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The articles on this page are taken directly from our Advertising Blog. All the articles are chosen for their relevance to small business marketing and growth.

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Copywriting and Advertising: 20 Ways to Increase Response Rates


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

It's easy to overlook the obvious when you're putting together an ad. The following checklist will help you keep on track for better response in print, direct mail, broadcast or web advertising.

1. Is it clear what you're offering? Show the communication to someone who's had nothing to do with it and see if they understand it. And understand it quickly!

2. Is it equally clear what you want your prospect to do? Order your product, send for more info, return the questionnaire, visit your website.

3. Does your communication have a single strong idea? More than one idea can confuse and lose your prospect. And the best idea is of course linked to your strongest product or service benefit.

4. Have you shown an obvious advantage over your competition? This could be a unique benefit, lower price, better quality or else your incentive.

5. Can you make your offer seem exclusive? Prospects feel flattered if they can be among the chosen few.

6. If there's an incentive, is it brought into the communication early? And is it justified? The incentive is an added reason to buy. In a crowded market it can be the only reason to buy. So get it up there quick. And justify it. For example, "End of Season Sale" is more credible than simply "Sale".

7. Can you strengthen the communication by quoting testimonials or independent research? Satisfied customers or an objective point of view are powerful ways to persuade new prospects to buy.

8. Can you offer a guarantee to increase buyer confidence? Guarantees are as old as advertising itself - for good reason.

9. Have you made your prospect the most important part of the communication? Not your company, not even your product or service, but the improved quality of life that your prospect will enjoy if they respond.

10. If your brand is well known, is it featured strongly? Your name adds reassurance.

11. Have you given every reason to respond and, consequently, overcome any normal objections? Your communication - whether it be online, print or broadcast - has to do the work of a salesman. But as it can't hear the particular objection in your prospect's head, you need to cover all possibilities.

12. Have you made it easy to respond (and pay)? A choice of channels usually increases response.

13. Is it written in a friendly tone? It should sound as if you're talking to your prospect face to face.

14. Is the tone of voice appropriate for your target audience? Talk to consumers as if you were chatting at their kitchen table. For B2B imagine you're in their office.

15. Have you matched benefits to features? (Here's the feature) "The Golden Fund invests in China's top twenty companies... (Now the benefit) .....giving your portfolio exposure to massive growth potential."

16. Have you been specific in your claims? Not "a great choice of insurance plans" but "a choice of 17 insurance plans, allowing you to..."

17. Are words, sentences and paragraphs short and easy to read? Choose simple words. Sentences with eight words are easiest to read. Paragraphs should be bite size.

18. Do your visuals emphasize a benefit? Put captions to your visuals as they are almost always read.

19. In the case of ads and mailings, have you restated the benefits near the coupon or phone number? Or at the checkout for your website? For ads and mailings people sometimes rip out coupons to complete later. If they can't remember why they did so, it's a lost sale. Online it's at the checkout where they sometimes have a change of heart; your main benefit can keep them reassured.

20. In print and screen media, is your font easy to read? Newspapers use a serif typeface because it's easy to read. If you use sans-serif make sure there's enough space between the lines.

Copyright 2006 by Tony Brecher

Tony Brecher has over 19 years experience as a copywriter and creative director. He now runs Adwriter and creates advertising, direct mail and web content for clients large and small. For more information on how he can help you create successful advertising visit http://www.adwriter.com.au




Only 1 In 5 Of You Will Read Beyond This Headline


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Research indicates 8 out of 10 people don't bother to read beyond the
headline of an ad.

That would be okay if those people had no interest in whatever it is
you're selling. But they do. The fact that they bothered to read your
headline at all indicates some interest - either dormant or active - in
your product or service.

Our job, therefore, is to write a headline that entices them to read on.

Tricky, weird or funny headlines rarely make the cash register ring. The
best way forward is to write a line that promises (or implies) a
benefit. People naturally want to know "what's in it for me?" And if
there is something in it for them, they'll want to find out more.

So let's look at a few techniques to get us started.

Let's say you sell a trading system that allows people to trade from
home on their computer. It's feasible that people can use this system to
earn $100,000 a year. And they can do this in their spare time.

Your proposition is: "The trading system that earns you $100,000 a year
in your spare time." Here are 5 ways to start generating your headlines.

1. Polish the proposition. The word "earn" sounds too much like hard
work. And do we really need "trading system"? We can also flip the line
to put our prospect first. "Make $100,000 a year in your spare time."
2. Phrase it as a question. "Would you like to make $100,000 a year in
your spare time?" Or "What's stopping you from earning $100,000 a year
in your spare time?"
3. Use a How-To, as in "How to make $100,000 a year in your spare time."
4. Try a testimonial. "Last year I made $100,000 in my spare time. Now
you can too."
5. Problem-solution. "Need more income? Here's how to make $100,000 a
year in your spare time."

To explore more headline ideas, ask yourself what your prospect could
do, or how they'd feel, with the benefit of your product. In our example
they might resign from their day job. Perhaps they'd start trading full
time. "$100,000 in your spare time! How much could you earn full time?"

What do people do in their spare time? A hobby. Another headline idea:
"Turn a spare time hobby into $100,000 a year."

Here are a few more guidelines for successful headline writing:

1. Always put your prospect into the headline. Instead of "XYZ Design
Services creates moneymaking web sites," write "Turn your website into a
moneymaker with XYZ Design Services."
2. Try to keep in the present tense.
3. When possible don't use negatives - avoid negatives.
4. Be specific with savings - it adds credibility. "Save up to 38% in
our software sale."
5. Avoid conditional phrases, such as "If you like healthy eating,
you'll love this new recipe book." Better to write "You'll love these
new healthy recipes."

After you've generated at least 10 headlines put them away for a day.
When you go back to them, discard any line that doesn't support your
proposition. (Remember, you did all that hard work to ensure your
proposition is absolutely right for making sales in your market.)

Then select three headlines which you feel are the strongest and show
them to someone you trust. Get their opinion, but in the end trust your
own judgment.

Tony Brecher has over 19 years experience as a copywriter and creative
director. He now runs Adwriter and creates advertising, direct mail and
web content for clients large and small. For more information on how he
can help you create successful advertising visit http://www.adwriter.com.au




Earn Extra Income Opportunity - Jump On The Advertising Campaign


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

With millions of blogs and web sites online, many people still

miss out on the great online home business opportunity that it

provides.

 

Advertising on the web has exploded over the last few years.

People have begun to realize how many people surf the web, and

how some well placed ads can help generate more income for them

and give them the perfect earn extra income opportunity and the

ability to work at home.

 

You can take advantage of this and make money online easily.

All you need to have is a web site. You can get one for free

and just add your own content. Anything that will interest

people will do. Write your own articles on politics or any

subject that interests you and it will be sure to interest like

minded people.

 

You can also use this idea on your business web site. Next you

need to find some ads. Google ads are great, and Yahoo has

recently come out with their own ads too. They are free to ad

to your web site and every time someone clicks on your ad, you

will be paid money. How’s that for an earn extra income

opportunity.

 

There are also several different click as you go ads available

on the internet. Make sure you read what they’re offering you,

and choose the one that will benefit you the most.

