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[C711]Classified Ads For Business

by R Boduch, R B

But simply “placing tiny classifieds ads in newspapers” does not work for most business-type applications – despite what you may have heard on those infamous infomercials.

If you're buying and selling items of personal property like vehicles, furniture, antiques, or sports equipment -- newspapers may be the natural choice for your “one-of” product. You're bound to find someone who is interested in your offer. But as a business owner, you're looking for numerous sales of your product to a narrowly defined group of prospects.

Would it be profitable for you to advertise locally and/or expand “nationwide” through hundreds of newspapers as some profess?

My guess: No! Here's the reason:

Think of your typical newspaper. Now... why do people read it? Everyone has their own preferences, but in general, readers pick up the newspaper to peruse one or more of the following sections:

* national news
* international news
* weather
* sports
* local news
* business news
* special feature information
* comics
* travel information
* obituaries

Heck... some readers might even look forward to scanning the classified ads to see what's new. But how many of these readers are actual candidates for your product, business opportunity, wonder gadget, or your amazing new health elixir?

Very few.

You see, newspapers attract a large cross-section of the general population as a whole. So right off the bat, the percentage of readers who are good potential candidates for your product, is relatively low. These people are simply not good prospects for your product.

Look... if you were in the market for a solution to a specific problem, would you be scouting newspaper classified ads for that special product that could change your life, business, finances, or health forever?

Highly unlikely.

You'd probably start by choosing business magazines, trade journals and carefully targeted newsletters. You might consult with other business owners, or access online discussion groups to solicit suggestions. But it's not very likely that you'd go directly to the newspapers for this kind of thing.

Newspapers tend to reach everyone and “everyone” cannot possibly be prime, grade-A prospects for whatever product you happen to be offering.

The real value of magazine-type classified ads is that you're able to specifically pinpoint your target prospect, based on the subject matter and focus of each particular publication.

When someone responds to your ad in Entrepreneur for business information, you can be fairly certain that they fit your prospect profile. With this kind of a match, (product to audience) your chances at success are far superior.

People have gone a bit crazy with all the ad options available these days for earning money. While placing ads on your website can be an excellent way to bring in some extra income, you really do need to think carefully before doing so on a business website. There are a few things to consider before you load your ecommerce pages up with Adsense, Adbrite and affiliate links. The first thing you need to ask yourself is what the purpose of your ecommerce site is. Are you out to earn money in any manner possible? Or are you trying to sell high quality products on your site? If you want to just earn money and don't particularly care how you manage it, then you might as well go for ads. However, for those of you who are aiming for a true business website, ads can be a major distraction to your visitors and potential customers. You are offering them a way to leave your site, possibly before they have even seen your products! That is never very good for business. Placing ads on a business website is tricky. It is almost never recommended on the home page, since that is the first place visitors usually land and having ads there not only encourages potential clients to click away from your site, they also clutter up the page that is supposed to be selling your product and company! Avoid distracting visitors by limiting ads to other, secondary pages. When placing ads on a business website, it is a good idea to keep them unobtrusive. You don't want to force your clients to leave, although if they aren't going to buy anything, they might as well click on an ad! To this end, it is best to keep your ads at the bottom of your pages or to the side, usually below the fold. That way, if they finish looking at the page and don't see anything interesting, they have an option to earn you some cash by clicking on one of the ads you have placed. It is a good idea to limit the number of ads you place on a business webpage. Although Google limits you to just three ad spaces when using Adsense, you can still add other types of programs. This quickly becomes very busy and distracting to the average visitor. By keeping the number of ad blocks on your pages to one or two at most, you ensure that the customer will actually see your product instead of simply being dazzled by a myriad of images and links. Ads on business websites can be a good way to earn a bit of extra money, but you need to weigh your options carefully. There is no point in setting up an ecommerce site only to fill it with ads and turn it into a banner farm so no one will ever see your products!

Article Source : single marketing mix

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Both R Boduch & Jon Fore are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

R Boduch has sinced written about articles on various topics from Teak Wood Furniture, Marketing and Sales letter. . R Boduch's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.

Jon Fore has sinced written about articles on various topics from Personal Desktop, Marketing and Information Technology. Did you find this article useful? For more useful tips & hints, Points to ponder and keep in mind, techniques & insights pertaining to Google Adsense, Do please browse for more information at our website :-. Jon Fore's top article generates over 1000 views. to your Favourites.