Back to Basics Tips - No "Black Sweat" in Making a Great Paid Search Ad

Prince went back to basics with his song "Black Sweat". The same should be considered for paid search with the advent of Enhanced Campaigns and remarketing

A few years ago, Prince wrote a back to basics song called "Black Sweat", a short 3 minute jam with minimal instrumentation and Prince's signature sound. Its sound was reminiscent of another song "Sign O the Times" during his high profile years.

Paid search campaigns sometimes needs a back to basics approach, especially with changes afoot with SEO and if a campaign was unsuccessful. Renewal of paid search strategy is a part of marketing - a message can become stale over time. The volume of messages on the internet accelerates that staleness

Yet many small businesses still don't leverage paid search well. But with new enhanced campaign features introduced on Google and Bing ads, there is now capability to reach searching visitors through mobile devices. Those customers are usually ready to purchase, so the right ad can make the difference for a sale.

To get your customers dancing to your marketing tune, consider these back to basics in crafting a quality ad...

• Remember the basics for an ad. Ads contain the following
  •  A Headline
  • Two lines of text
  • Visible URL
  • Landing Page URL
• The text that go into an ad consists of 40% offer, 40% audience, and 20% creative. When writing, think about how your ad can use these three approaches to form an effective message.
•  The landing page content should match the offer described in the ad, so update the landing page content with keywords that are in the ad. Monitor the perform of the ad/landing page combination, and drop keywords that don’t convert or rate performing poorly over a campaign period.
• Selecting a keyword spend can seem daunting, but aim for common sense ideas about selecting a keyword. For example, if a product sold in an ad has a profit margin of $4, it does not make sense to select keywords that costs more than $4.
• Assume 2% CTR = 50 clicks for 1 sale as a reasonable starting guide for ad performance. If this seems like a low percentage, remember that a sale will not always result from every visit.
• Make sure Adwords account and Google Analytics are linked together (or at least ensure that ad URLs are tagged to a web analytics solution. Google automates its link, but the principle is the same). Doing so permits a deeper assessment of the an ad campaigns impact on website goals.
• Ensure that ad groups and campaigns are organized according to product (ad group) and media (campaign). This will help ensure that ad results can be properly reviewed. You want to compare media against media, which implies campaign against campaign. The same for keyword performance, which is examined and compared at the ad group level.