The human mind is a wondrous and complicated thing. It is also completely unpredictable. When it comes to writing ads for paid search marketing, you might think you know what copy will cause people to click your ad…but you really don’t. We’ve preached this before but it bears worth repeating – the only way to know what works is by testing. Here are some different things you can test that could have a profound and unexpected impact on the success of your ads.

Capitalization. Most marketers capitalize the first letter of every major word in the title. You should try that as well as not capitalizing any letters. Do the same with your display URL.

The order of content. Let’s say you have an ad with both an offer as well as a deadline. Try running ads with the offer first and with the deadline first.

Dynamic versus static content. Most search engines now allow you to dynamically have the keyword that triggers the ad placed in the headline or copy. Usually, this will result in higher click-throughs, but not always. Experiment to see what works for you.

The display URL. Try using “www” versus leaving it out. Try just the root domain name versus a domain that includes a sub-folder with keywords. For example, “www.yourdomain.com” versus “yourdomain.com/keyword”.

Adjectives. For example, “easy” versus “fast”. One of the two will probably trigger many more clicks. The only way to know the right psychological trigger is to test both.

Call to action. Visit now…Buy now…Learn more. These are all different ways of specifically requesting that the reader of the ad click the ad to visit your web site. Try different calls to action as well as not having a call to action to see what works best.

If you experiment with the above elements of your ads, you will have a much better chance at discovering the ad copy that generates the highest click-through rates as well as conversion rates. Another important part of this analysis will be only changing a single ad element at any one time. For example, if you change both the display URL and the call to action at the same time, you won’t know which change causes a chance in the performance of the ad. This kind of analysis will not only drive the most traffic to your site, it will save you some money because ads with higher click-through rates can be displayed above ads with lower click-through rates even if the placement bid is lower.

If you need professional advice for managing your paid search campaign, contact Work Media at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.