Drive Search Engine Traffic - Top Google Keywords

How To Write Google Adwords Ads That Get Clicks

A typical AdWords newbie is often guilty of several profit-squashing mistakes when setting up his first campaign. There are dozens of no-nos, but perhaps none so egregious as writing ineffective ads.

An effective AdWords ad is one that gets lots of clicks ? that's the only thing you should be concerned about when writing your ads (except, of course, Google?s editorial policy). If you?ve done your keyword research, you?ll get impressions; if you?ve got a page that converts to sales, you?ll get a return on your investment. But getting people to your landing page is the ad?s job, and there are some things you can do to pump up your clickthrough rate (CTR), which will improve your ads' positioning and lower your click costs.

First, some ad basics. Each AdWords ad comprises four lines of text: the first is the headline, which can contain up to 25 characters including spaces; the next two are the ad copy, 35 characters each; and the last is your display URL, also 35 characters. (There is actually a fifth line ? the destination URL ? but that won't display with your ad and shouldn't affect your CTRs). Obviously, the headline is most important, because it?s usually the first thing a searcher sees. If you can make your headline jump out from the rest, your ad will be more visible. Fortunately, Google makes this pretty easy.

You may have noticed that, when searching on Google, your search query is bolded when it appears in any of the search results. The same thing goes for sponsored search results: if you include the keywords you?re bidding on in your ad text, specifically the headline, your ad will stand out.

But what if you?ve got hundreds or thousands of keywords? You can?t be expected to write a different ad for each keyword, right? Of course not ? and you don?t have to. In AdWords, your keywords can be separated into groups, aptly dubbed "ad groups." Each ad group should contain a set of keywords and phrases that all have a common thread. For example, if you?re bidding on the term ?widgets,? you should place each phrase containing that term into one ad group. You then write an ad whose title contains the word ?widgets? ? for example, ?Get Your Widgets Here.? You can even repeat this for terms within ad groups. For example, in your ?widgets? group, you might have the terms ?red widgets? and ?green widgets.? You can take these out and place each in its own ad group, along with any other similar phrases. Then your ads will be even more focused ? for example, ?Get Red Widgets Here.? The more keywords that appear in your ad, the more relevant your ad becomes.

Chris McNeeney, author of "AdWords Miracle," has some great copywriting tips. Chris used to write classified ads for a living, and his mastery of the art is evident in the techniques he outlines in his book. For example, he talks about a method called "stop them in their tracks." To stop potential customers in their tracks, you've got to come up with ad copy that tells customers to do the opposite of what they're trying to do. In keeping with the widgets theme, you could write an ad whose headline says, "Don't Buy Any Widgets!" Follow that up with some relevant ad text that entices people to buy your widgets rather than someone else's, by including the benefits your widgets offer; e.g., "Check out ours first. Better, cheaper, and guaranteed." This kind of ad will get people's attention right away, and getting their attention is all you need to do.

And now, an experiment. Pretend you want to buy something online. Head over to Google and do a search for whatever it is. See the sponsored links? Look at the headlines. Which one jumps out at you first? I?m betting it?s the one that seemed most relevant to your search because it contained the exact information you searched for. What?s the headline look like? I bet at least one of the words is bolded (if not all of them), and I?ll bet the rest of the ad lets you know exactly what you?ll get when you click on it. This is the best way to figure out how to write ads. Put yourself in the place of your target market, and then actually do some searches and check out the ads. Which one makes you want to click? Ask people you know to do searches and tell you which ads grab their attention. You?ll probably find it?s the same kind of ad every time.

Find more articles by Ryan Cole at http://www.theinternetmarketingblog.org. Read more about Chris McNeeney's http://www.theinternetmarketingblog.org/2006/08/30/chris-mcneeneys-adwords-miracle/

MORE ARTICLES:

Facts You Should Know About Web Site Design and Search Engine Optimization
1. Web site File Structure / File NamingMost search engines do not recognize beyond two directory levels.

