Headline News or How To Make Your Ads Sell Like Crazy And Knock Your Competitors For Six

A friend of mine often asks me questions about Internet marketing. Sometimes a technical question, sometimes about layout of a publication or any 'how to .. ' question.

But the other day he asked me a question that so many other people asked me that I thought I'd write a short piece on it so you can also check your work.

That question, "Why don't my advertisements attract any sales?"
I was able to give him some pointers as to just why this was the case.

He had placed an ad in a very popular home business publication. The name of his business was in large bold print across the top of the box. In smaller print he told how long he was in business for. In the smallest print he told of what he sales.

I answered that, if I was looking through the publication I wouldn't be at all interested in his business name. How long he had been in business didn't benefit me at all and, hence, I wouldn't even bother to read the body of the advert.

Firstly, your headline must attract attention to your ad.
If I'm browsing through any publication that carries advertising, what would attract my attention ... an attention grabbing headline, that's what.

A business name could not interest me less but something like, "Are You Finding It Impossible To Make Money From Home Business?", would certainly make me look further into the advert. The subheading, rather than say how long he'd been in business, should carry on with something that is going to convert me to the ads purpose, for example, "At Last - The Fortune-Making Solution Is Here For You!", so I read on, they have mentioned my problem and say they have the solution.

The body of the advert will give details. Not a long paragraph but a short, to the point offer of how I can gain more information.

The thing is, I explained to my friend, you need them to read your ad before they will take any action. The headline needs to attract attention, the sub-headline needs to be the converter and the body needs to be the consumption. In other words, they send or call for more information which is when they purchase your product or service, of course.

If your headline is poor, your sales will be too.

I can look through any publication and about 80% of the ads are a total waste of time and money, the business will lose money for it.

So, how do you choose a headline? You can ask a question in your headline, like the one I made above about making money with home business. Questions are good to ask in a headline because a reader will think, 'What's the answer?' and read on, which is what you want.

It could be problem based, where your headline mentions a problem that the reader could be having and your ad offers the solution, of course.

Curiosity is another method. 'Do you know why you're losing money from every ad you ever place?' or 'Six ways in which you could improve your income ten-fold' will create a curiosity feeling in the readers mind and they'll read on.

Another very widely used method is the 'How to' technique. 'How to pay off all your home business debts in four easy steps' would certainly attract my attention and make me read on.

So, a question, problem based, curiosity or how to, are the best forms of headline, it's been proven, beyond doubt, that they pull more than any other type.

Always give benefits in your ads. Don’t shout about how good you are or how long you've been in business as this doesn’t mean a thing to the reader.

They want to know how your product benefits THEM, what do they get out of it?

Offer a SOLUTION to their problem and entice them to take action.
Don’t worry about how long your headline is. The longer the headline, the more you can sell, that's also been proven.

Using a main headline with a sub-headline below it works exceedingly well for most people. Just ensure it really does attract their attention, by using one or more of the methods above and keep the reader interested to the end.

Take a look at your current advertising and see what you can do to improve it. Make the changes and see the difference in your response rates, they'll soar.

©2006 Martyn Brown www.workinghours.co.uk

Google Clarifies 'Images Next To Ads' Confusion

Ad and image placement: a policy clarification
We've recently received a number of emails from publishers asking how we feel about the placement of images near Google ad units. There's been some confusion on this issue, and so we turned to our policy team to set the record straight.

Can I place small images next to my Google ads?

We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads. If your visitors believe that the images and the ads are directly associated, or that the advertiser is offering the exact item found in the neighboring image, they may click the ad expecting to find something that isn't actually being offered. That's not a good experience for users or advertisers.

Publishers should also be careful to avoid similar implementations that people could find misleading. For instance, if your site contains a directory of Flash games, you should not format the ads to mimic the game descriptions.

What if I place a space or a line between my images and my ads? Would that work?

No. If the ads and the images appear to be associated, inserting a small space or a line between the images and ads will not make the implementation compliant.

Does this mean I can't place ads on pages with images?

