YOU TOO CAN BE A GOOD CLASSIFIED AD WRITER!
by Ken Denton

Before we get to any specific tips, let’s make sure we have an understanding of on-line classifieds.

There is a difference between on-line and off-line classifieds. Let’s look at an off-line classified. Let’s say you want to advertise your business opportunity in your local paper. Your ad would go into the Classified Section under the Business Opportunity Heading. Now, let’s consider the reader. The only person likely to see your ad is one who is looking for a business opportunity. Your ad will be among others offering business opportunities. All you need do is provide enough information for the reader to determine if your opportunity MIGHT be right for them. If so, you’ll likely get the call.

On-line, it’s difficult to achieve such tight targeting. Let’s take that same business opportunity and say you want to advertise it in Ezines. What’s different?

Well, first of all, you’ll want to find Ezines whose readers are likely to be interested in business opportunities. That’s about as targeted as it’s going to get. When you post your ad to that Ezine, your ad will be among others that may or may not be similar to yours. The Ezine reader is likely to scan through the ads rather rapidly, stopping only if something captures their attention. Thus, it is a lot more important for you to craft an ad that stands out in some way.

I suggest that you think of your ad as a teaser. If you watch television news, you know what a teaser is. Remember, every time they get ready to go to a commercial break, they give you a little hint about what’s coming up? That’s designed to keep you from changing channels during the commercial break.

Just like the TV teaser, your ad should be designed to get the reader to respond in a specific way. You may want them to visit a website, subscribe to an auto-responder or any number of other things.

A classified ad is just too short to do the selling. Use it to get the reader to respond in the manner you desire. Then let the auto-responder or the website do the actual selling.

Here are a few tips:

1) Headline. Make it stand out in some way. It should appeal to a basic desire or it should arouse curiosity. It’s the headline that will make the scanner stop and read your ad. Spend a lot of time in crafting your headline. Subscribe to a number of Ezines and observe and record those headlines that stop your scanning. Model from those, but don’t copy them.

2) The Body. The body should expand on the headline. Again, don’t try to sell here. Think of the body as a secondary or sub-headline. It should expand or clarify the headline and make the reader want to know more.

3) Call to Action. You should next tell the reader what to do to get the information they now want. You can say something like “Learn more here” or “get your free report”. Just tell them how to get the information.

4) The URL. If your objective is to have them visit a website, be sure to use the complete URL. If you leave out the http://, it won’t be clickable. In other words, instead of www.yoursite.com, use http://www.yoursite.com.

5) Tracking. I highly recommend that you use some sort of tracking so you have some way of evaluating the effectiveness of your ad. There are a lot of sites that offer ad tracking services. The one I use is Roibot. You can visit them here: Roibot

6) Modify. If you aren’t satisfied with the click-through rate of your ad, go back and modify it and try it again. Eventually you will have crafted an effective ad!

Most of all, be persistent. You won’t learn how to write effective ads over night! But if you’ll spend some time in crafting your ad, and track the results, you too can be a good classified ad writer.

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Ken Denton, has over thirty years of advertising and marketing experience and is the owner of Internet Business Builder and the publisher of the Internet Business Builder Gazette. Subscribe by sending a blank Email to Visit me here or Subscribe here

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Confessions Of A Zine-O-Holic
by Jo McNamara

My name is Jo and I'm a zine-o-holic. Ya know, I tell myself, "I can handle this problem. I'll just read one ezine, maybe two and then I'll stop." That might last a day or two. But before you know it, I feel the urge come over me and I'm back to reading 15-25 ezines a day.

Not the cheap stuff either. The solid-content, benefit-laden stuff. Yeah, we all have our reasons for being here. Some of you get your kicks with the free ads. Some of you are like me; you enjoy reading ezines and the information they provide. Some of us get this stuff in our inbox. Some of us go to websites to get our fix. It doesn't matter. We have to face the fact that we're hooked on zines.

We can't blame it on the publishers. Sure, they offer this stuff for free. They come up to us and say, "Hey, I got some good zine. Great articles, free promotional tools. I can be your best friend. All ya gotta do is subscribe." What they don't tell you is before long you're hooked. You get a taste of one good ezine and before you know it, you're back out there; desperately trying to find another one to subscribe to.

I never thought I would end up like this. I was raised in a good family. Go to school, get a solid education and then go to work for someone else. And I did just that for a while.

I thought I had a happy life. Then it happened. To this day, I don't know how. I got into Internet marketing and that's when everything changed.

I started out innocently enough. Probably just like you. Fell for a few get-rich-quick scams. Wasted my time; wasted my money. But I got through that and thought I was gonna be okay…until I discover ezines. Then there was no turning back.

It's the same story; I'm sure you can relate to it. I subscribed to a couple of ezines. I started reading articles by Terry Dean, Rick Beneteau, Terri Seymour, Michael Southon…there are others out there; but we know who I'm talking about. I learned what it took to be successful in Net marketing. Before you know it, I wanted more. I couldn't get through the day without reading a few ezines.

I unsubscribed to the ezines that had nothing but ads. That gave me the feeling that I was in control. But, my friends, we know how false that feeling is. I was still hooked on the good ones.

To make matters worse, I started earning an income working at home. I'm just minding my own business. Reading ezines; learning from ezines; applying what I'm learning. Money starts coming in. You think you have your life planned and something like this happens. I don't know what to tell you. I never saw it coming.

My friends say I've changed. I'm more self- confident; I'm happier; I'm more positive about life. They just don't understand and I can't tell them my secret.

I thought I could control the problem by shutting down my computer. I realize now that I was just in denial. Before long I was sneaking into the office. I'd tell myself, "Just one ezine. I'll just read one." An hour later, dinner hadn't been cooked and the litter box hadn't been cleaned. I was off and running. Lost in the world of ezines. With trembling fingers, I would turn off the computer. But I knew the truth; I wanted more.

I don't know what the answer is. Just when you think you're in control, you find another ezine to subscribe to. Even if you're particular about what you read and don't like the cheap stuff, there's always one more good ezine out there calling your name.

Well, that's my story. Thanks for letting me share. I won't tell you I'll ever be cured. The truth of the matter is I don't want to be cured. I'll just have to take it one ezine at a time.

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Jo McNamara lives in Orlando, FL, with 8 cats and 1 husband. To receive other articles written by Jo, articles_jomc@sendfree.com. Jo is a proud member of the Internet Marketing Success Arsenal: "I wish I had discovered the Success Arsenal when I got started in Net marketing. I would have saved countless wasted, frustrating hours and more money than I care to think about." What Works Online

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