When it comes to selling things, I’ve moved a few items in my day. Way back when, I used to sell appliances at Kmart. I was thrilled to help others get what they wanted and during that experience I learned about good, better and best. It was my first understandings of how to do “best fit” for others and see the world through their eyes – not mine. I worked in the sign business for a jaunt and picked up some basic principles about ads that work. Here’s what I have learned over the years. To put it succinctly, there are only a handful of concepts: the headline, the copy, the image or images, the keywords you use and the sizzle. The sizzle is not the steak its the reason you want the steak.
1) HEADLINE
The headline is your clear, concise definition of what it’s all about. As they say in advertising – it’s the ad for the ad. Let’s look at a couple: lets say you want to sell an old truck. Your headline might read:
1991 FORD TRUCK 4 CYLINDER GOOD CONDITION
2HP 8-GALLON COMPRESSOR WORKS GREAT
These clearly state what the ad is about and why you might be interested. When I need a truck or compressor these would be on the top of my list if they met my need.
2) DESCRIPTION
Description is important because it allows a paragraph to flesh out the details of the headline. Here you can add the tomato, lettuce, mustard and ketchup that makes the ad delicious. Within this section you want to add your keywords that do two things. The first is for search engine matters in today’s digital world. If I am partial to Ford trucks then I will search for a Ford, if I want a 4 cylinder then that is required. Be sure and create a draft for this section then rewrite it once or twice – you’ll be amazed and how it gets better and better and will move your merchandise faster.
3) IMAGES(S)
Yes, as always, an image is worth a thousand words. Having good quality images will help sell the items. For the truck I would want to see the front and side views, and maybe the back to see if the suspension is warped. Be sure to optimize your images. Heavy files that are bloated in size (with a great deal of pixels) slow down web pages, don’t get high marks from Google and interrupt your clients experience which may be a turn off. There are many optimizers on the web where you can take your images and upload them and optimize them and then download them again for your storage. Try to keep the image size below 500 pixels for posting on the web while maintaining their quality look.
4) KEYWORDS
We know how important keywords are in the web world. They allow us to zero in on products and services and topics. The same is true for your advertisement. Be sure to include your city location so those around you can find your product easily. This way when they go to search for that Ford Truck in Pocatello – it brings them to your ad so you can sell it fast.
5) SIZZLE
The last one here is sizzle. Sizzle is the butter melting on the baked potatoe. It’s what get you worked up and wanting to do it. For the Ford truck it might be the mileage or how you treated the truck. THIS TRUCK WAS ALWAYS TAKEN CARE OF AND ONLY REQUIRED BASIC MAINTENANCE. MILEAGE IS LOW AT 45600 AND KEPT IN A GARAGE.
These additional facts help seal the deal.
SUMMARY
So we covered the five key elements of a great ad which were: the headline, the description, the images, the keywords and the sizzle.
We covered optimizing images and why that is important for speed and website user experience. We covered keywords to demonstrate
how to bring others to your ad quicker. Finally, we covered the sizzle or the extra special items that make it worth while for doing.
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