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Could you sell your products or services without using graphics in your ad copy?

Chances are that you could. But because the internet is a visual medium by which information is transmitted and we live in a society where “seeing is believing”, I doubt that you’d generate very many sales without graphics.

So how can you write ad copy that sells your products and services even when you don’t have graphics? Here are 10 sizzling tips to help you improve your odds:

1. You could decrease or increase the length of your ad copy. There is no rule on how long your ad copy should be unless space is a consideration. The ad should be long enough to sell your product.

2. You could add some sub headlines on your ad copy. Sub headlines act just like headlines; they grab the readers attention. They’ll keep the readers interested as they continue to read your ad.

3. You could ask your reader questions through out the ad copy. They will answer the questions in their own head as they read your ad copy. The questions you ask should persuade the reader into buying.

4. You could highlight keywords through out your ad copy. The keywords should be attractive to your target audience. You could highlight them with color, underlines, italics, etc.

5. You could bullet or indent your benefits on your ad copy. Most people won’t read a whole ad copy, so make your products benefits standout and you won’t lose the sales from all the skimmers..

6. You could change the size of your text on your ad copy. You want to make your text large enough so it’s not hard to read. You also want your headline and major points to be larger so they will standout.

7. You could raise or lower the price on your ad copy. A higher price could increase the perceived value of your product and a lower price could lesson your product’s value.

8. You could add proof of results on your ad copy. You should include testimonials, endorsements, and factual statistics to prove your product’s claims.

9. You could add special offers on your ad copy. It’s usually easier to sell the offer than the product. You could use discounts, free bonuses, volume sales, etc.

10. You could eliminate the hard-to-understand jargon on your ad copy. Unless your product calls for technical words, you want your ad to be read without people pulling out a dictionary.

Keith Gloster provides advice on effective traffic and lead generation tools and techniques. For the creative edge on permission email marketing, traffic and lead generation, and to claim some valuable bonuses, you can subscribe to his popular newsletter at: http://www.free-mlm-leads-generator.com

One of the biggest challenges for most Internet Marketers is writing effective ad copy. This is hardly surprising. Most marketers are not professional writers and writing ad copy is a difficult skill for beginning marketers to master. Here are some tips that might assist you in writing an effective, profit-producind ad.

1. Benefit from the experience of other writers. You can get ad copy ideas by studying similar product’s advertising material. Collect their sales letters, classified ads, web ads, e-mail ads, etc. You can model your ad on these– but don’t copy them word-for-word. That’s a no-no.

2. Set a goal for your ad. Know exactly what you want your ad copy to accomplish. It could be to qualify prospects, make sales, generate leads, attract web t.raffic, etc.

3. Build your selling points. Make a complete l.ist of your product’s benefitsand features. Begin your ad with the most important benefit either in your headline or first sentence.

4. Make your ad benefits as specific as possible. Include exact numbers, percentages, times, colors, smells, sounds, descriptive adjectives, and so forth.

5. Set yourself apart from your competitors. L.ist all the ways your product is different from your competition’s. Include all the differences in your ad copy that are better than their product.

6. Emphasize the benefit(s) of your product. Use graphics, pictures and drawings of people actually using your product to solve their problem. Include a picture that also shows the results. Your goal should to produce the “buying emotion” in your potential customers.

7. You must determine who the target audience is for your product. What age, sex, or background are they? Once you determine that, you should write down what reasons would attract them to purchase your product. Include those reasons in your ad copy.

8. Include any proven facts in your ad copy. Theycould be customer surveys, scientific tests, product reviews, etc.

9. Don’t forget about “after the sale”. Tell your audience what kind of support they’ll get after they buy. It could be f.ree consulting, tech support, f.ree servicing, etc. Product support can be a huge factor in making the sale.

10. Try to get feedback from those who chose not to buy your product. Ask them why they decided not to buy. This will give you new ideas on how to produce a more profitable ad copy.

Writing ad copy can be a formidable task for any beginning Internet Marketer. Using these tips may hopefully set you on your way to becoming an effective copywriter.

