But when I look at search engine ads both when I'm searching for information and when clients ask me for help with their Google advertising campaigns, I'm shocked at how flabby, vague and boring most of the ads out there are.



If you've tested thoroughly and the most mind-numbing ad copy gets the best response, fine. But too often, all the ads tested were equally tedious and uninspiring. Here are some suggestions for creating ads with spunk and magnetism.

1. Think your way into the mindset of your target market. What is the problem that sent them searching on Google? For instance:

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2. Now inject some emotion into your ad, the emotion felt by your potential customer or client. How can you capture their problem in unexpected, dramatic words?

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3. Imagine several different types of buyers and create ads tuned into each one.

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4. Paint a vivid picture of the results buyers enjoy after purchasing your product or service.

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5. Mention either unusual or popular examples of what you offer.

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6. Emphasize what makes you different from other vendors or service providers - differences that matter to customers. Sample headlines:

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7. Edit, edit, edit. Google forces you to be concise by allowing only 25 characters (letters, punctuation marks or spaces) in the headline and 35 characters in each of the two succeeding lines. Get rid of all unnecessary or repeated words. Try shorter variants of key words. It's OK if the ad then turns out slightly ungrammatical so long as the meaning comes across clearly. You can leave off final punctuation if there's no more space at the end of the ad. Readers understand that ad constraints force you to compress your thoughts.

Google makes it easy to test different ad versions against one another, and now you'll have more powerful candidates to see how they perform.