 

You can also advertise ad space on your web site. Some people

might be willing to pay you some money monthly or yearly for ad

space on your site. This is a great way to make money online and

if successful this can provide the perfect internet based home

business.

 

If you have one web site with google ads, the income may not

seem very impressive at first, but multiply that income by

several web sites, and suddenly you’re making some pretty

decent extra money. And to top it all off, you get to work at

home on something you enjoy.

 

Good deal, huh?

 

All you have to do now is work on your web site to develop your

own internet based home business. It really is that easy and an

excellent earn extra income opportunity.

 

 

About The Author: We have made an independent research on home

based businesses. Find the results only on

http://www.leandernet.com/Work_at_home/Work_at_home.php All

about online home business opportunities on LeanderNet -

http://www.leandernet.com




Create A Advertising Swipe File


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Direct marketing's a tough way to make a living but if you can master certain skills it can be extremely lucrative. It takes on many different forms, some of which are easily translatable to the web.

Although the term may bring to mind door to door salesmen pushing their wares to housewives in robes and curlers, it also has roots in print ads such as classifieds and space ads and direct mail.

The internet has created a massive opportunity for the skilled direct marketer to thrive without doing the customary legwork and engaging in personal contact with their prospects, basically expanding on the concept of direct mail.

So what skills do you need to hone in order to succeed at direct marketing?

The top priority of anyone interested in making money on the internet should be their copywriting skills. This is simply putting your sales message into words.

Since the face to face encounter has been eliminated you need to be able to convey your pitch through the words on the pages that your prospects are reading.

A great way to polish your copywriting skills, even if you've never written a single word of ad copy before, is to create a swipe file. This is just a file of already successful ad campaigns.

Swipe files are incredibly useful tools. Every major player in direct marketing keeps a swipe file and for good reason. Everybody gets stuck for words and ideas at some point. When this happens it's good to have an example of past successes to go to and freshen your creative juices and get the words flowing again.

What should your file consist of?

You should gather any material that has spurred you to action, whether its purpose was to get you to buy something or just leave your name and email address. Copy the good stuff and study it. Realize what was in the ad that made you act on the offer.

Look for layout designs (bulleted lists are a big direct marketing tactic), action words, headlines and sub heads. You'll notice certain words popping up along with questions and statements that are all fairly alike but are tailored to specific products and services.

That's the key to a good swipe file. Gather a wide array of different styles and mold the message to your particular target audience. Study the material and write out many different versions of the same ad. Practice your art and perfect it.

A word of caution though. Never copy an ad word for word. That's plagiarism and it's illegal. Use your swipe file as an aid only, to sharpen your copywriting skills and make you better at direct marketing.




The Best Internet Advertising is Free Internet Advertising


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Free internet advertising is one very important method for promoting your products and services to thousands of free classified ads.

Most of these free classified ads web sites give you the power to facilitate marketing with features such as classified ads submitter forms. Features like this give free Internet advertising an extremely fast way of getting your products or services on line. It is accessible 24/7 allowing you access anytime, it's very effective and efficient and most of it comes free. No downloads. No sign-up fees. No hidden charges. No annual or monthly fees. No sales fees. It is absolutely free.

Free internet advertising makes it easy for you to put free ads on several of the premier quality web sites whenever you want, for free. This kind of benefit you get from free internet advertising can only do, to say the least, miracles for your business. Most of these free internet advertising companies give you 3 slots to advertise any product or service for free.

Free internet advertising is the perfect way and best way to make your products or services known to the millions of prospective consumers in the Internet and make your web site start producing money. There is an enormous audience for free internet advertising that is present in the Internet, that the probability of anyone needing your services or wanting to buy your products is very high. There are free services out there that may suit your services, products and web site. Browse the internet for the best free internet advertising for assessment on their amenities and features how to advertise or join your web site for free internet advertising.

Most web sites promoting free internet advertising have features like classified ads submitter ? where you can get a enormous exposure with instant results and expand your sales by large volumes over night, opt-in email lists ? non spam bulk emailing program, guaranteed 100% legal. Opt-in email lists are created by people who have volunteered or ?opted-in? their email addresses to these lists. These lists are very effective for creating personalized email to prospective clients.

Free internet advertising provides a great technique for building traffic. People constantly search on online free internet advertising ads for specific services or products. Free internet advertising target clients inclined to buying a particular kind of product or service in mind.

And the best reason to advertise in free internet advertising is because it is absolutely free.


Low Cost Internet Advertising Solution versus Conventional Advertising


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Since the early 90?s, the internet has become known as a medium for advertising. It has also been preferred by consumers and businessmen in public shopping and business dealings. Unlike any other media, like television, radio and print, internet advertising solutions with its low cost has become widely used.

Due to the considerable growth in figures of internet users and because of the inexpensive internet advertising solutions, it has more capability for multimedia subject matter. It could capture texts, images, video and audio. The advertisers could produce logos, moving banners, animated and 3d imagery. With these in hand, advertisers mix these forms to produce successful and low cost internet advertising solutions.

Not only does an affordable internet advertising solution serve as a communication station, it also assists in an effortless system for transaction and distribution. This is the only medium that could help people do business within a short period of time.

With just one click and a money-saving internet advertising solution, shoppers could get all the information they need by visiting any web site. The businessman could obtain the services he needs. The company is happy doing business with their clients. The clients are happy doing business in the comfort of their homes.

Unlike meeting in person, wherein time and money could be wasted, the low cost internet advertising solutions benefits the company in which the services and products are receiving sales. Plus, it also benefits the consumers who receive comfort and satisfaction guaranteed.

Inexpensive internet advertising solutions are able to lead other advertising medium because they were developed to be interactive. When a consumer reads and clicks on a web advertisement, it is easier and more convenient to respond or inquire with e-mail and business reply cards. Unlike other advertisings, low cost internet advertising solutions? ability to answer feed backs in real time enables the companies to reply, resolves complaints and answer inquiries.

Internet advertising solutions provide a low cost and effective resolution for attracting targeted, high quality customers. This low cost internet advertising solution also provides web site publishers with a prospect to generate advertising revenue from their unsold marketing inventory.

Conventional advertising could never be replaced. However, because of developments in the technology, people prefer their services online. With low cost internet advertising solutions present, the consumers, companies, advertisers and even the common people?s lives have been given a deserving contentment.


A Guide to Advertising in the Media.


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

The media is a powerful thing -- the average person spends an enormous amount of their life consuming it in one form or another, and will spend a significant percentage of that time looking at, listening to or watching advertisements. If you want to use the power of the media, though, you need to know what you're doing.

Advertising in Newspapers and Magazines.

There are two kinds of advertising you can get in newspapers and magazines: classified and display. Classifieds are the small ads towards the back of the publication, while display ads can be almost any size, from a small corner of a page to a massive double-page spread.

If there's a publication you're interested in advertising in, either go to its website (the rate card section) or call its advertising department to find out the rates it charges. Now pick your jaw up off the floor. Yes, advertising in the print media really is that expensive, and for most home businesses it probably just won't be that economical.

