Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly Newsletter

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Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #6 Dec. 28, 2001
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter.
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
Online Marketing: Part 3 - Free-For-All Links
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
Why I Need A 16 Hour Work Day
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
Online Marketing: Part 3 - Free-For-All Links
By Aaron Turpen of Aaronz WebWorkz

Editor's Comments: This is a subject which, while always
controversial, is always a point of confusion among newbies
to the Internet. I hope to shed a little light on the
subject for those new to Internet marketing.
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Free-For-All (FFA) sites, classified sites, and other
similar places on the web are very common and usually over-
hyped. Most exist only as an email-gathering tool.
Usually they aren't very effective at that, as most of
those who post to them know better than to give out an
email address they actually use - we'll get to that later.
This form of advertising online can be very effective,
however, if used correctly as a part of a well-planned
overall strategy.

Most people feel that posting to FFA sites is a complete
waste of time. If you look at it in terms of click-through
rates from the FFA sites themselves, then yes, it is a
complete waste of time. However, there are advantages to
these submissions that you may not realize. A few of these
advantages are:
==You are LINKED on another site - this means that, while
your link there is active, if a search engine robot or
spider indexes that site, you are automatically included in
that index!
==Posting to some of these FFA lists can actually increase
your exposure elsewhere. Some of these lists are used as
informal tools for other lists and directories in their
results.
==If you host your own FFA list, you can gather emails AND
get yourself automatically submitted to other FFA lists
without effort.

Before I delve deeper into each of these three points, I
must first explain to you the proper way to submit your
links to FFA lists so as to get the maximum exposure in
the smallest amount of time and with the least amount of
hassle. The first thing you'll need when submitting to
these sites is an email box you don't care about - prefer-
ably one that auto-deletes itself or one that is easily
"cleaned" daily. Many online services such as Hotmail™,
Yahoo!™, etc. offer email boxes which are ideal for this
purpose. Another alternative (one that I use myself) is
another email address through your ISP (most include up to
five with their service), which you set to download
directly into your trashcan using the sorting tools of your
email software. For example, in MS Outlook™, you set a
message rule so that all emails coming to a specific
address (your dummy address) are automatically flagged as
"read" and are trashed. This method is relatively
painless.

The next thing you'll need is a good piece of submission
software to mass-submit your site to links. Everyone has
their preferences and I change my software every couple of
weeks. Do a regular search (or better yet, have the
search emailed to you regularly) of www.tucows.com,
www.cnet.net, and other shareware and freeware distribution
hubs. If you use software to submit your site to search
engines, then chances are you have already got an auto-
submitter for FFA lists as well. Do search engine and FFA
submissions separately. Otherwise search engines will
index you incorrectly, if they do at all. Set up the
software and include your dummy email address as your email
for submissions to the FFAs. Which lists you post do is
not really a concern, since your results will be from
massive submissions, not specific targets. This strategy
is like carpet-bombing is to warfare: you plan to his AS
MUCH AS POSSIBLE, not make a "surgical strike" on a
specific target.

I submit to FFA sites daily and it takes around five
minutes to do so. I'd suggest a minimum of once a week.
Make this a part of your daily routine: as common as
downloading email, making coffee, follow-up calling, etc.
Do it regularly and it will pay off. Do it once and
you're wasting your time.

Now that the bases are covered, let's find out why we need
to do all of this. The first reason on the list is fairly
obvious: if you are linked on a site and a search engine
indexes that site, your "link popularity" will rise (the
count a search engine keeps to determine how popular your
site is). This means a better search result in some
engines and sometimes a faster indexing time if you have
recently submitted to the engine in question! It's
impossible to say which FFA list will be indexed or
spidered by which search engine and when, but we're after
quantity, not specific targets.

Some few FFA lists and especially classified lists are used
as content on more than one site. For example, if you set
up a site which is targeted towards people interested in
home baby care, you may wish to include "resources" for
people who are looking for help that you do not provide.
A quick way to do this is to include a miniature "search
results page" which indexes certain, fixed search terms
(e.g. "home baby care") and shows the results on a page.
Walla! There you be! This is not a very common thing, but
since it's so easy to submit to these lists that it's a
good bonus for doing so.

The last reason I listed for getting on FFA lists involves
getting your own. There are a lot of free software tools
and even build-your-own FFA lists online that you can use
for this. The most important thing is to make sure that it
links back to your website somehow. Setting up a proper
FFA list is fairly easy, but involves a lot of steps. Most
of the things you need are available free online if you
look for them, however.

First, you need to set up your FFA site. This is the
easiest part. Now you need to set up the best part of
hosting your own FFA - the reverse marketing tool called an
auto-responder. This is an email address (usually
available from the same place you're getting your FFA site
from) that automatically sends a pre-written email to whom-
ever has posted to your site (using their email address!).
Although most people, like you, are deleting and probably
never reading these auto-responses, some might. To get
your auto-response read, make it short and exciting. Use
lots of "WE'RE GREAT!" or "YOU REALLY NEED THIS"-type
phrases and give small details and plenty of links to your
real website address!

The final step is to submit your new FFA site to other FFA
sites! This ensures its visibility and will mean it
eventually gets included in a piece of software or even an
online "auto-post" list! This part doesn't take too long
(a month or less in most cases) and becomes autonomous
after a while.

Now that you have all of this and are ready to roll, you no
doubt are ready to start filling the Internet's bandwidth
with your own marketing messages. Right? Well, maybe not.
You see there is a potentially large downside to this form
of marketing. That downside is in your long-term outlook.

Do you want to give the impression that you are not a fly-
by-night company? Some people don't care about this and
sometimes it doesn't enter into it. Sometimes it does,
though, so you need to consider it. If you want to give
the impression that you are stable, established, and
reliable, then you probably don't want your own FFA page.
Submitting to those sites is one thing, but becoming one of
them may not be in your best interest.

