Writing an Ad Copy for PPC: 5 Tips to Follow

The opinions around PPC advertising can sometimes be confusing. Some marketers believe that PPC ads aren't worth any investments since they drive only immediate traffic and attract the leads that don't always suit what a brand is looking for.

While it's true that organic traffic should dominate your marketing strategy, it doesn't mean that you should completely write off PPC ads as a viable strategy to get more customers. Besides, the statistics support the importance of PPC in marketing:

- Google Ads can help increase brand awareness by up to 80%
- Paid ads return $2 per every $1 spent, which is a 200% ROI
- PPC ads on average deliver 50% more conversions than organic ads

All these numbers look good in theory. However, in practice, the success of your PPC ads depends on many other factors. And an ad copy is one of them.

In this article, we'll take a look at how to write an engaging PPC ad copy that drives only relevant leads to your business.

1. Use Your Ad Space Wisely

First and foremost, you need to create the outline for your copy. And, to make sure your ad doesn't end up longer than it's supposed to be, you need to consider the ad space that is allocated for you by the platform where your ad is going to appear.

Let's say you're going to post your PPC ad using Google Ads. According to Google's guidelines, there are certain length limits for text ads:

- 30 characters for Headline 1
- 30 characters for Headline 2
- 30 characters for Headline 3
- 90 characters for Description 1
- 90 characters for Description 2
- 15 characters for Path

When you're working on your outline, break it down according to the length limits imposed by the PPC platform. And, if you're planning to add more information to your ad, like your business's phone number, deep links into your website, and so on, consider using ad extensions - call buttons, location information, etc.

2. Write with Customer Needs in Mind

Take a look at the following PPC ad by Buckhead Family Law:

What makes this ad copy stand out?

The answer is obvious - it addresses the target customer's need. These law firm professionals understand that divorce is often a stressful time for both spouses, and both of them are dreading the complications a divorce can bring along. So, their natural need is to make it easier, and that's what this law firm is promising in its ad.

The key need to simplify the divorce process is mentioned both in the ad's title and description - resolve complex, emotionally-charged disputes. And that's why this ad would make more sense to the typical audience it targets - it is focused on a very specific need.

So, before you get to write your PPC ad copy, focus on your customers and the key reason why they would be searching for your product or service. Then, be direct - mention this need as it is in your ad's title and description.

3. Build Your Copy around Emotional Triggers

You might also have noticed that the example from the previous section has somewhat of an emotional appeal. Here's one more PPC ad from another law firm that also targets a similar emotion:

Although the ad clearly doesn't follow Google's text limit guidelines, you still can deduce which feelings and emotions it's addressing - a person is tired of divorce and wants to find a peace of mind.

Both ad examples contain emotional triggers - a set of prompts that target a specific memory, experience, or event that sparks an emotional reaction, regardless of the current mood.

Emotional triggers can work quite well to help your copy generate more new customers. These triggers target incidental emotions that occur at the moment of seeing the ad. According to Harvard researchers, incidental emotions can influence the decision-making process even though they occur without awareness.

How to determine which emotions to target?

At this point, you might need help researching your target audience and its behaviors. Get your marketing team to study your customer's cases and analyze what brought them to you. Then, you can outsource ad creation to best writing services that will help you shape your findings into an engaging ad copy.

In general, try to build a connection between the need and the emotion it provokes. For instance, there's a connection between the divorce proceedings and the frustration they cause. If you address this frustration in your ad and promise to help get rid of it, your ad copy will become more appealing to your target audience.

4. Include Location to Narrow Down the Reach of Your Ad

Local search matters more than you think. Reportedly, 46% of all Google searchers are looking for local information - businesses, products, services, etc. Adding the location at the end of the search query helps searchers find businesses that are within easy reach and can be visited immediately.

If this approach is relevant to your PPC goals, try to make your ad copy more location-based. This way, you'll increase your chances of targeting the buyers you are looking for.
You can start by adding your location to your ad copy's headline:

It is also a good idea to list all the locations where consumers can find your business in the description section:

Mentioning the location in your ad copy also adds personalization. And, if your target buyers are from different locations, Google allows advertisers to update ad copies to match with a person's city or country based on their IP address.

5. Proofread Your PPC Ad Copy

If you've got your target audience right and know exactly why they need your product or service, writing a PPC ad copy won't take you much time. Even if you're creating several ad copies for different products, they will deliver good results if they are targeted and personalized.

However, there's one thing that can still ruin your ad copy - a silly grammatical or punctuation mistake. Especially when you're writing a bunch of PPC ad copies, you can easily skip a mistake or two without even noticing. But be sure that it won't take your target audience long to notice them.

So, the last step in writing an ad copy for PPC is to edit and proofread it. Luckily, you can automate this process using proofreading tools from paper writing websites or simply upload all your ad copies to Grammarly as one file.

At this point, it is also important to test your ad copies. For instance, you can run A/B testing by creating two separate ad copies for your audience and see which one they respond to the fastest. It's crucial not to skip the testing part. Otherwise, you risk washing all your PPC investments down the drain.

Writing a PPC Ad Copy: Topic Recap

At first, writing an ad copy for PPC doesn't seem like a difficult job to do - all you need is a catchy headline and a bunch of sentences saying why your business is the one.

In reality, such an approach to PPC ad copies leads nowhere. We've discovered today that:

• A good PPC copy should follow a proper structure. You want the entire text of your ad copy displayed.
• It should address a customer's need. Your ad copy shouldn't beat around the bush but directly point at the reason why the customer needs your product.
• A PPC ad copy should trigger certain emotions. These emotions should be connected to the need addressed in your copy.
• A proper ad copy should include a location. This way, you will attract more relevant leads.
• An excellent ad copy is always thoroughly edited and proofread. Even the greatest copy can get ruined by a silly grammatical blunder. So, take your time to proofread your copies.

As you can see, the success of your PPC ad directly depends on the copy you create for it. So, if you want PPC to benefit your marketing efforts, start by writing a good ad copy.

This guest article was written by Nicole Garrison, a professional copywriter and editor. She also has her own blog, where she shares tips about copywriting, compares online services like in this dissertation writing service, and gives recommendations, how to apply the science of copywriting in different marketing strategies.