Tips on writing a successfull ad
When knowledge is based on truth it is powerful!
When it is critical knowledge, its presence can drive our
success, while its absence may contribute to our failure. I will
attempt to convey in this report some useful and practical
knowledge about how to write awesome ads for the World Wide Web.
It is my sincere belief that; if you act upon the suggestions
that will be presented here, you may well be taking steps which
will give your ad greater pulling power.
Web advertising takes many forms; web pages, classified ads,
e-mail responses, news group postings, and even your signature
file. No matter which form you employ unless your advertising is
seen, nothing is sold. Being seen is of key importance. However,
a less considered but equally important factor is your viewing
audience. Disregarding your audience results in the problem of
"selling air conditioners to Eskimos." It just doesn't generate
much interest. A reader who has no interest in your advertising
material is not part of a qualified audience" and is not a
potential customer.
Classified ads placed in the appropriate section for your
product will naturally draw a qualified audience of potential
customers. Ad placement within the section is the single most
important factor determining whether or not your ad is seen
within the section. Secondly, the content of your ad will
determine which (and if) potential customers do in fact actually
read your ad. When placing classified ads on the web some rules
of thumb are:
1) Choose classifieds that have the largest number of ads
because, this is generally a good indicator of how much reader
traffic there will be for your classified.
2) Determine how the ads are ranked or sorted within the
sections and attempt to be listed at or near the top.
3) Develop reader stopping ad content. DESIGNING AN AWESOME
CLASSIFIED The four essential ingredients of an awesome
classified are:
ATTENTION - INTEREST - DESIRE - ACTION If your ad is missing any
of these it is not an AWESOME Ad!
ATTENTION: You must first get the readers attention. Picture him
scanning the section of the classified page in which your ad is
listed. For him or her it is much like which ride at the
amusement park to take next.
Something about your ad must grab their attention, to directs
their focus toward your product.
Since classified ads usually lack graphics, it then comes down
to something about the words you use, or about the way you use
them. Some web advertisers seem to think that if you use lots of
!!! (exclamation marks)or *** (asterisks) or maybe MAKE IT ALL
CAPS that this will draw their attention. The problem here is
that: Everyone knows it's glitter and meant to get your
attention. This may often interfere with the readers ability to
take your words seriously.
Subconsciously he may even expect your ad to be some kind of
gimmick. Right or wrong, stereotype or not, my advise is let
your words speak for themselves and steer clear of such tactics.
We will discuss guidelines for choosing the right words later.
INTEREST: The ad must have appeal. This is a good place to state
the benefits or some attractive features of your product.
Knowing the demographics of your readers or the category section
your ad is placed in, helps in nderstanding their interests.
What benefits of your product or service is most likely to
appeal to this group? Develop a mental picture of some of the
customers who would come from this demographic group, and will
buy your product. What kinds of jobs do they have, cars do they
drive... are they young, old, single, married...
Having a mental picture of your audience is important when you
want to understand their interests and know what benefits of
your product you should spotlight.
DESIRE: But appealing to their interest is not enough. The ad
must then "further stimulate your reader." While interest can
generally be obtained by the practical properties of your
product, desire needs sparking by a more emotional reaction. Is
there something about your product that will make them feel
good, excited, confident, secure, hoperul or powerful? Think
about what other emotions your product can ignite. Does your
product appeal to a particular sense. Can the reader taste,
hear, smell, see or hear your product. Realize that most actions
which we take are sparked by desire and most desire is
stimulated by feelings. We don't really desire money.
We desire the feelings that we think money will bring us,
whether they be happy, secure, or powerful. Yet, the word
"money" may trigger the desire that triggers the feelings which
we value and want to experience.
ACTION: If your reader does not take action, then you are dead
in the water. How do you get your reader to act? Believe it or
not this is the simplest step. Simply use a directive.
