Let’s say you set up a pay-per-click, or PPC, campaign for your law firm in hopes of pulling in new clients. Great idea! Just keep in mind that writing PPC ad copy for search engines is a little different than writing other types of ads.

For one thing, you only get 70 characters (about two short sentences) to promote yourself and attract potential clients. Also, unlike other advertising channels, your ads are constantly scored for relevance, and this score (in conjunction with bid price) helps determine where your ad will appear on results pages.

Ads with higher Quality Scores get higher page rankings, and you want your ad somewhere in the first five positions so the searcher will actually see it. So, how do you write successful PPC ad copy?

Tip #1 – Keywords are KEY! Use keywords in the title and ad copy.

Tip #2 – Use title casing to make your ad pop. Capitalize all but short or unimportant words (like the casing style you’d see for a book title).

Tip #3 – Be conversational. Write questions or statements that connect with the user (without being too cliche or gimmicky).

Tip #4 – Include a call to action or limited-time offer to help users make the decision to click. Example: “Shop now!” or “Free shipping until Jan. 30!”

Tip #5 – Send them to the correct URL. There is nothing worse than clicking on compelling PPC ad copy and then being sent to a generic page. Tie landing pages to calls-to-action; users should arrive at pages where they can “Sign up!,” “Order Now!,” etc.

Advanced tip: Use dynamic keyword insertion to automatically replace the title of an ad with the search term. People like seeing what they searched for in your ad, and that can lead to more clicks! Consult the Google help document for more on how to use keyword insertion.

For more about PPC search marketing and PPC best practices, rely on BestLegalMarketing.com!