To be honest, I have only run one FFA page and that was to
promote a "get rich quick" scheme I'd been suckered into.
After making back the money I'd put into it, I dropped the
whole thing and forgot about it. My business is based on a
service (or group of services, really) and as such needs to
give the impression that I will be around for more than a
week. So I don't use these types of mass-marketing
techniques. However, if your business is based entirely on
a one-time-sell and does not expect repeat business, then
this type of marketing is perfect for you. If you sell
one-event tickets, MLM or network marketing plans, one-time
information packets (eBooks, articles, etc.), or any other
type of "buy-it-once" product or service, then mass-
marketing such as this is definitely up your alley.
Otherwise, it should probably be avoided.

At the very least, submitting to FFA lists is worth the
small amount of trouble required. At most, they can become
a strong part of a large-scale marketing campaign.

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Hello again. Hopefully everyone had a great Holiday week.

Now that I'm back, I guess I'll have to put my nose to the
grindstone and really get a move on. I've got a lot to do
before Monday (the end of the month).

Next week will feature the next in the Internet Marketing
series with a focus on online auctions as a marketing tool
online.

Tax time (dread) is coming up and I plan to run an article
or two on that subject, as it applies to small business. If
you or anyone you know has written articles or has anything
to share on this subject, please drop me a line!

*-----------------COUPON-------------------*
Happy New Year! Turn this in by January 1
and receive a surprise bonus gift!
*------------------COUPON------------------*

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Readers Talk Back!

In this issue, I'm including a short email Q&A session with
Rob, one of you newsletter readers. I thought it hit on a
point or two which may be on some of your minds after last
week's issue on Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search engines.
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Question: ppc search engines are a nice idea and I might
get hits, but how can I make sure I'm paying for qualified
prospects? Most of those engines I've never heard of - if
I'd be considered part of my target audience, shouldn't I
advertise in "known" locations? The seven users of netflip
are hardly a huge market.

--Rob K. (still no website)

Response:
You have a point, but there are a few things you aren't
considering. Most PPC engines give results to multiple
websites (not just theirs) through affiliate links, d-base
sharing, and other things. The vast majority of the
"search the web" bars you see on individual websites that
aren't a search engine are polling a PPC or affiliate-based
engine of one kind or another. Pay-per-clicks won't get
you thousands upon thousands of visitors, but they will get
you a good amount of fairly good quality (as good as you
can get without spending heaps of money) of visitors in the
short-term. PPC is not a replacement for regular search
engines - they're just another marketing tool. Out of all
of the engines I listed in that article, Netflip and
Overture are the two largest.

--Aaron Turpen (www.AaronzWebWorkz.com)

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com. All are welcome to give
their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
Why I Need A 16 Hour Work Day
Written by Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters

Publish Your OWN Ezine -- The EASY and Enjoyable Way!
*Receive Original, Pre-Written Ezine Issues -- You Publish!
*Get Access to Extensive Promotional Resources
*Initiate and Keep Contacts, Expand Your Online Presence
See it! http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html


Editor's Comments: The ever-popular Joe Bingham returns
this week with a great article on time management...sort
of...
------------------------------------------------------------

Often, I gripe about being behind on my work and how I have
so much to do. I'm not unique in this, we all do it. It's
just part of human nature. What's funny about it, however,
is when I take a close look at the real reasons why I am
behind and overworked.

Typically, I work a 16 hour day. Yes, my work day is 16
hours, minus the distractions that is. After the dist-
raction time is removed from that 16 hours, who knows how
much time is left for actual work.

I know, let's figure it out. Here is a quick list of some
of those distractions and the approximate time they cost
me.

"Honey Come Here" -- This distraction consists of opening
jars, getting things down off the high shelves, walking all
the way to the other end of the house to hand something to
my wife that was only 4 feet from where she was seated in
the first place, fixing things, explaining what I'm doing,
running off door to door salesmen, and giving kisses.

Time Lost: 2 hours

"Honey Where Are You?" -- This consists of me looking for
my wife so I can flirt with her and occasionally... well,
that's none of your business.

Time Lost: 1 hour (or so)

"Honey! They're not listening to me!" -- This is time
spent being the global superpower that backs up all of
Mom's threatening statements to the kids.

Time Lost: 1 hour

"Dad!" -- This consists of stopping fights, taking away
sharp objects, explaining why rooms must be cleaned,
helping with homework, stopping fights, holding down body
parts while Mom digs out slivers, getting down cups, hiding
or throwing away markers and glue, and stopping fights.

Time Lost: 1.5 hours

Sweaty Rump -- During the rare occasion that I'm left alone
to work for a long period of time, sometimes I just need to
stand up and 'air' out.

Time Lost: 15 minutes to 2 hours (depending on what else distracts
me while I'm up.)

Hunger -- What? I can't just sit there and never want
food!

Time Lost: 1 hour (hey, sometimes I can eat a lot.)

Phone Calls -- Every time I sit down at the computer,
apparently it's a signal for my wife and kids to want to
call someone. I guess I should just spend the money and
put in another phone line, but they would probably just
take that one over, too.

Time Lost: 1 hour

Fatigue -- This is an interesting phenomenon as well. I
can run all day taking care of other things or playing
around and feel just fine. Then, as soon as I spend 10
minutes sitting in front of the computer, I'm tired.

Time Lost: 2 hours

"It's OK, I'm the Boss" -- I've used this excuse with
myself to take time off WAY too many times.

Time Lost: 2 hours

Movies -- I like movies. Even with the TV going in a
separate room, they still tempt me. Of course, if the kids
wouldn't have the volume up to 90 decibels, it might not be
such a problem.

Time Lost: 2 hours

Now, here's the catch. If I was working at a regular job
how many of these excuses would fly? You guessed it, NONE!

So, what am I going to do about it? Since I am the boss,
does this mean I have to fire myself?

Well, so far, my answer to the problem has been the 16 hour
work day. I plan a 16 hour work day, thereby allowing
enough time for all the distractions. So how much time do
those distractions take?

According to what I listed above, about 14 hours. That
leaves only 2 hours for real work.