There is, however, an exception: niche and trade magazines. If you've ever looked around in a newsagent, you will have seen just how many magazines there are out there, filling every conceivable gap in the market. You need to find the magazine that people who are interested in your services might read. For example, if you're a wedding photographer, look for a magazine called 'Your Wedding', 'Bride', or something similar. Advertising in these magazines will be far cheaper than placing an ad in a general-audience publication, and far more likely to actually get some responses.

Advertising on the Radio.

Wherever you are, the chances are that there's a local radio station. Once your home business grows to a decent size, you might consider buying some time on it.

Really, though, the only kind of home business that can benefit enough from radio ads to justify the cost is one that does anything to do with cars. Since radio is almost entirely limited to use as in-car entertainment now, you know that almost everyone your ad reaches will be a car-owner, and so might be interested in what you're offering. If you offer something that people need cheaply or even for free, you can get a big response.

Unfortunately, that response could be a little too big -- thanks to the time-sensitivity of radio, you'll get mobbed the next day, and then everyone will forget you again. Radio advertising offers the listener no opportunity to keep your ad and refer to it later, or to find it again in the future. You will find that any ads involving a phone number are spectacularly useless.

Advertising on the Television.

Unless your business is getting pretty big, this would be quite a bad idea. You'd have trouble producing and airing an ad even on local cable channels for less than $10,000. Of course, if there's a market for your product and you've got the budget for this, you could take a gamble and make a mint. The home businesses that tend to do best out of TV ads are ones that have a 'unique and useful invention' product with easy-to-demonstrate benefits -- think infomercial. Research shows that you can sell almost anything given a 60-second ad, a free phone number and a price point of $19.95.

Advertising on Billboards.

Here's one that gets overlooked pretty often, but can be very effective if you do it right. Billboard ads are relatively expensive, but they do generally stay up for a long time, and they can be very specifically targeted to an area -- the one where they're physically located. You'll have the best results with this if you can put one near enough to your business that it could say 'turn left at the next junction', or something like that. Phone numbers are, again, pretty useless, although you could have some luck putting a website address up there.

Advertising at the Movies.

Finally, here's one that often gets overlooked. If you turn up to the cinema early, you might have seen that before the big-budget ads, ads for local businesses are run. This can be a great place to advertise relatively inexpensively in quite a high-profile way, and it works especially well for takeaway food businesses.


Write Attention Getting Advertisements


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

The most important aspect of any business is selling the product or service. Without sales, no business can exist for very long.

All sales begin with some form of advertising. To build sales, this advertising must be seen or heard by potential buyers, and cause them to react to the advertising in some way. The credit for the success, or the blame for the failure of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad itself.

Generally, the "ad writer" wants the prospect to do one of the following:

a) Visit the store to see and judge the product for himself, or immediately write a check and send for the merchandise being advertised.

b) Phone for an appointment to hear the full sales presentation, or write for further information which amounts to the same thing.

The bottom line in any ad is quite simple: To make the reader buy the product or service. Any ad that causes the reader to only pause in this thinking, to just admire the product, or to simply believe what's written about the product - is not doing its job completely.

The "ad writer" must know exactly what he wants his reader to do, and any that does not elicit the desired action is an absolute waste of time and money.

In order to elicit the desired action from the prospect, all ads are written according to a simple "master formula" which is:

1) Attract the "attention" of your prospect.

2) "Interest" your prospect in the product

3) Cause your prospect to "desire" the product

4) Demand "action" from the prospect

Never forget the basic rule of advertising copywriting: If the ad is not read, it won't stimulate any sale; if it is not seen, it cannot be read; and if it does not command or grab the attention of the reader, it will not be seen!

Most successful advertising copywriters know these fundamentals backwards and forwards. Whether you know them already or you're just now being exposed to them, your knowledge and practice of these fundamentals will determine the extent of your success as an advertising copywriter.

CLASSIFIED ADS

Classified ads are the ads from which all successful businesses are started. These small, relatively inexpensive ads, give the beginner an opportunity to advertise his product or service without losing his shirt if the ad doesn't pull or the people don't break his door down with demands for his product. Classified ads are written according to all the advertising rules. What is said in a classified ad is the same that's said in a larger, more elaborate type of ad, except in condensed form.

To start learning how to write good classified ads, clip ten classified ads form ten different mail order type publications - ads that you think are pretty good. Paste each of these ads onto a separate sheet of paper.

Analyze each of these ads: How has the writer attracted your attention - what about the ads keeps your interest - are you stimulated to want to know more about the product being advertised - and finally, what action must you take? Are all of these points covered in the ad? How strongly are you "turned on" by each of these ads?

Rate these ads on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best according to the formula I've given you. Now, just for practice, without clipping the ads, do the same thing with ten different ads from a Wards or Penney's catalog. In fact, every ad you see form now on, quickly analyze it, and rate it somewhere on your scale. If you'll practice this exercise on a regular basis, you'll soon be able to quickly recognize the "Power Points" of any ad you see, and know within your own mind whether an ad is good, bad or otherwise, and what makes it so.

Practice for an hour each day, write the ads you've rated 8, 9 and 10 exactly as they've been written. This will give you the "feel" of the fundamentals and style necessary in writing classified ads.

Your next project will be to pick out what you consider to be the ten "worst" ads you can find in the classifieds sections. Clip these out and paste them onto a sheet of paper so you can work on them.

Read these ads over a couple of times, and then beside each of them, write a short comment stating why you think it's bad: Lost in the crowd, doesn't attract attention - doesn't hold the reader's interest - nothing special to make the reader want to own the product - no demand for action.

You probably already know what's coming next, and that's right. Break out those pencils, erasers and scratch paper - and start rewriting these ads to include the missing elements.

Each day for the next month, practice writing the ten best ads for an hour, just the way they were originally written. Pick out ten of the worst ads, analyze those ads, and then practice rewriting those until they measure up to doing the job they were intended to do.

Once you're satisfied that the ads you've rewritten are perfect, go back into each ad and cross out the words that can be eliminated without detracting from the ad. Classified ads are almost always "finalized" in the style of a telegram.

EXAMPLE: I'll arrive at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon,
the 15th. Meet me at Sardi's. All my love, Jim.

EDITED FOR SENDING: Arrive 2pm - 15th - Sardi's.
Love, Jim.

CLASSIFIED AD: Save on your food bills! Reduced
prices on every shelf in the store! Stock up now while
supplies are complete! Come on in today, to Jerry's
Family Supermarkets!

EDITED FOR PUBLICATION: Save on Food!
Everything bargain priced! Limited Supplies! Hurry!
Jerry's Markets!

It takes dedicated and regular practice, but you can do it. Simply recognize and understand the basic formula - practice reading and writing the good ones - and rewriting the bad ones to make them better. Practice, and keep at it, over and over, every day - until the formula, the idea, and the feel of this kind of ad writing becomes second nature to you. This is the ONLY WAY to gain expertise in writing good classified ads.

DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS

A display or space ad differs from a classified ad because it has a headline, layout, and because the style isn't telegraphic. However, the fundamentals of writing the display or space ad are exactly the same as for a classified ad. The basic difference is that you have more room in which to emphasize the "master formula."

Most successful copywriters rate the headline and/or the lead sentence of an ad as the most important part of the ad, and in reality, you should do the same. After all, when you ad is surrounded by hundreds of other ads, and information or entertainment, what makes you think anyone is going to see your particular ad?

