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Facebook Ads Pro Tip: Use Correct Grammar

November 2, 2011 by
Bad Grammar Ad

Over the weekend I was accosted by the following Facebook ad:

Bad Grammar Ad

Where to begin with this grammatical train wreck? Let’s do a little play-by-play:

  • “Get Girl Love Hiking!” – Is it supposed to be 2 sentences? Get Girl. Love Hiking. Because that would at least be a benefit (Get Girl) and then they’re just trying to build a little rapport. Right?
  • “Wanna get a girlfriends that like hiking?” – Yes, I want a girlfriend (in the committed relationship kind of way) but I don’t know if I could handle more than one. Newsflash: “a” is a singular article. You actually could have saved characters by getting this right.
  • “Only on meetsinglesonly you can get that!” – Why are you adding your URL here? It’s already right below your title. #wasteofspace

At least they did get a clear CTA in there with the old classic “Click here!” It almost makes the ad passable, but not really.

Filed Under: Facebook PPC, internet marketing, PPC Tagged With: ,

Creative Relevance in PPC Ads

April 15, 2010 by
Food Inc PPC ads

News Flash: To get better CTR and conversion rates, your PPC ads need to be relevant to the search term and the user intent.

Okay, so that’s not really news so much as it is common sense. But before you dismiss this post, consider the following PPC ads for the search term “Food Inc DVD” (which is obviously a very specific product name):
Food Inc PPC ads

As you can see, Barnes & Noble and eBay hit the nail on the head. My exact term is in the headline and therefore bolded. eBay even takes the extra step and puts the search term in the ad copy to reinforce the relevance of their ad. However, look at our friends from DealOz.com. They may brag about their 70% off DVDs and free coupons, but I don’t even know if they have Food Inc. (in their defense, all three ads go to a search results/product page for Food Inc.)

Easy Way – Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)

Our eBay and Barnes & Noble ads weren’t written with my exact search term in them. They use DKI to insert my term. For those of you not familiar with the syntax, in AdWords you simply put {KeyWord:Default Copy} into your ad and AdWords will automatically put the exact search term into your ad (as long as it fits the character limits). Instant relevancy, but be careful. Make sure to monitor your negative keywords or you could end up with an embarrassing faux pas like this:
Target PPC ad

Last time I checked Target didn’t sell infant body parts and they definitely didn’t qualify as furniture.

Hard Way – Static Ads in Tight Ad Groups

Every PPC campaign has a handful of top-performing keywords. You know, the 20% of your keywords that deliver 80% of the results. Take these keywords and place them in very tightly themed ad groups (like 2 or 3 keywords/ad group). Then right static ads using the keywords directly. This will ensure relevancy and allow you to put 2 or 3 relevant mentions in the ad (headline, ad copy, even the display URL). With a highly relevant ad, you can then work on your landing page to make sure you’ve established a strong chain of relevancy.

Filed Under: AdWords, PPC Tagged With: , ,