By M H Ahssan
Ads are the basement of an easy home business, no easy home business can exist without sales, and every sale begins with some kind of advertising.
So the ad copy must be good enough to make potential buyers buy.
Does advertising always succeed?
NO!
And the credit for the success, or the blame for the failure of almost all ads, reverts back to the ad copy itself.
What does an ad look for? Generally, the "ad copy writer" wants one of the following:
* That you visit the store to see and judge the product for yourself
* That you immediately buy the merchandise being advertised by the ad
* That you phone for an appointment to hear the full sales presentation
* That you ask for further information (which amounts to the same thing).
The bottom line is always the same: To make the reader buy the product or service.
As an "ad copy writer" you must know exactly what you want that your customers do.
BASIC RULES FOR WRITING CLASSIFIED ADS AND SALES LETTERS
* A classified ad and a sales letter must be read to stimulate sales
* A classified ad and a sales letter must be seen, so it can be read
* A classified ad and a sales letter must command or grab the attention of the reader
* Your knowledge and practice of these basic rules will determine the extent of your success as an ad copywriter and an easy home business owner.
HOW TO WRITE CLASSIFIED ADS AND SALES LETTERS
Classified ads are small, relatively inexpensive, many times free in Internet, and give the beginner an opportunity to advertise his product or service without losing his shirt if things don't go how he expected.
Many people look classified ads when they wish to find a product or a service, that's why they are a great means of promotion for any Internet business, if you learn how to use them.
How do you put free classified ads in The Web? Just look for "classifieds" or "classified ads" in a search engine (i.e. www.hotbot.com) and then look for a link that might say "announce" "place an ad" "post free ads" "free ads" etc. Sometimes you won't find the link in the home page and you will find it after you choose one of the categories (i.e. "business opportunities", "Internet marketing", "home business", "jobs", etc.)
What kind of results can you expect from a classified ad? A good ad will bring you people interested in your product or service, from these prospects (potential clients) you might get up to 1 sale for every 10 - 30 of them, if you follow up them properly in the next months. Prospects and Customer's follow up has some special rules that are explained here: http://www.easy-home-business.com/improve/sales-follow-up.php
It is important to be aware that writing classified ads and sales letters is a promotion system that will not give you immediate results, but in the next months.
Classified ads are important because they let you reach a market niche that you won't be able to find other way. That's why every prospect that you get through this means is a great treasure.
The trick of writing classified ads is to put as many classified ads as you can. You can do that one by one in free places like my Free Classified Ads web page, or with good automation software like Becanada
HOW MANY FREE CLASSIFIED ADS MUST YOU PUT?
Do not expect good results with your easy home business with classified ads placed on less than 200 sites.
The ideal is to have 5 to 10 different classified ads and place them in different categories (business opportunities, home jobs, etc.) but the most important part is the quality of your classified ad. One good classified ad will give you much more customers than 10 bad classified ads.
If everyday you put your classified ad in 6 different places, in a month you will have 180 and in a couple of months your classified ad's campaign will be really working.
To put a classified ad will take you from 7 to 10 minutes each, for 6 classified ads you will need to work 1 hour per day. With an automation program like Becanada this will take you not more than a couple of hours a month. You can read more about Becanada here: http://www.becanada.com/$/?rbsoftwa@kagi.com
THE HEADLINE OF YOUR CLASSIFIED ADS AND THE TITLE OF YOUR SALES LETTERS
The headline of a newspaper, it says the same that's said in the main article; and a classified ad, is a condensed form of a large ad.
The headline and/or the lead sentence of an ad are the most important parts of the ad. The title is the most important part of a sales letter.
When your classified ad is surrounded by hundreds of other classified ads, the only thing that will make anyone read your classified ad is that you can "grab" their attention and entice them to read.
If you don't capture the attention of your reader with your headline or sales letter title, anything beyond it is useless effort and wasted money.
What happens if you don't have a headline? In classified ads, your first three to five words serve as your headline.
