Case Study 3 - How to Prepare Ads for Your AdWords or Yahoo! PPC Campaign

Well - this is our third case study of the series we started here. Hopefully you've found the time to follow the first two and found them helpful. This one will take us on to the next step with setting up our PPC campaigns.

It's been really great for me to be able to share this info with you. As we go along, I am getting such insightful feedback from you guys, that it makes me think and refine the content even more.

This case study is a relatively short one as it will only show the guidelines on how to write your own effective ads for each group. I won't go into detail of how to upload them - I'll just give you some guidelines, so in the next case studies, we'll actually get to run the campaign and see the results.

So, we pick up where Case Study 2 left off…

Before we get into it though, I think it will be good to briefly review what we've learned so far in all the previous case studies:

• We took stock of what we know about and what interests us




• We decided on a few good market types that we can do research on




• We did research on the products ClickBank (CB) offers in those markets and found a product that we liked the vital stats of (using CB Engine PRO) to test promote




• We reviewed the product and because we know the market space, we dived right into kwd research in Wordtracker
• We compiled a preliminary list of over 5,000 kwds




• We cleaned up the list (using Keyword Companion-KWC) and separated it into test kwds, negative kwds, and kwds we'll use after a successful test




• We split the test kwds into tightly focused ad groups - also using KWC

These are the steps we've so far undertaken - so before I go any further, and especially if you are just joining us at this stage, you must make sure you've done these steps and understand them.

This is vital.

This is all about taking action, and if you haven't done the steps before, this will really not do you any good as the next steps are vital to your campaign's success.

If you have taken action in the previous weeks and you have some questions - post them under the relevant case study and we can answer them together as much as possible.

Also, it's probably a good point to note here - if sometimes I answer you with a question of my own, it doesn't mean that I'm brushing you off or don't know the answer. It means that I am trying to make you think - which is a lot more effective method of learning something, then serving up ready answers to you :o)

Cool, let's get on with the new stuff then.

So we have our final list of kwds that we'll use to run this test with. We have the words split into ad groups, that are so specific that some groups have only one word in them at this stage.

Next, we need to write ads for each group.

Luckily for us (or not so lucky for those who don't like to bother to target their message to their market), Yahoo! has now standardised their own approach to ad groups with those of Google, so we can just write one set of ads initially and use them for both networks.

At the end of the day, which path you take is based on testing results. You'll find out very soon, but I am a big advocate of testing.

When I used to work for my previous employer, often I'd get asked "well should we word the ad this way or the other way?"� and all I can say with a certainty is that we need to test it. Luckyly, both Google and Yahoo! allow you to test a few ads simultaneously, so you won't have a problem (or an excuse :o).

I'm going to presume that you have a basic knowledge (or above) of how PPC campaigns work, and that you understand the concepts of PPC with Google and Yahoo!.

If, however, you're new to PPC (pay per click) you should have a look at one of the eGuides on the topic to get you up to speed, as I am not going to go into details and explanations - simply because the scope of this case study is not that.

Having worked in the field for a long time now (and having read pretty much every PPC guide out there) there are two eBooks (guides) that I absolutely swear by if you need beginner knowledge - actually some good intermediate techniques as well:

• SEO Book - it is a very readable and comprehensive overview of the PPC practice and it will lay rock solid foundations for any future PPC & SEO knowledge you acquire. It is also frequently updated - updates are free.




• The Definitive Guide To Google AdWords - this one is by Perry Marshall and it is still the best Google AdWords guide on the internet. Google have a library themselves, which is also very good, but it doesn't go into so much detail and doesn't give you an objective and marketing focused view.

  An added value her is that, although the eBook is Google specific, the techniques and tactics are applicable to any other network and will definitely add value to the way you run your campaigns, and will improve your results.

You don't have to spend money to get the knowledge - but if the info is free it is likely that it is not all in one place - which means you'll have to spend time looking for it and compiling it. Then you also have the problem of deciding which info is good and which is just a whole lot of nothing…

OK, enough sidetracking - I feel it is necessary to mention all these points to you before we dive in, as it will help you get the overall picture, and also because there's such a variety of knowledge levels of people reading this - I have to take everyone into account (or would like to anyway :o).