The truth is, they're not going to see your ad unless you can "grab" their attention and entice them to read all of what you have to say. Your headline, or lead sentence when no headline is used, has to make it more difficult for your prospect to ignore or pass over, than to stop and read your ad. If you don't capture the attention of your reader with your headline, anything beyond is useless effort and wasted money.

Successful advertising headlines - in classified ads, your first three to five words serve as your headline - are written as promises, either implied or direct. The former promises to show you how to save money, make money, or attain a desired goal. The latter is a warning against something undesirable.

EXAMPLE OF A PROMISE: Are You Ready To Become A Millionaire - In Just 18 Months?

EXAMPLE OF A WARNING: Do You Make These Mistakes In English?

In both of these examples, I've posed a question as the headline. Headlines that ask a question seem to attract the reader's attention almost as surely as a moth is drawn to a flame. Once he's seen the question, he just can't seem to keep himself from reading the rest of the ad to find out the answer. The best headline questions are those that challenge the reader; that involve his self esteem, and do not allow him to dismiss your question with a simple yes or no.

You'll be the envy of your friends is another kind of "reader appeal" to incorporate into your headline whenever appropriate. The appeal has to do with basic psychology: everyone wants to be well thought of, and consequently, will read into the body of your ad to find out how he can gain the respect and accolades of his friends.

Wherever and whenever possible, use colloquialisms or words that are not usually found in advertisements. The idea is to shock or shake the reader out of his reverie and cause him to take notice of your ad. Most of the headlines you see day in and day out, have a certain sameness with just the words rearranged. The reader may see these headlines with his eyes, but his brain fails to focus on any of them because there's nothing different or out of the ordinary to arrest his attention.

EXAMPLE OF COLLOQUIALISM: Are You Developing a POT BELLY?

Another attention-grabber kind of headline is the comparative priced magazine headline: Three For Only $3, Regularly $3 Each! Still another of the "tried and proven" kind of headlines is the specific question: Do You Suffer From These Symptoms. And of course, if you offer a strong guarantee, you should say so in your headline: Your Money Refunded, If You Don't Make $100,00 Your First Year.

How To headlines have a very strong basic appeal, but in some instances, they're better used as book titles than advertising headlines. Who Else wants in on the finer things - which your product or service presumably offers - is another approach with a very strong reader appeal. The psychology here being the need of everyone to belong to a group - complete with status and prestige motivations.

Whenever, and as often as you can possible work it in, you should use the word "you" in your headline, and throughout your copy. After all, your ad should be directed to "one" person, and the person reading your ad wants to feel that you're talking to him personally, not everyone who lives on his street.

Personalize, and be specific! You can throw the teachings of your English teachers out the window, and the rules of "third person, singular" or whatever else tends to inhibit your writing. Whenever you sit down to write advertising copy intended to pull the orders - sell the product - you should picture yourself in a one-on-one situation and "talk" to your reader just as if you were sitting across from him at your dining room table. Say what you mean, and sell HIM on the product your offering. Be specific and ask him if these are the things that bother him - are these the things he wants - and he's the one you want to buy the product...

The layout you devise for your ad, or the frame you build around it, should also command attention. Either make it so spectacular that it stands out like lobster at a chili dinner, or so uncommonly simple that it catches the reader's eye because of its very simplicity. It's also important that you don't get cute with a lot of unrelated graphics and artwork. Your ad should convey the feeling of excitement and movement, but should not tire the eyes or disrupt the flow of the message you are trying to present.

Any graphics or artwork you use should be relevant to your product, it's use and/or the copy you have written about it. Graphics should not be used as artistic touches, or to create an atmosphere. Any illustrations with your ad should compliment the selling of your product, and prove or substantiate specific points in your copy.

Once you have your reader's attention, the only way you are going to keep it, is by quickly and emphatically telling him what your product will do for him.

Your potential buyer doesn't care in the least how long it's taken you to produce the product, how lone you have been in business, nor how many years you've spend learning your craft. He wants to know specifically how he is going to benefit form the purchase of your product.

Generally, his wants will fall into one of the following categories: Better health, more comfort, more money, more leisure time, more popularity, greater beauty, success and/or security.

Even though you have your reader's attention, you must follow through with an enumeration of the benefits you can gain. In essence, you must reiterate the advantages, comfort and happiness he'll enjoy - as you have implied in your headline.

Mentally picture your prospect - determine his wants and emotional needs - put yourself in his shoes, and ask yourself: If I were reading this ad, what are the things that would appeal to me? Write your copy to appeal to your reader's wants and emotional needs/ego cravings.

Remember, it's not the "safety features" that have sold cars for the past 50 years - nor has it been the need of transportation - it has been, and almost certainly always will be the advertising writer's recognition of people's wants and emotional needs/ego cravings. Visualize your prospect, recognize his wants and satisfy them. Writing good advertising copy is nothing more or less than knowing "who" your buyers are; recognizing what he wants; and then telling him how your product will fulfill each of those wants. Remember this because it's one of the "vitally important" keys to writing advertising copy that does the job you intend for it to do.

The "desire" portion of your ad is where you present the facts of your product; create and justify your prospect's conviction, and cause him to demand "a piece of the action" for himself.

It's vitally necessary that you present "proven facts" about your product because survey results show that at least 80% of the people reading your ad - especially those reading it for the first time - will tend to question its authenticity.

So, the more facts you can present in the ad, the more credible your offer. As you write this part of your ad, always remember that the more facts about the product you present, the more product you'll sell. People want facts as reasons, and/or excuses for buying a product - to justify to themselves and others, that they have not been "taken" by a slick copywriter.

It's like the girl who wants to marry the guy her father calls a "no good bum." Her heart - her emotions - tell her yes, but she needs to nullify the seed of doubt lingering in her mind - to rationalize her decision to go on with the wedding.

In other words, the "desire" portion of your ad has to build belief and credibility in the mind of your prospect. It has to assure him of his good judgment in the final decision to buy - furnish evidence of the benefits you have promised - and afford him a "safety net" in case anyone should question his decision to buy.

People tend to believe the things that appeal to their individual desires, fears and other emotions. Once you have established a belief in this manner, logic and reasoning are used to support it. People believe what they "want" to believe. Your reader "wants" to believe your ad if he has read it through this far - it is up to you to support his initial desire.

Study your product and everything about it - visualize the wants of your prospective buyers - dig up the facts, and you'll almost always find plenty of facts to support the buyer's reasons for buying.

Here is where you use results of tests conducted, growing sales figures to prove increasing popularity, and "user" testimonials or endorsements. It's also important that you present these facts - test results, sales view, and not that of the manufacturer.

Before you end this portion of your ad and get into your demand for action, summarize everything you've presented thus far. Draw a mental picture for your potential buyer. Let him imagine owning the product. Induce him to visualize all of the benefits you have promised. Give him the keys to seeing himself richer, enjoying luxury, having time to do whatever he would like to do, and with all of his dreams fulfilled.

This can be handled in one or two sentences, or spelled out in a paragraph or more, but it is the absolute ingredient you must include prior to closing the sale. Study all the sales presentations you have ever heard - look at every winning ad - this is the element included in all of them that actually makes the sale for you. Remember it, use it, and don't try to sell anything without it.

