Pay-Per-Click Your Way
to Copywriting Profits
AWAI Wall of Famer Russ Banister has had an amazing year.
In addition to working full-time in a staff copywriter position, he also managed to write a letter for a freelance client that brought in a cool $756,000 in gross revenue.
But it doesn’t stop there …
He also ghostwrote a book on real estate investing that landed him a lucrative business partnership … he wrote a strong promo for one of the largest direct mailers in the U.S. … and he started his own information-publishing business!
One of the things that he’s had to learn through all this is how to write a good, pay-per-click (PPC) ad. PPC advertising is the most effective way to generate instant traffic to any website. And the most popular PPC advertising program on the planet is Google Adwords.
In his full-time staff position, Russ was given the task to both manage and write the PPC campaigns. It’s a big source of lead generation for the company.
And for Russ’s own business, learning to use PPC was crucial. Without it, getting a steady stream of web-traffic would take a long, long time. Plus, it’s an important part of his list-building strategy.
Here are a few tips Russ has picked up along the way that can help you get started writing effective PPC ads:
- It’s not just about writing Adwords ads. Says Russ, “The ad you write has to match up with the landing page.” It has to be relevant. For example, if you write an ad for pet potty training, and visitors are sent to a website on the history of Yorkshire Terriers, Google will recognize this lack of relevancy. As a result, Google will increase your pay-per-click cost. But if both your ad and landing page are on target, Google will reward your relevancy with lower click costs and higher ad positioning.
- Ads have to be written to your market. That means knowing your prospect. What kind of language does he use? What benefits does he want? Get a feel for what’s important to him. A good start to finding this information is through keyword research. Russ recommends you use Google’s free keyword tool. Also visit forums your prospect is probably reading. Once you have this info, then it’s much easier to create a highly targeted ad your prospect will click.
- Stand out. According to Russ, the same principles that make a sales letter stand out are the same ones you’ll use to make your Google Adwords ad stand out. For example, the headline is the most important part of the sales letter. The same is true in Adwords. A great way to make your headline stand out is to include one of the keywords you found during your keyword research phase. You can also include the keyword in the body copy and display URL. This way, when a prospect is scanning the different ads, he will notice your headline and think, “This is exactly what I was searching for.” So he’s likely to click on your ad.
- Use curiosity. When it comes to writing pay-per-click ads, curiosity is a very powerful emotion to use. You only have 95 characters to do the job, so that’s where the challenge comes in. Many words that help build curiosity include: secret, discover, little-known, find out, and shocking. If you’re going to use curiosity, remember rule #1: Your landing page will have to be relevant and pick up where your PPC ad left off.
There’s a lot to master when it comes to Google Adwords. But follow these four guidelines and you’ll be off to a great start!
The Professional Writers’ Alliance
At last, a professional organization that caters to the needs of direct-response industry writers. Find out how membership can change the course of your career. Learn More »
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