Are you not getting enough conversions to grow your business? Do your ads offer diminishing returns? Use these six tips to improve your ad copy and capture the attention of your audience.
Writing engaging ad copy is a necessary skill for boosting traffic and sales. It’s what allows you to leverage the art of persuasion and prompt your readers to take the action you want them to.
Your ad copy is usually your first indirect contact with your readers. It’s also one of the key tools for getting prospects to enter a marketing funnel. The more persuasive the ad, the more conversions you can get.
Yet, it’s not always so easy to pull it off, is it?
Many coaches and consultants struggle to create engaging and compelling ad copy. Why?
It’s because not everyone applies the best practices of writing persuasive ad copy.
There’s a mix of science and art to creating an engaging copy. It also depends a lot on the platform that you want to advertise on and how much advertising you can afford.
That said, your writing is one of the essential ingredients that remains. And that’s what you can improve dramatically, just as soon you learn the following key elements and tips.
The Three Elements Your Ad Copy Needs
You can break down an ad copy into three core elements. It’s important to have creativity, too. But if you miss the mark on these three elements, your ad won’t have the desired results.
#1. Keywords
Chances are, you’re facing plenty of competition in your field. And the keywords you use can add more value to your copy and make it stand out.
Why?
People ask specific questions or search for particular solutions. And they use keywords to do that. The closer your ad copy gets to resonating with the search query, the better.
So what exactly does a keyword, or keyphrase, do for your copy?
It helps increase its visibility in search results. More importantly, it lets readers know that your ad copy has relevant information for their search.
The question now is when to use the keywords.
Does it matter where you place them in your copy? Yes, it does.
Generally speaking, the earlier they are in your copy, the better. It’s because readers key in on the first few words.
So, place them in the first sentence of your copy. Give your audience a clear picture of what the ad they’re about to read is all about.
Relevant keywords indicate to your readers that they found relevant content to their query. It makes them continue reading, instead of moving on to the next ad on the list. In a nutshell, it grabs their attention sooner and keeps them focused on your text, not your competitor’s.
Keep in mind that while you don’t have to stuff your text with keywords, it’s crucial that you accentuate them.
#2. Benefits
Another important element is the benefit. Your copy must focus less on features and emphasise the benefits of your offer. Highlight this to generate more interest from your readers. And to differentiate yourself from your competitors, focus on the benefits they’ve missed.
#3. CTAs
It’s a fact that someone will rarely click on your ad if you don’t ask for it. That’s why a CTA (call to action) is a crucial element of good ad copy.
The CTA should be the last element in your copy. It’s the final push you make to capitalise on the interest and desire generated using the previous two elements.
While there’s no secret formula for creating a perfect CTA, adding some emotional appeal always improves the standard CTA.
The Three Elements Your Ad Copy Needs
When creating your ad copy, take into account all the factors that can affect your conversion rates. You’ll want to pull the trigger on the things that give readers enough information to drive them to take action and click on your link.
There are many tricks to creating impactful writing that draws your audience in and pushes people to take action. But knowing your target audience and understanding how to write for it are different things.
We’ll go through some of the tips and tricks right now for you to create ad copy that sells.
Tip #1 – Understand Your Audience’s Objective
No matter how great your ad is, it will only have an effect on a specific target audience.
People rarely click on ads because they find them interesting or entertaining. They only click when they want something specific in return.
Maybe they want to accomplish something, or perhaps they want to solve a problem. They may want that course that teaches new skills, or they’re interested in taking business advice from an expert.
Either way, your ad won’t push everyone that comes across it to take action.
So, the first step towards creating effective ad copy is to know who you’re writing it for.
Understand what answers your readers look for and tailor your text around them. Ensure that you’re offering the right solution to the right person. Don’t try to sell apples and oranges to someone that’s looking to buy a car.
Only speak directly to your ideal audience because those are the people that can resonate with your message.
Always to mirror your readers’ objectives when writing ad copy. That’s if you want to write an effective ad that boosts your conversion rates.
Tip #2 – Trigger Emotional Reactions
Ever wondered why clickbait is so effective?
It’s because it triggers an emotional response in readers that pushes them into taking action.
Granted, it’s a cheap trick to get people to click on your ads. But the principle behind what makes it a successful tool isn’t.
You want to trigger emotional reactions in your readers. Also, you want to provoke them into reacting to your message in a way that they follow through and click on your ad.
So, elicit an emotional response.
