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Advertising Your Website
The following article was written by Shelley Lowery. The original document can be found at: http://www.webdesignmastery.com.
A powerful ad is one of the most important aspects of your success. The secret to a successful ad is your HEADLINE. You only have a split second to grab your targets attention. Your potential customer will most likely scan the ads and only read one if it catches their attention. Write your ads with passion, excitement, and benefits.
Use this powerful approach when creating your ad copy.
- A - Attention - Grab your targets attention
- I - Interest - Create curiosity
- D - Detail - Provide details
- A - Action - Call for action
Create an urgency to act now. Creating a successful ad will take a great deal of time and effort. You'll need to write it and re-write it over and over again before you come up with a great ad.
We all know the importance of a powerful headline. However, writing a great headline isn't as easy as it sounds.
An effective headline will literally force your potential customers to learn more. It will instantly ignite a certain emotion and intrigue them to read on.
In order to write an effective headline, you must learn how to use specific words to achieve a specific reaction.
Before writing your headline, you must first learn a little bit about the basic human motivators. According to psychologist Abraham Maslow, human behavior is always the result of one or more of five basic needs. He listed these needs in a sequence that he refers to as "the hierarchy of human needs."
He believes that until a less important need is met there won't be any desire to pursue a more important need. Below are the five human motivators, beginning with the basic needs and continuing to the most important needs.
Physiological - Basic human needs include hunger, thirst, shelter, clothing and sex.
Safety (Security) - Human need for physical, emotional and financial security.
Social (Affiliation) - Human need for love, affection, companionship and acceptance.
Esteem (Self Esteem) - Human need for achievement, recognition, attention and respect.
Self-actualization - Human need to reach their full potential.
When you are aware of the basic human needs, you can incorporate these needs into your writing. A great headline will appeal to your potential customers' emotions. You must feel their needs, wants and desires and write your headlines with passion and emotion.
When writing your headlines, keep in mind, you only have a few seconds to grab your potential customers' attention. If your headline doesn't immediately catch their attention, they'll simply move on and never return. Below are several different formulas used by professional copywriters to write compelling headlines.
How to
"How to Increase Your Sales Up to 500% by Using This One Simple Strategy"
Headlines beginning with 'how to' are very successful, as the Internet is all about information. Internet users have a strong desire to learn. A headline beginning with 'how to' immediately grabs your potential customers' attention and forces them to read on.
Question
"Are You Sick and Tired of Working For Someone Else?"
Headlines written in the form of a question are very effective, as they appeal to your potential customers' emotions. When they read a headline written as a question, they'll answer the question in their mind. If the question identifies a specific need, want or desire, they'll read on.
Command
"Double Your Income Within the Next 12 months -- Guaranteed!"
A command headline focuses on the most important benefit your product or service has to offer. It instantly demands your potential customers' attention and intrigues them to read on.
News
"Announcing a Brand New Breakthrough in E-Publishing"
News headlines are very effective and used to announce new products and services. They are written in the form of an announcement or introduction and create curiosity.
Testimonials
"Internet Marketing Exclusive is Pure Genius -- Our Sales Have Increased by 40%!"
Headlines written in the form of a testimonial are very effective, as they instantly begin building trust.
When writing your headlines, certain words, when combined together, will literally draw your readers' attention to your ad. Below are of few of these "Power Words" that consistently work.
- Breakthrough
- Discover
- Discovery
- Easy
- Free
- Guaranteed
- Hidden
- Incredible
- Love
- Master
- Money
- New
- Powerful
- Profits
- Proven
- Results
- Revealed
- Scientific
- Secret
- Shocked
- Shocking
- Ultimate
- Uncovered
- You
- Your
According to a Yale University study, the following words are the most powerful words in the English language:
- Money
- Discovery
- Save
- Easy
- New
- Love
- Health
- Proven
- You
- Results
- Guaranteed
- Safety
Just as certain words ignite different emotions, certain subjects have a broader interest than others do. Some of the most popular subjects include wealth, love, health and safety.
Take your time and try the different formulas according to your needs. Use a combination of the power words and write a headline that sells. By learning the art of writing headlines that focus on the basic human needs and emotions, you can increase your sales considerably.
