How to Write Ads for the Internet (part 2 of 3). See part 1.
In theory, getting the response should be easy. After all, you’re only asking for a little of your prospect’s time. Of course, there’s often a difference between theory and practice.
In the case of a response ad, you’re up against the following…
- Getting the prospect to notice your ad
- Getting the prospect interested enough to read your ad
- Persuading the prospect that finding out more about your product is a worthwhile use of his or her time
- Overcoming the prospect’s natural skepticism
The Internet further compounds these problems as follows…
- Your ad is often only one ad among millions
- Web sites are often hard to read, especially compared to magazines and newspapers
- Most website owners are not publishing professionals, and may botch your ad, rendering it useless
- Most specialist online ad sites attract other people in business, rather than good prospects for your product
- If your ad is on a slow-loading web page, nobody will wait around long enough to see it
The paradox of the Internet is that it makes it easier for the prospect to physically respond, but much harder to bring the ad to your prospect’s attention.
The successful response ad
A response ad needs to do the following…
- Get the prospect to notice it
- Get the prospect interested in your product
- Persuade the prospect to respond
These three tasks are all a response ad has to do. You should remove anything else from a response ad. Here’s an example…
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Getting noticed
The way to get people to notice your response ad is through its headline. The headline on a response ad has one job to do. It must attract attention to itself. It must…
- Draw the prospect’s eyes toward it
- Spark the prospect’s interest
A headline will draw attention to itself if it’s bold, startling, or shocking. It will be especially effective if the headline is written to appeal to people likely to buy your product.
When creating a new ad headline, you should start by looking at the most exciting thing that your product offers, and find a way to state it in a single sentence.
A response ad headline should also be…
- Short
- Punchy
- Exciting
Most Internet advertisers write dull ad headlines. Many simply name their product, and expect people to notice their ad sitting there among hundreds of others.
That’s not going to happen. Nobody sets out to surf the web so they can read advertising. Your response ad won’t work if it’s not the most exciting thing on the page.
Your ad will be exciting to your prospect if it promises to deliver something he or she wants. If you can find a short, punchy, and exciting way to say it, your headline will draw attention to itself.
Your prospect’s subconscious mind will see the entire webpage, and notice anything interesting. If your ad headline is interesting, your prospect’s subconscious mind will bring it to your prospect’s attention.
You’ve probably noticed this when reading a newspaper. Your eye tends to be drawn, almost subconsciously, to things you find interesting.
Developing interest
Getting the prospect to look at your ad is the first battle. The next task is to get him/her to read it. This starts with the headline, which must promise something interesting.
You must immediately follow the headline with something that reinforces the promised benefit. The headline must lead logically into the first sentence of the ad.
The first sentence must then follow logically into the second. These sentences should also be short, punchy, and exciting.
Your goal is simply to get a response. You’re not selling your product in this ad. You’re selling your sales ad.
You want the person to become interested enough to volunteer to stop what he or she was doing, and click through to your sales page instead.
Don’t mention the price of your product, no matter how inexpensive it is. The price is never a benefit in the mind of the prospect. Yes, there are exceptions to this rule. It’s not likely the exception will apply to your product.
Getting the response
The culmination of your response ad is the response. Its reason for being is to attract people to your website.
For that to happen, your prospect must become excited about what he or she is reading. You should then invite the prospect to respond. Ideally, you will tell the prospect what to do in your invitation. For example: Click here now…
This ‘invitation’ is both an instruction that tells the client what to do, and an order to do it immediately.
In part one you looked at the two types of advertising. They are the response ad, and the sales ad. You also looked at how each type of ad fits into the 2-step process.
