ADVERTISING TIPS,  GUIDELINES

• Testing & Measuring

  It is critical that you code your ads, and then measure the response of your ads. This will help you determine what works well, and what does not. Testing & measuring is how marketers determine which headlines and ad copy work best, and gives them a scientific way to test variations of an ad, or completely new ad copy.

  Marketers also want to know the effectiveness of the websites & ezines where their ads are running. For example, once you have an ad which has a proven response rate, you may find that placing your ad in certain ezines gives you a much better (or worse) response.

  To track your advertising, place an ad code within the URL in your ad.
  
  Experiment

• Experiment with two or more completely different ads and headlines. Don't be afraid to try things. A good marketer is always experimenting.

• Don't Get Discouraged

  As discussed earlier, do not expect to create a winning ad the very first time around. Even the marketing pros require several rounds of trial and error before they find what works best. It's all part of the marketing process. Just hang in there, keep measuring your ads and making changes, and soon enough you'll find an ad which is effective for you.

• Give It Time

  Some newer marketers place an ad and then expect immediate results. That's usually not how things work.

  First, let's assume you are measuring your ad's effectiveness and making changes/improvements, and also experimenting with various headlines and ad copy. And you find an ad which works best for you. The next step is to keep running the ad. If it's working well for you now, it is bound to do even better. A marketing rule of thumb is that it takes 7 ad exposures before some one will respond to an ad. This comes from studies based on print advertising. On the Internet, the rules are slightly different. If you see something you want, for example in an ad, you can get there with one click. Therefore responding to an Internet ad is much easier than responding to an offline ad.

  Still, even with the "immediate" nature of the Internet, multiple ad exposures will give you a better response. Hang in there, keep advertising, and if you're doing things properly then it will eventually click for you.

  Ad Placement Tips
  1. Find High-Traffic Classified Ad Sites
     Getting your ads on sites with lots of traffic. Typically classified ad sites which have many many ad listings also have a good amount of visitor traffic. One way to see how busy a site is, is to check out their webpage with info for paid banner advertising. This page often tells how many visitors/day come to the website.

  2. Determine the Ad Category When advertising in classified ad sites, determine the category/section (e.g. Automotive, Health, etc.) where your ad should be placed. This will ensure your ad is targeted to the correct audience.

  3. Find Large-Circulation Ezines
     Begin by placing free ezine ads, and low cost ezine ads in the small ezines.

     Once you develop an ad that pulls well, you can spend a few dollars and place your ad in ezines with larger circulations. Depending on the circulation of an ezine, a top sponsor ad can run between $10 and several hundred dollars. In some cases, where the ezine's circulation is in the millions, it can cost several thousand dollars to run your ad in the top sponsor position.

     The bottom line is this: Don't throw a lot of money into ezine advertising until you have an ad with proven results. Then, work your way up, slowly, to larger and larger ezines.

  4. Target Your Ads
     While a few types of products can be advertised just about everywhere on the Internet, advertising for most products should be "targeted." You will get much better results by directing your ads to your relevant target audience. (yes, you can still saturate, but only within the area that your target audience hangs out)

     If you're selling products for newborn babies, there's a large number of places you can advertise. Target your ads to the "new mothers" audience. (and if you like, you can saturate all areas of the Internet where new mothers would hang out)

  5. Cross Target your Ads.
     For example, if you sell luggage, you could post in the "Business" section since many business people travel often.

  6. Check out how the ads are ranked.
     • If they are arranged alphabetically by headline, then consider adjusting your headline to begin with an "A" or a numeral.

     • If they are arranged alphabetically by company name, and you operate under more than one company name, use the name one which would be listed first alphabetically.

     • If they are arranged by ad posting date, then just post your ad and you'll be at the top, initially. Then as new ads are added by other advertisers, your ad will be pushed down.

       TIP: On some ad networks that allow you to edit your ad once it's posted, making any change to your ad (even adding a blank space) will put it back on the top of the list! So regularly edit your ads so that they are always towards the top of the list.

• Post regularly! Be seen.

  When posting classified ads, you'll see many other ads. Don't be intimidated by this. First of all, many of those ads are posted by hand, and once they expire they probably won't be reposted to the site.

  You, on the other hand, are going to be using automated tools to do your postings. This means you can easily post to a large number of sites on a regular basis. Every week, twice a week, even daily if you're really motivated for success.

  The same goes for ezine advertising. Advertise regularly, and be seen!

• Saturation

  Have you noticed some of the same ads over and over again? Those are placed by people who are persistent. People who know how to use automated tools (like those contained in this site!) to saturate. Hey, you can do the same thing they're doing, right? You too can saturate.

  Let's say you sell a glow-in-the-dark computer mouse (perfect for all those late night web surfers). By saturating the Internet with your ads, you can be sure that a good hunk of your target audience sees your ads. And for you that could mean mega mouse sales :)

  But saturation doesn't happen by doing just one bulk ad submission and then walking away and expecting huge results. Saturation involves advertising everywhere, in every crack, nook and cranny. And doing it persistently. You can saturate using free advertising, or low cost advertising, or a combination of the two.

• Advertise Advertise Advertise

  This is a repeat of what was just said above. But it's so important, that we're going to say it here once more!

  You cannot be seen unless you advertise. The good news is that you can use the tools on this site to advertise like mad, for free or practically free.