Ronald Gibson is a Web Designer and Web Marketer. He is the Webmaster of AffiliateUtopia.com, which offers information about some of the best money making opportunities on the Web. For more information, visit: http://www.affiliateutopia.com/

Many business people have a distorted view about the distinction between sales & marketing. The common view looks something like this. “Market by advertising to get your name out there, so that people will be familiar with you. When they need what we’re selling, they’ll know who to call”.

And off they go, to promote their company with image advertising that shouts to the world how great they are.

They hope, and they prey that some how, some way, the message about their brand will stick in people’s minds. Never knowing if it does, or if it doesn’t. Or whether their marketing dollars are paying them back in increased sales.

Some even think a cool web site, or sexy flash demo is enough to get their phones to start ringing.

This all too common approach is a huge waste of time, and money. Never let an advertising rep tell you any different.

Sales and Marketing are far more alike than most people realize. The sole purpose of marketing, and advertising is to make sales. Full Stop.

If you don’t know how many sales dollars your online advertising is really bringing in, stop advertising.

Advertising must do much more than just get your name out there. It must educate, qualify, convince, & persuade.

Great Advertising is Nothing Less Than “Salesmanship in Print”!

Think of it as a sales presentation that’s geared toward accomplishing a carefully defined objective, whether that objective is the actual sale, or a step toward it.

Most successful campaigns are in fact a series of graduated commitments, leading up to a transaction. It might start with something as simple as an exchange of information. For example, the prospects name & address, in exchange for some information about solving a problem. That’s always a winning formula.

When a prospect takes this step, they are actually qualifying themselves, persuading themselves, and giving you permission to follow up with them, all at the same time. And without any investment in personal selling.

After all, why should you waste your valuable time talking to a prospect that isn’t already highly qualified, and predisposed to buying from you?

The key to profitable sales, marketing, and advertising lies in the response. Yet 90% of businesses fail to ask for, and track incremental response in their advertising. The only thing they track are sales, and then wonder why their results are so abysmal.

Why Is Incremental Response So Important?

Because it tells you what you’re getting, so you can change what you’re giving, until you get what you want.

The majority of people need to be exposed to your value proposition more than once before opening their wallets anyway. Why not play an active role in the process, and track the response you get to each successive stage of commitment?

Think of a pyramid, with rows of blocks piled one on top of the other. The wider you build each row, the better your chances of getting to the top.

If all of this sounds just too simple, and you don’t believe it has the power to line your pockets with all the money you want, think again.

There are millions of businesses out there that just don’t get this.

Nobody knows for sure how an individual will react to a given message. But en mass, human nature is as predictable as the hands on a clock. If you broadcast a message, the collective response will consistently come back to you within an amazingly small variance. So measure your response, try things, and repeat. It’s that simple.

Set up a few pay per click campaigns on google, track your investment in real time, and start experimenting to see what kind of desirable actions you can get your visitors to take right away when they read your sales message. You get instant feedback, and changes are no cost. The whole set up runs for about the cost of a few cups of coffee a day. Think of it as your own personal marketing laboratory. When you find something that works, you can replicate it in other more costly forms of media. And remember, it doesn’t matter if you’re selling printed circuit boards, herbal remedies, or anything in between, the same principles apply.

Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto Canada. Recently, Daniel & world-renowned publicist & copywriter Joe Vitale teamed up to co author “Million Dollar Online Advertising Strategies – From The Greatest Letter Writer Of The 20th Century!”, a tribute to the late, great Robert Collier.
Let the legendary Robert Collier show you how to write words that sell…Visit the below site & get 3 FREE Chapters!
http://www.Advertising-Online-Strategies.com/ad-strategies.html

Using flyers is one commonly overlooked method of advertising offline. Flyers are extremely easy to create. They also allow you to exhibit some of your creative side, making it just that much more fun to make money.

In some areas, you may be able to put up as many flyers as you can afford to duplicate! The more flyers you put up the better chances you have of making money.

Go to the web site of the product your promoting, and save their web page to your hard drive. Modify the page a little bit so that it is in the form of a flyer, and be sure to include your own affiliate link on the flyer to ensure you make money.

Once you are satisfied with the way it looks, compile a list of all the possible places you may be able to put up your flyers,(ie) college campuses, neighborhood bullentin boards, supermarkets, etc. If you don’t have the time to place them, consider hiring someone to do it for you.

