Why Does Wording Matter If I'm Using Paid Search?

Wording matters because I'm watching my budget and feeding the online marketing bug can be expensive.  In order to get the most value from paid search you must be careful with the wording in your ad.

Use magnetic poetry for fun...Not for ad word selection.

 

How do I come up with the best words to use in my ad?

There are many different methods you could use. A good place to start is to imagine yourself as your own customer and come up with a list of words or phrases your customer might use to search your product. Then take that list of words and go to Google's AdWords Keyword Planner. The AdWords Key Planner site will provide you with statistics regarding words being entered into Google search so you can find the words that have the most user frequency.  On that site you can also get lists of words that are generated by the site so you can get new ideas.

Is there a site I can use to make sure my words and phrases don't have hidden meanings?

In English, there are many words and phrases that might have multiple meanings that you may not intend or won't serve your brand well.  Online you can go to the site for the Urban Dictionary.  For example, say you sell Halloween products and you want to advertise selling a plastic ghost.  You might want to use the word "boo" and if you look it up in the Urban Dictionary you would find 2 meanings, the first listed meaning is a "boyfriend or girlfriend" and the other is the one that you probably meant which is a "word used to scare people".  So when you write your ad image, try replacing the word "boo" with both meanings to see if the double meaning could cause an ad reader confusion.

Does the type of paid search ad I'm using make a difference for what words I choose?

Yes. Yes. And Yes. If you are using a pay-per-click ad it's best to select words and phrases that define your audiences needs.  In the example above, some words might be "scary", "ghost", "boo", and some phrases might be "Halloween décor", "plastic ghost", and "light up ghost".  However, if you are using a contextual ad you will want to select words and phrases that will help place the ad on a website that has relevance and that will entice a click-through.  In the example above, you might select phrases such as "Halloween costumes", "haunted house", and "Halloween decorating tips".  Note that none of these phrases make you automatically think of a plastic ghost, but if customers are lingering on websites that relate to these phrases they could see your ad for a plastic ghost that might entice them to click on it to purchase it.

Happy word haunting...I mean word hunting!