|
Google_Adwords_and_the_Lost_Art_of_Copywriting
| Google Adwords and the Lost Art of Copywriting.
Tens of thousands of businesses, large and small, use Google
Adwords and Overture Match (from Yahoo!) to advertise their
products and services on the Internet. An entire industry,
loosely known as “Search Engine Marketing” (SEM for short) has
grown up to support this new advertising medium. To date, very
little independent analysis (as opposed to analysis by industry
players) has been published to demonstrate the effectiveness of
these vehicles to advertisers. Still, businesses seem to be
using Adwords and Overture in droves.
Briefly stated, Adwords and Overture enable you to run
advertisements on search engines and other websites, the display
of the ads being triggered by “keywords.” Hence, if you sell
“red widgets,” you would choose “red widgets” as one of your
keyword phrases. When a computer user enters “red widgets” as
their search term on Google or Yahoo!, your ad may appear in or
adjacent to the unpaid search results. How high up on the page,
and how frequently your ad appears, depends upon your “bid,” or
how much you are willing to pay for a user to click on your ad
(which leads back to your website). Administering your campaign
can get a whole lot more complicated than this, but it gives you
the idea in a nutshell.
What makes an effective campaign? There are many variables, but
SEM professionals have focused heavily on the importance of
“keywords” – to the extent that entire sub-industries have
sprung up to show clients how to create lists of keywords! What
has been overlooked, in our estimation, is the good old art of
copywriting itself – how you write the ad. After all, an ad is
an ad whether it appears in a newspaper, a magazine, or on
Google or Overture. You’ve got space for a short headline and a
brief description – briefer on Google than Overture, but at
least Google doesn’t truncate your listing, as Overture does.
Given how little space you get to work with, and the fact that
you have no visual opportunity, it is crucial to create
compelling, snappy ads. Unfortunately, the vast majority are
nothing of the sort. Most of them look like badly written
classified ads – and that’s the main reason most of them will
deliver poor click through rates and disappointing results.
Here’s an example: as a test, I typed “business website
promotion” into the search box on Yahoo! With all of those
internet marketing types placing the ads, I figured that I’d
definitely see some short, exciting text that would really make
me reach for the mouse. Wrong. What I saw was just a list of “me
too” ads that, with rare exceptions, were indistinguishable from
each other. Out of 8 ads on the screen, most just displayed
headlines such as “website promotion services,” or “affordable
website promotion,” or “internet marketing services.” Why would
anyone click on one of those ads, especially when there are
literally thousands that say the same thing? The answer is –
they wouldn’t.
Perhaps the reason why SEM professionals focus so much on
keywords, rather than on writing great ad copy, is that creating
keyword lists is, at bottom, a rote task that is frequently
accomplished with specific software. Creating great copy, on the
other hand, requires a writing implement (pencil or keyboard is
fine), a surface (paper or screen) and, the hard part, some
really creative thinking! When ad copy is improved, an Adwords
or Overture campaign delivers more traffic to your site, often
for a lower “cost per click.” Our company, Small Business
Online, a web
design and internet marketing firm, has repeatedly seen vast
improvements in user responses (what’s known as “click through
rates”) when the ad copy is compelling.
What are the the characteristics of ads that make users click?
Ads that are snappy (you only have a few words to work with) and
that promote a benefit do best. So, for example, if you are
selling an extremely comfortable hiking boot, don’t just write a
headline like “Great Hiking Boots!”. Give the user a benefit,
something that’s in it for them, such as “Your Feet Will Love
You!”. If you’re selling strong gourmet coffee, don’t just say
“Premium Quality Coffee,” say something like “Our Java Will
Jumpstart Your Day!”.
How does a person learn to write good copy? It’s not rocket
science. Surf over to Amazon, search on “advertising books” or
“copywriting books” and a whole world of advertising help will
open up before you. Read the reviews, pick out one or two books
that are highly praised, and you’ll be armed with the knowledge
you need to stand out from the herd. And when you stand out,
your Google Adwords or Overture campaign will really improve.
Compelling ad copy is not the only aspect of these campaigns you
need to work on – keywords still count, bids still count. But in
the end, your ad is like a sign on the front door to your
website. If it’s not interesting or compelling, no-one will
knock.
About the author:
Neil Street is co-founder of Small Business Online, based in
Westport, CT., a web design and
internet marketing firm dedicated to the Internet needs of
the small business. His website is at Send email to
neil@smallbusinessonline.net He can also be reached at
(203)761-7992.
|
|
| |
| |
