The words you use in your text ad are vital and can determine the success or failure of your ad campaign. Here we provide you with some hints and tips on how to effectively write text ads.

Understand the audience
Understanding the mindset of your prospects is the fundamental key to writing click-friendly ads. Start thinking like your customer and not an industry insider an you will be far more effective. Understanding the challenges of your audience will also increase your chances of success when communicating to them in writing.

Less is more
It is just not possible to get a complicated strategy into a short text ad and there is no room for elaborate techno-speak. The objective of your text ad is to be straightforward and succinct so as not to make a sale but to get your prospects attention and therefore a click.

Define your goal
Make sure the message you put across in your text ad supports your desired goal. If you want to generate phone calls then put your number in the ad or point to a page on your site that contains your contact details.

Highlight unique selling points
Be sure to make your Unique Selling Position clear. Do not just tell the user you are the best, show them why.

Clever word play doesn’t work
Do not try and be too clever with the wording of your text ad. What does work is precise targeting and an attractive offer. Try to avoid clichés that are meaningless; users become “blind” to commonly used clichés and phrases.

Forget punctuation…for once
Avoid irregular punctuation like all capitals and title case. It is very distracting to the eye and most publishers won’t allow it. Keep the punctuation of your text ad so that it appears clear and professional. As an example it is fine to use the word free but avoid caps and do not use exclamation marks.

Test different concepts (split testing)
Put together 2 or 3 (or more) ad copies together and run them head to head to see how they perform. Keep them running for at least 7 days and at the end of the period compare the results and their performance. At this point you can throw away the lower performing ads.

Test the link
Once you have booked your ad and it is running, click it! It does sound like common sense (as most things are) but many advertisers simply do not check their own ad. So make sure the link works!

Writing effective text ads is a skill and now you know the rules for writing text ads, give it a try. Remember to split test your ads against each other to see which ads are performing the best for you.

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