You can definitely place Google ads on pages containing images -- just make sure that the ads and images are not arranged in a way that could easily mislead or confuse your visitors. For example, if you run a stock photography site with a catalog of thumbnail images, don't line the ads up with the thumbnails in a way that could be misleading. Consider using a full border around your ads or changing your ad colors, for example.

Build Slowly, Foundations Deep

Another 'Article From The Archives'

I started a home business about the same time as a guy who lives across the road from me here in Poole, Dorset.

Mail order is definitely where the money is, we were led to believe, so that was our current business opportunity flavour of the month.

I decided to do a massive mail shot to promote the business, which was basically information manuals and audio cassette tapes. I hired a mailing list and promised to use it only once, as you do.

In order to build a downline of traders I had to not only sell the manuals but tell people that they too could earn an extra income by selling them on to their customers as well.

I spent a few hundred pounds on the mailing list from a fresh list of names gathered by a top promotional company. After a few weeks and no replies, apart from one hundred and seventeen gone-a-ways, I began to think that my list was a little duff.

Meanwhile, the guy across the road had spent twenty pounds on his list and also got no replies from just a couple of hundred names.

He went on to try another list supplier and a couple of hundred names.

I went back to the same company as last time where they gave me a ‘premium’ list which was for buyers, not just information seekers.

No replies later, I was skint and had lost all faith in working from home.

The guy across the road had gained five replies and two take ups from his list, so decided to invest in a much bigger list from the same company. The success rate was phenomenal, he was building his downline and making sales slowly but surely, testing out each list first.

I found he was coding each advertisement too. By simply inserting a department number or initialling the publication in brackets he knew which ads had worked and which were not so hot. I had gone about it all wrong by splashing out all my savings on mass advertising which was untested by me, silly mistake.

I had gone round to all my friends and colleagues telling them about my new business and pestered them to buy a manual or two, and maybe a set of audio tapes for their self development. Just listen to them yourself, they’d laugh.

Guy across the road said, No, no, never tell your close friends about what you are up to…. unless they ask, that is. He warned, once you tell immediate friends and family about your home business, it is doomed because they ridicule you, tell you why it won’t work and try and put you off. In the end, every time you walk into a pub and they are there, you will find they move away from you just in case you should try and convince them that joining your latest opportunity will make them rich.

I need to build a downline quickly so as I can earn big money, I insisted, but no, the best way is to build slowly, he replied…build a foundation first for the rest of the team to stand on.

He explained that bringing in people by the masses looks good at first but the drop out rate will be stupendously high as you can’t keep control of them. If you need to persuade people to sign up they never stay in long. Bring in only those who show a genuine interest in what you are doing as they always make a good effort to make it work by staying in for, at least, a year to see if things work out okay and aren’t put off by friends and family constantly telling them that it’s no good.

If I had a pound for every person who asked, ‘Where’s your BMW then?’, ‘moved into your new villa yet? Ha ha ha’, I’d have the extra income I’ve been planning on receiving.

After studying this guy from across the road and how successful he is in his various ventures, it seems it is all down to the same plan, that is, building slowly on firm foundations, it seems to work with any home business.

I always tended to rush into things and wanted a return on my investment immediately but, of course, that just doesn’t happen, no matter what the adverts say.

Now-a-days I keep several opps going at the same time and, due to that slow building, they all bring in a decent extra income…I’m not the millionaire I’d like to be but I do set certain goals and always do something each day to reach them. On completing a goal, I set another, often more difficult than the last and head for that, slowly but surely, it does tend to work.

I believe that if you do at least one thing for each business you are involved in each day, then you will keep moving forward. Even if it’s just telling somebody about it or replying to an enquiry, writing an advert, making a telephone call, booking an advert, sorting your filing system, anything that is doing something for one of the businesses. I also believe in having a portfolio of businesses as one can often help the other. Once you get into a routine, it isn’t too difficult to keep them all running smoothly. A mailing list you’ve created from one business, say, information manuals, just may work when you write to your customer and tell them that you are also selling a Work from home business course, therefore one business helping the other.

After becoming established in your chosen field of home business, it almost becomes self sufficient as customers get used to your good service and tend to come back to you for something else. I find myself introducing new products simply for this to happen, and it works every time. I’m off across the road now to see what else I can find out.

Martyn Brown