As Victor Schwab puts is so succinctly in his best selling book, How To Write A Good Advertisement: Every one of the fundamentals in the "master formula" is necessary. Those sitting across from him at your dining people who are "easy" to sell may perhaps be sold even if some of these factors are left out, but it's wiser to plan your advertisement so that it will have a powerful impact upon those who are "hardest" to sell. For, unlike fact-to-face selling, we cannot in printed advertising come to a "trial close" in our sales talk - in order to see if those who are easier to sell will welcome the dotted line without further persuasion. We must assume that we are talking to the hardest ones - and that the more thoroughly our copy sells both the hard and the easy, the better chance we have against the competition for the consumer's dollar - and also the less dependent we will be upon the usual completely ineffective follow through on our advertising effort which later takes place at the sales counter itself.

ASK FOR ACTION! DEMAND THE MONEY!

Lots of ads are beautiful, almost perfectly written, and quite convincing - yet they fail to ask for or demand action form the reader. If you want the reader to have your product, then tell him so and demand that he send his money now. Unless you enjoy entertaining your prospects with your beautiful writing skills, always demand that he complete the sale now, by taking action now - by calling a telephone number and ordering, or by writing his check and rushing it to the post office.

Once you have got him on the hook, land him! Don't let him get away!

Probably, one of the most common and best methods of moving the reader to act now, is written in some form of the following:

All of this can be yours! You can start enjoying this new way of life immediately, simply by sending a check for $XX! Don't put it off, then later wish you had gotten in on the ground floor! Make out that check now, and "be IN on the ground floor!" Act now, and as an "early-bird" buyer, we'll include a big bonus package - absolutely free, simply for acting immediately! You win all the way! We take all the risk! If you are not satisfied, simply return the product and we will quickly refund your money! Do it now! Get that check on its way to us today, and receive the big bonus package! After next week, we won't be able to include the bonus as a part of this fantastic deal, so act now! The sooner you act, you more you win!

Offering a reward of some kind will almost always stimulate the prospect to take action. However, in mentioning the reward or bonus, be very careful that you don't end up receiving primarily, requests for the bonus with mountains of requests for refunds on the product to follow. The bonus should be mentioned only casually if you are asking for product orders; and with lots of fanfare only when you are seeking inquiries.

Too often the copywriter, in his enthusiasm to pull in a record number of responses, confuses the reader by "forgetting about the product," and devoting his entire space allotted for the "demand for action" to sending for the bonus. Any reward offered should be closely related to the product, and a bonus offered only for immediate action on the part of the potential buyer.

Specify a time limit. Tell your prospect that he must act within a certain time limit or lose out on the bonus, face probably higher prices, or even the withdrawal of your offer. This is always a good hook to get action.

Any kind of guarantee you offer always helps you produce action from the prospect. And the more liberal you can make your guarantee, the more product orders you will receive. Be sure you state the guarantee clearly and simply. Make it so easy to understand that even a child would not misinterpret what you are saying.

The action you want your prospect to take should be easy - clearly stated - and devoid of any complicated procedural steps on his part, or numerous directions for him to follow.

Picture your prospect, very comfortable in his favorite easy chair, idly flipping through a magazine while "half-watching" TV. He notices your ad, reads through it, and he is sold on your product. Now what does he do?

Remember, he's very comfortable - you have "grabbed" his attention, sparked his interest, painted a picture of him enjoying a new kind of satisfaction, and he is ready to buy...

Anything and everything you ask or cause him to do is going to disrupt this aura of comfort and contentment. Whatever he must do had better be simple, quick and easy!

Tell him without any ifs, ands or buts, what to do - fill out the coupon, include your check for the full amount, and send it in to us today! Make it as easy for him as you possibly can - simply and dirert. And by all means, make sure your address is on the order form he is supposed to complete and mail in to you - your name and address on the order form, as well as just above it. People sometimes fill out a coupon, tear it off, seal it in an envelope and don't know where to send it. The easier you make it for him to respond, the more responses you'll get!

There you have it, a complete short course on how to write ads that will pull more orders for you - sell more of your product for you. It's important to learn "why" ads are written as they are - to understand and use, the "master formula" in your own ad writing endeavors.

By conscientiously studying good advertising copy, and practice in writing ads of your own, now that you have the knowledge and understand what makes advertising copy work, you should be able to quickly develop your copywriting abilities to produce order-pulling ads for your own products. Even so, and once you do become proficient in writing ads for your own products, you must never stop "noticing" how ads are written, designed and put together by other people. To stop learning would be comparable to shutting off from the rest of the world.

The best ad writers are people in touch with the world in which they live. Everytime they see a good ad, they clip it out and save it. Regularly, they pull what makes them good, and why they work. There's no school in the country that can give you the same kind of education and expertise so necessary in the field of ad writing. You must keep yourself up-to-date, aware of, and in-the-know about the other guy - his innovations, style, changes, and the methods he is using to sell his products. On-the-job training - study and practice - that's what it takes - and if you have got that burning ambition to succeed, you can do it too!

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. WHAT'S THE MOST PROFITABLE WAY TO USE CLASSIFIEDS...

Classifieds are best used to build your mailing list of qualified prospects. Use classified to offer a free catalog, booklet or report relative to your product line.

2. WHAT CAN YOU SELL "DIRECTLY" FROM CLASSIFIEDS...

Generally, anything and everything, so long as it doesn't cost more than five dollars which is about the most people will pay in response to an offer in the classifieds. These types of ads are great for pulling inquiries such as: Write for further information; Send $3, get two for the price of one; Dealers wanted, send for product info and a real money-maker's kit!

3. WHAT ARE THE BEST MONTHS OF THE YEAR TO ADVERTISE...

All twelve months of the year! Responses to your ads during some months will be slower in accumulating, but by keying your ads according to the month they appear, and a careful tabulation of your returns from each keyed ad, you will see that steady year round advertising will continue to pull orders for you, regardless of the month it's published. I've personally received inquiries and orders from ads placed as long as 2 years previous to the date of the response!

4. ARE MAIL ORDER PUBLICATIONS GOOD ADVERTISING BUYS...

The lease effective are the ad sheets. Most of the ads in these publications are "exchange ads," meaning that the publisher of ad sheet "A" runs the ads of publisher "B" without charge, because publisher "B" is running the ads of publisher "A" without charge. The "claimed" circulation figures of these publications are almost always based on "wishes, hopes and wants" while the "true" circulation goes out to similar small, part-time mail order dealers. Very poor medium for investing advertising dollars because everybody receiving a copy is a "seller" and nobody is buying. When an ad sheet is received by someone not involved in mail order, it is usually given a cursory glance and then discarded as "junk mail."

Tabloid newspapers are slightly better than the ad sheets, but not by much! The important difference with the tabloids is in the "helpful information" articles they try to carry for the mail order beginner. A "fair media" for recruiting dealers or independent sales reps for mail order products, and for renting mailing lists, but still circulated amongst "sellers" with very few buyers. Besides that, the life of a mail order tab sheet is about the same as that of your daily newspaper.