Writing Your Ads

We had 24 Ad Groups in our list at the end of our research.

Now - pay attention, as what we want to do for starters is to only take the so called 'brand' terms and use those for our test. Leave the other ones as they are for now.

If we take the most targeted and obvious keywords, we are most likely to get conversions for our campaign. Later on when we've made this test successful, then we'll start expanding our reach.

So we have 9 phrases in 3 AdGroups that we need to prepare.We simply take each group and write at least 2 ads for each group.

Anyway, lets not get ahead of ourselves, I'll try and explain a bit more with examples when we get to writing our ads.

Bear in mind as we progress with this case study, that there are some standard rules for effective ad writing.

But as you get more experienced with the product and also your campaigns, you will learn what else works or not ;o). The point is that - you will develop your own style. I can tell you how I do things, but in the "art" of ad writing there are no right or wrong answers - the only thing that you need to keep in mind is what works and what doesn't - so don't stop testing…

So let's do the first group. I chose the "burn the fat book brand kwds"� ad group first.

Step 1: Suss Out the Competition

If you're writing your ads for Google, go to Google and type one or two of your phrases (alternatively, if you're writing for Yahoo! go to Yahoo! and search in the same way).

I did "burn the fat book" and "burn fat ebook". Notice at this stage what is the wording your competition is using in their ads?

You want to write your ad so that it is relevant, but also so it stands out.

Put yourself in the shoes of the searcher - your target customer. If you typed into Google "burn the fat book"�, how will you pick the ad you click on? What words and offers will you want to see, and why will you search for that phrase? This is why you needed to do your research before, so that now you can have a good idea as to what the main 'triggers' are for your market.

Step 2: Putting Your Ads Together

The PPC ad writing formulae (or closest you'll get to one :o)

Here are some steadfast rules (or guidelines) for writing PPC ads - these are the pure basics that everyone should know:

• Then make sure you follow Google's own advice on ad writing - include the kwd into your headline if possible.
• You have 25 /35 / 35 characters of ad writing space - use it very wisely:
• Use it to make your ad stand out of the competition
• Use it to pre-qualify your prospects as much as possible
• Use it to give as much info as possible to your prospects
• Title 25 characters
• Use the kwd in it if possible
• Consider using DKI - dynamic kwd insertion
• State your most relevant/catchy benefit
• Description line 1 - 35 characters
• Give benefits - pays to research your market and product, as knowing the most important benefit would do you big favors here.
• Use the search phrase here as much as possible - but make sure your ad reads well and naturally - you force it - you lose!
• Description line 2 - 35 characters
• This line you should use to give a feature or another benefit - a feature may be something like "Fast, safe and easy to use"
• Again, if you use the search phrase in here it will be highlighted when displayed - therefore more catchy for searchers to read and possibly click.
• Don't forget to use your display URL - this is your extra ad space - very few people use it (we will work on your display URL later when we get to building pages and so on).

Actually writing our ad:

So here are the results I got when I typed in "burn the fat book" into Google:

As I've mentioned before this campaign I've chosen is not going to be an easy ride, as it is in a very competitive industry and is one of the best selling products. So - plenty of ads here. Quite a wide variety of styles and techniques as well. So when we're writing our ads, we will need to stand out.

So I'm giving you the basics in a cohesive complete way that you can follow without much preparation. How you develop those skills is up to you, but I hope I can provide some guidance.

Cool, so before we move on I wanted to point out the two types of ads in the line up.

1. Ad #1 - this seems to be the official site's ad and although it's more conventional than the rest is doing all the right things here.

   As you can see he's using our formulae above. The one thing I like to see here is that he is pre-qualifying all his prospects by telling the price of the product in the ad. This is clever as it will make sure that the prospects who click and end up on your sales page are as qualified as possible. The rest of the ad uses socially appealing phrases to make people believe in the product - if "celebrities" use it than it must be good :o) (great psychological techniques that contribute to the overall effect of the ad).

