Publishing guidelines: Please feel free to publish this

A simple classified ad placed in a highly targeted vehicle can
be a great way to kick start your sales, especially if your
company is the new kid on the block with low visibility and a
small advertising budget.

There are two components to this important equation: the ad
itself and the vehicle. Choosing the right ezine or website
is an art form in itself and a story for another day.

For now, let's focus on how to write a your own classified ads
so they jump off the screen and demand attention.

1. The headline is the most important feature of your ad so
spend lots of time on it. A good headline teases, entices and
lures. Here's an example of a headline that DEMANDS to be
read by everyone in business:

Is Your Online Business "Wide Open" to Criminals?

It is if you accept credit cards over the Internet or phone.
Card-not-present fraud is on the rise.
Banks and card companies won't reimburse these losses.
Some merchants have lost everything.

Don't be the next victim. Click here to find out how to
protect yourself. http://www.iib.com.au/

2. Address your target market early and clearly so they know
your message applies to them. "Is Your Online Business..."

3. Use simple language and short, punchy statements.

4. Decide on an appropriate length. Between five and seven
lines formatted to 65 characters per line is most common but
individual ezines may have different guidelines.

5. Focus on benefits. Your prospects don't care, for instance,
that you're "the best in the tri-state area" (according to you).
They don't care if your cheese spread is "The cheesiest and
darn proud of it." Neither your pride nor your puffery will
convince them to buy. All they want to know is, "What's in it
for me?"

6. Give something away. An ebook, a free course, or just the
answer to a question, as in the example above. Anything to get
prospects to make contact and open up a dialogue with you.

7. Be different. Have you noticed lately how many ads promise
"work at home and make $10,000 a month"? Your copy has to be
original to get attention and be remembered. For example, this
headline also sells the work-at-home dream but with a unique
twist: "Commute in your slippers."

8. Try to be realistic. People are skeptical of outlandish
claims and weary of hype. "How to Publish a Book and Sell a
Million Copies." Know how few best-selling authors flog a
million copies? More effective would be: "We make it easy
to sell 150,000 copies of your very own book."

9. Action! Decide what you want prospects to do and then ask
them to do it. Visit your website? Sign up for your ezine?
Request an estimate? Click here? Spell it out clearly or
they'll read your pretty words and keep reading right on down
the page without stopping to act.

10. Write a couple of different ads so you have several on
hand to rotate. Track them to see which ones pull best.

A well-written classified ad can be a great way to launch
your promotional campaign without spending a fortune.