If your flyer directs your potential customer to a web site, then the only traffic you will receive are those people who would take the time to enter your web address into their Internet Browser. That’s pretty qualified traffic!

Let’s break it down and estimate the amount of sales/traffic you could receive from a well planned offline flyer campaign.

Say you print 500 flyers promoting an affiliate product that you signed up for. If you put up 500 flyers on bulletin boards that allow your flyers for two weeks, you have an almost 100% guaranteed exposure number of 500 times 14 or 7000 impressions. If 1% of 7,000 are converted to a $30 dollar sale, you have just made $2,100 or 70 sales. Now that’s good money if you ask me.

All you have to do is find a way to convert your affiliate products web site to a flyer, and print out as many copies as you can afford. Then the small task of getting them circulated.

Several months ago I ran a test campaign similar to this and started to receive sales the day after I posted all my flyers.

You may want to add flyers as part of your advertising plan.

Paul Jesse is a rerired government employee turned Internet Marketer. For Work at Home Resources and Opportunities, visit his site at: http://www.SheaMarketing.com

Many of the most memorable ad campaigns around tend to be funny. Advertisers use this strategy to attract customers to their product. Audiences like to be entertained, but not pitched. People will pay more attention to a humorous commercial than a factual or serious one, opening themselves up to be influenced. The key to funny advertising is assuring the humor is appropriate to both product and customer. The balance between funny and obnoxious can often be delicate; and a marketer must be certain the positive effects outweigh the negative before an advertisement can be introduced.

The best products to sell using humor tend to be those that consumers have to think the least about. Products that are relatively inexpensive, and often consumable, can be represented without providing a lot of facts, and that’s where there’s room for humor. Candy, food, alcohol, tobacco and toys/entertainment related products have proven to benefit the most from humor in their campaigns. One of the most important things to keep in mind is relevance to the product. An example of an extremely successful humorous campaign is the series of “Yo Quiero Taco Bell” commercials. The star, a tiny talking Chihuahua who is passionate about his Taco Bell got people repeating the company’s name across the country. The repetition of the company name and the actual content of the commercial reinforce the message in a relevant manner. Taco Bell saw a substantial rise in sales and their own mascot became a pop icon.

Another point to consider when using humor in advertising is that different things are funny to different people. A commercial that may leave one person gripping their sides from laughter may leave a bad taste in another’s mouth. The target market must always be considered. What’s funny in a client presentation may not be funny on an airplane, at a country club or in a hospital. An example of a recent humorous product introduction is Mike’s Hard Lemonade. These commercials feature over exaggerated and comical violence with the underlining message that no one’s day is hard enough to pass up a Mike’s. It failed, ranking as one of the year’s most hated campaigns by both men and woman according to 2002’s Ad Track, a consumer survey. The series of commercials are aimed at 21-29 year old males and the repetition of comical violence (such as a construction worker being impaled on the job and a lumberjack cutting off his own foot) gets less and less funny every time it’s viewed. Eventually the joke just wore out and the commercial became annoying and offensive.

Humor in advertising tends to improve brand recognition, but does not improve product recall, message credibility, or buying intentions. In other words, consumers may be familiar with and have good feelings towards the product, but their purchasing decisions will probably not be affected. One of the major keys to a successful humorous campaign is variety, once a commercial starts to wear out there’s no saving it without some variation on the concept. Humorous campaigns are often expensive because they have to be constantly changed. Advertisers must remember that while making the customer laugh, they have to keep things interesting, because old jokes die along with their products.

Mark Levit is managing partner of Partners & Levit Advertising and a professor of marketing at New York University. Partners & Levit’s clients include Procter & Gamble, UnitedHealth Group, and GE Commercial Finance. For more information call 212-696-1200 or visit http://www.partnerslevit.com.

