There’s an old marketing adage: Sell the sizzle, not the steak. In PPC, you want to do just the opposite.
The recommendation comes from WebProNews’s 10 steps to SEO, and I have to agree with them. Step 7 is to set up and run your PPC campaign and in the course of doing that, Dave Davies suggests that you state right up front what your offer and how much it will cost. There is unconventional wisdom in that approach and it basically boils down to what you’ll pay in clicks if you don’t.
Remember that people will click your ad based on what you tell them in the headline and description. It pays to qualify the clicks before you pay for them. If you can scare off the researchers and others who won’t buy your product before they click on the ad then those are clicks you won’t have to pay for. Your conversions will be higher and your out-of-pocket expenses will be lower. That will translate into higher revenues for you.
So the next time you write a PPC ad to drive traffic to a landing page, remember this: Every click is money out of your pocket, but not necessarily money in. Therefore, use your ad to qualify the clicks so that you don’t have to pay for them later.
