After getting my client’s AdWords campaign properly configured and adding keywords, I used Google’s Display Ad Builder to create some cool ads. No not some plain text ads, but rather some colorful image ads that have fancy loading animations. I also created variations for each of the different sizes that Google uses on their content network. And guess what, I’m not a graphic designer or a programmer, and it didn’t even take me an hour.
This is an amazing opportunity for business owners. In the past you had to spend $500 or more to hire a professional designer to make your ads, but now Google helps you do it for free! Here’s a screen shot of one of them…
Google makes creating these ads really easy, no design or programming skills are required. To create them, start making an ad like you normally would, but instead of choosing ‘Text ad’, choose ‘Display ad builder’ (you need to use the web version of the AdWords interface to access this).
As you will see, there are over one hundred pre-made ad templates, most of which allow you to customize different text and background color/font combinations. Sure, they may not be quite as attractive as a professionally designed ad, but being able to generate a variation for each of the sizes that Google allows is worth the trade off. Besides, any one of these image ads are going to be far more eye catching than a simple text ad.
One of the drawbacks to these ads is that they don’t offer a lot of space for text– about as much as a text ad, but it varies from template to template. A way to get around this issue is to upload an image that contains text instead of your logo. The ‘Get Your Free Guide To Laser Surgery’ part of the ad above is actually an image.
When making your ads, be sure you preview the different variations. Sometimes your text will get chopped off with the smaller sized ads. If this only happens to a couple variations you can just exclude them. Adwords gives no indication of how many characters will fit in a text area so you will need experiment.
Overall the display ad builder is a great tool, especially since its free. It allows anyone to create professional quality ads with minimal time and effort. Generating the different size and layout variations is also a huge plus. And quality image ads placed on sites that are relevant to your customers’ interests, combined with demographic and geographic targeting is a sure way to drive quality traffic to your site.
If you are interested in learning more about paid advertising check out the BlitzLocal Blog. You will find some great articles on Facebook advertising, geographic targeting, Google Maps, and more. If you haven’t already, you should claim your business listing on Judy’s Book and reach out to people who are reviewing your business.
David Wurtz is a Marketing Manager at BlitzLocal, specializing in getting small businesses found on Google, and generating new phone calls and leads.
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