9 Strategies for Writing Smashing Classified Ads

Want to hit a bulls-eye with your classified ads? Or, have you even looked into classified ads for your products or services?

There are many opportunities for free or very inexpensive classified ads, both online and offline.

Offline, you will find many “shopper” type publications that are free to the public and many offer free or very inexpensive classifieds.

If you look into stronger publications where your product belongs, ¼ page and ½ page ads are way too expensive. Check out their classified ad section. Many publications have them and they are much less expensive.

Then, you will find several of the many free classified ads online, such as CraigsList.org and kijiji.com at your service.

All of these media applications require that you write a smashing ad. Many of us just clam up when given a pencil and paper. To take the mystery out of "writing," you can benefit from these tips for writing your first ads!

The only thing to remember specifically with online ad writing is to be sure to use as many of your key words as you can in the ad. We want that little webby crawler to catch them all!

9 Strategies for Writing Smashing Classified Ads

1. RESEARCH: find ads for products and services similar to yours. Make lists of key words for these products or services and key words for feelings and senses. Note what you don’t like. Note what peaks your interest - this is probably the most important task of the whole process
   
2. FIRST LINE HOOK: get attention, start strong about your service or product – be bold -consider this a blaring headline


3. FIRST 10 WORDS: present the TOP benefits - one or two only and use only the strongest selling points


4. ADD WARM FUZZIES: describe with potential emotions and senses (how will the customer feel using your product, what will they see, smell, hear, etc…)
   
5. BE GENERIC IN WRITING STYLE: don't use industry buzz words or abbreviations; write for everyday people
   
6. WRITE SIMPLY: write so a 3rd-grader will understand
   
7. JUST THE FACTS: add the details to the description and be absolutely accurate and complete in your descriptions – add price
   
8. CONTACT METHODS: name, telephone number, e-mail address, and web site
   
9. CALL TO ACTION: nudge the reader to contact you NOW!

Want another tip? The more you write, the better you will feel about what you have written.

Don't give up because your first couple of ads are not written as well as you would like. With free online classifieds, you have a sandbox to play in relative to ad writing! Best of luck!

Blog Interviews: A Great Way to be Seen

One of my tips for getting blog readers to your blog is to pursue being featured in the blogs of others.

This could be a collaborative effort, such as "I feature you and you feature me," or it could be a response by you to the many calls for blog content in your forums or boards, or it could be that a blogger notices you and writes about you. Any way is a good way. Just do it.

Recently, Dancing Monkey Jewelry owner, Martha, was looking for artists for her "Artist of the Week" feature. Not one to let moss grow under her feet when it comes to free promotion for my handcrafted jewelry business (GalleriaLinda), I accepted and Martha and I had a great time working on this interview.

Now you can see how it works!

Read my interview on Martha's blog, Dancing Monkey Chronicles, and read about other artists that she reviews.

Martha (aka Dancing Monkey Jewelry) writes fabulous "Artist of the Week" interviews about the great handcrafted items that artists make. Martha has a special eye for sleek designs that delight and is a jewelry artist in her own right.

Then, Edward and Lilly's blog picks up on Dancing Monkey's articles and mentions my business name too. And so on...and so on.... What will tomorrow bring from this article? We will see!

See the recipircal links I provide back to these blogs too? I linked my interview to my web site, Facebook, YourHandcraft.ning.com, EtsyLove.ning.com, WebJam, and will soon put it on LinkedIn, and Flickr.

This is really a great way to get your services or products seen.

Leave a comment on this blog if this tactic has worked for you! Tell us how you got your blog interview or feature.

Blogging: Quick and Easy!

 I don't know what to write......*help!*

Is this YOU? Help is here! With all content development, writing style is king.

We write differently for press releases, for company brochures, for product sheets, for client proposals, for bank requests, for grant submissions, for award nominations, for advertising, and for blogs. Then, comes in the industry writing styles. Content for industries, such as banking, entertainment, technical, crafting, and others are very different from each other. Same type of content, same type of subject, but a different writing style.

Here is an idea!! Dig out one of EVERY marketing asset you have. That includes printed materials, brochures, business cards, client proposals, biographies, company histories, web site content, even audio content if you have scripts for TV ads and radio. This is your goldmine that can fuel your blog posts for a long time!

Pick through them like you are looking for that lost needle in a haystack. Find tiny aspects that can be re-purposed and expanded with glorious and exciting information.

Check out these resources: 
About.com: Small Business Information Business Blog FAQ
BloggingTips
ProBlogger

The KEY is to keep it an interesting, but short, conversation that will engage your readers!

Blogging: Free Marketing for You

Do you hunt for free marketing treasure like I do? Looking for free marketing opportunities is well worth the time. I hate to say it (because you are thinking you cannot do this) but a professional blog is one of the easiest and most valuable assets you could have in your marketing treasure chest. With the right process and content, you can point clients, prospects, professional peers, and others to really find out what you are all about and what you do.

There are many free blog sites, such as Blogger and Wordpress for you to join - just do a Google search.

Aw...you say...I can't write, I don't write, I have no time to write. Then, I have to mess around with figuring out the blog templates and process.

Me too! I find that writing posts for my blogs are often pushed aside and I never "get to it." One of the road blocks is the process of having to go on the Internet to my blog site, sign in, and use the template. The template sometimes goes goofy on me and I have to redo my work, then once posted I have to edit again and again to get it tweaked. It gets frustrating!

Maybe this will help me and perhaps you!! I discovered Windows Live Writer. You can write your posts offline and use it like any other software on your own computer. No glitches and no slow Internet connections. The choice to publish immediately or to schedule your post is very useful.

This is my first post offline for this blog and to be published through Windows Live Writer! Tell me how it looks!

In the next few posts we will work through how you can use your existing content for your blog and how to market your blog online. Stay tuned!

Small Business Marketing: You Are Not Alone

As a small business owner, do you ever feel like it's just you and your dollar bill flapping in the breeze when it comes to a commitment to marketing?

You will soon read that it does not take a million dollars and it is not rocket science.

It takes a village. A network. Cheerleaders. Opportunities. Friendships. Ingenuity. Creativity. Consistency. And focus.

I am the epitome of a small business owner, it is just me over here, and I have few marketing dollars. A lot of what you will read comes from personal experience and hard knocks along the way.

In my role as a marketing communications consultant for small businesses, I often find clients resistant to the idea of a marketing plan, as if putting it on paper will uncontrollably suck dollars out of the bank account. (It is not true, by the way). The fact is, having a marketing plan can save money.

In the next many posts, we are going to work through your marketing plan, bit by bit. So, pull out several sheets of paper and a pencil and keep them handy.

Assignment:
Write at the top of your paper a dollar figure that you are willing to spend on marketing your small business for the next 8 months – the rest of 2008. Don’t panic! If it is $0.00 that is OK but write it down and own it.

Marketing for Small Businesses

Small businesses have a huge challenge - and that is to fund, commit to, and implement a marketing plan. Often, small business owners feel that they cannot afford to market or they don't know where to start.

Check here often to find simple ways to promote, market, and tell the world about your small business!

This blog is dedicated to empowering small business owners across the world to market their products and services. Get out there and tell the world you are great!