Everybody wants to make more money. In fact, most people would like to come across something that would make them fabulously rich! And seemingly, one of the easiest roads to the fulfillment of these dreams of wealth is an affiliate income business or within the professional circles of the business, affiliate.



The only thing is, hardly anyone gives much real thought to the basic ingredient of selling online - the writing of profitable ads. If your affiliate income business is going to succeed, then you must acquire the expertise of writing online ads that sell your product or services!

So what makes an online ad good or bad? First of all, it must appeal to the reader, and as such, it must say exactly what you want it to say. Secondly, it has to use the least amount of words possible order to keep your operating costs within your budget and stay within the constraints placed on the ad. And thirdly, it has to produce the desired results whether inquiries or sales.

The first objective is to grab the reader's attention. You must assume the reader is "scanning" the page on which your ad appears in the company of numerous other ads. Therefore, there has to be something about your ad that causes him to stop scanning and look at yours! So, the headline of your ad is of the utmost importance and deserves your careful consideration. Most surveys show that words or phrases that quickly involve the reader, tend to be the best attention-grabbers. Such words as: FREE... WIN... MAKE BIG MONEY...

Whatever words you use as attention-grabbers, to start your headlines, you should bear in mind that they'll be competing with similar attention-grabbers of the other ads on the same page. Therefore, in addition to your lead words, your ad must quickly go on to promise or state further benefits to the reader. In other words, your ad might read something like this: MAKE BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. We show you how!

In the language of professional copywriters, you've grabbed the attention of your prospect, and interested him with something that even he can do.

The next rule of good classified copywriting has to do with the arousal of the reader's desire to get in on your offer. In a great many instances, this rule is by-passed, and it appears, this is the real reason that an ad doesn't pull according to the expectations of the advertiser.

Think about it - you've got your reader's attention; you've told her that it's easy and simple; and you're about to ask her to do something. Unless you take the time to further "want your offer," your ad is going to only half turn her on. She'll compare your ad with the others that have grabbed his attention and finally decide upon the one that interests him the most.

The point here is that this is the place for you to insert that magic word "guaranteed" or some other such word or phrase. So now, we've got an ad that reads: MAKE BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. Guaranteed!

Now the reader is turned on, and in her mind, she can't lose. You're ready to ask for her money. This is the "demand for action" part of your ad. This is the part where you want to use such words as: Limited offer - Act now! Write today! Only and/or just...

Putting it all together, then your ad might read something like this: MAKE BIG MONEY! Easy & Simple. Guaranteed! Limited offer. Send $l to:

These are the ingredients of any good classified ad - Attention - Interest - Desire - Action... Without these four ingredients skillfully integrated into your ad, chances are your ad will just "lie there" and do nothing but cost you money. What we've just shown you is a basic online ad. Although such an ad could be placed in any search engine or even any website, and would pull a good response, it's known as a "blind ad" and would pull inquiries and responses from a whole spectrum of people viewing the website on which it appeared. In other words, from as many "time-wasters" as from bona fide buyers will view it.

So let's try to give you an example of the kind of classified ad you might want to use, say to sell a report such as this one... Using all the rules of basic advertising copywriting, and stating exactly what our product is, our ad reads thusly:

MONEY-MAKER'S SECRETS! How To Write winning classified

ads. Simple & easy to learn -should double or triple your

responses. Rush $1 to BC Sales, 10 Main Anytown, TX 75001.

The point we're making is that: l) You've got to grab the reader's attention... 2) You've got to "interest her" with something that appeals to her... 3) You've got to "further stimulate" her with something (catch-phrase) that makes her "desire" the product or service. 4) Demand that she act immediately...

There's no point in being tricky or clever. Just adhere to the basics and your profits will increase accordingly. One of the best ways of learning to write good online ads is to study other online ads - try to figure out exactly what they're attempting to sell - and then practice rewriting them according to the rules we've just given you. Whenever you sit down to write a classified, always write it all out - write down everything you want to say - and then go back over it, crossing out words, and refining your phraseology.

The important thing is to know the rules of profitable classified ad writing, and to follow them. Hold your costs in line.

Now you know the basics... the rest is up to you.