It’s a hard slog!
So while taking a break from the ads I have written, I am going to talk about the topic that has had me scratching my head for the last 4 hours, Google Adwords! (There was a tip in that sentence, ’Taking a break’. Always take a break while writing copy, when you come back and read your draft again, you will most likely change it.)
Anyway, back to my topic, ‘Using CAPITALS and Bold in your headline’.
I am going to provide you this advice based on some examples from a book called ‘Tested Advertising Methods’ by John Caples. I have been using this book for reference for the last week or so whilst testing new Adwords, and it is excellent. This is one of the books you need to order now.
Capitals and Bold in headlines can be used for emails, letters and adverts. Today though I am using them for Adwords.
Adwords takes a lot of testing, but, what I like about Adwords, is that it enables you to see what is working compared to what’s not!
I have been comparing the same copy for a number of ads, but the changes are to the structure.
The trick I am using is to enhance one or more important words of the headline in capitals. This is especially hard for Adwords as they are very strict on capitals being used too much. For other types of copy you can also play with extra large or bold type.
By using these word styles they act as what is called a ‘Stopper’. The words in CAPITALS, large or bolder print, if they are the right words, help select from the audience, your ‘target audience’. These words get a brief message across to the prospect, a message that is almost impossible to miss, no matter how fast it is read.
Here are some examples (These are headlines for ads in magazines etc, so are used in capitals with enlarged bold print. I use lower case/upper case when using Adwords, but it will give you an idea of what I’m doing):
Wrong – THE SECRET OF HOW TO BE TALLER
Right – THE SECRET OF HOW TO BE TALLER
Wrong – AT LAST A HAIR SPRAY MADE FOR DRY HAIR
Right – AT LAST A HAIR SPRAY MADE FOR DRY HAIR
Wrong – NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY GOOD FURNITURE
Right – GOOD FURNITURE. NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY IT
Looking at these examples you can see that the wrong way could easily be used as the right way. You could think that NOW IS THE TIME would be what catches the eye of the reader to take action, when in fact it is the furniture they are looking for.
To conclude. As with all methods of good advertising, always put yourself in the prospects shoes and write in a way that would attract them, just like the furniture example.
I have been testing ‘20% off B2B DATA’ amongst other words and phrases and it seems this example is working!
But the offer may have gone by the time you read this, so, as you have read this far, I will thank you by letting you have 20% off YOUR NEXT ORDER. Simply follow this link and contact my team quoting ‘How To Nick’ in the enquiry form.
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