What should you say in your headline or sales letter title?
* Ask a question. A question seem to attract the reader's attention, and one he sees the question, he just can't seem to keep himself from reading the rest of the classified ad to find out the answer. I.e.: "Do You Suffer From These Symptoms?"
* Appeal to the envy. "You'll be the envy of your friends" is a "reader appeal" that you can use whenever appropriate, because everyone wants to be well thought of, and will read into the body of your classified ad copy to find out how he can gain the respect he wants.
* Use colloquialisms wherever and whenever possible, use words that are not usually found in advertisements. The idea is to shock or shake the reader move him to take notice of your classified ad. For example: "Are You Developing A POT BELLY?"
* Use comparative price headlines: "Three For Only $3, Regularly $3 Each!"
* Offer a strong guarantee: "We give you an year to try, and your money back if you don't earn $50,000"
* Offer status and prestige this appeals to the necessity of belonging to a special group, or recognition necessity
* You: Whenever, and as often as you can use the word "You" in your headline, and throughout your classified ad copy. Your classified ad should be directed to "one" person, and the person reading your classified ad likes to feel that you're talking to him personally. Whenever you sit down to write an ad copy you should picture yourself in a one-on-one situation and "talk" to your reader just as if he where in front of you.
* Don't get cute: People care much less for the art of the classified ad than for the benefits they will get if they buy. So don't put in it a lot of unrelated graphics and artwork. All graphics or artwork you use should be relevant to your product, its use and/or the copy you've written about it. Graphics should not be used as artistic touches, or to create an atmosphere.
RULES OF MARKETING COMMUNICATION
* Know your audience
* Know what your audience wants
* Make a clear statement that they will get what they want if they answer your ad
* Put a time limit to your irresistible offer
* People that read classified ads and sales letters have only one idea in mind:
WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?
* People read classified ads and sales letters to fulfill their needs and desires, so if they don't receive a clear image of the solid benefit they will receive from your classified ad or sales letter, they will pass it buy.
The vast majority of the classified ads and sales letters that you can read, say things like: "we are here", "we are great", "here's what we've got". It's no wonder why hardly anyone responds to them: they are not answering the most important question for your potential customers: "What's in it for me?"
BASIC STRUCTURE OF A CLASSIFIED AD or A SALES LETTER
You want your target prospect to take immediate action.
If you don't ask for action, you don't get action; so the basic structure of your classified ad should be: You'll get this benefit if you act now!
Everything else in the classified ad is an elaboration of this point. If you classified ad testimonies or images, they must talk about the benefit that the prospect will reach if he acts now!
WORK HARD YOUR BENEFITS
The average person is very aware that you are making a pitch in an effort to get his money, so the first thing they will feel is that you will lie if you need, in order to get their money.
So you must know that your prospects are on guard against you, and the only thing they want to know is what will they get from it, and you must show this right away in the clearest way you can find.
You must show your benefits using FACTS, not making general claims as "excellence guaranteed". Instead of saying "we have the fastest service" say "all products shipped same day of purchase". So you must take a look of each feature you have listed about your product, and make it a FACT.
FEATURES: Are descriptive words about your easy home business product or service: its color, size, weights, operating parameters and so on.
Your classified ad should not say how your product is, but what it will get for the people who buy it
No classified ad works using an offer without benefits as the primary ammunition!
WHAT TO OFFER IN A CLASSIFIED AD AND A SALES LETTER
The best offer is FREE. People are addicted to getting something for nothing. So in order to motivate your audience you must offer them something for free. What can you offer?
* A free trial
* Your brochure
* Sales literature
* A special report
* A subscription to your newsletter
* Whatever you have and can send out at minimal cost.
But it's not enough to say "We will give you FREE our Internet Marketing booklet" you rather say "We will give you FREE an Internet Marketing booklet that will show you how to earn $ 2000 in only 23 days". Show the benefit!
