There are lots of different issues relating to how to make your PPC ad campaign work for you. Picking the right keywords, bidding for them, and making sure your ads are effective are all important. However, one of the things we often forget to pay attention to is the actual ad. Since this is the point of contact between your campaign and the customers you’d like to target, forgetting about it is a big mistake!

These three lines of text might be small, but they’re the springboard for the rest of your campaign. They have to be noticeable, encourage potential customers to read, and then to click on them. If that doesn’t work, then all the best plans will be worthless.

It would be great if we could fit in a really long story about all the good things we sell and why people need them, but there’s only three lines to entice them with. You have to get attention and get a click with those three lines, so make them good. Making a PPC campaign work is all about getting off to a good start and those three lines are all you have to work your magic with.

The 80/20 rule applies to PPC, you’ve heard about a different 80/20 rule for many different applications, I’m sure. Here, it means that the ad works best if it has a good headline – which makes up about 20% of the ad. This is true in other forms of writing, too. As a matter of fact, in PPC ads, this is even more true.

Your ad’s copy has to be perfect, or as close to it as possible. You have a few available words to sell your site, so the words you use must be the right ones, and spelling and punctuation are very important. A wrong word or a spelling mistake can mean you’re kissing customers good bye- and your money, too! Even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal to you, the finished product looks unprofessional, and people who would have normally clicked on that ad will avoid it.

Make sure you get the customer’s attention. Remember, you’re competing against other ads here, so maybe do some research and see what the others are doing. Standing out in a crowd can be difficult, but when you do everyone notices you. Concentrate on that headline and grab the customer’s attention, then make them need to know what’s on offer when they click.

Keyword placement is another important factor and shouldn’t be neglected. Try using your keyword phrase in the headline and see what sort of results you get. Make sure that next line is just as eye-catching, too. Don’t use phrases like “quality service” or ramble on about how long you’ve been servicing the area. “Great products and services” is a great sign for a shop window, but will get you nowhere in pay per click.

The last line of your ad is important, too. Use it to tell the viewer what’s best about your product, or use it to highlight an offer or deal. This will increase the chances of a click through and an eventual sale. Never use deceptive wording to get more clicks, however. A click that doesn’t result in a sale is a wasted one, because you pay for it anyway.

PPC ads are shorter than conventional types of ads but there is a definite science to making them work emerging amongst its advertisers. Make sure that your ads stand out and demand attention, keep the text clear and concise as well as effective – you can stand out from your competitors for some really big sales.