Web Site Owners Learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to Improve Search Engine Rankings
Web site owners are taking advantage of specialized training in search engine optimization to improve their overall search engine rankings.

How affiliate marketers can turn regular traffic into Google Adsense friendly traffic
If you've been running AdSense ads on your site for quite a while and you feel that you aren't making as much cash as you could, in 99.99% of cases you're right. Most people feel frustrated that they cannot generate the revenues they expected, and this is down to traffic levels as well as click through rates.

8 ways to build a really bad web site for Search Engines
Some web sites receive hundreds or thousands of unique visitors a day, whilst others only get a handful or none. The reason is often because the web designers or Webmaster has built the site in one 'really bad way' or other.

Finding Keywords to Build Your Web Site Traffic
What are web site keywords and how do I go about finding keywords that will work for me?You may have the dandiest web site with eye popping text and graphics, but if you have missing keywords then you are going to be out of business quick.Web sites revolve around traffic.

Search Engine Program Guarantees Free Number One Web Search Rankings For All Sites
Kazazz seeks to solve the low search engine rankings problem with new program.

Google Adsense-"Explode Your Google Adsense and Affiliate Commissions through Niche Blog Content Sites
The overwhelming majority of the population has no clue what Google Adsense is and doesn't understand that Google and the site owner make money when they click on an ad. Now, lets say that from all of the people visiting your site from the link embedded in your articles resourced boxes, only one person a day actually clicks on an Adsense ad. When you start using Word press to build your Adsense websites, youll soon discover what I mean.

Search Engine Marketing 101: What Search Engines See When They Visit Your Web Site
If you have a Web site, have you ever wondered what a search engine sees when it visits your site to add the site to its index? Do you know that it doesn't see the beautiful graphics or the fancy Web design? Do you know that it only sees the source code, or the "skeleton" of your Web site?Do you realize that knowing this little tidbit of information and doing something about it can make a huge difference in your search engine rankings and, ultimately, the success of your online business?One very important thing that you need to remember is: the search engines like simplicity. The simpler your Web site is, the easier it is for the engine to determine what your Web site is about.

Getting Search Engine Traffic - The Best Ways Of Attracting Search Engine Traffic
How To Get Search Engine Traffic To Grow Your Business

Using Google Adwords to generate traffic to your affiliate marketing programs
Highly targeted traffic is one of the most important entities in the internet universe. Any website owner or administrator recognizes the importance of driving traffic to a website. The success of any website does not rely entirely on the site itself. You may have a terrific idea for a website, offer an excellent product or service, or have an exceptionally designed site with superb content, but if you do not use the right strategies to advertise, your site would not attract the high traffic you need. Attracting targeted traffic is a task that should be taken seriously for any site to succeed or make a profit. Fortunately, there are internet-marketing tools that help the website marketer to drive traffic to his website. One of the most sign...

Combining Google Adsense with affiliate programs to mazimize affiliate marketing revenue
Are you a webmaster who needs funds to keep your website running? Or is your website the only way for you to earn income? Whichever you are, for as long as you are a webmaster or a web publisher and you need cash, affiliate marketing may work well for you. With affiliate marketing, you may get a lot of cash pouring into your bank account easily. And if your website is rich in great contents and you want to earn more profit, why not get into the Google Adsense program as well?

New Traffic Building Tool For Google Adwords
Google AdWords developers recently began activation of a tool that eliminated many of the barriers to breaking the code for performance improvement. A new tool just leaving the beta testers is promising huge income....and potential controversy.

Using Google Adsense search feature for affiliate marketing
Adsense for search provides publishers with the opportunity to provide a search tool through their website. The search tool provides results which contain adwords adverts, and therefore publishers can generate revenues.

How to Design a Search Engine Friendly Web Site
Many web site designers don't design their sites for the search engines. This is a huge mistake because they miss out on attracting lots of free traffic.

Google Adsense Program Is A Popular Web Advertising Program
Google Adsense program is a popular web advertising program which provides a good income source for many websites. There are well defined terms of service to strictly adhere to when participating in the program.