   I would venture a guess here that this person has been selling this product for some time now and have learned the things that work. Note these types of ads - you can learn a lot from them, and instead of starting from the bottom, you can use an approach that has already been tested and evolve it to a higher level.

2. Most other ads - are mostly gimmicky - but they spike the natural curiosity we all have in us and will get the clicks… It's up to you what approach you want to take, but bear in mind that:
   • It will might get you "useless" clicks from people who are just curious, but not wanting to purchase, as the ad doesn't give any benefits of the product upfront.

   
   

   • This type of approach will work well in a competitive market where your message needs to stand out from the crowd. However, you'll need to be careful of your spend - make sure you're profitable. Also, this approach will work most effectively on brand-type search phrases, not generic ones like "burn fat"�. Because if I am searching for "burn fat"� I may be searching for a general fat burning system/product, but I may not necessarily know "Burn the fat feed the muscle" and hence I wouldn't care if it is a scam or not…

   Alright, so let's write our ads?

   I want to take a lesson from the ads that are there (the ones I mentioned specifically) and I will combine what I've learned, whilst taking extra care to make mine different from the rest. (don't forget to consider what keywords you're running your ads for).

   So for my "burn the fat book brand kwds" I end up with these two ads to start with:

   Burn Fat eBook
   Complete Program
   For Only $39
   Burn Fat eBook
   Get Fast & Proven Results.
   Only $39.
   Side Note: Be careful if you decide to use DKI - make sure your ads sound natural and have a flow when you read them. In my personal opinion well flowing ads convert better than ones that sound fragmented and awkward.

   You can see I am testing two different angles here for the ad.

   One is the "complete program" approach and the other is the "fast & proven" approach. Now you can go in and test more than that, there are all sorts of triggers when it comes to the weight loss industry, but I want to do two at the start, as it is easier to control and to see where improvements can be made.

   I also used the $39 pre-qualifier from one of the other ads, as that will ensure I get people clicking that are willing to spend $39. This way, in such a competitive industry I can limit my spend by eliminating "happy clickers".

   I'm also using a very oddly short ad - to try and grab attention…

   You'll need to repeat the same process for each one of your ad groups until you have at least two ads for each group.

   You can decide to keep the same ads for more than one of your ad groups, but just make sure it makes sense.

   Again - finding the winning formulae is about a combination of things. The ad is just a piece of the puzzle not the entire puzzle.

   Understand that just a great ad will not make people buy the end product if the landing page is not doing it's job of converting the visitors.

   And a great landing page will not convert well, if the traffic you are sending to it is poorly targeted - i.e. irrelevant.

   So don't look at an element in isolation - get all the pieces of the PPC "puzzle" to tie in and work together towards one goal. Then tweak and test to get the best working combination and of course the best profits for you.

   OK - hopefully you're getting a lot more than just techniques here - I'm trying not to give you just "dry" facts, but the overall picture in terms of basics - and I'm trying to get you involved int he whole process - that's why I only did one ad group.

   Here is Your Summary:

   Group #1 - "burn the fat book brand kwds"

   Keywords:

   burn fat ebook
   burn the fat ebook
   burn fat book
   burn the fat book

   Ads:

   Burn Fat eBook
   Complete Program
   For Only $39

   Burn Fat eBook
   Get Fast & Proven Results.
   Only $39.

   Now you have to go away and create your ads for the other two groups:

   Group #2 - "burn the fat brand kwds"

   Keywords:
   burn the fat feed the muscle
   BFFM
   burn fat feed muscle

   Group #3 - "feed the muscle book brand kwds"

   Keywords:
   feed the muscle ebook
   feed the muscle book

   So, this is IT for this case study.

   Go on now and create ads for Groups #2 & 3.

   Get them ready, then come back here and we'll move on to how to tie in your LP content to your ads. After that you'll be ready to run the campaign.

   Till next time :o)

   Anita

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