"Making Money Online Was Never So EASY!"

Many small businesses don’t get success they deserve from their advertising due to the availability of very few resources. The results are simply flat due to the lack of good ideas for improvements. Whether the ads are put in a local newspaper or are printed in a popular periodical or posted on a website, the money invested should gain the desired outcome. There are some common mistakes small businesses and professional service providers make when designing and posting their advertisements, which leads to the failure of the advertisements.

Bigger is better is a saying that is believed by many. That’s exactly what some of the small firms think when they want to advertise their product. They think bigger and select a medium where they need to invest a lot of money, but do not reach the targeted market. Like if a company specializes in designing diet plans and want to help out people who had disappointing results from their individual diet plans, and the company chooses to advertise a full page in the local paper instead of running advertisements in a health magazine, obviously not many of the dieters will notice the advertisement and it therefore doesn’t get the desired attention.

So the point is to come up with the best campaign, which will increase the probability of the ad getting viewed and the right customers trying to buy the product or sign up for the service. Studies and research can be carried out on the market and targeted audience can be narrowed down. Once getting the list of newspapers and magazines meant for the customers in mind, find out how many readers they have and the cost they ask for posting the ad. Special deals are offered from time to time and can only be found by the watchful eye.

It is estimated that every day people are subjected to around three thousand commercials. That is a huge number and if someone desires to be noticed, he should certainly be different. Not only the services and product sold should be unique in the market, so should be the advertisement.  For example, if a business selling mattresses says, “We sell mattresses”, it will not make a statement and will be passed over as just another mattress advertisement. But if they say, “Our mattresses are of the finest quality”, it will make the advertisement stand out from the crowd. Other catch lines are “Are you suffering from back pain? Perhaps you need to try our mattresses ”, are more specific and will catch the fancy of the people who are suffering from back pain for a long time. The advertisement should also focus on the uniqueness ( is that a word? ) of the product and how it stand up when compared to the competitors’ product.

Focusing on the problems of the customers and giving a solution for them, is what a customer demands. A customer does not buy a product – they buy benefits in the form of a product. The real value of the product should be realized and a clear picture of it should be presented to the customer so they will be able to relate with the product. If the advertisement doesn’t specify the solution it can provide, the customers will never know of it. So focusing on the customers problem is what some ads miss.

The last thing missing in most advertisements is motivation for the customers. If the advertiser has designed the advertisement and the customer had read the advertisement, all efforts and money invested will be wasted if they don’t get up and do something about it. It shouldn’t be assumed that the customer knows what to do – the advertisement should influence the mind of the customer and should tell them what to do. A “call to action” is the final job of the advertisement. It should call for information, or visiting the store or even visiting the online store. The message should sound confident and clear.

"Making Money Online Was Never So EASY!"

Even if your business is Internet based and has no physical store or office, you can still make excellent use of offline advertising to promote your business. Some of these methods will be free of charge, while others will cost very little in the way of financial resources.

Here are just a few of the ways you can create new customer opportunities with the use of offline advertising.

One of the easiest ways to kick off your offline traffic program is with the use of a flier. With the quality software that is on the market these days, you can easily design fliers that help to advertise your business.

The real question will be where to place the fliers, so they are not an irritant and can be placed legally. For this, you will need input from the local authorities.

Contact your city or town government and find out what the local laws and regulations are when it comes to passing out fliers for a business. In many cases you will find that there is some restriction when it comes to municipal parking lots.

It may be possible to obtain a permit that will allow you to place fliers at a specific event that the city is sponsoring. Also, the city will often know which shopping centers around town allow fliers to be placed on cars in their parking lots.

Along with the local government, check with the local chamber of commerce. You may find that they will have events coming up where you will be free to pass out fliers to persons entering or leaving the event.

You may find the chamber especially receptive to this idea if you sponsor or co-sponsor an event, which is another way of saying you agree to pay for part of the cost of putting on the event. While you may not want to do a lot of this sort of thing, it may very well help you to try it out once or twice.

Another place to think about fliers is at local retail stores, such as supermarkets. Many grocers now provide community bulletin boards that allow fliers to be posted for a specified period. This is also true with some restaurants. While the placing will not be permanent, at least the information will be in front of people for an extended period of time.

Along with the flier, you will also get a lot of mileage with a business card. Of all the forms of advertising, a business card is one of the easiest ways to cultivate sales opportunities. Any conversation is a chance to leave a card with your web address in the hands of a potential client.

You can place a business card in a fish bowl at the local eateries, post them on bulletin boards, and give some to friends to pass on to interested parties. You may also try some unorthodox methods, such as “accidentally” leaving one or two of your cards at the table or booth when you go out to eat, or even leaving a couple on the sink in a public restroom.

Believe it or not, this can actually lead to some sales.

Contrary to popular opinion, business cards do not have to be unusual in order to be effective. A plain card that sports simple fonts may be just what you need in some businesses. Have some fun with the color scheme on the card, but make sure the information is easy to read.

More important, make sure the card works well with card scanning equipment. Many people who are interested in your products will run the card through a card scanner as a quick way to put your information in their address book. If the card has fancy fonts the scanner software does not recognize, or the text fades into the background, the scan may fail and your chances of being added diminish.

