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Every day this week we are writing about how to improve your PPC account’s ad texts! Yesterday we discussed writing benefit driven ads to lure customers to your site. So today, I’m going to take your ad writing skills to the next level by explaining how and why you should include promotional offers and calls-to-action in your ad texts.

There are millions of people using search engines everyday and every one of those individuals is inundated with PPC ads, organic search listings and display ads. This creates a crowded, murky body of water for you to begin casting your net for customers. My suggestion? Use promo offers and decisive calls-to-action in your ad copy, and the fish, I mean customers, will come to you.

Promotional offers come in all shapes and sizes:

  • Free Shipping!
  • Save 50% This Month Only!
  • Buy 1, Get 2 Free!
  • Spend $100, Get a Free Gift Certificate!

While these may seem like common sense, rest assured that many advertisers don’t utilize this simple piece of bait in their ads. Some advertisers rely on their landing pages or even worse, their homepage, to effectively convey current sales and discounts. The promo offer will increase your click-through-rate (CTR), and if your ad matches your landing page, increased conversion rates shouldn’t be far behind!

Writing an ad text without a call-to-action can prove to be a costly mistake. Benefits and promo offers are devices for increasing CTR, but calls-to-action have a three-fold affect. They not only increase your CTR, but calls-to-action also set the expectation for what the customer will need to do once they arrive at your site thus increasing conversion rates. Does your landing page ask for contact information? Should the customer buy today? Your job as the advertiser is to tell the customer exactly what they should do:

  • Sign Up today!
  • Buy Now!
  • Request More Information!
  • Discover the Best Deal of 2007!

I urge you to begin using both of these devices today! Create an ad variation for both a promotional offer and a call-to-action to add more enticing bait to your PPC tackle box. Check back in tomorrow as we will discuss how to use ad texts to catch the best leads.