With mail order magazines, it depends on the quality of the publication and its business concepts. Some mail order magazines are nothing more than expanded ad sheets, while others - such as BOOK BUSINESS MART - strive to help the opportunity seekers with on-going advice and tips he can use in the development and growth of his own wealth-building projects. Book Business Mart is not just the fastest growing publication in the mail order scene today; it's also the first publication in more than 20 years to offer real help anyone can use in achieving his own version of "The American Dream" of building one's own business form a "shoestring beginning" into a multi-million dollar empire!

5. HOW CAN I DECIDE WHERE TO ADVERTISE MY PRODUCT...

First of all, you have to determine who your prospective buyers are. Then you do a little bit of market research. Talk to your friends, neighbors and people at random who might fit this profile. Ask them if they would be interested in a product such as yours, and then ask them which publications they read. Next, go to your public library for a listing of the publications of this type from the Standard Rate & Data Service catalogs.

Make a list of the addresses, circulation figures, reader demographics and advertising rates. To determine the true costs of your advertising and decide which is the better buy, divide the total audited circulation figure into the cost for a one inch ad: $10 per inch with a publication showing 10,000 circulation would be 10,000 into $10 or 10¢ per thousand. Looking at the advertising rates for Book Business Mart, you would take 42,500 into $15 for an advertising rate of less that THREE TENTHS OF ONE CENT PER THOUSAND. Obviously, your best buy in this case would be Book Business Mart because of the lower cost per thousand.

Write and ask for sample copies of the magazines you have tentatively chosen to place your advertising in. Look over their advertising - be sure that they don't or won't put your ad in the "gutter" which is the inside column next to the binding. How many other mail order type ads are they carrying - you want to go with a publication that's busy, not one that has only a few ads. The more ads in the publication, the better the response the advertisers are getting, or else they wouldn't be investing their money in that publication.

To "properly" test your ad, you should let it run through at least three consecutive issues of any publication. If your responses are small, try a different publication. Then, if your responses are still small, look at your ad and think about rewriting it for greater appeal, and pulling power. In a great many instances, it's the ad and not the publication's pulling power that's at fault!


Advertising is All About Benefits


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Advertising Is All About Benefits

by Small Business Advertising Expert BIG Mike McDaniel

 

Think benefits and you have a leg up on

your competition. The secret is, advertising benefits,

works, and most people in business don't know it.

 

The rules are the same no matter where you advertise;

TV, Radio, Newspaper, The Shopper, Billboards, urinal

signs. Advertise benefits and they will come.

 

Put your mug in the ad or on the TV and the neighbors

might say "saw you on the TV", or "..saw your picture

in the paper, again." But not strangers. Your 30 foot

tall mug on the billboard won't bring a sole through

the door or get them to buy your product.

 

"Ego" sells ads, not product, and the newspaper and

billboard people know it. "Let's put your picture on

the billboard, Fred!" Three friends mention it and Fred

thinks the advertising was a success and signs up

for more. It may be worse on radio. How many really bad

commercials have you heard that were made by the owner.

"come see us.. new merchandise arriving daily." Yuk!

 

You don't need a picture of your building, you

need a description of what is inside.

 

Don't tell me all the brands of vacuums you carry, tell

me if I need a bag, you have it or can get it

overnight.

 

Don't tell me you have the largest selection, or latest

styles and colors. Tell me if you can fit me no matter

what my size.

 

Don't tell me you have 20 years' experience. Tell me

you'll show up on time, smell good and fix my toilet,

or I don't pay.

 

Take a poll, they don't care about car

dealers, banks or tire stores. All they care about

is "What's in it for me?". Advertise benefits and your

advertising will be a success.

 

Let the other guys flush their ad money with giant

pictures of the staff, or TV commercials with the

grand kids singing a song. Done right, advertising is

not an expense. It will pay for itself, many times

over. Concentrate on WIIFM, What's In It For Me, and

your advertising will work harder for you.

 

 

© 2006 BIG Mike McDaniel http://BigIdeasgroup.com

BIG Mike is the Small Business Advertising Expert and

recommends http://SmallBusinessAdvertisingArticles.com

where you will find hundreds of articles about small business advertising.




How to Use Ezine Advertising to Your Advantage


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Ezine advertising is one of the most targeted forms of Internet advertising available. When you place an ad in an ezine, the readers who see it already have an interest in your product. For example, readers who subscribe to an ezine on pet care will have a strong interest in pet care products and services. Unlike spamming and unsolicited emails, ezine advertising is considered to be an acceptable form of contacting others on the net.

If you do not currently offer an ezine to your site visitors, you may want consider doing so. Ezines are relatively simple to create and provide a low cost option for advertising. An ezine can contain information about your products and services, along with general news and information about the industry that you work in. Business owners who operate an ezine can easily incorporate ezine advertising into their own publication.

The majority of ezines are weekly, biweekly, monthly, or quarterly. Whatever publication frequency you decide on, it is important to stick with it and be consistent. As time passes, your readers will come to expect the ezine in their inbox at a certain time or on a certain date. As publisher of the ezine, it is your job to make sure that the ezine is delivered.

If ezine publication isn't for you, don't fret. You can still use ezine advertising to your advantage. All you need to do is locate an ezine that relates to the products and services offered on your website. Contact the publisher of the ezine and inquire about ezine advertising. You can either negotiate to pay for the ad outright or you can inquire about an advertising trade.

If you are having a hard time finding an acceptable ezine, type 'ezine advertising' into a search engine to see what comes up. There are now many websites dedicated to publishing ezine directories. Most of these directories only include ezines that sell advertising space. This makes finding the right ezine and the right advertising opportunity quick and easy.

Here are the most common types of ezine ads and the typical cost.

Classified Ads. These ads are often small and inexpensive. A classified ad normally consists of three to five lines and will often be placed with other classified ads. This type of ezine advertising can be purchased for $10.00 or less, depending upon the circulation of the ezine.

Sponsor Ads. Though these ads are a bit more expensive, $20.00 on average, they typically provide more prominent placement. Sponsor ads are often included at the top of the ezine and will be the first bit of text the reader sees when opening the email.

Solo Ads. This type of ezine advertising can be the most effective and the most expensive. Solo ads are not usually part of the ezine itself. Instead, these ads are sent in a separate email to everyone who is on the ezine mailing list. The benefit to this type of ad is the amount of detail that can be included. Solo ads can be as long as 700 words and can include graphics of your choice. But, the advantage will cost you. Solo ads can cost anywhere from $40 to several thousands of dollars.

No matter which type of ad you choose, you will find that ezine advertising can promote your business and boost your sales. It is one of the most effective and cost efficient forms of Internet advertising available today. If you've never looked into ezine advertising before, try it once or twice. You may be very happy with the results.

Cliff Posey, owner of CRP Marketing, owns and operates http://webbusinesstoolsonline.com. Cliff Posey has also operated several other successful web businesses including Love Song Cards and Radio Career Consultants. The content in this article was developed from his experience in these businesses.




A Refreshing Alternative To Advertising And Cold Call Selling


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Years ago I shared a very small office with a man simply know as "The Jeffrey." He agreed to share the office with me because neither of us could afford the rent on our own. He was a telecommunication consultant and I was a customer service trainer. Even though we were very good at what we did, neither of us knew how to generate new business without spending money on advertising or making sales calls. Unfortunately, those things didn't really work for us either.

