Ads (Some Advanced Stuff)

Jim Jansen

College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University

jjansen@ist.psu.edu

Writing Key Words Ads

• Your ad has three goals, which are:– Generating clicks from potential customers– Discouraging clicks from unlikely customers– Setting customer expectations for the landing

page (i.e., want a positive customer experience)

Writing Key Words Ads

• You get 4 lines of 25, 35, 35, and 35 characters

• Line 1 (headline): Make the potential customer read the second and third lines

• Line 2 and 3: Set expectations for what is on the landing page

• Line 4: Points to a relevant landing page and establishes trust

Think of Each Line As Having a Separate Goal/Being a ComponentThere are four components to a search marketing

ad. – The Headline: grabs the user’s attention– The Description Line: clearly defines the product or

service you have to offer, and how it will meet the need indicated by a user’s search.

– The “Call to Action”: tells the customer what to do after they click on your ad and land on your Web site. This should be related to the type of conversion you’re trying to achieve, from newsletter sign-ups to online sales.

– URL: establishes trust and is relevant

Writing Keywords Ads: Headlines• Comparisons (example: “Cheaper Than Wal Mart”)• Divulge "secret" or cutting-edge information (example: “Wealth

Strategies Exposed”)• Be a story teller (example: “I Lost 8 Pounds in a Week”)• Give instructions (example: “How to Get a 6 Pack”)• Arouse curiosity with questions (example: “Want to Make $500

Per Hour?“)• Capitalize (example: “Want the Best Pizza in Town?”)• Stay away from "Buy“ (Use "Discount", "Sale", "Special Offer" and

"Coupon“) – can you try and place this in a non-profit context?• Be creative and unpredictable • Dynamic Keyword Insertion (more on this later)

What are some good call to actions?

Best Call-to-Action Phrases• Book Now• Reserve• Save Now• Discover your• Sign up Today• Buy Now• Pay Less• Order now• Research• Download

Not so Good Call-to-Action Phrases

• Join now

• Call us

• Join

• Borrow

• Apply Now

• Try 

• Don’t miss

• Shop Now

• Subscribe

What about the URLs?Each keyword can point to a unique URL

Dynamic Keyword Insertion

• Dynamic Keyword Insertion is an advanced feature

• Will insert individual keywords into the same ad text

• A user sees a distinct ad for their keyword search, if their keyword triggers one of your ad group keywords.

• This minimizes the work you'll need to do to manage larger ad groups and campaigns.

• Let’s see an example …

Example (Say this is an ad you create in AdWords)

Quality {KEYWORD:Bikes}Selection of {KeyWord:Bikes}in stock. Free shipping!http://www.example.com/?kw={keyword:nil}

Say the query is: mountain bikes

Quality MOUNTAIN BIKESSelection of Mountain Bikesin stock. Free shipping!http://www.example.com/?kw=mountain bikes

The user would see this ad ->

Example (Say this is an ad you create in AdWords)

Quality {KEYWORD:Bikes}Selection of {KeyWord:Bikes}in stock. Free shipping!http://www.example.com/?kw={keyword:nil}

Say the query is: Cannondale

Quality CANNONDALESelection of Cannondalein stock. Free shipping!http://www.example.com/?kw=cannondale

The user would see this ad ->

Dynamic Keyword Insertion

There are variations you can use to capitalize your dynamically inserted keyword as follows:

• keyword - No capitalization, all word(s) are in lower case • Keyword - The first word is capitalized • KeyWord - Every word is capitalized • KEYword - Every letter in first word is capitalized • KEYWord -Every letter in the first word AND the first letter of

the second • KEYWORD - Every letter is capitalized

How do we do it?

Some Good Readings and Other Things

• 10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work - http://www.copyblogger.com/10-sure-fire-headline-formulas-that-work/

• 31 Killer Writing AdWords Ads Tips - http://www.googlelady.com/416/10-killer-headline-adwords-tips/

• Google Local Business - https://www.google.com/local/add/login

• Google Checkout - https://checkout.google.com/seller/?hl=en&gl=GB

Keyword Advertising Exercise

1. Read the Tutorial at http://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=74996&hl=en_US

2. Using one of the AdGroups that you are response for, design a Dynamic Keyword Insertion ad for that AdGroup (include Dynamic Keyword in headline, snippet, and URL

3. Now, test what the user would see for each keyword in your AdGroup (i.e., simulate the dynamic Insertion)

4. Which keywords make sense for Dynamic Keyword Insertion? Think about putting these in a separate AdGroup.

5. Wait! … there is another exercise!

A/B testing with Ads

• this is a capability that you can use to set up two different ads, running simultaneously, for the same set of keywords.

• An A/B experiment allows you to test the performance of two (or more!) entirely different versions of an ad

• Start with your original test page -- the ad whose content you want to test

• then create alternate versions of that ad

How do you do that?

Unless you are getting a lot of impressions, would hold it to two ads

Set-up two ads in the same Ad groupThen after a set time, compare your metrics

Question?

How do I know that the ads are really performing differently?

http://www.websharedesign.com/tools/ppc-ad-split-testing-tool/

You do a split test – shows whether or not there really is a difference between two ads.

Keyword Advertising Exercise

1. Take at least one of the AdGroups that you are response for, and design a second ad

2. In a week, collect your metrics, http://www.websharedesign.com/tools/ppc-ad-split-testing-tool/ and see if one of your ads is performing better.

3. If so, redo the weaker ad and repeat

Thank you!(reminder to do your daily logs)

Jim Jansen

College of Information Sciences and Technology The Pennsylvania State University

jjansen@ist.psu.edu