Well, next time you see an ad for a home business claiming
you only have to work a few hours a week, now you'll know
why.

Because that's all that's really possible anyway!

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2001 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
------------------------------------------------------------
List Maintenance:
To subscribe
[newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com - subject: subscribe]

To unsubscribe
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This newsletter is produced by Aaronz WebWorkz, a complete
online services provider. To view information or to see
back issues of this publication, please go online to:
www.AaronzWebWorkz.com. Please direct all comments or
questions to the editor (newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #5 Dec. 21, 2001
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter.
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
Online Marketing: Part 2 - Pay-Per-Click Search
Engines
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
What's Your Niche?
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
Online Marketing: Part 2 - Pay-Per-Click Search Engines
By Aaron Turpen of Aaronz WebWorkz

Editor's Comments: This is part 2 of a 7-part series focus-
ing on online marketing. Next week we will take a look at
Free-For-All links (FFAs) and how they rate as a marketing
tool online.
------------------------------------------------------------

A Pay-Per-Click search engine (also called Pay-Per-Ranking
engines) allows you to place your site at the top of their
results almost immediately. This comes at a price, though.

The idea is pretty simple. You put in a "bid" for how much
you're willing to pay per click-through on certain keywords
- the higher your bid, the higher you appear in the results
for that keyword. A click-through is when a searcher
clicks on your link in the engine and comes to your site.
Regardless of whether this searcher purchases anything or
not, you pay for them to come to your site.

The advantages of this type of system are obvious: they
drive users to your site starting almost immediately and
the amount of traffic can be fairly high with those
visiting being likely to be looking for what you offer
(these are targeted users). Some PPCs even send results
to Yahoo! and other big directories (GoTo/Overture is an
example of this).

In the short run this is a good marketing tool and useful
to those impatient to get their site noticed quickly.
Usually, you log into a PPC engine, open an account and
deposit money into it. Then you put in your site infor-
mation along with your bid for certain keywords, which
will drive people to your site. This bid is what you are
willing to pay for EVERY click-through you receive. So
even $100 can go fairly quickly if you're in a high-traffic
area of the 'Net.

Try to stick with the better-known names in PPCs and be
wary of those that offer their surfers incentives to click
on links - this is not conducive to "targeted" traffic.
Also watch the engine's use-ability and function. If it
isn't easy to use, nobody is using it and you're wasting
your time signing up there. You can rarely get your
deposit back from the search engine once it's been made.

Below is a list of popular pay-per-click search engines in
alphabetical order. Many are not listed here, obviously,
but I thought I would list a few and touch on some of
their finer points to show you how a PPC can be used
effectively.

Brainfox (www.brainfox.com): This is a decent, though
relatively new PPC that offers itself as a budget altern-
ative. Minimum bids are .001 cents! Not sure of the
results of advertising here, but it may be worth a try
since you only need to invest $5 to get started.


CleanSearch (www.cleansearch.com): Although not widely
known, this is one of the few PPCs that focus on "family"
results (no porn). You even have the option of "reporting"
on results that appear to have them reviewed for content.

eFind (www.efind.com): This is a good example of a PPC you
should NOT advertise with. Built like a slot machine, this
one is set up to send users to paid listings in order to be
entered to win prizes. Avoid these guys.

FindWhat (www.findwhat.com): I originally was not going to
include this engine as they used to pay their searchers to
go to advertiser's sites, but that seems to have changed.
This may become a good engine in the future!

GoClick (www.goclick.com): This is a good engine and has a
great explanation "help" FAQ to get new users going. It's
reasonably priced and has some nice tools integrated to
keep your bidding competitive.

GoTo/Overture (www.overture.com): This is the premier PPC
engine. They offer shopping and auction sites (as per
Yahoo!), but you'll need money to be competitive here. If
you can afford it, this one is well worth the money.

Metamission (www.metamission.com): This allows you to
advertise on their "metasearch" engine. I'm dubious about
their results, especially when seeing the "too good to be
true" 1000% bonus to your first credit deposit with them.

NetFlip (www.netflip.com): This is another bad example of a
search engine gone awry. They pay users to click through
and have become quite popular despite the lack of focused
users they send to their advertisers.

Onesearch (www.onesearch.com): This is a good engine,
though fairly boring to look at. They have a low minimum
account requirement ($25 as of this writing) and offer
pretty good results.

Searchhound (www.searchhound.com): This is one of the
premier PPCs and their price and minimum account sizes
reflect this. If you have the money to spend, though, you
will probably get more traffic here than on any of the
other engines.

Sprinks (www.sprinks.com): This is an easy-to-use engine
that offers to get you listed in About.com as well. You
may have good results here.

Turbo10 (www.turbo10.com): This is a great search engine
with lots of neat bonuses for the users. Searching for
exactly what you want is easy and you can jump around the
search results as you wish-giving the user total power.
I suspect that this will get more and more popular as time
goes on and this use-ability will only enhance your
listing here.

Overall, especially in the short run, Pay-Per-Click engines
are a useful tool for marketing online. They require a
little money to be used effectively and many require daily
or weekly policing to ensure that you are not outbid and
therefore ranked too low. The trouble can be worth it,
though, as you drive more and more visitors (usually
targeted!) to your site. As an alternative to getting
listed in regular engines and directories, PPCs are very
viable.

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Well, well, Christmas is nearly upon us again. I hope
you all have a great Holiday planned and plenty of family
time to spend.

I just wanted to remind everyone that I will be gone for a
week to visit family. I will check email as often as pos-
sible and will be checking voice mail as well.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

------------------------------------------------------------
Readers Talk Back!
------------------------------------------------------------
"Great issue, Aaron! I will be publishing an e-Book on
marketing early next year and may include your articles on
Internet marketing. Can't wait to see the next one!"