At the same time, there is no rule that says you can’t have some fun with your business card. Try making it a little thicker, so the card stands out in a pile. Consider putting text on both sides of the card for some added interest. Also, you could try a circular card rather than a rectangular card. Just make sure the circle will run through a card scanner without jamming it.

Just as you can leave a flier or a business card in your wake, there is also the matter of leaving behind a brochure. Home printing software allows you to create some excellent trifold brochures that are ideal for use around town.

They also are great for use at business shows, conventions, and trade shows. As an added bonus, a trifold brochure fits nicely into a standard business envelope, which makes the piece ideal for use in direct mail campaigns.

If you design your own brochures and save the templates, it is very easy to customize the brochure for special occasions or for a particular campaign. Keep in mind you will need to get paper that is the proper weight for a brochure, if you really want to create a slick and professional look.

Along with brochures, think about the use of post cards as a means of promoting your business. This excellent direct mail option works very well, since research indicates people are more likely to take a moment to check both sides of a post card before discarding.

That is one side more than most people check when it comes to envelopes. This second chance may be just what you need to create interest and get the recipient to check out your web site.

Post cards can be created at home using software, or you can use an online printer for the job. Doing the cards yourself is very cost effective, but a postcard that makes good use of the stock formats and images of an online printing service may not be as expensive as you may think.

In fact, you may find that the savings on time and supplies may be enough to make the use of the service well worth the effort. Just make sure the spelling, punctuation, and layout of the post card is exactly what you want before signing off on the print job.

Classified ads in magazines, newsletters, and the local newspaper may be worth looking into. Normally contracted on a fixed rate per word or characters, take a long hard look at the circulation figures for the publication. Also, keep in mind the sector of the public that reads the paper or magazine.

For example, if you sell vegetarian foods, there is not much point in placing your ad with a publication that caters to people who love to eat meat. On the other hand, a newspaper may be ideal if your products or services are attractive to a wide variety of people.

With any type of offline advertising, make sure that you understand what opportunities are right for your business, and learn all you can about that medium before committing to any sort of advertising arrangement. This will help to ensure that you get an equitable return on your investment.

"Making Money Online Was Never So EASY!"

Employing a banner ad strategy may be one of the elements you want to incorporate into your overall publicity campaign. Banner ads are an approach that can cost a fair amount of money, but if they are placed in the right spots around the Internet, they can provide a huge return on the investment.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to putting together a successful banner ad.

One of the first things to remember is that a banner ad is meant to accomplish one central function. The banner ad is to grab the attention of the reader long enough to entice the individual to click on the ad to learn more about what you have to offer. As such, you need to be very careful about how you put together the ad.

A very common mistake that people make with banner ads is to try to cram too much information into a very small space. Keep in mind that the ad is not supposed to provide a lot of fine reading. Nor do you necessarily want to make it a point to include your company name or logo in the ad.

What you do want to do is use a short and sweet slogan that acts as the ideal teaser. Keep the amount of words as few as you possibly can. Don’t think that you need to make use of full sentences. You are selling an idea at this point.

Using the right words to convey that idea is far more important than correct grammar. If you find that two words will create a slogan or catch phrase that carries a lot of power, then go for it.

While a company name or a logo can be helpful, chances are you will do much better without cluttering up the banner ad with that information. Logos on the ads are only helpful when the company name and image are well known to the public, and popular to boot.

While all of us hear that good business means getting the company name out there, the fact is that the Internet has altered that philosophy somewhat.

Keep in mind that keeping the look of the ad simple and effective will create the opportunity for people to visit your site and look around. Your company name and logo will be on every page of your site, so the customer will certainly get familiar with your name in no time.

Thinking about the fonts and colors that you use with your ad is also important. This can be somewhat tricky, as you want the banner ad to stand out as it pops up on the screen. The ad should be different enough from the web pages that signal the banner ad to show up, but you also want it to make a point very quickly.

People tend to give a banner ad very little time to make an impression. That means the colors and the fonts can play a big role in providing those critical extra seconds to establish an interest. Bright colors for the background with a contrasting color for the fonts will often make a good impression, and entice the visitor to click through to your web site.

Don’t be afraid of getting too bold with the choice of colors, but do be aware of the type of image you want to cultivate. For example, if you sell natural health products, you may want to make good use of greens in your banner ad. They will help set the tone for your web site.

On the other hand, if you are offering high tech products, electric blues and reds may prove to be fun and winning combination.

Finding the right locations for your banner ads is also important. There is one school of thought that dictates that you worry less about the type of web site and focus more on the amount of traffic that the site generates. Of course, this does not mean that you want your ad associated with content that is completely inappropriate for your products and services.

For example, if you sell faith-based products, you would probably not want your banner ad to show up on an adult dating site. Still, you would want to define a broad range of sites that would be right for your ad, check into the average daily and monthly traffic that is generated by the site, and then make some decisions about placing your ad.

Keep in mind that depending on how you go about arranging for the creation and placement of banner ads, the cost may be minimal or it may be significant. Weigh this information against your budget and determine just how much of your advertising funds can be allocated to the use of banner ads, without hurting the other components in your program.