Testing and Tracking Your Strategies
Developing and implementing a strategic marketing plan is an essential part of your success. However, unless you're testing and tracking your strategies, you may be losing a great deal of time and money.
URL
You can track your ads simply by adding some special coding to your URL. To code your URL, add a question mark followed by a special tracking code to the end of your web address. Your coded link will still open your web page. Your code should look something like this:
http://www.yourdomain.com/?ad1
The text after the question mark should identify a specific ad. You can code it however you'd like.
To view your results, you'll need to look at your log files. Your code will be displayed within your log files beside your URL.
You can track your email responses to specific ads by using the email subject. Select a specific word to be placed within the email subject for each ad. Although you can request that a certain word be placed within the email subject, many times it won't be supplied. To avoid this problem, you can create a special email link that will automatically fill in the subject when clicked on. Your link should look something like this:
mailto:you@yourdomain.com?subject=ad1
Testing and tracking your strategies is an essential part of doing business. By concentrating your efforts on strategies that produce results, you can not only increase your sales, but you'll also save yourself a great deal of time and money.
Ezine Advertising
Ezine advertising is the MOST effective form of advertising used on the Internet. Many ezines sell ad space that may include sponsor ads and/or solo ads. However, solo ads will produce the best results.
Below, is a list of newsletters that will enable you to purchase sponsor and/or solo advertising space.
Get Massive Hits Newsletter - 14,000 Quality Subscribers for $97.00
Net Income Site - 4,500 Extremely Responsive Subscribers for $35.00
At Home Working News - Solo ads sent to over 16,000 for $45.00
Avenues 2 Success - Featured ad sent to 8,500 for $147.00
Cashfromhome - Solo ad sent to a highly responsive subscriber base of over 18,000 for $99.95.
Internet Business Chronicle - Your Ad sent to over 47,000 Subscribers for $78.00
Marketers Resource Weekly - Solo ad sent to 43,000 Subscribers for $197.00
Net Domination Ezine - Your ad sent out to 90,000 subscribers for $525.00
Nova News - Your ad sent to over 100,000 Responsive Subscribers for $197.00
Online Exchange - Over 31,000 Responsive Subscribers for $100.00
Promote Links News - 18,000 responsive readers for just $60.00
Rim Digest - 30,000 Responsive Subscribers for just $149.00
The Guru Marketer - Reach over 13,000 Responsive subscribers for $120.00
The Millenia Web Magazine - Your Solo Ad to 122,000 for $120.00
Unimax Marketing - Your Solo Ad to 36,000 for $78.00.
Web Stars 2000 - Reach over 41,000 subscribers HIGHLY responsive subscribers for $99.00
Web Head Central News - Reach 22,000 Subscribers with 2 solo ads for $49.95.
WHS News - Reach 9,000 Responsive Subscribers for $25.00.
Work At Home News] - Reach 42,000 Responsive Subscribers for $99.95.
Sponsor Ads
Another great way to promote your products and services is to run sponsor ads in ezines.
Below, is a list of large, highly responsive publications that accept sponsor advertising. Please note, prior to spending any major money, make sure you always test your ads first. A good way to do this is to start out by running an ad in AIM. They offer ad space reasonably priced for just this purpose. Once you have an ad that's pulling a good response rate, you can then buy a more expensive ad.
Active Internet Marketer (AIM) (100,000 subs) http://www.inetexchange.com/inet-mailer.html
DEMC E-Magazine (225,000 + subs) http://www.demc.com/Advertise/advertise.html
Web Marketing Today (182,000 subs) http://www.wilsonweb.com/ads/2-line-ad.htm
BizWeb E-Gazette (110,000 subs) http://www.bizweb2000.com/ads.htm
Advertising Resources
Clickbank's Login Page Place your 40 word text ad in front of thousands of ClickBank affiliates for 700.00 per month. This provides massive exposure.
Google Adwords Enables you to manage your own account, with ads sold on a cost-per-impression (CPM) basis. There's no minimum deposit required. Your ads appear on the right side of the Google search results pages.
Google Adwords Select Enables you to manage your own account, and with cost-per-click (CPC) pricing, you pay only when users click on your ad. You control your costs by setting a daily budget for what you are willing to spend each day.
