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Here is how you need to think about paid search.

You are telling a story. You are engaged in a one on one conversation.

The persons query is them asking you a question.

Your ad is your answer to their question.

Their Click Through on your ad is them asking a new question. Tell me more.

Your website continues the conversation, answers their questions and informational pain points and hopefully guides them to taking the action you hope for.

This means that every single query, mapped to every single ad, mapped to every single landing page has their own unique DNA, their own version of a story.

Like those old choose your own adventure books (gosh I miss those…along with Oregon Trail and Math Munchers), each funnel will have a different story to tell, and it would be a very big mistake to forget about the story you are telling when creating and matching up keywords with ads and landing pages.

It would be an even bigger mistake to assume each ad group is telling the same story.

To really follow this guideline, here is what you should do.

Using the Ad Preview and Diagnostic Tool… Click on a keyword to see what that search results page looks like. Now, think about how well your ad matches up to that specific query. Look around at the other ads, and see how well it fits in and how effectively it stands out.

Now, click on the ad, and keeping in mind both the query, and the ad copy, look at the landing page. Is there a clear flow in the process from the query to the completed call to action? Can you write out that customer journey into a story?

Does your landing page fulfill the implied and explicit promises of your ad? Does your offer something compelling to someone who searches with that query?

Does your call to action satisfy the needs of that searcher?

The best copywriters talk about how important it is to “Join The Conversation” going on in your prospects head. Picture them talking to themselves as they go through this funnel, and see if everything flows well and is congruent.

If so, you have a winner. If not, you need to plug those holes.

People often wonder why hiring someone like myself for paid search is expensive. The answer is that when you know what it really takes to succeed and run paid search properly, it really takes a lot of time, effort, energy, and of course expertise.

Imagine going through the process above for hundreds of ad groups, thousands of keywords, and dozens of landing pages. (and that’s just one small piece of the puzzle.)

It always amazes me when people negotiate prices on service contractors. Often, those price cuts force them to cut corners, corners which belong in place. So, if you are interested in NOT cutting any corners, and really doing your paid search right. You know how to reach me!