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Los Angeles Times Classified Ads Article
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Rules for Evaluating Classified Ads
from:Deb St. George, Publisher, GettingToSuccess.com
Creating classified ads, locating the best websites, Ezines, or newsletters to place them, and managing your budget for advertising are all important parts of your advertising campaign. But in the midst of it all, don’t overlook and dismiss the value and importance of evaluating the ad’s effectiveness. You can’t assume that an ad is working or not working just based on your assumptions. It takes a little time and effort to fully evaluate ad effectiveness.
There are many ways to test your ads and to find the best possible ad, you must test various options. Remembering that the headline is the most important aspect of a classified ad means that testing your headline is essential. You want to ensure that your headline is attracting enough attention to pull people into the body of your ad before you assume that ad content is the culprit.
A recommended method of testing your classified ads is outlined below:
First of all, write 3-5 small classified ads and ensure they are grammatically correct and professionally written.
Use different headlines for each classified ad, focusing on short, succinct powerful headlines.
Place the ads in some low-cost Ezines or newsletters where you can test their effectiveness.
Track the results of the hits from your ads. You can do this simply by having each ad direct visitors to a specific web page (landing page) or by using traffic tracking software.
If one of the ads received better results than others, then test it on the other sites or publications.
If none of the ads resulted in increased traffic, adjust headlines and replace words with more powerful, commanding, or energetic keywords.
You may consider testing your headlines and body content word by word. Change only one word and then test its effectiveness.
Change not only the words, but change the font or style of the headlines and content to test different formats.
Stay focused on the same websites, Ezines, or newsletters until you’ve thoroughly tested various versions of your headlines and content. Find ads and headlines that work well.
Track the ad effectiveness over time – for example, the first time your ad appears you may see minimal traffic increase. But after 3 or more times of having your ad displayed, you should see increased traffic over time.
As you test effectiveness and tweak your wording, always remember to appeal to your target audience’s emotions. For example:
“Calendars for Sale Cheap” might not be nearly as effective as “Organize Your Life Quickly and Easily”
“Pots That Are Easy to Clean” isn’t nearly engaging as “Cooking Miracles That Scour Themselves”
You get the point now! Make your headlines engaging, exciting, and unique. The ‘ordinary’ doesn’t attract attention – go for the extraordinary instead.
The rule of the Internet is simple. You don’t have but a precious second or even less to capture attention. Use your words and your time wisely and create classified ads that work for you.
You’ll soon enjoy the benefits of increased traffic and higher conversions.
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