If you find that banner ads really work well for you, there is always the chance to expand your use of these ads once there is a larger revenue stream to work with.

"Making Money Online Was Never So EASY!"

Unless you have spent the last few years in a box you will surely have heard of Craigslist. This is one of the most viewed advertising sites on the net, with well over 5 million unique views per month, but in order to make your ads effective there are a few little tips you need to be aware of.

Firstly, as the ads you post are live for 30 to 45 days, depending on category and area, many people simply submit their ads and come back in a month or so and submit another. However, in order to create an effective campaign, you really need to resubmit your ads every 48 hours to keep them at the top of the listings. This is the method for maximum effectiveness, but remember to delete your existing ad before submitting the new one or you could get banned.

There are several methods of getting around the rules of Craigslist, but be aware that while most of these methods are effective, you could get found out at any time. Other members, as well as moderators, are viewing these ads every day and it only takes one of those people to report your ad and you could quickly be without one of the most effective advertising mediums available.

Many people will create several similar ads for the same product or service and cross-promote these ads through various categories and cities. While this is clearly against the rules of Craigslist, it is a difficult thing to police effectively and therefore is common practice by those who frequent this classified ad site.

The correct method is to create 3 or 4 similar ads for the same product or service and rotate them every 48 hours, all the while tracking results to see which ad is the most effective. Once you have isolated the ad that is producing results, don’t stop there! Continue to return to Craigslist every 48 hours and delete the ad and resubmit it. Because of the manner the ads are listed, latest ads are listed at the top of each category, the best way to get your ad noticed is to continue to keep moving it to the top of the list.

It is also a good idea to move your ad around the available cities, but this also requires some careful consideration. Some cities perform better than others, that is a well established fact, but Craigslist is also well aware of this and has made some changes to the submission process for those cities. For example, the Bay area of San Francisco is the top performing city for classified ads and Craiglist has reacted by imposing some conditions for posting to that area.

Firstly, you will now need to prove that you live in that area, whether you are selling a physical product or digital, and secondly you now will need to pay a fee to advertise in some of the categories for that area. The fees are very low but it is best to be aware of the pending cost before posting your ad.

While it is not always practical to try different cities when promoting a physical product, it is almost a must when promoting a digital product or online service. As you will be well aware, you can not link directly to a sales page or commercial website of any kind, there is a way around this as well. Design a compelling advertisement and either use your email address for customers to contact you for further details, or use the ‘unanimous’ email contact system that Craigslist has in place.

This has been a fairly basic outline of some of the most effective methods to using this outstanding advertising medium. Follow the rules and review your results for every ad you post. Good tracking and vigilant rotation of your ads will provide some amazing results. For all the information about this excellent service, download the Craigslist Advertising eBook here free. Just another free gift with the compliments of www.InternetSalesMadeEasy.info

"Making Money Online Was Never So EASY!"

A products benefits are essentially what the features can do for your customers. Your customers will not be as interested in a products features, as what they will be in what the features can do for them – the actual benefit to them.

There is one phrase you should always bear in mind when structuring an advertisement – WIIFM. No, it is not a radio station. This is primarily how your customers think. It is a prime aspect of human nature to always want to know ‘What’s In It For Me?’ This is not to say that your customers are selfish in any way, merely that benefits will always outweigh features in the eyes and minds of potential customers.

A list of product features seems like a good way to promote something but time-tested advertising campaigns have proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a list of the benefits to be gained from these features will always have a stronger influence on potential customers. You need to always bear this in mind when attempting to promote any product or service.

An example of a feature versus a benefit for a random product may help to clarify the terms for you. Let’s take a car for an example. If you were going in to purchase a new car, which of these statements would have the most influence over your buying decision?

A. This car delivers 47 miles per gallon around town and 60 miles per gallon on the highway. ( feature )

B. You’ll save money on gas and cut down on environmental pollutants because we use the latest technology which produces more power with less fuel requirements. ( benefit )

Does that make it clearer? Would you be more inclined to purchase based on option B? I am sure I would.

If you have the option to add images, this will also increase your conversion rates. Let me explain this with another example. If you were promoting a watch, somewhere in the list of features would be:-

This watch has a 1 and a half inch face, making it easy to read, and comes with a hand-crafted leather band.

Okay, that sounds fairly good, but consider how much more influential an image would be, accompanied by a few benefits to really drive the message home. The image should have some sort of reference point, such as a gold coin placed beside the watch, to highlight the actual size and clarify it in the potential customers mind. It should be followed by some attention grabbing text, describing the benefits in detail, such as:-

The extra large face will allow you to tell the time at a glance, you won’t need to look foolish as you squint to read this magnificent timepiece. This beautiful gold watch, with its hand-crafted leather band will project an aura of success and charisma making your partner proud to be seen with you.

That sale is almost made already!

These are just a few of the tips in the ebook, ‘Top Ten Methods’. This is another free download with my compliments. Simply right-click on the link and select “Save Link As”, no opt-in or other tricks, a simple free gift from me to you.

You can, of course, opt-in to my list for a 24 part e-course on blogging and many more free gifts.