Worst of the Web Pay Per Click AdsHow many times have you seen an ad and just thought “That doesn’t even make sense!”. Well welcome to the worst of the web and pay per click advertising for real estate. Writing good pay per click ads that work on Google takes practice, patience, and some creativity.

The Goal of Pay Per Click Advertising

The goal of every Google Adwords ad that you write should be the following:

  • Attract Attention with Your Ad
  • Give them a Compelling Reason to Click it
  • Make sure the ad points to the right page so you have as high a Conversion Rate as possible.

Anyone can write a bad ad and some of these really are pretty bad. They may not seem bad at first but let’s go over them and how we can improve each one.

We are going to make this a regular part of Internet Real Estate Success so if you have an ad or you see an ad that you think needs improvement send me a note via the contact form and let’s see if we can change some ads and improve them for the better.

For each ad i will list what the search phrase that I typed to bring up that ad. I didn’t click on any of the ads as I didn’t want to cost any advertiser money as I was not a serious buyer of their services.

Irvine Ad
Search: Irvine Homes for Sale

This ad has more than one issue going on with it. It can be improved on at least 3 different portions of the ad which will draw more positive attnetion to it.

  • The title of this ad is just “Irvine Homes”. This title does not draw my attention and certainly does not do anything to include that the website is about homes for sale.
  • The ad also barely uses the third line and only says “Irvine Realtors”. I didn’t ask for Irvine Realtors I asked for Irvine homes for sale. Something related to the number of homes, listings, or anything else on this line would have been better.
  • Domain Name in the third line doesn’t mention anything about Irvine and is unclear. 

Phoenix Ad
Search: Phoenix Real Estate

When we don’t match what the customer is thinking we have problems with the performance of our Google Ads. I give this ad a positive score on the headline as it is clear. Let’s get into the problems because the first line is the last good portion of this ad.

  • The first two lines of the ad talk about the kind of real estate professional I am going to encounter. I asked for real estate information not a real estate agent. The ad is trying to sell me on something that isn’t what I asked for.
  • Ask yourself “Does someone what an agent who isn’t caring?”. The lines related to a caring agent and relocation agent are not compelling offer and are certainly not related to my search.
  • The domain name certainly is interesting and I am not sure if “hot” refers to the temperature in Phoenix or the homes. With a web address like that I would definitely capitalize (or at least test) capitals in my name to see if I could get a better CTR (click through rate)

Santa Monica Ad
Search: Santa Monica Homes For Sale

This ad starts off so well. In fact the title matches my search and even the first line of the ad clarifies where I am looking in case I didn’t know that Santa Monica was in CA which can be a good idea to do. The ad then just falls off in the next two lines. Let’s see how.

  • “Free Real Estate CA Toolkit” - I am not even sure what that does. I have no idea why I would want one of these kits and how it would benefit me. There is no clear connection for me on this one.
  • The web address on this ad makes the least amount of sense of any of them. The web address is difficult to read and small and mentions assests. I was looking for a home and someone got directed to a site about assests. This really is not connecting well at all. A domain name that had Santa Monica or even LA would have been better than this.

Remember that with Pay Per Click ads you need to match up to what your customer is thinking. If you can match an ad to what your customer is thinking you will have an ad that can work for you day in and day out and never end up on a list like this.

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