If you're looking for a low cost solution for your ezine advertising needs, visit Ezine Ad Auction. This great site will assist you in finding ezines that cater to your target market. Place your bid for the ad space you need at a price you can afford.
Ezine Advertising.com is the Internet's Search Engine for Ezine Advertisers. Their database includes Email Newsletters and Discussion Lists that accept sponsorship and/or classified ads.
The Ezine Marketing Machine
Internet marketing expert and author Rick Beneteau has created the ultimate guide to using FREE ezine advertising! This ebook is a must read for anyone interested in obtaining free advertising. Rick has literally made a fortune using his techniques and has revealed all of his secrets in his ebook, "The Ezine Marketing Machine."
Ezine advertising is the number one form of advertising on the Internet. If you're serious about your marketing efforts and want to learn this powerful technique, then visit Rick's web site and get your copy today.
Google Adwords
If you're looking for a low-cost, yet highly effective means of advertising your products and services, then Google AdWords may be your answer.
Google AdWords provides a simple way to purchase highly targeted advertising, regardless of your budget. Unlike other sites selling banner ad space and pay-per-ranking, AdWords provides advertisers with highly effective text ads that are displayed with the search results. Studies have shown that highly targeted keyword advertising produces an average of four times the industry standard clickthrough rate.
Google, one of the premier Search Engines, receives over 29 million searches each day. Their popularity most likely stems from the speed and accuracy of their search results. Needless to say, placing your text ad with Google Adwords will be a highly effective way to advertise your products and services.
It is a well-known fact that text ads perform much better than banner ads. What better way to target your audience than through a popular Search Engine? Your potential customer is there for a reason -- they're looking for something. When a Google visitor types in their keywords, they are almost instantly presented with their search results. On the right side of the results are colored text boxes containing targeted advertisements that match their search terms.
When you place your ad with AdWords, you will have the ability to select a list of tightly targeted keywords including all of the following:
Keyword Matching - Shows your ad when a search includes your selected words.
Phrase Matching - Shows your ad when a search includes your selected phrases.
Exact Query Matching - Shows your ad when a search contains your exact keywords and no others.
Negative Keyword Matching - Will not show your ad if a search contains certain words you select.
This unique targeting technique will enable you to create a highly targeted ad campaign and test your ads with a high rate of accuracy. What's more, you can even target your ads to a specific country or language.
The great thing about advertising with Google AdWords is that you will have complete control over your ad and how much you'd like to spend. You can open an account with a credit card with no minimum deposit required. Once you place your ad, it can begin running almost immediately.
Their advertising rates are very reasonable. The amount you spend on your advertising campaign will depend on two factors: (1) the number of times your ad is displayed and (2) the position, one through eight, in which your ad appears. The advertising rates are as follows:
- Position 1 - $15 per thousand ads shown
- Position 2 - $12 per thousand ads shown
- Position 3 - $10 per thousand ads shown
- Position 4 - $8 per thousand ads shown
The position of an ad is determined by how well it is performing. Ads with a higher clickthrough rate will receive a higher position and in turn will cost more.
In order to increase your clickthrough rate and spend less money, try to select keywords and phrases that specifically target the product or service you're offering. Avoid using common words, as these will use up your ad displays very rapidly. Instead, select words that specifically target your product or service. For example, instead of using a general keyword like 'software,' use a keyword that focuses on a specific software such as 'FrontPage 2002.' Or, a little less focused, 'web design software.' In addition, make sure you use your keyword phrase (search term) as the title of your ad. This will increase your clickthrough rate considerably.
When you set up your account with Google, make sure you use a different ad for each search term. Not only will this increase your ad's relevance in the search results, but it will also increase your clickthrough rate.
Once you place your ad, you can easily track your ad's response rate and make adjustments instantly. This is a great, low-cost way to find out which ads are performing the best.
Google AdWords provides Internet marketers with a cost-effective alternative to banner advertising. If you want to increase your traffic and sales, give AdWord a try -- you'll be glad you did.
For further information, visit Google AdWords: http://adwords.google.com
Copyright © Shelley Lowery
About the Author:
Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design Mastery. http://www.webdesignmastery.com And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. http://www.ebookstarter.com Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies." http://www.web-source.net
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.