by Mike Fleming

Now that you've chosen your keywords to create ad group themes, you want to have ads that will move targeted users from whatever they're doing online to being aware and interested in your product or service. Remember, since the Display Network operates by completely different rules and the users are in a completely different state of mind, the ads should be different than Search Network ads.

With Search, users are somewhere in the buying funnel; whereas with Display most of the users are likely not in the buying funnel at all. Therefore, the goal of the ads in the Search Network is to persuade the user that your solution is the best choice out of all of their options to make their life better; whereas the goal of the ads in the Display Network is to make users aware that you have a solution that could make their life better.

Here a some general characteristics of ads that are effective at starting users down the buying funnel:

1. Benefits - It's not about you or even what you're offering. It's about the improvement of the user's life in a way that's more valuable than the cost associated with the purchase. Communicate that and then prove it on your landing page.

2. Relevance - You've picked keyword themes for your ad groups that will show on sites with those themes. So, is your ad relevant to the users hanging out on those sites? Make sure it is. You may find ads that don't perform how you hoped because they are being delivered to the wrong kinds of sites. Make sure the ad and sites are a good match.

3. Sneak Peek - Let them know what they will learn about your offer after they click on the ad. This can help in two ways. It may deter some users from clicking because they are not really interested in what would be found. This is good because you are filtering out some users that may have clicked on your ad without being truly interested in what you're offering. So, you save money on the wasted clicks that you would have received. Also, it can give insight to the user about what kind of information they will receive once they click through. This is good because you are interrupting their current activity and asking them to go on a detour. So, if you can assure them it will be worth it, they can be more likely to click through and give your landing page a chance.

4. Call to Action - Tell the users what they should do once they get to your landing page. This is similar to #4 except you're not only telling them what they'll find, but what they should do on the landing page. And since your primary goal is to get them to enter the buying funnel, you want to....

5. General Offers - Most of these users are not ready to commit to a customer relationship right away. So, a good strategy is to hook them with something that is helpful to them in their pursuit of gaining the benefit you have claimed they would gain by becoming a customer. Therefore, offering free sample, the ability to calculate ROI or savings, a free information download, or whatever is applicable to your business is a logical conversion step for this audience. Your offers can get more specific if you get to the place where you're writing ads for specific sites and you are targeting those specific users.

I remember a professor of mine always said, "There are no rules, just strong tendencies." These are good "tendencies" to follow when creating your Display Network ads. But, as you get to know your audiences more and more and test your ads, you will adjust according to what works for them.

Be sure and visit our small business news site.