Making Cents Out Of Your Ad Copy
by Jason D. Huhtala
Through my experiences working with various companies I have
found that many make big mistakes with their ad copy. Many
businesses are willing to spend thousands of dollars to have their
ad copy displayed to web site visitors, just to convey a faulty and
ineffective message. I have seen hundreds of different problems that
people have made in their copy and decided to write about some of
the ones that I seem to see the most often.
Don't be a used car salesman (no offense).
As tempting as it may be, please stay away from exclamation
points. If you find that it is absolutely necessary, one is more
then plenty. Also stay away from all caps in your ad copy. I
certainly don't like to be yelled at and potential customers don't
either.
People Are Wary
Many times making an "I can't believe it" offer in your
ad copy will attract less potential customers then just a "very
good" offer. The Internet is a scary place and everyone has
either been burned on the Internet or knows someone who has been. If
you see an offer that says "YOU JUST WON'T BELIEVE IT!!!",
I'd imagine you don't click through to see more. I don't know anyone
who would. On the other hand when I read about a good deal, I am
much more likely to investigate further.
Be Professional
I have talked about making your whole site professional looking
in the past. Think of your advertisement copy as an extension to
your website. You want visitors to feel comfortable with your
products and/or services, and the same rules apply to ad design as
to site design. Here are a few rules you should try to follow:
1. Make the information clear and concise.
2. Avoid bright colors especially in your text.
3. Make sure that you don't have any misspelled words and that your
grammar is correct.
4. Try to leave some white space in your ad if you can spare any.
Avoid Information Overload
Remember, that advertisements should be designed to give visitors
enough information that they want to know more, not educate them
about everything you offer. It should not be an essay but a brief
statement of what your product or service is about. It should be
designed to get them to click through to get all the details.
Target Your Visitors
I have conversed with many people about their advertising
campaigns and many believe that the more visitors, the better. While
this is true to an extent, you don't just want the average web
surfer to visit your site, but the surfer that is interested in what
you offer.
Many online marketing firms will target your traffic for you, but
you can do some of the targeting yourself. If your ad is displayed
on a site about sports cars, but your site specifically deals with
Porches, you want to have something in your ad that specifies that
your site is for those interested in Porches. Even further, you can
geo-target to a certain level within your ad. If you are advertising
for a Porsche Club in San Francisco, then tell potential visitors
that your site is for visitors in the San Francisco area right in
your ad copy.
Unless you have a service that everyone is interested in (if such
thing exists), try to target your visitors as much as possible. In
most cases you are paying by the click and the more dead ends that
you can weed out before they click through, the better.
I am in the business of delivering high quality visitors, but I
know that my customers will have a much better campaign if they
spend more time on their ad copy and less time on worrying about
other details. If you do not feel confident in being able to create
effective ad copy, find someone who is and have them do it for you.
Also, make sure that you dedicate some of your resources to
reviewing and refining your ad copy on an ongoing basis.
About Author: The author, Jason D. Huhtala, is the Vice
President of Operations for Target Blaster, Inc., an Internet
Marketing firm specializing in inexpensive targeted pay-per-visitor
web-site traffic. http://www.TargetBlaster.com.
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