PPC ads are designed to deliver quick results for real estate investors. SEO has its place but with SEO, it can take months to build organic traffic. (Honestly speaking, I have seen investors spend thousands on PPC campaigns without impressive results. The mistake often lies in conversion but that’s a story for another time.)

With any type of marketing, results are not guaranteed. You can try, test, and learn from the results. There are certain things you can do to optimize the campaign. First, you need to create an advertising plan. Let’s get to work.

A side note before we begin: I will be discussing PPC ads for real estate investors. I am especially going to talk about “we buy houses companies”. I will share a sample ad when you are trying to rank for competitive keywords like “sell my house fast”. But the ideas presented here are valid for every business. It does not matter if you are a mortgage broker, contractor, wholesaler, realtor, or real estate investor. You can utilize these ideas to create a better campaign.

Pay-Per-Click Real Estate Campaigns (Google Ads)

How to Write Ads That Drive Results? 

Building a PPC campaign is not complex if you have the right keywords. This post will focus on the writing, not the full campaign management. I find that most people get the setup right. Either they do it themselves or hire someone to do it for them. The result is a PPC campaign. However, the PPC Ad campaign doesn’t bring results because of: 

• Wrong keywords
• Global Exposure
• Missing CTA in the ad itself
• Non-unique, duplicated ads

I will explain these mistakes in a minute. I will also show you correct examples of real estate PPC Ads. 

The Correct Format of a Google PPC Ad

That’s the format at the time of writing this article. It may change over time. Recently, Google announced a new Ad format that is integrated with AI results.

But for our purposes, here is the current format of a Google PPC ad.

• Heading 1: 30 Characters
• Heading 2: 30 Characters
• Heading 3: 30 Characters
• Description 1: 90 Characters
• Description 2: 90 Characters

Description 1 & 2 are separate, but they appear together. Google has set this format, and following this format is the first rule of success. 

4-Step Checklist for Writing High-Ranking PPC Ads

• Useful
• Urgent
• Ultra specific
• Unique

Your client is bombarded with advertising of all types. Just a simple keyword, “sell my house fast” has more search results than I can possibly count in a week. Finding motivated leads is a tough task and there is a lot of competition even in a local niche. If your ad is boring, it means one thing. It won’t stand out. It won’t grab attention. 

Write Helpful Real Estate PPC Ads

Your PPC ad has to be useful. It should be written for one problem only and answer the question: what’s in it for me? So let’s say, you say to someone: “hey! we buy houses”… What will be response? Depending on the circumstances, you might hear a reply:

• “Cool! How do you buy houses?”
• “Nice! where do you buy houses?”
• or you might hear, “so what! I am already busy with my problems. Why should I hear about your business ventures? I have a house to sell and I am worried about my problems.”

So before writing, you need to think hard about the problem you are trying to solve. It’s difficult because maybe your business is not unique. Grab a pen and paper. Highlight all the ways to differentiate yourself from the crowd.

Now let’s look at the next 2 concepts:

Urgent: You have limited time. You won’t be advertising forever. Make it clear in the Ad. Create an offer with a sense of urgency, like a limited-time free offer. 

Ultra-specific: Note the difference between “improve your rankings” and “boost your profit by 200%”. The second is more specific and clickable. It makes a promise. 

Now, let’s look at two real estate ads. 

Just look at this Ad: It’s written for a Real Estate Investor or Cash buyer who wants to get motivated leads. The client needs people who want to sell their homes for cash. How do you set up a campaign for this client? 

The real estate industry is full of fancy and boring advertisements. We need to think from the perspective of our end client. Why will they respond to our advertising? What’s going on in their head? 

Let’s understand their motives: 

They want to work with a company that pays attention to their advertising campaign. (Writes unique PPC Ads)

They want to work with a company that gives them special treatment. You’re buying houses? So, what? Everyone else is doing the same thing. The same thing applies if you’re a realtor or a broker. Will you help sell my house? You’ll help buy a home? Then, what? All agents offer the same service. 

Our customers want something unique. So we need to offer a brand-new incentive. So that’ll be the first rule of your real estate PPC Ad. 

Write Unique Ads for Your Campaign

Sell Your House Fast For Cash | Get $5000+ In Free Cash Now | Get More Info Here

Take a look at this unique Ad. The first section is the keyword: “sell your house fast for cash.” The second section is our unique selling proposition. That’s why we’re offering $5k in cash to the client. I want free $5k; you want free $5k. So our ad becomes clickable. Your ideal client will have to click on this Ad. The third section is the CTA, which can be improved. However, that’s still better than having no call to action. Browse through real estate PPC Ads. You’ll be surprised to see how many are without a CTA. 

Here are the good signs of this real estate PPC Ad: 

• Unique
• Promise ($5,000 free cash)
• CTA
• Specific

Let’s look at another Ad: 

Analysis of this Real Estate PPC Ad: 

Keyword used: best real estate campaigns

Specific Headline: Get content in 60 seconds (It will appeal to anyone designing a real estate campaign.)

However, the Ad copy doesn’t deliver on the promise. There is no specific Call to action. So what am I supposed to do after reading this Ad? I need one clear CTA to take action. 

The second issue is the word count. As you can see, a part of the Ad is not visible. Google Adwords has a format, and we need to respect that format. When I searched, this PPC ad from simplified.com appeared in the top position. 

Sample Improvement to this PPC Ad: 

According to AWAI.com, your PPC Ad should have 3 out of 4 properties. It should be: 

• Unique
• Useful
• Urgent
• Ultra-specific

And this AD does score 4/4. It’s useful to a real estate marketer whose biggest hassle is building top-performing real estate campaigns. It’s unique: how many ads talk about time-saving and clicks? It’s urgent: you have to sign up today for free service. And is it specific? I think so! It’s designed for the real estate marketer and focuses on the time-saving process. 

Just a disclaimer: I just used this Ad to demonstrate my point. I am not affiliated with simplified.com. I don’t know about their audience or keywords. No harm is intended.

Now let’s go back and improve our first real estate PPC Ad. 

Writing a PPC ad campaign is not a one-time job. But first, you have to test the waters. That’s why marketers always design several versions of the same AD and test what’s working. 

Local Service Ads:

You might have noticed this before. Try searching for “contractors in (your location).” Let’s search for “real estate agents in Connecticut.” The first thing you’ll notice is the local service Ad. Google is not working for you or me. It’s working for its audience. The intent is to help the searcher.  So if you want to target local keywords, the best idea is, to begin with, local service Ads. Create your listing and ask for client reviews (as many as possible). If your reviewers call you the best real estate agent in Connecticut, you’ll rank for this keyword without much effort. 

Avoid Global Exposure:

Real estate is always local. You won’t work with clients in Connecticut if you’re in New York. Thankfully, Google Ad allows you to do geo-targeting and check local keywords. You can also set negative keywords. (Focus on this list: you want to exclude many keywords from your path. You’re searching for specific clients. And your client is searching for detailed information. An advertising campaign can cost hundreds of dollars. There is no room for non-specific, non-useful keywords )

One last thing I want to say in this article: don’t go for the top positioning. Competing for the first position is expensive, and people don’t always click on the first ad. Instead, you can lower your bid to achieve your ideal position.