Let’s face it. The Online Marketing arena is a competitive one. Everyone who’s anyone has a product or service to sell and they all seem to make it sound as though their site is the best one to click on. Why would a consumer choose YOU over the countless others? If you don’t have an immediate (and compelling) answer to that question, well then shame on you! It is critical when creating a paid search initiative that your Ad Copy reflects - in as creative a way as possible - why searchers should click on your ads, rather than your competitors.

Ad Copy can be tricky, in that the engines only permit a very limited amount of characters, including spaces and punctuation. Example: 25 in the First Line; 35 in the Second; 35 in the Third Line. Not a lot of space to say what you want to say, is it? So where should you start?

How about making a list of all of the benefits of ordering from your website? These are the things you will want to include in your Ad Copy. Some of these benefits may include the following:

• Low Price Guarantee & Percentage Discounts (up to 50% off, etc.)
• Free Shipping & Returns
• 24 Hour Customer Service
• Free Samples With Purchase
• Serving Customers Nationwide
• Special Promotions or Discounts

You will also want to use calls to action, in an effort to generate a sense of urgency such as:

• Limited Time Offer or Limited Supplies Available
• Offer Ends Soon
• The word “now” speaks volumes and is quite powerful: Buy Now, Shop Now, Call Now, Order Now, Click Now, Visit Now, Discover Now, etc.

Remember, your ads are competing with all of the others out there. Which incentives or offerings would entice you to want to click on your ad?

You could have the most aesthetically pleasing website with tons of relevant content, but without strong calls to action, you are basically striking out. A call to action is a hugely important piece of the puzzle and should be screaming (well, not really but you get my drift) at your visitors prominently on every page of your website. Essentially, you want to hold their hands and guide them to take action on your website; it should be the most natural thing they do once they arrive at your site.

You may think that it is already so clear and apparent that you want them to complete an action item; however, there is no such thing as too apparent when it comes to calls to action. Offer your site visitors attractive, multiple calls to action, as what may interest one person, may not be of any interest to the next; cover your bases to ensure a home run.

Some examples of strong calls to action that should be conspicuously displayed on any website can be found below. By the way, if the first four are not options because your organization hasn’t took the social media plunge, please visit our Social Media Blog to learn more about the importance of Social Media and/or click here to view our Social Media Page.

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Every year…right around this time…I feel the need to remind my clients (especially the Ecommerce ones) that the holiday season is just around the corner. The notion that anyone would need a reminder might seem silly; however, this is a HUGE opportunity to capitalize on the potential up-tick in site traffic. We want to turn these visitors into shoppers and ultimately buyers; make that repeat buyers.  Now that we have identified the goal, how do we make it happen? Is there a secret recipe? Not really, although there are a variety of proven tactics that should be taken into serious consideration:

• Support the demand for your product or service. You can achieve this by increasing your budgets (daily/weekly/monthly). Traffic will no doubt spike during the holidays and you will want to cover your bases by ensuring that your ads remain active.
• Plan ahead with inventory. Pay close attention to your online orders; be prepared to restock whenever necessary. Utilize an analytics tool to determine which keywords are leading to the most sales.
• Be smart with pricing. Price has always been a factor, but even more so with today’s economy. Take the time to do some comparison shopping and analysis of what your competition is offering. You do not have to “give away the farm”, but you ought to be competitive.
• Offer Free Shipping. This is a critical piece of the puzzle. I strongly encourage retailers to take advantage of this incentive to boost sales. According to ComScore, “The percentage of online sales transactions that included free shipping increased to 42 percent in the third quarter of 2009 from 31 percent in the first quarter of 2008”.
• Utilize the most compelling Landing Pages. Send your traffic to an offer driven page that is relevant to the keywords that have been searched on. All your buyers should need to think about is entering in their credit card information.
• Offer Gift Wrap. This is especially attractive for shoppers who are shipping gifts to another state. This is a surefire way to provide that extra convenience.

Happy Holidays!