Every pay-per-click (PPC) ad needs a call to action so the person viewing the ad knows what to do when they land on the page, especially because you are paying for this traffic.  If the call to action is not clear, visitors will leave your site without converting.  Depending on your goals, the call to action can be anything from purchase online to learn more about a particular product.  However, there is a certain degree to how descriptive the call to action can be and thus how effective an ad will convert.

Let’s say you are a B2B company selling computer software and your desired conversion is for visitors to download a whitepaper.  Your landing page contains a short description of the whitepaper, an image, and a form.  The headline above the form reads Download this Whitepaper, while the button to submit your information says Submit.  Upon filling out the form, visitors are taken to a thank you page with a link to the whitepaper.   Overall, this conversion process is straightforward, but how will you write your PPC text ads to entice visitors to download this whitepaper?  Take a look at these 3 ads, all pointing to the same landing page, but each using a different call to action.

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