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A CLASSIFIED AD
In most cases you can't expect to make a sale with a small classified ad, you can only motivate an action that will eventually finish in a sale.
What kind of action can you motivate:
* Elicit prospect inquiry
* Obtain prospect's e-mail address
ADVERTISING ATTRIBUTES
CONCENTRATION: Advertise in the same place time after time, until the ad starts to get response rather than placing it every time in a different place.
REACH: You want your ad to reach as many people as possible
FREQUENCY: Most people will not respond to your ad until they have seen it not less than 6 times. True absorption of your message will result only from repetition.
WHAT DOES PEOPLE WANT
People generally want one of more of the following things:
* Better health
* More comfort
* More money
* More leisure time
* More popularity
* Greater beauty
* Success
* Security.
So this is exactly what you must tell them that they are going to get, if they opt for your product or service
TEST YOUR CLASSIFIED ADS
You should never stop testing to reach good results with your classified ads, and the way to do it is:
Run the same classified ad in different places
Ask your customers what prompted to buy from you
Test the same classified ad with different headlines
THE SALES LETTER AND CLASSIFIED AD'S BODY
Once you have your reader's attention, you must follow with:
A quick enumeration of the benefits he can gain.
Try to put into your prospect shoes, and ask yourself: If I were reading this classified ad, what are the things that would appeal to me?
Write your copy to appeal to your reader's wants and emotional needs. 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.
Present the proven FACTS of your product (the more facts, the more credible the offer)
People want facts and/or excuses for buying a product - to justify to themselves and others, so you must help them to do it. You must assure him for his good judgment in the final decision to buy.
People tend to believe the things that appeal to their individual desires, fears and other emotions. In other words people believe what they "want" to believe, it's up to you to support his initial desire.
Reiterate the advantages, comfort and happiness he'll enjoy
Once you finish presenting facts, test results, sales figures, and/or other customer's testimonials summarize everything you've presented and then get into your demand for action.
Make them feel they already own the product
Draw a mental picture for your potential buyer. Let him imagine owning the product. Induce him to visualize all of the benefits you've promised. Give him the keys to seeing himself richer, enjoying luxury, having time to do whatever he'd like to do, and with all of his dreams fulfilled.
ASK FOR ACTION; DEMAND THE MONEY!
Lots of classified ads are beautiful, almost perfectly written, and quite convincing - yet they fail to ask for or demand action from the reader. If you want the reader to have your product, then tell him so and demand that he send his money now. 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.
Offer a bonus package
It will help you to induce action if you offer a big bonus package - absolutely free, simply for acting immediately! And Internet is full of free things you can give to your customers to tempt them. Offering a reward of some kind will almost always stimulate the prospect to take action. Many could just sign because of the reward, but if you ask them their e-mail address, you'll have the opportunity to follow up them and convince them about your main product. Of course the reward offered should be closely related to your product, or you'll get the wrong prospects.
Offer a solid guaranty
Another thing that will help a lot is a good guaranty like "If you're not satisfied, simply return the product and we'll quickly refund your money!"
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.
Make it easy
The easier you make it for him to respond, the more responses you'll get!
Once you do become proficient in writing your easy home business classified ads, you must never stop "noticing" how classified ads are written, designed and put together by other people. To stop learning would be comparable to shutting yourself off from the rest of the world.
Keep a copy of every good classified ad that you see and study it. 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's using to sell his products.
If you do things properly you will get hundreds, thousands of prospect's reply. And how will you make them become your customers? With a good follow up campaign. And for that you will need a MLM Builder: http://www.easy-home-business.com/improve/networkmarketing.php
"AIDA" AD STEPS TO SUCCESS
I'm now going to show you step by step how to write a successful classified ad. Your classified ad should follow the mental process called AIDA. (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
ATTENTION
Your classified ad's main objective is to obtain a customer, but in order to do so; the first thing you need is to catch his attention. And how do you catch people's attention? With a good Title, a good Headline, or a good first paragraph.
