EZINE ADS ARE........ "TWO STEP-ERS"
By Shirley Hodges

It's true, ezine classified advertisements are "two step-ers".

There is much more to ezine marketing than just placing a  great ad and waiting for the results.

STEP ONE:

A.........Plan your monthly budget for advertising. Divide the monthly budget into weekly budgets. Use them every week. Increase your budget as your sales increase.

Advertising is an absolute must, no matter what your product. It is even more needful than when selling offline. At least offline your business with its signage is visable at the physical location.

Internet businesses are not physically seen until effort is made to get online. Even then, no one knows you are there unless you call attention to your business through advertising.

B.........Use selected ezines. You want people to see your ads who are interested in your products whether furniture, pet supplies,information, jewelry or anything else. To do this make a list of ezines that have subscribers who have these interests.

Narrow your selection down even further.

1. Be sure each ezine has opt-in subscribers. You can't take the chance of being Spam-ed with an ezine that does bulk emailing. It would not put you out of business necessarily, but you would be sidetracted while you cleaned up the whole mess.

2. Find out how many ads are in each issue. If an ezine has too many ads they are far less likely to be read carefully.

3. Publication frequency is needed information. There is debate among advertisers as to what is best. Some say the fewer publications a month, the more likely each publication will be read. Others assert that the more publications each month, the better the exposure and results. You must decide for yourself, perhaps experimenting with both choices.

4. Circulation...This, too, is a matter of personal choice. Some only advertise with ezines that have high subscriber circulation while others feel that it does not matter, that it is the only quality of the ezine that matters.

5. Finally, the last and most agonized decision. Ad Rates. Only you know your budget, but you do have to work this out. Do you use your budget on a few high priced ads in large subscriber based ezines or a lot of lower priced ads in smaller subscriber ezines?

You have put in a lot of time and money to get peoples attention. Now that you have their attention, what are you going to do with it? This is where the "wanta-be's" are left behind.

When a person goes to your website and leaves without responding, you have had only one opportunity to interest and sell them. They probably won't be back. If a person emails you for information, you have another opportunity.

You have one, maybe two chances to sell your product to them. That Is Not Enough!

STEP TWO

A........You advertise to sell your product. Advertising experts and experience tell us that it takes many contacts before some people even look at a product. Consider TV ads, some ads become classics, some offend our sensibilities, some are funny, others-well-stupid, but they all have one thing in common. Repetition!! Now how can you have repetition in your ads?

B........Use Salesletters! When they contact you, send one friendly informational letter right away and others at regular intervals such as daily, semi-weekly, weekly, etc.

C........Now here is a critical area...writing your sales letters.   They should be friendly, informative, should encourage and always be honest, inspiring trust. What do you say in them?

Sit back, relax, think of your potential customers. Consider what you would tell about your busines or product if they were your personal friends. You would be enthusiastic, speak straight (not exaggerate) and sincerely from your heart, wouldn't you?

Do the same in your sales letters. Tell it like it is. No shouting at them with screaming symbols or excessive capital letters or underlinings. No one like to be yelled at. Pretend you are telling a close friend sitting in your living room about your product.

Write it down. Clean it up......you have your first sales letter.Then take it a step farther.....your second sales letter and so forth.

Always be enthusiastic, honest and sincere in contacts with your prospective customers. See them as people with needs you can fill, not just dollar signs.

People buy because they have a need or want. Get their attention and fill the need or want with your product and you will have an abundance of buyers!!!

"Two Step-ers", so simple, but so effective!

Shirley Hodges has been in sales for 27 years. She has taught sales, consulted and personally trained many. For examples of her sales letters, please click hodges-enterpri@aweber.com. Her current website is http://www.hodges-enterprises.com