We recently ran a test to see whether Google Adwords could outpower traditional direct mail advertising. Here is how we did it. We created a new Adwords campaign choosing a few of our favorite targeted keywords, mainly keywords such as “small business web design”, “custom web design” and “promotional print services”. We set a budget of $500 for the whole campaign with a ceiling of $20 per day per keyword. Also, we set the campaign to target two regions, California and Florida in this instance. At the end of the week we ran out of money and only had 1 valid customer contact. That’s right, 1! We assume that the rest of the clicks were either trigger-happy Web surfers, potential clients that moved on elsewhere or perhaps our competition clicking on our ads to help us kill our budget faster. That’s right, we said it! Anyone that has worked with the Google Adwords program knows about the obvious problems with competitors clicking on your ads. It has become a part of the “waste” formula for many companies. For our company however, we try to minimize as much budget waste as possible, especially when many keywords cost over $5.00 a click for a top sponsored position in Google.

We turned to our now favorite method of reaching our target audience, good old-fashioned DIRECT MAIL! In our opinion, there is simply no better targeted way to spend your marketing budget and have results to prove your efforts. We set up a new postcard campaign with our logo, marketing message and a call to action. Then we sent it out to our target list of 1,000 companies. Total cost was $500 for postcard production & postage, and a day or two of building the list. Guess what? We had over 75 calls that we could track based on the postcard message. Out of those 75 calls, we have already begun work on 4 projects. Not bad if you compare those numbers with what Google Adwords did for us. Just give it a try and let us know how it works out for your company. It may just sway you towards cutting back on your Adwords budget and allocating those dollars towards more productive marketing means.

Here are 5 rules to follow if you want to create a successful direct mail campaign:

1. Make sure that you build the right list.
Instead of going out and spending thousands of dollars on a bulk list from a mailing list company, we suggest that you take the time to build your own hand-picked winners. Take a couple of hours a day and visit the Chamber of Commerce websites that are in your target region. Most of these sites will have all of their business members listed by category with company name, address and phone number. That’s right… FREE LEADS. A little time & sweat on your part could save you a bundle.

2. Make it easy for your prospects to take action.
Be sure to include a “call to action” in your direct mail piece that helps steer your potential clients into purchasing your product or service. Maybe it’s a time-sensitive offer, “Free Hosting For 1 Year - Offer good until June 6th, 2005.” Or perhaps it’s a coupon code, “Buy One Get One Free - Visit our website or call 1-800-555-5555 and mention code BFREE.” Regardless, it is always a good idea to have your website and a 1-800 number listed on the mail piece.

3. Choose the path to least resistence.
Carefully select the type of mailer and message that you want to send. If you send a postcard, then your recipient doesn’t have to actually open anything. So many letters get thrown in the trash before ever being opened. A bright, high-color postcard doesn’t have to be opened and will most likely be read by the recipient.

4. Make sure that you can track results.
By including a coupon code or a unique 1-800 number, you will be able to track which mailing the prospect is contacting you from. You must keep good tracking records in order to figure out which mailing gives you the greatest response rate.

5. Stay committed to your marketing campaign.
So many novice marketers will try a mailing only once. This is a big mistake. Persistence and commitment are both vital if you want to instill confidence in your prospects. After several impressions made on a prospect, it is more likely that the prospect will trust your company and purchase your product of service.

EarthQuake Studios is a leading provider of small business web & marketing services. If you have any questions or would like help with designing your direct mail campaign, feel free to contact EarthQuake Studios at 1-877-EQ-STUDIOS or visit us on the Web at http://www.earthquakestudios.com.

One of the more frightening realities of business is that in order to make money, you often have to spend it first. For independent software developers, the costs of doing business are usually very low. There are often no expensive offices to purchase or lease, a limited amount of hardware to buy and maintain, and for most, no stock to tie-up precious capital.

For many developers, the first and most obvious option for productive spending is advertising. And for the online business, there is no shortage of options to choose from.

Most websites offer some form of graphic or text advertising, and there is a bewildering variety of mailing lists, newsletters, and regular mailings. And that’s before you even begin to consider the printed media.

However, before you even start to think about where you want to advertise, you need to consider why you’re advertising in the first place.

For many companies, the aim of an advert will simply be to increase sales and make more money. Other legitimate reasons for wanting to advertise can include raising the profile of your company or product, increasing brand awareness, and testing new pricing strategies or new markets.

From the outset, it’s important that you are clear about exactly what it is that you want to achieve. From there, you’ll be able to choose where to advertise.

When selecting a venue, an important factor will be how targeted the audience is, as this will have a major bearing on the price that you should be prepared to pay for the ad. In general, the less targeted the audience, the less money you should part with. And even though it’s not always the case, you might want to consider spending a little bit extra for a highly targeted advert.

The next obvious factor is the price.

First of all you need to know how much you will be paying, and whether this is a flat fee, a cost per click, paying per exposure, or some arrangement.

You also need to consider the costs involved in preparation. If you’re using artwork, you may wish to use a professional designer to create it, and don’t overlook that the graphic might have to be in a specific format. More importantly, you have to take into account the amount of time that you will have spend on arranging this.

You also need to consider the time period that you’re hoping your advert will cover. If the ad will be on a website, then you’ll probably be looking at days, weeks or even longer. If so, then you should find out whether you can change the content of the ads as you go. If this is what you want to do, all the ads should be prepared well in advance, and the total costs of these should also be factored into the budget.

A good starting point in finding a suitable place to advertise is to learn from the experiences of others. As an ASP member, you have access to the private newsgroups, where other members will often be considerably more open, detailed and revealing than they might in public.

When you think you’ve found the right venue, read through whatever information you can find on their website or in their publications, and only then contact the person who handles these matters.

Present them with a general introduction to yourself, your products and your needs, and don’t be afraid to ask questions right from the start. Ask about their terms, payment terms, conditions, and whether they offer any form of guarantee or minimum response levels. A little bit of optimism never did any harm!

You’ll also want to find out if there are any deadlines or timescales to consider, and whether they will publish your ad “as is”, or reserve the right to edit it to suit their content.

Bear in mind that whoever you contact is likely to know their audience very well, so make sure that you ask for any guidance, tips or pointers that they can offer. Find out who will see the ads, what behavioural patterns you might expect, what outcome or response rate you might get, and whether they can offer any helpful suggestions.

Also find out who else has advertised with them in recent months, and ask if you can have their contact details. Make sure that you chase these up, and ask them outright about their experiences.

Leave nothing to chance, and find out whether there will be a contract to sign, and any commitments that may be involved throughout and beyond the advertising period. It’s also a good idea to find out how flexible they may be. For example, if the ad will run for a number of days or longer, can you change the content of the ads with little or no notice?

At this point, it’s very important to keep in mind that you are the customer. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, don’t be worried about bargaining, and make very sure that you’re getting all the information and answers that you need. If not, move on. There are many other places to advertise.

Assuming that their answers meet your satisfaction, you are then in a good position to negotiate. The web is full of advertising, but even the more popular websites and newsletters often find it difficult to sell all their advertising space nowadays.

You might also want to ask them whether some form of trial period may be possible. If they’re very confident of a high click and success rate, then they shouldn’t object to an ad going out to a smaller test group, or perhaps a normal ad running for a number of hours.

When it comes to the actual payment basis, the ideal scenario would be a vendor offering high-quality, targeted advertising, with payment based solely on a commission basis, with no sign-up fee or base rate.

This is, however, a little on the unlikely side. A more realistic option will be advertising that is based on a flat fee, most (or all) of which will be paid for in advance.

When the terms, price and payment conditions have been dealt with, you’re then ready for the content of the ad itself.

The following article will look at the importance of knowing your target audience, what to include in the ad, and how to know when to call in the professionals. We’ll also be looking at the importance of implementing a good tracking system, and how to follow up an advertising campaign to gain from your experiences. In short, we’ll be looking at everything else you need to help make your ad campaign a successful one. Until then, be seen, be sold.

About the Author: Dave Collins is the CEO of SharewarePromotions Ltd., a well established UK-based company working with software and shareware marketing activities, utilising all aspects of the internet. http://www.sharewarepromotions.com and http://www.davetalks.com

This article may be used freely in opt-in publications, RSS feeds, printed material and websites, provided that the full and unedited resource box (About the author paragraph) is included and all links remain active. A copy of the issue/material or a link to any online posting would be appreciated but is not required. Send an email to dave@sharewarepromotions.com .