--Joyce J. (no website listed)

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com. All are welcome to give
their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
What's Your Niche?
© 2000 Elena Fawkner

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical ideas, resources and strategies for your home-
based or online business. http://www.ahbbo.com

Editor's Comments: If you're just starting out or are
thinking of branching out into new areas on the Internet to
expand your business, this article will help you find an
easier path and a better way to do things!
------------------------------------------------------------

The Internet has been likened by many to the vast frontier
faced by those who took to the wild west in search of gold.
The enormity of its potential certainly draws many a gold
seeker ... but just as the gold diggers of old had to stake
their claim before digging for gold, so too must you.
Online, it's called finding your niche.

Chances are, your online business idea has already been
done. To death. Does this mean that the market is
saturated and there is no room on board for you? No.
Not by a long shot.

To be successful in an online business, you need to be
the best. Now, that doesn't mean the best overall, or
even the best in your general category. What it means
is being the best in your specific category ... your niche.

If the niche you're interested in is already occupied, can
you be better than the best in that niche? If so, go for
it. If not, find another niche!

So, how exactly do you go about finding your niche? Here's
five steps to staking a claim to your share of the Internet
bounty:

1. IDENTIFY YOUR GENERAL CATEGORY AND SUB-CATEGORY

To start with, you need to have some idea of the general
category you're interested in becoming involved in as a
business venture. It may be something to do with health
and fitness, nutrition, pet care, home-based business,
internet marketing, whatever.

Now, see if you can narrow down your area of interest a
little. Let's say your general area of interest is health
and fitness. Can you be more specific? Does your interest
lie in aerobic exercise, weight training, nutritional
supplements, diet? This is your sub-category.

2. HANG OUT WITH PEOPLE INTERESTED IN YOUR SUB-CATEGORY

The object of the exercise is to identify an unmet need
that you can fill. This will become your niche. How do
you identify an unmet need? By listening to what the
people interested in the sub-category you identified in
step 1 are saying. A good place to start is to sign up to
various mailing lists and read newsgroups relevant to your
sub-category.

Let's say your sub-category of interest within the general
category of health and fitness is weight training. You
would sign up for mailing lists and read newsgroups that
deal with this subject. Pay attention to the kinds of
questions people are asking each other. It is likely that
the reason many of these questions are being asked is that
the questioner hasn't been able to find adequate inform-
ation online that deals with the subject matter. These
sorts of questions are good sources of potential
niches.

Continuing with our weight training example, the results of
this step may suggest that some potential areas of unmet
need exist, such as the benefits of weight training for:
seniors, injury recuperation, weight loss, bone density,
mental health, blood pressure, and so on.

3. IDENTIFY UNMET NEEDS IN YOUR SUB-CATEGORY

Armed with your list of potential niches gathered during
step two, go off now and do your own research. See if you
can find sources of information that answer the questions
on your list. If not, keep it on your list as a potential
niche. If so, get an idea of how much information there is
out there and whether you think you could do a better job.
If so, keep it on your list. If not, delete it.

4. INVENTORY YOUR EXPERIENCE, INTERESTS AND COMPETENCIES

Now that you have a shortlist of potential niche
categories, think about your specific experience, interests
and competencies and which niche(s) you could best serve.

Pay particular attention to what interests you the most.
It's all very well identifying a niche but if it holds
absolutely no interest for you, you won't put in the time
and effort to turn that niche to your financial advantage.
So, go with what interests you first and foremost even if
you have more experience and expertise in a different area.
What you lack in experience and expertise you can learn and
your natural enthusiasm will do the rest.

5. FILL THE UNMET NEED

Now that you've identified your niche, fill it! Create a
website, publish a newsletter, write articles, promote
related affiliate programs, write an e-book, and so on and
so forth. Because you are meeting an unmet need, you are,
by definition, setting yourself up as an expert in your
niche. This gives you an enormous competitive advantage,
at least in the beginning.

Not exactly brain surgery is it? The Internet has un-
limited potential for virtually anyone prepared to put in
the hard work. But it rewards the innovators, not the
imitators. By taking the time to find the right niche for
you, and then building your business around that niche, you
will make a valuable contribution and addition to the
Internet community and the Internet community will reward
you for it.

Don't rest on your laurels, though. The nature of
competition, offline or online, is that your success will
entice new entrants into your niche. To stay on top of the
heap you need to be continually evolving and ever-vigilant
within your niche. So stake your claim and make sure no-
one moves the pegs while your back is turned.

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2001 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
------------------------------------------------------------
List Maintenance:
To subscribe
[newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com - subject: subscribe]

To unsubscribe
[newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com - subject: unsubscribe]

This newsletter is produced by Aaronz WebWorkz, a complete
online services provider. To view information or to see
back issues of this publication, please go online to:
www.AaronzWebWorkz.com. Please direct all comments or
questions to the editor (newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #4 Dec. 14, 2001
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter.
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IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
Online Marketing: Part 1 - Search Engine Submissions
& Ranking
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
Selling With Principles - NOT Plungers
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
Feature Article

Online Marketing: Part 1 - Search Engine Submissions
& Ranking

Byline

Editor's Comments: I wrote this article as the first in a
series of online marketing articles. Hopefully they are of
some use. This particular one is fairly lengthy, so you
may wish to grab a cola or something before you get started.
------------------------------------------------------------
Online Marketing: Part 1 - Search Engine Submissions &
Ranking
By Aaron Turpen of Aaronz WebWorkz

When you are looking for something on the Internet, what do
you usually do? You go to a search engine. Where do
those results come from and how do you put your website up
there too?

The mother of all marketing tools online is the search
engine. There are many to choose from and there is no
reason not to be listed in as many as you possibly can.
However, there are only a few which garner more than 80%
(between them) of the Internet's searching traffic. These
are usually referred to as the "Top Ten Search Engines."
They are, in no particular order: Yahoo!, AltaVista, Lycos,
MSN, Netscape, AOL, Excite, LookSmart, Google, and the Open
Directory.