There are many ways to call the attention explained in my Headlines chapter:
INTEREST
Once you have your prospect's ATTENTION you must drive him to your web site or obtain his e-mail address in order to be able to show him the whole easy home business (you can't do that in a short ad). The Title or Headline only gives them the reason why they should visit or want to hear more from you. You should give them the e-mail address where they can ask for more details, or your Internet's web site address.
How can you arise your prospect's Interest? Here you must use a strong phrase (not more than two) Remember that your objective is not to make a sale, but to make the people visit your web site.
What will catch your prospect attention? Your USP your Unique Selling Proposition that is The Main Benefit your clients can obtain from your product or service You can make your USP with an interrogative phrase like "Do you want to have a fastest Internet connection", a positive phrase "The fastest connection to Internet" or just trying to arouse curiosity. "Are you fast enough?"
You must offer your prospects something they would like to have to satisfy a real need or you must build their need and then offer your product.
DESIRE
Desire in classified ads works exactly as in sales letters!
The question now is: Does your prospect desire your product?
As there is no way for you to know the answer of this question, you must do all that you can to write your sales letter, in a way that make the answer an YES.
HOW CAN YOU AROUSE YOUR PROSPECT'S DESIRE?
Your sales letter must show your product advantages! Not only make clear what you prospect will get from it, make her imagine herself having those advantages
If she can imagine herself having those advantages, she wouldn't want to live any longer without them. But you must be careful! Many people confuse features with advantages, and this is a great mistake that can cost you a fortune!
It's not the same a sales letter that says "Our carpet renovator has 30% of silicones;" than "With our carpet renovator you will have the most beautiful carpets of your whole neighborhood. Everybody will ask you where did you get them"
Make your prospect live the advantages in a way she can't live without them.
"With our carpet renovator, you won't care if your grandson plays with the dog over the carpet, after they came from the garden, because you know you'll be able to clean it, in only 10 minutes and with ease
Imagine that you spill an ink pot in the middle of your carpet. What will it happen?
You will just dry it and keep on doing what you are doing, and when you are done, you will be able to clean it as new, in only 10 minutes, and without rubbing it!
You will be able to see that our carpet renovator dissolves the stains in front of your eyes!
Can you image the tranquility that you'll have, knowing that it doesn't matter what anyone spill in your carpet, you will always be able to clean it with ease?
You will not only feel tranquil, you will feel absolutely save!
Our enterprise is at your service, our goal is to make your life easier, our best guaranty is our customer's satisfaction"
To arouse desire with your sales letter, call the senses, make your prospect "feel", "see", "hear", "smell" and "taste" the advantages that your product or service will give her.
Then your sales letter must talk about your enterprise commitment with your customers.
Talk with your heart, and sincerely, that will give you the best results.
ACTION
Once you have their Interest you must make them visit your web site or ask for more, do explain precisely what they must do. And the best you can do is:
* Write a hypertext link to your web site and ask: CLICK HERE
* If you are sending an e-mail the easiest is to ask: REPLY
* If you use a banner, just ask for a click over the banner
EXPOSURE AND REPETITION
In order to have success with a classified ad and or a sales letter, you must put it in as many places as you can, so the biggest possible number of people can see it, and it must constantly be repeated.
Exposure and Repetition are the keys to sales letter and classified ads success!
If your classified ad has a success rate of 5% (every 100 people that see your ad, 5 visit your web site) If you show your ad to 10,000 people once, you will receive 500 visitors. If you show it to 100.000 people you will get 5.000 visitors. And if you show it to 10 million people, you will get 500.000 visitors to your web site and thousands of sales.
Why should you repeat the exposure? It's very easy to answer. If you show your ad once to 10 million people, you will get 500.000 visitors and if you show the same ad to the same 10 million people twice, you will get 1.000.000 visitors.
The secret of any ad is the repetition, the more the people see it, the more they believe in it. And the same happens with your sales letters.
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