or testing another element like the offer.
TIMOTHY –
Tactic 5: Use Ad Extensions
Maximize your ad real estate by using ad extensions.
These include: sitelinks of related products, call extensions, and location extensions in your campaigns. When these extensions show, your ad will capture more real estate and stand out on the search results page.
In this example, there are 3 ad extensions live – sitelinks, location extensions, and social extensions - giving hhgregg.com twice the normal real estate on the results page.
{con’t}
TIMOTHY
Let’s look at another example. A search for “swiss watches” produces 3 ads at the top of the page. Notice that none of the ads have any sitelink extensions. The 2nd ad is showing a social extension for their Google+ page, but this is only triggered when your Google+ page reaches 100 followers. So these advertisers are losing out on expanded real estate with sitelinks or other extensions.
TIMOTHY
Sitelink extensions are the additional website links that can drive searchers to different parts of your website. All sitelinks must link to a unique URL, so for this Disney ad you have 5 different links – the headline + 4 sitelinks each offering something different based on where a searcher might be in the buying cycle.
TIMOTHY
For call extensions, you want to have them for desktop campaigns in the event people searching for you want to pick up the phone to call. But, they are super powerful on mobile devices when the user may be more inclined to click that call button and your phone number populates in the users phone to make that call. This is the click to call feature. You are charged for the call the same as you would if they clicked your ad to visit your site.
So as you can see in this mobile Google search for “haircuts for men” the 1st ad has a call extension making it easy for me to call them from my mobile device.
TIMOTHY
Location extensions not only give searchers your address, when they are clicked a searcher is taken to Google maps where they can get directions to your store.
For mobile ads, your location extensions will be listed as a link to “Get Directions” with the map icon.
TIMOTHY
Here’s a sneak peak of this cheat sheet. It is designed specifically for retailers with a focus on ad writing techniques to drive sales in your ecommerce store.
TIMOTHY
If you didn’t get a copy of our 50 tips booklet when you registered, visit www.roirevolution.com/50-ways and receive your free copy of this booklet.
Thanks! Have a great day!