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My favorite piece of syntax
My favorite syntax character in Adwords headlines is the colon. I often have cases where there are two pieces together in a headline. I've tried every different way to join them together. Whether space, hypen, period, comma, different conjunctions.
In many cases a colon is just the thing (though your mileage will vary).
For example, "Quickbooks Pro: On Sale" gets a higher CTR than "Quickbooks Pro On Sale" or "Quickbooks Pro - On Sale".
I think because visually it looks good, and it has an authoritative look.
I recommend trying it anything you have 2 "parts" together in a headline. In the above example, it was the product and the deal. But it could also be "topic" and benefit. Such as "Adwords: Get Good Now".
Effective ad structure #1
Okay the numbers are arbitrary. But the point is that there are different structures that work well in different situations. Try all the structures that you think could apply for your USP (even ones that seem "a bit of a stretch").
The first structure I'll just call "Item clearly stated, plus the deal".
It especially applies to products that people are explicitly looking for. But it also applies to things they don't yet know about - and your ad sells them on the solution and the deal.
Example:
30 GB Video iPod
Only $234.
In stock. Free shipping.
The item itself is concisely stated in the headline.
Line 1 is the price, highlighted by the word "Only" to emphasize it's a low price.
Line 2 lets them know it's available now and ships for free (also part of the overall "deal").
A lot of advertisers try putting in all kinds of extra detail in there. They want to use every character they can. But in cases like these you'll be rewarded by being short, while conveying the most important details.
Effective ad structure #2
This one I like to call "the contrarian ad". It's about taking something and speaking against it. I'm sure you've seen a number of variations of this. Especially ones that start with "Don't" (such as "Don't Sign Up For AdWords") or end with "scam". In some cases the point is to sell the thing that's being slammed. In other cases it's about offering an alternative.
In the "Affiliate Project X" guide, the author Chris does a big spiel about doing such ads.
But what everyone seems to be missing, is the wide range that you have to work with here. You don't have to just do the in-your-face style. You can use a gentler approach, that's more suited to your audience ... while still grabbing their interest in a good way.
So if your competitors try this kind of thing, they'll probably do it in a ham-handed way that doesn't really get the results.
I'm here to teach you how to look at the entire "possibility space" of these kinds of ads. To arrive at a powerful version that will crush your competitors ...
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