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How to Design Display Ads for Your PPC Campaign

How to Design Display Ads for Your PPC Campaign

Looking for tips and tricks on how to design display ads for your PPC campaign?

Having provided pay per click advertising services for the past decade, I can assure you that you’ve come to the right place.

Essentially, the display ad campaigns you use can be perfect for gaining brand awareness in the marketplace.

However, it’s clear that banner blindness has empowered most people.

This means that they can quickly, subconsciously, filter out these ads, which results in your messaging not being seen.

This is why you need to know how to design professional-grade display ads that have your target user in mind.

In this way, you’ll be able to grab their attention, get them to notice you, and increase the impact of your PPC campaigns.

 

5 Step Guide to Creating the Perfect Display Ads

In the following guide, you will learn how to design the perfect PPC display ads.

By so doing, your pay per click ads will start getting noticed more often and more people will get the message being presented to them.

Mostly, we will focus on one of the two main types of display ads: video and image.

More specifically, the following tips work best for designing image ads.

However, you can still use them to craft impactful and memorable video ads for your PPC campaign.

Remember, before you start creating your ads, it is imperative that you know what you are trying to achieve by campaigning online.

Are you looking to increase brand awareness?

Would you like to engage in interaction with your target market?

Or do you have a different plan altogether?

By understanding what you intend to do, you will have an easier time crafting and designing ads that will help you achieve your goals.

That said and done, below are some helpful tips you can use while creating display ads for your PPC campaign.

 

1. White Space

White-Space-Advertising-Ppc

White space is a term used to refer to any block of colour that is used around certain features and aspects of a display ad.

Although you might use white colouring on this space, there are other options out there.

When it comes to designing display ads for your PPC campaign some companies, try to provide all the information that is pertinent to the campaign in a small area.

Although this is easy to do, it makes the ads look busy and overcrowded.

To succeed in the PPC world, therefore, move away from this marketing trend.

Instead, provide information that sparks curiosity about what you are talking about and which drives the outcome you are looking for.

The best way to go about doing this is by simplifying your designs and using white spaces to make your display ads have a greater layout.

White spaces will also come in handy when you need to focus the viewer’s attention on what you are marketing and promoting.

 

2. Colouring

Display-Ads-Colour

As you go about designing your display ad, you need to think about the colours and schemes you are going to use.

If the ad is for a particular company, consider using their brand colours.

Colour influences emotion.

It also drives users to complete certain calls to action.

To this end, you need to find colours that will positively influence your users and provoke certain emotions in them.

With display ads, however, you can choose the websites on which you wish them to appear.

This provides a great opportunity for you to tackle the issue of banner blindness.

By choosing colour schemes that complement the colours used on the website you wish to place your ads on, you can easily ensure that your ads are clear and visible to everyone who comes visiting the website where you have placed your ads.

Not only will this make your ads look nicer, but it will also disguise your ads and make them look like they are part and parcel of the placement on the website.

Therefore, there will be fewer chances of visitors skimming over your ads.

Always choose colours that complement your placement websites.

These colours should also provoke the emotions that will drive your target calls to action.

 

3. Imagery

Scrabble-Display-Ad

Display and search advertising are different in one major way in the addition of images to the ad.

Given that pictures can be so impactful; you need to think about the type of photos you add to your ads.

Some logos provide adequate information about what a company is offering.

Therefore, using such logos on brand awareness campaigns will not require that you add other photos.

However, in most PPC campaigns, you will discover that your clients want you to add images in the display ads you design.

As such, you need to choose images that will evoke certain emotions in their target viewers.

In the same way, the images you use should look professional and must be relevant to the display ad in question.

Where possible, consider combining colour perfectly with images that are visually exciting.

Of course, you might be tempted to use funny or shocking images.

However, this would be a great failure on your part as a PPC campaigner.

Whereas these types of photos might be great for specific campaigns, you must ensure that you use photos that are appropriate to your campaign goals and your target audience.

 

4. Vital Information

Ppc-Display-Ad-Vital-Information

While designing display ads for your PPC campaign, you might get lost in the creative side of display advertising and forget all other information.

Although it is wise to design ads that are useful to your campaign, you must remember to include appropriate information that will make your campaigns more impactful.

The information you display on your ads, of course, will depend on the goal you have in mind.

For instance, if your campaign is tailored toward raising brand awareness, you need to include branded logos and clearly labelled branding messages.

On the other hand, campaigns that are targeted at getting people to buy a certain product should include specific details of retailing that product and the benefits that come with doing so such as getting it delivered free of charge, or buying it at half price.

 

5. Calls to Action

Display-Ad-Cta

Still, on the topic of information, there are tons of it on the internet.

This means that your niche users and visitors might be confused by it all unless you go the extra mile and target your information.

Therefore, as you go about designing display ads for your PPC campaigns, you need to be clear in your messaging.

This means that you should use certain calls to action.

By so doing, your targeted users will have a clear idea about what it is you would like them to do.

The best way to choose your calls to action is by thinking about your original campaign goals.

For instance, if you wish to increase interaction with your market, consider using bold buttons asking everyone to click on them.

This will make it obvious to the visitors that you want them to click on your ads.

On the other hand, if your campaign is targeted at increasing brand awareness, you wonít need a call to action.

In such situations, therefore, the prominent features in your display ads should be the brand message and the company logo.

Videos, however, require prominent calls to action asking the visitor to click on the video to play it.

In this case, you should add a button that is clearly labelled ‘Play'.

This way, visitors will know that you want them to click on the button to watch your video.

Anyway, you should think about your campaign goals as you craft your calls to action.

By so doing, you will have an easier time coming up with these calls, which will further make your display ads even more targeted and effective.

 

BONUS TIP: A/B Testing

Ab-Testing-Ppc-Display-Ad

In the advertising world, you need to create display different ads before you launch the final one.

This way, you will have an easy time testing each variation to see how impactful it is.

According to research, slight changes to fonts and background colours can significantly influence the CTR (click-through rate) of display ads.

This is why you should take the time to design different ads and test each variation.

By so doing, you will land on the ad that works best for your PPC campaign, your goals, and your brand.

 

Conclusion

So, there you have it in the top 5 tips for designing display ads for your PPC campaign.

By following these tips, you will be able to come up with positive and truly impactful display ads.

Of course, you should always have a campaign goal to work with before you start designing your ads.

Then, use this goal to guide you as you go about working on your display ads.

In conclusion, your display ads can make or break the PPC campaigns you engage in.

Therefore, you must pay extra attention to how they are designed. By ensuring that they have the right colours, images, information, and calls to action, your click-through rates will go up, and your PPC campaigns will prove more successful both in the short and long term.

Related:  11 Eye-Catching Business Card Design Trends
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Stuart Crawford

Stuart Crawford is an award-winning creative director and brand strategist with over 15 years of experience building memorable and influential brands. As Creative Director at Inkbot Design, a leading branding agency, Stuart oversees all creative projects and ensures each client receives a customised brand strategy and visual identity.

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