Now, this list is misleading for two reasons: 1) not all of
those listed are search engines, some are actually direct-
ories (human-edited, not computer-based "spiders") and
2) most of these sites interlink with one another to some
extent and many even share the same algorithms or data-
bases! Don't get the idea that there's one magic place to
submit your site to and everything will be hunky-dory.
That's not true. You'll want to submit to at least five or
six of the above list regardless of who they "link" with.

The first step in submitting your site to the search
engines requires only a text editor, word processor, or a
pen and paper. Write down all of the words and phrases (up
to three words each) that you can come up with which you
might type in a search box when looking for a company that
offers products/services similar to what you offer. Put
each on a separate line and try to come up with at least
five of them. Now open up your email program or pick up
the phone and call/email at least two of your friends, col-
leagues, and family members and have them do the same for
you. Take their lists and your list and compare them. Do
any of the phrases match? What about individual words?
The more matches, the merrier. Make a new list of matching
phrases/words and put a number next to each one indicating
how many matches it had. These are your keywords! The one
with the biggest number next to it is your first keyword/
phrase, with the rest falling into place according to rank.
After the first key phrase, the order of the rest is not a
big concern, so long as they are all listed.

Now look at your website. What is your website's Title
(usually appearing across the top left portion, or "title
bar" of your browser)? Does it contain your key phrase?
If not, it should. Don't make it ambiguous, though, humans
have to read that too. In fact, it may appear as the
title/link in search results!

Next look to your META tags. They are viewable only in the
source of your website. In Internet Explorer, open your
website, click "View" and select "Source." This opens
Notepad and shows the source file of your web page. Some-
where near the top will be a group of tags that have the
word META as the first word. One of these will be labeled
as "content='keywords'" and another as "content='descript-
ion'." These two are the ones you're after. What do they
say, if they even exist at all? Do they match your list
of keywords? Probably not. You can either change them
yourself and re-upload the new pages to your site or have
your Webmaster do this for you. Although the META key-
words tag is not as important to keyword ranking as it once
was, it still has some merit so it should still be used.

The next thing to consider is the actual body of your
index or website's front page (usually index.htm or html).
Since some search engines don't utilize the META descript-
ion or keywords tags, they will use the text appearing on
your front page to accomplish this. Make sure that the
text is readable, full of your keywords, and not over-
zealous (you don't need your keyword to appear 500 times,
once at the beginning, once at the end, and a few times in-
between is good). There isn't really a hard-and-fast rule
on this, but I would say ten or so times is more than
enough to get the point across.

Now you are ready to begin submitting your site to the
search engines and directories. What? You bought a nifty
piece of software that does this for you? I hope you
didn't pay a lot. No Internet Marketer will tell you to
use that software to submit to the Top Ten. Why? Because
you need to submit to each site individually and try to
optimize to each one. That software won't do that. If it
links to "thousands" of others, then by all means, the more
the merrier. Just remove the Top Ten from the list and go
ahead and use the software! The second rule to site
submissions is NEVER submit your site more than once every
three weeks (I round off to a month, since it's easier to
track). Otherwise, you run the risk of being considered a
SPAMmer to the search engines and you (and your site) may
become blocked altogether. Getting off that list is nearly
impossible, so staying off it in the first place is best!

Each engine is discussed below. I have not included the
URL for site submissions because these change regularly and
directories require that you go to the area where your site
would be listed and submit from there. Another thing you
should do is to go through your site completely and make
sure that there are no broken links, graphics, etc. If
your site doesn't look and act professionally, it might not
get listed. I strongly suggest that you open a text
editor/word processor and write a keyword list and
description line for EACH engine/directory. Label each and
put them on separate lines/paragraphs. This will help you
track your progress and aid you later with re-submissions.

Directories
The Open Directory (www.dmoz.org) - This is a completely
human-driven database and directory and is the leading
information house for the Google Engine. DMOZ is run
completely by volunteers and is a very tried-and-proven
system. Getting listed in the Open Directory will almost
guarantee a listing in AOL (America Online), Netscape,
Lycos, and other Google Engines.

Rules: Make the Open Directory editor's job as easy as
possible. Submit your items in such a way that the editor
will not feel the need to edit them (thereby possibly
changing your keywords) before acceptance. Your site
description should be a single sentence of not more than
fifteen words. It should convey what your site DOES (NOT
things like "Come check us out!"), contain at least two key
phrases, avoid any kind of hype (all caps, !!, etc.), use
proper sentence structure (capitalize the first word and
proper nouns ONLY), be written in the third person (i.e.
"Offers…" instead of "We offer…"), and end with a period
(not a ? or a !).

Now select the proper category for your site (usually by
searching your keywords!). Once you have found a spot that
matches (and the sites are similar to yours), then find the
"Add URL" link at the top right. Some categories require
that you further specify sub-categories before submission
and will not list an "Add URL" link. Keep moving through
likely sub-categories until you find the right spot. Then
fill in the blanks. Your official site name should match
your TITLE tag and including your email address, though
optional, is a good idea since the editor may wish to send
you an email to explain why you were/weren't or whether you
were/weren't listed.

Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) - Yahoo! and the Open Directory are
very similar in function, though they aren't related other-
wise. Yahoo! is the mother of all search engines and will
gather you more traffic than any other search engine on the
Web. Yahoo! knows this, though, so expect to pay for the
privilege of being listed there as a business. Currently,
it is about $300 and carries no guarantee that you will be
listed, only that you will be reviewed.

Rules: Read their instructions THOROUGHLY. Read the Help
Index (http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/url) and their How To
page (http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest). They are very
strict about their rules, so if you inadvertently break one
of them, not only will you not get listed, you may be out
your $300! Now make sure you are "providing unique
content." Yahoo! is very adamant about this. If your site
is nothing but affiliate links and supplies no useful
information for the user (this information is not one-
liners, it should be at least three or four pages in
total), then you will not get listed. You also need to
list a physical address for your business (PO boxes don't
count). There are a million things you can do wrong and
not get listed at Yahoo!--too many to list here. My sug-
gestion is to either hire a professional and pay them to do
it, or get listed in the other engines and wait for your
site to pop up in Yahoo! on its own.

