Creating ad copy

How do you do it?

[wheel]

I'm in a bit of a slump in a couple of campaigns - that I know need some fresh ad copy to kick start them again.

I don't think there's any secrets, but I'll relay what I do, then solicit your comments :).

Title: keyword phrase (which I know from the ad group)
Line 1: Attempt to qualify the traffic (i.e. 'Red Widgets', to get rid of 'blue widgets' traffic)
line 2: Call to action (Click here now! One Day Only! well not quite, but similiar).

Then I tinker with the text. I'll switch 'easy and fast' to 'fast and easy' to see what happens.

Anyone else care to share?

[nyet]

the only 'rule' you can apply (IMO) is make it clear what you sell. If and ONLY if that has been accomplished then add other info.

[Shak]

go do some random surfing on Google as a user, see which ads catch your eye and make you want to click.

I often look at stuff and go "that's exactly what i am looking for"

Shak

[Robsp]

I also find that you cannot just "force" yourself to make good copy. I need some inspiration to write good text. When I'm not in the mood I'm not making new ads.

[AW_Learner]

I always do split testing. I know I should only test 2 ads at a time but sometimes I do 3 or 4 at a time. Sometimes they are very similiar except for a couple words. Then I'll let google tell me which ones got the better CTR. It's amazing some will get 1-2% CTR while the other ads showing for the same keywords will get only a tenth of a percent CTR. I will keep the one that does the best and change the one that didn't do well to try something completely different with it. Keep experimenting and trying to get a better CTR.

I don't always use the keyword phrase in the title if it is not exactly related and doesn't exactly describe what they will find when they click to my site. Because then you will find a lot of people will click on it just based on the title that catches there eye right away without even reading the whole ad. Then they expect your site to be about that. I don't want clicks if they are not exactly targeted. So explaining as much as you can in the short amount of space exactly what the visitor should expect to find when they click to your site is best. Even if it lowers your CTR to do so it is better for conversion and quality leads.

[roitracker]

Highest CTR does not always generate the most sales. You should track your ROI/profit & base the success of your ad on that, *not* just your CTR.

[AW_Learner]

True. You should probably track each keyword and each ad. I guess if you split test the ads for the same keywords you can track each one by sending the people to a different (yet identical) landing page for each ad. Or you can split test landing pages and use the exact same ad copy for 2 or more ads in the same adgroup for the same keywords. Each just going to a different test landing page. A good tracking script would be necc. to track them all the way into the site and to the sale thank you page.