Despite all the buzz surrounding social media and mobile marketing, pay per click (PPC) advertising is still a powerful tool for getting targeted clicks and increasing website conversions. In fact, sponsored search results account for 64.6% of clicks for keyword searches of highly commercial terms. For real estate professionals, this means that your target audience does pay attention to PPC ads, and if you use them properly, you can drive traffic to your landing pages and get more quality leads. However, simply launching a PPC campaign and throwing up a bunch of ads isn’t a guarantee of success. If you want to get quality clicks that lead to conversions, you need to know how to write killer PPC ads. Following these 5 tips will help you out.

1. Know the intent behind keywords—You can’t talk about writing PPC ads without talking about keywords. Before I talk about implementing keywords into your PPC ads, I want to point out the importance of understanding the intent behind keywords. For example, when someone searches for “homes for sale in (city name)” are they just browsing? Are they looking for a lot of choices? How close are they to being ready to buy? You need to understand the average searcher’s intent behind every keyword you target, and do your best to identify keywords that have high commercial intent that will trigger action.

2. Incorporate the keyword into your ad—When you’re writing a PPC ad for a given keyword, it’s important to include that keyword in the title and body of your ad. If you can get it in the URL as well, even better. Why is this important? First, it reassures searchers that you have what they’re looking for; second, when you include the searcher’s keyword in your ad copy, the keyword will be bolded, making your ad stand out.

3. Make sure your ad copy ties in with your landing page copy—There needs to be unity between what you’re saying in your PPC ads and what you’re saying on your landing pages. If your ad is about one thing but your landing page has a completely different message, you’ll confuse visitors and make them go away. Be consistent in your messaging.

4. Focus on a benefit—Consumers are always interested in what’s in it for them. It’s not enough to put up a generic, keyword-driven ad; you have to sell the searcher in order to get them to click. For example, if you had access to exclusive listings people can’t search anywhere else, you’d want to mention that in your ad. Or if your site has some unique feature that makes browsing homes easier, focus your ad on that. It’s all about selling the searcher on the benefits they can experience when they visit your site.

5. Get them to take action—The call to action is a hallmark of a good ad. Let searchers know in advance what you want them to do when they arrive on your page. For example, your ad might tell them to “Search homes in your area now for free.” Or it might tell them to sign up for a free consultation. The point is to have a clear, compelling call to action in your ad, and make sure you repeat that call to action on your landing page.