Jeffrey was an interesting guy. He was forever trying to figure out how the most successful people got to the top of their profession. Often after work, we would sit and talk about how we could earn a million dollars doing what we loved while avoiding the things we didn't enjoy - like advertising and cold call selling. Then one afternoon, out of the blue, Jeffrey looked up and said, "I've got it!"

"You've got what?" I asked, concerned at what he may have contracted.

"I know how the highest paid consultants got to the top of their professions and I know how we can get there too," he said throwing his feet up on my desk. Apparently my health was safe. "They've learned how to position themselves as expert problem solvers in the minds of their customers! Here's what they did."

For the next five hours we talked excitedly about what these highly paid professionals were doing to generate such astounding incomes. They were earning between 10 and 100 times what we were earning without spending a dime on advertising. They didn't make cold calls or prospect for new business and the demand for their service was so high that they were turning customers away. Their marketing was ingenious and yet so simple. We went home that night confident that we could to the same thing - only faster.

Three years later our customers recognized us as expert problem solvers. Our income went up by a factor of twenty and we had more customers than we could handle. We did it all without advertising or investing our time in low return cold call selling.

Here's How We Did It
The key to getting to the top of your profession and earning the income that accompanies that spot is to position yourself as the most well known problem solver in your industry. And how do you do that? You do it by making yourself visible as a problem solver to the people you are trying to serve. Here are five ways to get that visibility.

Write an Article
I love reading articles that help me solve a problem. Take a moment right now and sketch out an article idea that your customers will find interesting. Start by identifying the problem your readers have and show them how to solve it. Use examples, stories and terminology they understand. Encourage them along the way. Provide a tag line at the end of your article with your credentials and contact information and send it out to potential publishers. Submit it to article directories on the Internet for distribution and make it available on your website, but don't stop there. Send it as an email attachment, print it and send it to your customers through the mail or send it to the local newspapers or trade journals and watch what happens.

Be a Guest on a Radio Talk Show
There are 40 million Americans who listen to talk radio every day and the hosts of these shows are always looking for interesting guests to fill the airtime. Are you an expert on a subject that a radio audience would find interesting? If so, there are thousands of radio stations just dying to hear from you. Write out a description of what you can talk about along with ten of the most commonly asked questions people ask. Fax or email you're page to the radio stations and follow up with a telephone call. If you're subject is interesting, unique or timely there is a very good chance you'll be invited on as a guest. It's not only fun, but profitable as well.

Build a Resource Website
Most professionals have what's known as a brochure website. This is a site that talks about what they do, how much they charge for their service and where their office is located. Problem is, people don't visit brochure sites more than once. There's no reason to do so.

If you have a brochure site, think seriously about converting it to a resource site. Load it with tips and articles and links to other great websites. Add your own articles and comment on what's going on in your industry. Make your website a place where people will want to come back time and time again. Let them see you as the go-to-guy or gal in the process. As an added bonus, search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo will place you near the top of their search pages when they see the changes you've made.

Stand Up, Speak Out
Look for opportunities to speak at meetings where your customers and potential customers are likely to gather. This includes associations, corporations, churches, PTA meetings etc. Virtually every organization needs speakers who have something interesting to share with their members. You can find these organizations listed in the newspaper, on the Internet and through the people you know. Ask yourself who would be interested in what you have to say and give them the chance to invite you to speak at one of their meetings.

Write a Book
Writing a book is arguably the best way to position yourself as an expert problem solver. It separates you from the masses. Imagine sitting on an airplane talking to your seatmate about what you do for a living and they ask, "How do you know so much about thus subject?"

You can answer by saying, "I wrote a book on the subject!" I like the sound of that, don't you?

Writing a book is a big undertaking but not so big that it's impossible. Think of your book as an accumulation of many smaller ideas (chapters). Create a file for each of these ideas and begin to gather your information today. Spend the first few weeks accumulating and sorting your stories, facts and statistics and placing them in your file. You will be amazed at how quickly the information piles up. Soon you will have enough content to write a single chapter and then another and then another until you've written an entire book. Now imagine one of your prospects picking up your book and seeing your name on the cover. Bingo! They've just reframed you from salesperson to expert problem solver. That's quite a transformation.

These are only a few of the things you can do to position yourself as the expert in your field. There are some great books on the subject and many additional resources on the web. Strive to think differently about your business and how people see you. Remember, it's not who you know or who knows you - it's how people perceive you that matters most. Change the way your customers see you and it will change the way your customers treat you.

Bob Sommers is the host of The Recognized Expert Marketing show on Maui. Find out how you can become recognized as the expert in your field by taking Bob's popular free e-course available at: http://www.RecognizedExpert.com




Why Pay for Advertising That Does Not Yield Sales


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Why Pay for Advertising That Does Not Yield Sales and Increase Your Conversions

By Sharon Housley

Why pay for advertising that does not yield sales?
Before you part with your cold hard cash, consider various
ways to increase and maximize your conversions. The term
conversion simply represents the number of website visitors
that take the action that the web publisher desires. In most
cases, conversion refers to an individual browsing a website
and purchasing the product(s) or service(s) being sold. The
idea is that a browser has been converted into a buyer.

What if you could increase the number of people that visit
your site to customers who purchase or take action on your
site by 1 percent. What would a 1 percent increase in
conversion mean to your bottom line? Even on low ticket
items, a 1 percent increase in conversions can be
potentially staggering when considered over time.

How do you increase conversions?
Obviously the copy is critical in converting a 'browser'
into a 'buyer' and while a webpage should be optimized for
search engine spiders, search engine optimization should not
be at the expense of web surfers. Webmasters must balance
search engine optimization with sensible copy that calls the
website visitor to the appropriate action.

What about advertising?
Keyword advertising can be very effective. In order to
increase the conversion of keyword advertising, create
continuity between your keyword and your landing page. Use
the same words in the ad as in the landing page. Keep in
mind that landing pages do not have to be part of a websites
normal navigation. Webmasters can customize landing pages to
cater to a specific audience, advertisement, or search term.

Ultimately, the goal is all about ROI or return on
investment--publishers aim to make more than they spend. For
every dollar you spend in advertising, you want to make a
profit of $ 2.00 or better. That means in many cases you
will need to monitor any changes in sales and web traffic,
and determine what specific actions are resulting in the
sales increases.

When evaluating advertising campaigns, consider whether the
results will be long term or short term. Long term results
from a short term expense could involve a website design.
Short term results are generally things like ezine
advertisements that result in sharp sales spikes that don't
generally last.

Consider whether the expense is a one time cost or ongoing.
Equally important, determine whether you can reliably track
and measure the results of the advertising campaign. Can the
results be reproduced by spending more money?

Targeted advertising will convert at a higher rate than
non-targeted advertising. It is critical that advertising be
targeted, so that you can maximize your conversion and
increase your ROI.

On the other hand, if you have a low conversion rate,
spending money on advertising is not likely going to produce
significant results or a high ROI--so before you part with
any hard earned cash take a look at your conversion rate.

