Eggs-cellent Advice

Sweet ideas to consider as you scramble to get ready for Easter

When I was a kid, my father used to say “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” (along with several other highly clichéd expressions). I agreed with him, unless of course we were talking about an Easter basket. As kids (and a few adults like me) are now gearing up for their favorite spring holiday, this is a good time to share a few best practices with advertisers who sell Easter-related products and services:

Easter-specific campaigns
If you sell candy or flowers or anything else commonly associated with Easter, it’s a good idea to create distinct “Easter” campaigns. This makes it easier to manage ads and keywords that focus solely on the holiday.

After all, when users search with highly specific Easter keywords, it’s a good idea to return results that are equally specific. This is doubly true with something like flowers: If users type in “Easter flowers” and see an ad for funeral flowers, they’re going to be a bit put off. Advertisers looking to cash in on this biggest of Spring holidays are better off using unique campaigns with unique ads, rather than trying to make their existing ads accommodate holiday keywords.

Double-check your ads
It seems obvious, but it’s worth a few minutes to make sure that your ads correspond to the right holiday. If the search term “easter basket” delivers an ad that sings the praises of your Valentine’s Day gift baskets, you can count on a click-through rate of zero-point-zero. Ads that try to squeeze in a couple of holiday references—”Check out our deals on chocolate Santas and Easter bunnies”—will likely turn off users who are looking for info on one holiday or the other. If the keyword is specific only to Easter, the ad should be as well.

You can’t include the keyword too much
While using keyword insertion is important, sometimes it’s just not enough. Giving your keywords prominent placement in your ads really helps, as well. For example, if a user uses the search term “chocolate bunny,” an ad that’s primarily focused on those delicious rabbits is probably going to catch her eye quicker than one in which “chocolate bunny” is simply inserted along with several other items. Caution: If you do this, make sure your ad accommodates your keyword, rather than other way around.

Emphasize your money-makers
If you sell chocolate but also offer recipes or other info on your site, make sure that your ads focus on what you sell, rather than what you give away. While it’s great to give users added reasons to visit your site, you’ll want to put the emphasis on making a sale. Mention your extras if there’s room, but skip them if they take up ad characters that could be used for selling.

Why skimp?
Make the most of the ad space you’re given. An ad description that simply reads “We sell Easter candy” does spell out what’s being offered, but as descriptions can have as many as 70 characters, you’re wasting an opportunity to make a stronger pitch. If you have extra room, build out your titles and descriptions to fill them with as much info as possible. Adding certain appealing words and phrases (”delicious,” “low price”) can juice up your ad copy.

Easter-related searches have been spiking since March 28, so it’s time to hop to it and get your holiday ads in shape before the big bunny passes you by.

— Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst