Ever wonder which form of advertising is best for you?

The answer is the method you can afford that will gain you the greatest bang for your buck.

Over the past several years, I've had a.dvertisers call wondering which service would I choose if I were them.

My number one answer above all answers? The clas.sified ad; nothing beats the 6 line clas.sified for long-haul a.dvertising.

For one thing, the price is right.

The small town weekly we used to pick up for fr.ee charged 10 cents a word, regardless of length. Some papers may charge higher, some lower, but if (for examples' sake) every word in your ad was 5 characters, using all 6 lines of available space, that local newspaper ad would run $7.20.

The circulation for my example newspaper had a potential readership of 15,000 give or take a few hundred - those traveling through and picking up something to read at the local gas station or small casino.

Now consider the online clas.sified ad.

As of this writing, My Wizard Ads has a potential readership of over 1 million.

That same 6 line, 60 characters per line ad will cost you $25, but anyone can join the MWA two-tier affiliate program for fr.ee and, using your own url, save yourself an additional 35%.

Your total outlay is $16.25 to reach a potential one million (join first and cl'ick your own url before placing any order.)

Now, let's head back to our local newspaper example above for just a second.

For easy math, let's say the first local newspaper has the 15K readership, but I want to make sure my ad reaches a potential one million readers.

Let's also assume I want to reach a smaller, tighter community of readers so I set my total readership accordingly.

After diligent research I manage to find additional out-of-the-area newspapers each having 40,000 potential readers. To reach my one million mark, I'd need to locate 24 other papers, plus one 25K circulation (plus my original 15K) for a total of 26 newspapers.

My next step would be to contact them by phone or mail (or maybe the internet) and place that ad myself.

The total cost to reach my one million potential readers in print, assuming each charges 10 cents per word? ... $187.20

But, keep in mind that doesn't include my time, postage, or long-distance. Nor does it include printing paper and ink nor the gas for that trip to the post office if needed.

Hmmm...

Online 1 million... $16.25

Offline 1 million... $187.20 plus, plus, plus.

[This is conservative for offline a.dvertising. I recently received an email from a friend who paid $500 to one magazine with a potential 800,000 readers.]

So now we've got an idea of cost.

Let's harken back to why I'm even writing about online 6 line clas.sifieds in the first place.

The 6 line clas.sified ad:

1. Is easy to place

2. Reaches a huge potential readership

3. Is filled with readers looking for that perfect

program, product, or service

4. Is affordable (top priority).

Your starting point? A monthly budgeted clas.sified. The cost is do-able and budget you must. Online marketing is not a flash in the pan approach. You must be systematic and consistent month after month after month.

You now know that setting aside less than $20 a month will keep your text ad in front of millions, and you must keep it there for the most obvious of reasons.

Does the Pepsi commercial expect you to jump up and run out to buy that Pepsi now? No, but they are laying odds you'll remember when you next go grocery shopping how much you'd just love that Pepsi.

How many times have you read an a.d, bypassed it for the moment, seen it again, again skipped the chance, seen it again, etc., etc., until presto! you cli'ck the link and discover "oh my!" this IS what I've been looking for?

Think... Longevity and patience and budgeting equals branding equals sales.

Will your clas.sified do all the work for you? No it will not. Does it serve its purpose to brand your ad in the minds of readers at an affordable monthly budgeted price? It most certainly does.

Should you go on at that point with solos and website traffic, and maybe guaranteed signups or leads? You bet.

But for those with limited funds, go clas.sified.

For those with greater means? Still, don't forget the humble cla'ssified :)

Marketing and gaining traffic is an never-ending quest for the savvy internet promoter. Hunting down and making use of additional fr.ee and pa.id methods of gaining ex.posure is a JOB. You may never have to leave your house, you may never get out of your jammies, but it's still a JOB.

All businesses must have a plan and a workable, manageable a.dvertising budget. Pick what you can afford. Commit to a long-haul mentality and implement it.

It just makes cents.