Classified Advertising Thrives on Follow-up

If you think classified ads are just for selling cars and houses, then you might want to think again. Online classified advertising has become one of the latest and most inexpensive ways to promote your website and your business. Creating classified ads are simple and there are a variety of options for placing your classified ads.

Historically, people have considered classified ways as a way to ‘sell something’ and that is a great benefit of advertising. But there is more to classified advertising than just selling one product, one time. Advertising can provide you a future pipeline of potential customers that can turn your small business into a much larger one.

How does that work?

Creating headlines and content that make potential customers interested in learning more about you and compels them to visit your website is your primary objective with advertising. Using powerful words that promote your business can drive visitors to your website and they often come with a lot more questions.

But a very important goal with advertising should also be to have the reader self-refer himself as a prospect and potential customer to your business. By including contact information in our ad, your customer comes to you with questions by submitting a request and expecting your email response. At this point, you have an optimal opportunity to solicit the visitor’s permission (opt-in) to contact him with future product offers, special offers, industry updates, or other types of information and content.

In your response to your visitor, you can increase your value to the customer by providing him with a free product sample, a free e-Book, a newsletter, or other products or services offered by your business. Demonstrating your appreciation for your visitor coming to your website goes a long way in creating a strong relationship that can result in a conversion to a customer in the future.

Now that you have the visitor on your opt-in list and in your email outreach or other methods of contact, you can continually provide him or her with valuable information and maintain contact. Although the visitor may not be ready to make a purchase today, they will remember you in the future when they are ready to purchase a product that you have to offer. They will also provide your URL and links to their friends who are interested in your niche or area of expertise.

One of the most powerful aspects of classified advertising is the ability it offers to make lots of contacts for future sales. It also provides you with a priceless opportunity to obtain feedback and comments from potential customers so you can continually enhance and refine your product offerings to meet the needs and expectations of your customers.

Don’t let classified ads stop with a single contact or sale. Use your creativity and innovation to continually provide your prospects and customers with valuable information and increase the attraction of your business and products with each and every contact.

Loyal customers start out as visitors to your website. With time, patience, and effort, they are converted to customers and your business continually thrives.