Search Engines/Spiders
Most of these are similar with only minor differences.

MSN/Looksmart (www.msn.com/www.looksmart.com ) - These two
combined to become one engine and should be considered
singular, though many still refer to them separately. The
downside to Microsoft ownership? Money. They charge $150-
$300 to list your site, depending on your chosen options.

Rules: If you really wish to be listed here, I suggest
using the "Note sure…Let us help!" area at the bottom of
the submission screen. Put in your URL
(http://www.yoursite.com) and submit it there. Within two
or three days (usually), someone will contact you via email
or phone (depending on what you have listed on your site
for contact). This may seem pushy, since you'll have to
talk to a salesperson, but it's worth it if you're going to
spend the money to get listed. This person will set you up
and even submit the site for you! All you have to do is
cough up the money.

Google (www.google.com) - This is a good engine to submit
to, since it is the base for many other search engines out
there. The Googlebot takes a couple of weeks to look for
you, but will spider your site eventually.

Rules: It's pretty simple to get listed here. Put in your
URL (including http://) and put your keywords (no commas)
OR your description (either is good) under "Description."

AOL (www.search.aol.com) - If you get listed in the Open
Directory, you will not need to submit to AOL. Submitting
here submits to the Open Directory rather than to AOL!

Lycos (www.lycos.com) - This is a simple submission, though
somewhat tedious. They usually spider within a month.

Rules: There aren't really any rules to this engine. Put
in your URL and you're finished. If you want to create
search terms for EVERY page on your site and enter each
page individually (Lycos allows this), then you should do
so. This becomes tedious, but may pay off when their
spider comes to your site.

AltaVista (www.altavista.com) - As of this writing,
AltaVista is having financial trouble and has reportedly
not updated their database in over six months. So if you
do submit your site, don't expect it to be listed very
soon.

Rules: Although they give a lot of options, I wouldn't go
beyond "basic" at this point. You can ad the others later
(they all cost something). Other than that, there aren't
any specifics to know when submitting here.

Netscape (www.netscape.com) - The same as AOL, this engine
gets its listings from the Open Directory. "Ad a Site" is
only a link to their professional search engine submission
service.

Excite (www.excite.com) - Interestingly, Excite has
partnered with Looksmart (aka Microsoft) and is now
charging for submissions (same as above). The search
engine itself still lists itself separately from the other
two, however. If you plan to spend the money, I would use
the Looksmart submission instead. It's a little more helpful.

Obviously you need to get listed in the search engines to
get noticed significantly online. The down-side to this is
that, unlike the early days of the World Wide Web, getting
listed in the popular search engines is time-consuming,
becoming expensive, and takes FOREVER. There are few
"free" alternatives for the little guy anymore. If you are
in a hurry to get listed and have the budget, then by all
means use the paid services. If you aren't, make sure that
you're listed in the Open Directory (at the very least) and
you'll show up elsewhere as time goes on. Search engine
placement/marketing has become a full-time job in itself
with several professionals making careers out of it. I
suggest 1stSearchRanking
(http://www.1stSearchRanking.com/t.cgi?1778). Although
they are expensive, your results are GUARANTEED and you
will be listed high in each search engine!

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Whew! Boy that was wordy. Since the above article was so
lengthy (it had to be to even attempt to cover the subject),
the next one will be short.

Well, it's been a fairly quiet week at Aaronz WebWorkz...at
least when compared to the headaches of last week. I was
out of commission for a day or so with the flu (be glad you
can't get THAT kind of virus via email!), but am mostly
recovered now. It took hours just to catch up to email. :)

Things are running smoothly now. I've added a new area
of resources for local Salt Lake City businesses to use for
their local online advertising.
(www.aaronzwebworkz.com/resources.html)

The article above on search engines is the first in a
series I'm working on for online marketing. Next week will
feature the other side of the search engine coin: pay-per-
click engines. So far, this series of marketing articles
will span about six or seven weeks' worth of newsletters.

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Readers Talk Back!
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"Make a million bucks yet?"
--Wife :)

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If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com. All are welcome to give
their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
Selling With Principles - NOT Plungers
by Joe bingham (c) 2001

Written by Joe Bingham, Editor of the NetPlay Newsletters
Subscribe to One 3 Quality NetPlay Ezines, See which one
fits you at: http://www.netplaynewsletters.com

Publish Your Own Quality Ezine with Little Work and a Lot
of Help http://www.netplaynewsletters.com/publisher.html

Editor's Comments: He was very popular in our first issue,
so I thought I'd bring him back!
------------------------------------------------------------
Selling With Principles -- NOT Plungers

For most of us, selling is against our natures. We were
taught as children to be polite, courteous, and respecting
of others. (Well, at least some of us were anyway.)

The problem is, selling seems to go against those princ-
iples. Notice I said selling 'seems' to go against the
polite, courteous side of ourselves. In actuality,
however, only bad salesmanship is overly aggressive,
obtrusive, and just plain not nice.

However, if your just starting out, it can be difficult to
find a way to make your point and offer your product
without feeling like you're right up in someone's face with
a toilet plunger shoving it down their throat.

If any of you ever meet me in person, you'll most likely be
surprised at the way I am.

I'm actually not real talkative, at least not to start
with. (That's very much opposite of my writing nature,
isn't it?). It takes me a while to open up and let my
grandpa's genetics take over and start rambling on.

That's with personal issues, however. When it comes to
selling, I'm learning to open more immediately and connect
with people. It's important to contact and connect
immediately.

Why?

Because if you don't, there will be 912 other people who
will slip in and get ahead of you.

In truth, though, there's no reason to be slow to move in
on a selling opportunity.

IF you meet the following two conditions:

1 - You are proud of what you are selling.
2 - You believe what you are selling will actually benefit
the potential customer in question.

If you aren't proud, or don't believe in what you are
selling, then you have to ask yourself why you are involved
with it in the first place.