Spark something in them that gets them to connect with a problem or fear. Just make sure that you follow through accordingly.
If you want to trigger fear or anger, don’t let that emotion carry over to your personal brand. Use the rest of your messaging to balance their reaction by offering a solution for that negative emotion.
Alternatively, get them to connect with a positive emotion linked to the topic of their query. Your goal is to get readers interested and invested in seeing what you have to say.
Then, present the benefits of your offering in the right context.
Humour and affirmation are also great emotional triggers. However, they can be harder to deploy in certain situations. Humour, for example, is a subjective emotion and you can’t rely on getting the same response from everyone.
Aspirational language may also do the trick, and can it even replace the need for a negative emotional trigger.
Ad copy that triggers an emotional response is an effective way to get the reader to take action.
Tip #3 – Add Lots of Value
If your conversion rates are low, you’re probably missing a key ingredient in your copy – value. It’s essential to choose your words carefully, but it’s also critical to add as much value as possible in your copy.
So, focus on your audience’s most common pain points.
If you know who your ideal audience is, then you know the sort of questions its members pose. You know what sort of issues those people have in their lives.
Identify some of the biggest problems that they face. Determine how your services can best address those issues. It’s only when you provide answers to those vital pain points that you grab their interest.
Also, try to answer unasked questions that your readers may have even before they get on your landing page or homepage.
You want your audience to get as much relevant information as possible from those few lines in your copy. So, only write what is relevant to your offer and your readers. It must also be clear and shows your superior insight into their desires.
Tip #4 – Leverage Power Words
Power words that trigger an emotion or response may be even more effective than keywords in boosting conversions.
Your keywords are what make your ad copy visible to your reads. They make it relevant and grab attention. However, power words draw your audience in and keep them invested.
If you leverage power words, you can engage your readers with your content.
A simple example of a power word is ‘You’. When you use this word, you’re speaking directly to your reader. It helps your message speak directly to their needs and desires.
To fully leverage power words, it’s essential that you also avoid some common mistakes.
Always avoid using first-person when writing ad copy as that shifts the focus to you and your brand. It doesn’t help position the reader as the focus of your ad. Therefore, it doesn’t compel engagement.
Integrating power words helps you create a dynamic ad copy that’s more interesting and impactful.
Tip #5 – Have SEO-Friendly URL
Too many people overlook the importance of a keyword-rich URL. That’s probably because not many know that a display URL can differ from the destination URL.
Your display URL is what appears right below your ad copy in the search results. The destination URL is the precise location on your main website where you redirect the reader. It’s where the person that clicks on your link lands on.
That said, it’s not the URL with the highest chance of popping up in search results.
In your display URL, you can highlight your primary keywords because they are most likely to increase your visibility in search results.
Those keywords can also add more value to your copy and make it more relevant.
Keep in mind that an ad still appears in search results even if the destination URL doesn’t contain the same keywords. It’s the display URL that search engine algorithms prioritise.
Tip #6 – Test Multiple Versions of Your Ads
Why is it important to test different versions of an ad?
You can never predict with perfect accuracy how your ad will perform.
You may think you’ve written the best version. But, it may surprise you to learn that a small change might make your ad do even better in terms of conversions.
Maybe you need different keywords. Perhaps you need to use more power words or leverage tighter content.
So, how do you test your ad copy?
Create two versions. Try experimenting with triggering different emotions or different keywords.
When you run two concurrent versions of your ad copy, you can see which generates more interest. You can even see which version has more conversions.
During a campaign, release both ads. By testing different versions, it becomes easier for you to tweak your ad and end up with the version that has the highest chances of conversion.
As a result, you can go on to optimise future ads. Or, you can reduce your advertising budget by switching to using only one copy – the one that has a higher conversion rate.
Last but not least, it gives great feedback towards the value of your copy. It lets you know what your audience resonates with better. You’ll then have a clearer blueprint to follow on future ad campaigns.
Are You Ready to Engage Your Audience?
Every piece of ad copywriting has three elements that make it successful – keywords, benefits, and CTA. That’s all you need for your ad to have meaning and relevance in the eyes of your target audience.
Use various methods to highlight those three elements and make everything come together. You can also keep things simple if you trigger an emotional response. And you can force action while putting the focus on your reader instead of yourself.
A compelling ad can do wonders for your business.
Do you want to create more persuasive ads and boost your conversions? Our Concierge Service can help with graphics that complement your writing.
