Ad text pointers

[mmuench]

Can any of you pros (ehem, Ronnie) post ad text that you've found is successful in your markets? I'm looking to increase my CTR and it would be a great help if members could post their tried and true ads that have brought in great results over time.

[BrandonSternfield]

"Click here for a free 60" Plasma" works pretty well for me

But in all seriousness, it would have to be in your market. Do you do all realty, or just townhouses, etc.

[mmuench]

LOL. Have you been checking out my ads? I actually am running a campaign offering a free 65" HDTV with home purchase.

I'm still a rookie agent and I haven't carved out a niche yet. So as far as specializing in any one area . . . I'll take whatever I can get and I'm bidding on just about every search term I can think of (homes, houses, townhomes, townhouses, condos, agents, real estate, luxury homes, etc., etc.) in every area anywhere near me.

I realize a lot of this stuff is market specific, but I would think that a certain number of ads would be "evergreen" and work well over time in any given market.

I'll let you know if I get any bites on the 65" TV

[RonnieG]

Yeah, I could post specific ad text that works for me, and for my clients, but then the other 10-20 agents in my market that frequent this forum would be able to copy that same text and use it to compete against me! I have already posted lots of general advice and guidelines (opinions really) about how to write good ad text that helps you get good AdWords QS.

[BrandonSternfield]

What's with the plasmas, my boss was offering it to referrals too, hmm.

If you actually have the keyword 'real estate', or 'town homes', take it off your list. There is no reason to have it.

Example :

You have just "Real Estate" as your keyword. If someone puts Oceanfront real estate, they get you. Someone puts florida real estate, they get you. Someone puts Wisconsis real estate they get you.

See my point? You don't want anything that general.

If you are just working in your locale, try 'locale real estate' where locale is the actual name.

[RonnieG]

..,
You have just "Real Estate" as your keyword. If someone puts Oceanfront real estate, they get you. Someone puts florida real estate, they get you. Someone puts Wisconsis real estate they get you.

Not if you have a really good negative keywords list, and are properly geo-targeting that ad campaign only to local users.

[mmuench]

Believe me, I don't make it a habit of offering free TVs.

I agreed to buy a client's 65" Sony in a desperate attempt to salvage a deal on his listing (he wouldn't budge any more on his asking price to make it happen). I closed the deal and am now the proud new owner of a massive TV that my wife won't let me keep. So I figured what the hell?

Surprisingly, though, the ad is losing in testing. I was hoping it would be a good call to action for people who are ready to buy NOW and just need that extra little incentive to pick up the phone and call.

Anyway, my CTR sticks around 1% in the early part of the day, but rebounds in the evenings and ends up being around 3% by day's end. I've read posts here about 10% CTRs and I'm wondering how I can get closer to that figure with my own campaigns.

I've learned a lot on this forum from RonnieG and others and I think I've applied their principles fairly well in my campaigns as far as choosing the right keywords, etc. but I think my ad text could use some work. I'm not impressed with a 3% CTR by a long shot.

[RonnieG]

I cannot stress often enough or overstate the critical importance of a huge negative keywords list. Mine is currently over 1200 words/phrases, and it consistently grows by 10-12 per week as I see what phrases are bringing consumers to my site that should never have had the opportunity to see or click on my ad. If yours isn't at least 700-800 words, then your ads are being seen too many times when it was not appropriate for the consumer's query, your CTR will be lower, and you will be paying for unproductive clicks from consumers who will never really use or register on your site.

[mmuench]

Wow, that's incredible! I only have 100 negative keywords right now.

I definitely see what you mean, though. I had both the content network and the search network disabled until yesterday when I decided to enable the search network because I haven't been getting nearly enough impressions. Negative keywords are apparently VERY important with the search network enabled.

My impressions went up from only 659 yesterday (with more than 560 search phrases active!) to 3,979 today...

But my CTR dropped from almost 4% yesterday to .82% today! That's ridiculous. Apparently I have a LOT of negative keywords to add. I don't even know where to start.

[RonnieG]

... I don't even know where to start.

The first 100 negative keywords in every campaign should be every other state name and its abbreviation (incl Puerto Rico / PR). For the others:

Start by pouring a good stiff drink, then start playing word games with various real estate related keywords.

communityname homes: rest homes, retirement homes, old age homes, funeral homes, HUD homes (if you don't want to handle them),

communityname home: home decorator, home decorating, home decor, home plumber, home plumbing, home repair, home repairs, home repairing, home school, home schooling, home schools, home run, home runs, home loans (if not in mortgage business), home remodel, home remodeling, home remodeler, home draperies, home entertainment, home audio, home theater, home theatre (for the Canadians and Brits), home financing (if not into mortgages),

house/houses: dog house, chop house, tea house, fire house, wh&re house (unless you have a side business), steak house,

communityname real estate: commercial real estate (if you are residential only), cheap real estate (if you are in the luxury market),

communityname realty: joe blow realty (if you are not that company)

I have shown just a few basic examples, but also be sure to include singular and plural forms, any other forms you can think of, and possibly some common misspellings as well.

Do this for a couple of hours and you will be glad you had that stiff drink at hand!

Then, when you get done, make sure the same negative keywords are added to every campaign you have, since each campaign has its own negative keyword list.