Most people just think that throwing some words and pictures with your business name attached to it will result in increased sales. How wrong they are. It is one of the reasons that there are BIG advertising companies and billions are spend on advertising each year. Obviously, as a small business owner you don't have that kind of money. Regardless of your advertising budget however, the bottom line is that you don't want to throw your money away to the advertisers. You want to be paying for ads that are effective.



When writing effective ads there are two very important things that your ads need to say. First, you need to tell the customer about your business. Your location, products, services etc. They need to know where they can find you and what you are about. Second, the products themselves and how they will help your client. Look at other businesses & how they use their advertising to attract customers to their business.

When writing the words within the ad, remember a few things to keep the customer interested in your ad:

* You could decrease or increase the length of your advertisement. There is no rule on how long your ad should be unless space is an issue. The ad should be long enough to sell your product.

* You could add some sub headlines within your advertisement. Sub headlines act just like headlines; they grab the reader's attention. They'll keep the readers interested as they continue to read your ad.

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

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

* You could bullet or indent the benefits of your product or service on your advertisement. Must people won't read a whole ad, so make the benefits from your products or services standout and you won't lose the sales from all the skimmers.

* You could change the size of your text on your advertisement. 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.

* You could raise or lower the price on your advertisement. A higher price could increase the perceived value of your product and a lower price could lesson your product's value.

* You could add proof of results on your advertisement. You should include testimonials, endorsements, and factual statistics to prove your product's claims.

* You could add special offers on your advertisement. It's usually easier to sell the offer than the product. You could use discounts, free bonuses, and volume discounts.

* You could eliminate the technical words in your advertisement. Unless your product calls for complex words, remove them. You want your ad to be read without people pulling out a dictionary.

* One technique that is used often in advertising, is telling people what will happen if they buy or don't buy your product. You could show them how this will solve their problem, or “remind them” of how the problem will still exist without your product or service.

* You could end your advertisement with a question they will always say yes too. They then will be used to saying yes when you ask them to order.

* You could end your advertisement with a deadline. Tell them it's a limited time offer and they need to order by a specific date.

Using these tips will help your ads dramatically improve. Good luck!