If you're happy to present your product, however, it will
show. You won't be forcing a sale, you'll be presenting a
benefit. You won't be seen as an aggressive, toilet
plunging jerk, as some salesmen are, but as a resource.

It's ok to let yourself get into every opportunity that
comes up. For some, it's easier to do this online through
written contact only, but you'll find the same principles
apply offline as well as on.

Be proud and show your belief in what you are doing. Then,
learn to exhibit them to others. That's what sells.

Selling doesn't have to be against your principles, just
make sure you have some principles in your selling. They
are easier to pack around than a toilet plunger anyway.

------------------------------------------------------------
If you wish to send your own articles to be reviewed for
inclusion in this publication, please send them to:
newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com.
------------------------------------------------------------
Except where noted, this publication and all of its
contents are copyright (C)2001 by Aaronz WebWorkz, all
rights are reserved. To reprint an article, send an email
to newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com for permission.
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questions to the editor (newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com).

------------------------------------------------------------
Aaronz WebWorkz Weekly E-Zine
A Weekly Newsletter of Hints, Ideas, and Resources for
Friends and Customers of www.AaronzWebWorkz.com
Issue #3 Dec. 07, 2001
Aaron Turpen, Editor, aaron@aaronzwebworkz.com
------------------------------------------------------------
By subscription only! Welcome to your next issue of the
Aaronz WebWorkz E-Zine. You are receiving this newsletter
because you requested a subscription. Unsubscribe instruct-
ions are at the end of this newsletter.
------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS ISSUE
------------------------------------------------------------

=> Feature Article:
Marketing: Where To Place Your Offline Ads
=> From The Webmaster
=> Readers Talk Back!
=> Guest Column:
How To Get Ahead With Advertising
=> How to Be Featured as our Guest Columnist
=> Copyright and Reprint information
=> Subscribe/Unsubscribe information


------------------------------------------------------------
Marketing: Where To Place Your Offline Ads
By Aaron Turpen of Aaronz WebWorkz

Many people new to business or who have just started their
own business are at a loss when it comes to marketing. I
know I was when I first started. Marketing your business
online is one step, but what about offline? If you are
targeting a local market or wish to do so, then you may
wonder where to begin. Most people begin with the
classifieds of the local newspaper.

Sometimes this works, but in my experience it is only a
waste of effort and much-needed money. The market for most
services and products in the larger local papers is too
saturated and the cost of running an eye-catching ad long
enough to be seen is very prohibitive. There are
alternatives, however--many of which have worked for me and
for people I've known.

The best alternatives are smaller publications: especially
those that reach a fairly narrow or targeted group of
people. Small newsletters, weekly newspapers, special
interest magazines, etc. are great sources of advertising
at a reasonable cost. Chances are that if you're in a
business, you subscribe to that business market's trade
magazines and publications. Right? So do your potential
customers!

Another alternative, especially for businesses who serve a
fairly broad market and who aim for lower and medium-income
people, are classified newspapers. There are many
publications (usually weekly) that carry nothing but
classified ads. The "Thrifty Nickel" ads are one of the
larger publications of this type--they publish locally,
but have an office and distribution area in most parts of
the country. The ad rates in these publications are
inexpensive and gather a lot of exposure. Further, if you
talk long-term with a salesperson from these publications,
you can always get more bang for your buck. Ask for a
larger ad, or a display ad of some kind and offer a longer
contract (say six months) for the larger ad at the smaller
ad's dollar figure. Because this is money up front and
guaranteed sold space in their publication (and since
they're usually on commission) they will generally agree.

More alternatives include movie theaters, co-op
advertising, and small-scale mailbox advertising. Movie
theater advertising (slideshows, posters, etc.) can be
expensive, but if you target a broad market, these will
pay off in the long run.

Co-op advertising includes mass-mail coupon packets, mass-
mail postcard packets, multi-ad bulletin boards, shared
television time, and other cooperative advertising
elements. These can be very low-cost and beneficial,
especially if those involved together can offer a strategic
partnership of some kind (i.e. a printing press and an
independent small-scale editor).

If you're on a very tight budget and need results quickly,
traditional forms of contact including cold-calling and
door-to-door sales can get you out of trouble in the short
run. If you offer a long-term service, you may get
continual contracts from these forms of advertising.
However, they are very time-consuming and can be a waste of
resources - especially if you carry printed materials with
you. The turnaround rate for these is fairly low, as most
of the decision-makers may not be on-sight in the buildings
you target and most people can see a salesperson (this
would be you) coming a mile away and have a large list of
refusals pre-programmed in their minds to turn you away.
Telephone calls are not much better as the person answering
is rarely the person you need to talk to. In fact, the
person answering the phone is generally employed to keep
people like you from "bothering" the person in charge.

A great alternative to cold-calls is print mail. Postcards
are inexpensive and more effective than envelopes and make
a great first impression. Especially if well designed and
written. The front of the post card should be simple and
contain only your return address, the prospect's address,
and your other contact info. The back of the card should
include color elements to catch their eye (a logo perhaps)
and large print headlines to get their attention. Your
sales message must be brief, to the point, and geared
towards getting their reaction (i.e. phone call or
walk-in).

There are a lot of alternatives for advertising out there.
A good hint as to what works is to look at your
competitors. How do they advertise? In what mediums?
What types of ad to they typically run? How often? Most
importantly, how well are they doing business-wise? If
they are doing well, the answers to the other questions
will tell you where you should begin in your advertising
considerations.

The number one rule to use is "the longer the better." The
longer you ad runs or is visible; the more effective it
will be to the audience it is aimed for. Maybe they don't
need your service or product this week, but two weeks down
the road they might. If they don't see your ad again, they
will have forgotten you. If they see your ad enough times,
they will begin to associate you with that product or
service.

Hopefully, you've gained some new ideas. At the very
least, maybe I've reinforced your own thinking. Now go out
and do it!

------------------------------------------------------------
From The Webmaster
by Aaron Turpen, Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to issue three of our weekly newsletter! Wow,
things really got hectic last weekend moving the server.
Luckily, everything is running smoothly again and things
have definitely improved.