Psychologists tell us that when given a directive (unless
obviously harmful) our first instinct is to comply. Turn to the
person in the seat next to you, and in a slightly commanding
voice say, "give me your pen for a minute"... chances are they
will, and usually, without question, for no other reason than
"you told them to." Don't say... "will you give me your pen for
a minute" because now they have to think, and if they have to
think they may refuse. In your ad simply say: "call this number
now", "email me for details", "go to our website" etc. If the
first three ingredients (attention, interest, and desire) have
been well done, and the reader is a qualified customer....
they will most likely take the action you direct them to take.
WHAT TYPE OF AD SHOULD YOU USE There are three ad types:
Qualified - Partially Qualified - and Blind The qualified ad is
specific and includes more detail about the product you are
selling. Some products lend themselves to qualified ad content
better than others. Hair pieces for men is an example. If your
product is particularly "person dependent" use this type.
Qualified ads will receive the least response but more of the
responses which are received will result in sales.
The partially qualified ad offers a special benefit, such as
money or self- improvement. The readers have some idea of what
you are offering, but don't know the specifics. If they are
interested and desire your product they will follow your
directive and send for more info. If you know where a partially
qualified ad response comes from, you may be able to tailor your
response to increase the percent of resulting sales.
Blind ads offer only a few details, they are short, and bring in
the largest response. However, blind ads produce the lowest
percentage of actual orders per reponse, they are often answered
just out of curiosity. ADDING WORD POWER TO YOUR CLASSIFIED AD
Some words are more powerful than others. Saying, your ad must
"spark your readers interest," is more powerful than saying,
your ad must "get the readers attention." Why? because by using
"spark," you can see something igniting within the reader,
flaming their interst, and sense they are feeling some
excitement. Yes, getting them to have feelings about your words
is what you want to accomplish. It is the feelings that are
attached to the words that give them power. Look at the list of
words below and see if you can recognize the feelings behind the
words, that give them power. If you are haveing trouble finding
power words to use in your ad, it is probably because you are
conce trating to hard on what words you want to use instead of
what sorts of feelings you want the reader to feel. Decide on
the feelings first and then experiment with the words that best
convey them.
Researchers at Yale University say that the twelve most POWERFUL
words in the English language are: 1. DISCOVER 2. EASY 3.
GUARANTEE 4. HEALTH 5. LOVE 6. MONEY 7. NEW 8. PROVEN 9. RESULTS
10 SAFETY 11. SAVE 12. YOU 13. FREE - ( I just had to add this
one in ! ) The above list contains the type of attention getting
words that you should try to include in your classified
advertising ad title. Scan a bunch of classifieds (as many as
necessary), picking out other such words from the title of the
ads that attracted your attention. Do this until you have a list
of about 50 words. Try to pick out the individual words and not
the phrases. Phrases will come later. Keep this list at hand
when you are designing your classified ad. Glance at the list
occasionally while writing down possible titles for your ad. The
title is the most important part of the ad. You may need to
spend 90 percent of the time it takes to design your ad, just on
the title alone. Now write down every word that you can possibly
think of which describes a particular feature or benefit of your
product. What do you always tell the customer about your
product? Benefits - benefits -benefits! Features - features-
features! Verbs and adjectives are great. Verbs because they
show action and adjectives because they are descriptive. Active
and descriptive words tend to have more enertia and cause us to
react with feelings. Now let's put it all together and create a
simple classified car ad. Want a Dependable Used Car that Looks
Fantastic and Drives Great? 1994 Olds Cutlass - low mileage -
automatic transmission - radio plays CD's -- tinted glass -
factory air - great gas mileage - So "cherry" people will stare
with envy when you drive by - Call today 555-5555 ask for Joe.
Well, this one I did quickly. Maybe you can make it better.
Anyway, now review the ad. Does the title grab the reader's
attention. Does the ad offer features or benefits of interest to
car buyers? Is some emotional desire created to further
stimulate the reader? Does the ad direct the reader's action?
Now go to it! Create your own awesome classified keeping the
above thoughts in mind. Review your ad and check to see that all
the important ingredients of a good ad are present. Find a
classifieds site on the web with plenty of ads in a category
related to your product. Get your ad listed first if you can.
And wait for the response. "If you are not getting responses,
then either change the title of the ad, change the wording, or
Advertise in more locations! I hope this helps in your future
marketing decisions.