New visitors make their initial decision about a website in less than three seconds, so your ad copy must be clear, relevant, and eye-catching. Writing coach Ginny Gray walks you through the rules for writing online ads that convey your brand and convert clicks into sales, traffic, and signups. You'll learn how to understand your product, understand your audience, and then connect the two clearly and precisely.
- Write ads that satisfy a need and create a lasting impression.
- Craft copy for websites, email, direct mail, and social media.
- Know when to use formal or conversational language.
- Lay out an ad in an F or Z pattern.
- Use SEO keywords to gain the attention of search engines.
- Develop a tone and persona that addresses your specific audience.
- Hit your revenue, awareness, acquisition, and retention goals.
- Invoke psychological triggers such as priming, social proof, and price constructs.
- Overcome loss aversion in potential customers.
- Use online tools to define and measure metrics for each ad campaign.
- Avoid pitfalls like passive voice, weak headlines, marketese, and jargon.
- Include a call to action to close the deal.
Contents
1. Guidelines for Web Ads
2. Goals of Web Ads
3. Ads for Different Media Types
4. Psychological Triggers
5. Personas and Tone
6. Ad Dos and Don'ts
About the Author
Ginny Gray is a writing coach, editor, and publisher. She lives in Carmel, California.