Why pay for terms that are not converting?
Monitoring is critical to any advertising campaign. As a
webmaster, you have a whole host of tools that allow you to
track the actions that your visitors take. Use these tools
to analyze and test theories that relate to conversions.
When determining areas of low conversion, evaluate weblogs.
Look at the abandon rate by viewing single access web pages.
Use cookies to track the actions that browsers on a website
take, do they return and purchase at a later date? Another
option is to track customer actions using javascript that is
embedded in the website's webpages.

Pay particular attention to what keywords result in traffic,
and what keywords result in actual sales. Anyone can
purchase traffic with the keyword phrase "free money" but
how many of those who click are going to take the desired
action on your webpage? Keyword terms that are closely
related to the product or service being sold are going to
have a higher conversion. It is important to filter phrases
or keywords, that do not convert or result in unrelated
traffic (due to synonym use).

What about the landing page?
When designing the landing page think about the action you
want and emphasize it; remove all other distractions from
the webpage. The landing page should be designed in such a
way that the website is driven to the action you wish for
them to take.

Unique URLs or special landing pages can be instrumental in
tracking a advertising campaigns success. They are also
helpful when you conduct split-testing sending users to
different web pages, and then tracking the actions that
result.

What common problems result in poor conversions?
Poor web site design can result in a low website conversion.
Websites should explain the product or service is that you
are selling in simple terms. The website navigation should
be intuitive, and it should not be difficult to locate what
visitors are looking for. Avoid vintage web graphics that
are of low quality, or fonts that are unreadable. Avoid
color schemes or font size that alienate web visitors,
colors should be used to highlight important points.
Webmasters should avoid small font sizes or fonts that are
not easily readable.

While some items are easy to measure, others become a little
more nebulous, it is difficult to know whether enhanced
graphics will increase sales, but they should be considered
when evaluating a poor conversion rate.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing,
publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a
wireless text messaging software company.




Untapped Advertising Hot Spots


This article was posted by noreply@blogger.com (Article Man) Author details may be found in the resource box at the end of the article

Untapped Advertising Hot Spots
Copyright C 2006 Kim Roach, All Rights Reserved
SEO-News
http://www.seo-news.com

Online advertising is exploding. By 2007, online advertising
spending is expected to reach over 20 billion. With such growth,
a multitude of opportunities have opened up for the online
marketer. Unfortunately, not all of these are worth your time or
your investment. That's why I would like to show you some of the
untapped advertising hot spots that are currently available to
you.

As an online entrepreneur, it's not enough to have a great
website with quality information. You must also position yourself
in front of a qualified audience of people who are hungry for
what you have to offer.

So, let's explore 4 of the most lucrative online advertising
spots that are currently available to you. They include CPA
programs, blog ads, comparison shopping engines, and the ISEDN.

CPA Programs

Cost per action is an online advertising model that is highly
undervalued. In this model, you only pay when a qualified visitor
converts to a sale, registration, or other action. Because of
this, CPA (cost per action) is often much less risky and often
more profitable (in terms of ROI) than cost-per-click.

To begin your own CPA marketing campaign, you can choose from a
variety of companies. AzoogleAds (http://www.azoogleads.com) is
the top CPA network. Within their network, you can advertise on
sites like True.com, Stamps, NetFlix, BlockBuster, and a number
of Fortune 500 companies.

You may also choose ClickBooth (http://www.clickbooth.com).
Within the ClickBooth network, you will have access to over
25,000 of the biggest publishers in the industry.

Hydra Network (http://www.hydramedia.com), another leading
advertising network, reaches over 100 million Internet users.
Find out how you can tap into this traffic at
http://www.hydramedia.com/

Each one of these companies can help you devise a successful CPA
campaign that only requires you to pay when you acquire a new
customer.

BlogAds

In recent years the popular belief has been that most blog
readers are comprised of nerdy teenagers who live in their
parent's basement.

However, this simply isn't true. Blog readers have quite a lot
of buying power. In fact, according to the 2006 blogger reader
surveys from BlogAds, 75% of blog readers make more than $45,000
per year. Blog readers are journalists, opinion makers, and
powerful online citizens.

The blogosphere is becoming very influential on the Internet.
This demographic is a hot spot online that many advertisers are
missing out on.

So, how do you tap into this kind of audience? Well, there are a
number of options.

One of the most popular blog advertising agencies is
http://www.blogads.com. With BlogAds, you can sign up to
advertise on sites like http://www.searchenginejournal.com,
http://www.lockergnome.com, http://www.pfblog.com/, and
http://www.blogshares.com.

Another great source of blogger advertising is the Creative
Weblogging network of blogs. They power 70+ blog sites in
categories ranging from personal finance and social
entrepreneurship to social networking and Web 2.0. In fact, they
have recently joined forces with the Washington Post, which links
to some of their blogs on the homepage.

The Creative Weblogging network delivers 5 million page views per
month. To find out more about their different advertising
options, go to http://www.creative-weblogging.com/50226711/
advertising_with_creative_weblogging.php.

Wherever you choose to advertise, please keep blogs in mind.
Through blog advertising, you can tap into a very targeted group
of individuals.

Comparison Shopping Engines

If you're selling products online, then one of your main
advertising sources should be the comparison shopping engines.
Unfortunately, many online sellers do not take advantage of this
potential goldmine.

Yahoo! Shopping, Google's Froogle, Bizrate.com, Become.com and
other comparison sites make it much easier for you to get the
online exposure you need to be successful in a very crowded
online marketplace. These sites allow you to get listed by all
the big names like Best Buy and Circuit City.

One of the biggest benefits of this advertising option is that
visitors from comparison shopping engines are buyers. They are
there for a reason. They are looking to compare prices, evaluate
different companies, and buy their desired products. Because of
this, the return on investment from this type of traffic is much
higher; a stark contrast from the general search engines which
can send you visitors who aren't truly interested in your
products.

Much like traditional search engines, comparison shopping engines
position your product based on a number of factors. Some of these
include bid price, product price, user rating, relevance, and CTR
(click-through rate). Each of the shopping engines has a
different ranking algorithm and uses different factors to
position your products.

If you would like to start experimenting with this advertising
medium, I would suggest you start with Froogle
(http://www.froogle.com), which is free. However, don't
underestimate Froogle's power. Just because it's free doesn't
mean that it can't send you lots of qualified visitors when used
correctly.

I urge you to start taking advantage of these lucrative
advertising spots for your own website. Remember, comparison
shopping engines send you buyers, not browsers.

You only pay for performance.

ISEDN

Another untapped marketing hotspot is the ISEDN. This paid
inclusion program is a cross between the older paid inclusion
models and the current pay-per-click model.

Purchased ads are displayed in a similar manner to the PPC ads
shown by Google, but advertisers are charged on a flat fee basis,
not on a per click basis. You can buy top 10 exposure across the
network for $3 to $4 per month. Your ad will then be shown across
a network of 230+ members.

Through the power of the collective community, ISEDN paid
inclusion ads are displayed over 150 million times per month.
This equates to 150 million potential advertisng opportunities.

For more information on this advertising model visit ISEDN
founding member ExactSeek.com
(http://www.exactseek.com/featured_listings.html)




 

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