The following is a guest post from good friend and SEO and PPC expert, Amberly Stitzel.
by Amberly Stitzel
When it comes to dating it seems like everyone is trying to find "The One." It appears we are trying to meet the same goal with Pay Per Click (PPC) ad copy. We all want to find the one ad text that can generate the highest Click Through Rate (CTR) thus getting more qualified users in the door for a lower Cost Per Click (CPC).
Just like dating you start with a pool of, hopefully, qualified applicants. In PPC you also start with a pool of qualified ad texts; I recommend at least three and probably no more than five just to keep results from getting diluted.
You don't want to send your ad texts out into the search space without properly preparing them for competition, just as you wouldn't go out on a date in your pajamas after your just rolled out of bed in the morning. We all try to put our best foot forward on a date by wearing something nice, fixing our hair and smelling good so why wouldn't you do the same for your ad texts? Using great calls to action and accurately explaining what you expect the user to do when they arrive at your site after clicking on the ad is similar to getting "gussied up" before a date. It is a bit more difficult, however, because pay per click ads have only so many characters to put their best foot forward whereas dates can go all out, wearing whatever, wherever. Nonetheless, make sure you put as many selling points as you can in your ads and don't try to write ads just for the clicks because the ultimate goal is the conversion once they get there.
With PPC ad texts the system then optimizes to show the best performer most often. And with dating, lets be honest, you wouldn’t keep seeing someone if you weren't that interested in them. So in both scenarios we are optimizing for the best performers. So what happens after you deem a winning ad text or date? With ad texts you would then take your lowest performers out of the mix and replace with new ad texts to test against your control (the winning ad). With dating I presume you would continue seeing the winning date until they do something to turn you off or until someone better comes along (a new control). In either scenario you have the best performer 100% of the time until that no longer works for your goals in mind. The main thing to keep in mind is to not be complacent with your ad copy or it could be costing you clicks and ultimately, sales.
###
Amberly Stitzel is the Interactive Marketing Manager for LeapFrog Interactive. She has been in the search engine marketing industry for over three years and is certified inGoogle AdWords, MSN AdCenter and the Yahoo Ambassador Program.
astitzel@leapfroginteractive.com