As promised, this week's issue is about marketing your
business on a budget. While this issue focuses on offline
("real world") advertising, the next few issues will
include a series of good articles on advertising online. I
say these articles are good because I wrote them myself! :)

I would like to give you a reminder...Christmas, Hannuka,
Kwanzaa, etc. are coming up towards the end of the month.
I will be going out of town to see family during the week
of the 23rd. I will do my best to keep tabs (checking
email and the server's status among other things) and the
newsletter's delivery time will not be affected by this
vacation. My email address will have an autoresponse, but
I will read each email!


I hope you enjoy this issue and that this newsletter has
become helpful to you. Thanks for reading!

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the services offered here at
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Readers Talk Back!
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"Another great issue addresses the most common causes of
failure. You've got to remember that you want a relation-
ship with your clients. Like in a marriage, if you're a
quitter or unfaithful - they'll leave you."

--Rob K. (no current website)

------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to send a comment or letter to the editor
for inclusion in this newsletter, please address it to:
newsletter@aaronzwebworkz.com. All are welcome to give
their opinion, criticism, or kudos!

------------------------------------------------------------
How To Get Ahead With Advertising
by Matt Leppard

Matt Leppard is Editor and a content producer for Global
Estate (http://www.globalestate.com), the first true portal
site designed to cater exclusively to real estate. The site
includes property listings, news, and advice articles on
everything from buying a home to eliminating household
pests to using the Internet to find a home.

Editor's Comments: This is a well-written article with many
good points. Since we are focusing on offline marketing
this week, it fits in perfectly!
------------------------------------------------------------
How to get ahead with advertising

Whatever type or level of business you are, whether self-
employed or a multinational corporation, you are at some
time or another going to consider advertising. A multi-
billion dollar industry, there exist thousands of ad
agencies crying out for your money, and usually producing
mixed returns.

Agencies can make or break your company. The annals of
business bombs are littered with companies that paid a wad
of cash for a campaign that missed that company's target
market, got a slogan wrong, or even misrepresented products
and services. On the other side of the coin, a winning
campaign leads to your product selling truckloads and can
even lead to a penetration of international consciousness.
Look at Nike's 'Just Do It' as an example.

With the advent of mid-priced desktop publishing programs
such as Adobe PageMaker and image manipulation programs
such as Adobe Photoshop, many people are turning to smaller
agencies or even doing ads in-house. These low-cost
solutions mean costs are saved, but can also mean that
shoddy work makes it into print or online.

The reality is that unless you are an experienced designer
or copy-writer, your ad is going to be a dud unless you
give it to at least a semi-professional. However, this does
not mean you can't give that professional a tight design
and text brief. Don't be afraid to work closely with the
designer and make sure you have final say over whether the
finished product is acceptable.

A quick glance over the property section in most newspapers
will reveal the good and bad in display ads (boxed ads that
include pictures). Go on, try it - it's a revelation. Open
the paper fully, and look over it for 30 seconds, then
close the paper and see which ads you remember.

Of course, ads for specific sections, such as property,
will generally be geared to a specific audience and will be
different than, for example, ads for the entertainment
section. Yet it's amazing that such a variety exists.

Get their attention
Ads are composed of devices to catch your eye, make you
read, and then phone up for more details. A handy acronym
to remember is AIDA. A for 'attract': make people see your
ad with stimulating images and text. I for 'interest': make
sure the imagery and text engages the viewer. D for
'desire': make the reader want your product. And A for
'action': make the viewer lift the phone or write an email.

Again, looking at a double-page spread in my local news-
paper reveals a mixed bag of these devices. Remember that
biggest is not necessarily best - print ad costs are also
proportional to size. If you've got a great ad at a quarter
page, it counts for more than a duff ad at a half page, so
before you even think about design or text, settle on a
size.

When your size is sorted out according to your budget, the
next thing to consider is imagery. This is also one area
where many people miss the mark, especially in newspaper
advertising. Remember that newspaper images are 'halftones'
with pictures composed of small dots of varying blackness.

This means that if you start with a small, low-resolution
image, what ends up in print will be a mess of blotches.
Use a high-resolution image that is as simple as possible
yet includes sharply contrasting elements. If you use
Photoshop, save the image as a greyscale bitmap (from the
Image menu), and select the halftone option to see what
the image might look like in print.

The same is generally true of magazine advertising,
although you have the additional consideration of colour.
Sharply contrasting colours, while eye catching, detract
from the ad itself and often hurt the eye. Think about what
colours match your message - rich golds, greens, and blues
emphasize quality, while reds and yellows imply fun and
sexiness.

Be word wise
The next thing to think about is text. This is the most
difficult and contentious area - just what words should you
use? Well, you should choose wisely. For headlines, use as
few words as possible with the maximum impact and avoid
metaphors, puns and other textual devices like
alliteration. These may seem like a good idea, but unless
you are a pro, may make you cringe later on.

For the rest of the text, use space wisely and make sure
you spellcheck it. There's nothing more off-putting than ad
copy spoiled by typos and errors. Stay basic and you can't
go far wrong. If you are advertising a studio flat, a
bulleted list of features and characteristics that
emphasizes quality and location is ideal.

In terms of text fonts, keep it simple. One of the biggest
mistakes designers make is to use as many different fonts
as possible. Don't. Stick to one font group and mix up
bolds, italics and sizes. If you want to use different
fonts, be consistent with one for headings and one for body
text.

Once you've got your ad sorted, placement is very
important. The key placement areas are right-hand pages in
magazines and top-left corners in newspapers. This is for a
reason - when reading a newspaper, people scan from left to
right. In magazines, people usually see the right-hand page
before the left. Of course, in magazine advertising, ads on
the covers are the most coveted.

Depending on your budget and whether you can choose the
placement, aim for these areas. The least desirable place
for ads is the bottom right/left corners and you will often
find these taken up with house ads - adverts by the news-
paper or magazine itself quoting ad rates, phone numbers,
etc.

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