It is believed that all very successful PPC marketers have one thing in common, a trick that they all use, and use well. It is called "split testing".
Split testing is a way of optimizing results through frequent trial and observation. When you are doing split testing you are running two ad campaigns at the same time where both ads are almost but not quite identical, and then comparing the results. What you are looking for in the test results are differences in the factors that improve your profitability such as conversion rates. If one ad copy "pulls" more, or converts better, then you take note of the differences between the two pieces of ad copy and run the test again using still another new piece of ad copy that is also slightly different in some way. You of course test this newest copy against the previous winner in order to establish which works best. Through constant testing, observation, and refinement, the professional marketer learns what works and why. It is quite astonishing to contemplate how a very small change in the ad copy will impact your future results so much.
Difficult To Believe?
Consider the story of the Wall Street Journal. A very long time ago the publishers of the Wall St. Journal newspaper arrived at what they thought was the perfect ad copy for a direct mail campaign used to sell newspaper subscriptions. Never being satisfied, the publisher would from time-to-time make tiny changes in the copy of the letter and take note of any changes in the response rate. Sometimes these changes consisted of nothing more than substituting a comma for a semi-colon in the letter. Changes no matter how small were left in the next run of outgoing mail if they seemed to cause an improvement in the response rate. Across time they perfected the outgoing letter through trial and observation. One day the response rate hit a high water mark and then stopped right there. They finally maxed out. For the longest time they never achieved any further improvement in the response rate to that last version of the solicitation letter...
Until decades later. About 30 years went by before anyone in the marketing department of the Wall St. Journal could write another sales letter that would come close to performing better than the one in use for the past 30 years! Such is the value of split testing.
It is very common for people to only write one ad and keep running it forever. This is of course a mistake. Google makes it so easy to do split testing of ads, and in view of how competitive Google adwords is, it is most unwise not to take advantage of it.
When you start a new PPC campaign write two different ads. Work those against each other until one is a clear winner. After that change one small aspect of the ad and test that against the first copy. The winner moves on and in turn change one other small aspect until you find the better of the two. Once you perfect that ad, start over and write a new one and test that one as well. In time you will find the very best possible ad that you can rely on, and then you can kick back and let it ring the register for you.
About The Author:
This artice was written by Mark Soveign who owns and operates Wertheim Communications LLC and is a contributing writer to howto-investing.com