Okay,  the Amish don’t know anything about pay-per-click advertising or PPC management and they probably couldn’t tell you where these heaters are actually made either (China).  But we can pick up some tips from last winter’s Amish fireplace ad campaign.

But first off, you can read at ConsumerAffairs.com about exploiting the Amish and a $300 fireplace that you could buy with  equivalent btu’s for $19.99 at Target.

Why is this ad effective?

Some ppc landing page tips from the Amish:

Long copy

Direct marketers have known about long copy for some time now. Its not there for the sake of filling space. Its used to crowd in as many sales arguments as possible.  Not everyone is going to read it, but those that do will probably convert.

from the book Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples:

Advocates of short copy say, “I don’t think anybody will read all that small print. Let’s cut the copy down to a couple of paragraphs and set it in 18-point type.”What the advocates of short copy should say, if they want to be accurate, is this: ” I don’t think everybody will read all that small print.” This is perfectly true. Everybody will not read it. But the fact is that the very people you are most interested in will read your ad. These are prospects who will buy your product or service if you tell them sufficient reasons for doing so.

Here is the solution to the problem of long copy versus short copy that should satisfy the champions of both sides of the question.  Put a brief selling message into your headline and subheadings. Put your detailed message into small print. In this way, you accomplish two things:

(1) You get  a brief message across to glancers with your headline and subheads.

(2) You give a complete message to the person who is sufficiently interested in your product to read about it.

John Caples wrote his Tested Advertising Methods in 1932. As you can see, the same technique is still used effectively in 2009.

Use headers to qualify your audience

Immediately, the problem of high heating bills is made apparent.  Hey, I have high heating bills too! Join the club. Read on reader and your problem will be solved.

Call to action keyphrases

Save! How to! These call to actions are boldfaced in the sub headings. You can read about the best call to action keywords in my previous post. Also, notice that the word FREE is used to grab attention in the ad.

Increase conversions with badges and seals

The Good House Keeping Seal of approval and the Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) certification is featured predominently in the Amish fireplace ad.  Conversion testing has shown that using security badges and seals such as the BBB Better Business Bureau on your website are an easy way to increase conversions.

Did the methods above increase sales of Amish fireplaces?

“The demand for the product was much higher than the company anticipated. They really were not properly staffed to take all the orders,” said the BBB’s Joy Bender.

Take a few tips from the Amish and increase your conversions too.

The ad bolding feature in Google AdWords is a feature that you should take advantage of if you would like to increase click through rates (CTR). Of course, before you go through these techniques listed below, keep in mind that an improved CTR is meaningless unless you have a corresponding improvement in conversions.
Remember the mantra – always be testing.
Besides the use of catchy phrasing, pay-per-click ads are visual. People recognize the shape of a word and those shapes can trigger subliminal reactions in the brain. Your pay-per-click ads need to stand out.

Using the boldface matching, you can create a distinctive shape to help your ad stand out among the others. In combination with certain call-to-action  keyphrases, you can create some killer ads.

For those not in the know, ad text appears bold whenever it matches or nearly matches a user’s search query.

The arrow technique:  Popularized by Shoemoney.

Expensive Widgets
Top source for expensive widgets.
Find expensive widgets quick!
www.domain-name.com

If you trace the boldface headline and text with your finger, this ad boldface technique creates an “arrow” > or greater than symbol.It really is just a technique for getting a lot of boldface text into the ad. It may not matter if the boldface is in an “arrow” shape or not. It is my belief that what matters is the amount boldface text that makes the ad stands apart and trigger a reaction in search visitor.

Since visitors are often subject to information overload and are often disinterested, search visitors are very adept at mentally blocking out ads. Ads that repeat and match the search phrase will display the matched text in boldface intensifying the visitor’s selection of your targeted ad.The boldface repeated text creates a more visual impact and a small variation from the rest of the ads allowing it to stand out better and increase your CTR.

Lets take a look at some more variations.
The cascading technique:

Cheap Widgets
Save now cheap widgets!
Your source for cheap widgets.
www.domain-name.com

The reverse arrow: (keyword match for widgets strategies)
New Widgets Strategies
Increase widgets profits now!
Discover proven widget strategies.
www.domain-name.com

Inverted repeat two-word headline: (keyword matches for expensive or cheap widgets – avoid gimmicky repetition)
Expensive Widgets
Widgets Expensive. Buy now!
Your source for Expensive Widgets.
www.domain-name.com

or

Cheap Widgets
Widgets cheap. Save now!
Your source for cheap widgets.
www.domain-name.com

Notice that in the above ads, you have a nice boldface keyword repetitive diagonal slant through the middle of the ad. The call to action words are set apart and stand out well in the ad too.
Does using boldfacing work? YES!

Since using the techniques above, the increase in CTR convinced me to use boldfacing text techniques in all three ad text lines.It is not the ppc consulting firms that are in the majority exhibiting the innovative techniques shown above. It is the affiliate marketers that are really striving to make a buck that have the most striking ads. Sure, there are a few self-proclaimed “ad gurus” that are writing effective visual ads and I suspect that they are most likely affiliate marketers as well.What is affiliate ppc marketing? If you click on an affiliate ppc ad, you might land on another page that has a list of sponsored links. Clicking on one of these, hopefully more useful, links will consequently earn a few cents for the affiliate marketer. If you are doing pay-per-click for clients, listen and learn from the affiliate marketers. Hopefully you can expand on and test their techniques.