Can classifieds work for your business

For for any business the sole aim is having the maximum number of customers and this is only realized through proper advertising. If you want to feel the importance of classified ads and ways in which it can work for you there is no short cut. You have to make sure you know what type of business you want to undertake and the approach to adopt for your classifieds. Seattle classifieds generates major contention as to its relevance and extent that it can help but I can assure you that it works wonders if not abused.

Rest assured that a well strucured classified ad and one that is precise can makea great fortune for you. It works to sell online your different products or the wide range of services that you do offer for long periods of time months and even for years. There is also an element of choice incase one wants to join any advertising network. Be keen not to lure your ideas to the wrong website listings that can make the ads dormant and of no use. On this matter it is all about cross checking the most browsed website before making any particular decision in business. Still on the same point the strength of an advert is what will generate interest and eventually win the souls of many in your products therefore adds more to your profits.

Classifieds are normally free or if not they hold a small reasonable charge. In this argument they help the business owner to be able to gain access to online customers at a cheap rate and at the same time help to seel more of the products. Within a span of time an individual maximizes the profits due to less budgetted advertising but a great response form customer enquiries. To every one using the Seattle classified this is their sole intent and it is diverting the attention of many from the print media which is damn expensive.

To add to this business is all about networking and competition and this is depicted through the advertising. A business that monopolizes a certain field tends to provide poor services to the customers and the qualit of their ads are very poor. This is because there is no competition from any one and therefore no pressure to engage on online advertising. But for the case where classifieds are used the company or businesses are of very high quality and their products are of stardard and this being the reason why it is important.

Getting to use classifieds can enable one to obtain employess of high quality and with experience. This is because many jobs are now done online creating space for job seekers to venture in browsing for them. Finally there are very many other benefits for classifieds use and they are all linked to the expansion and improvement of the business quality and also the products.

Read more of Y. Clarke's work on Free classifieds Seattle and the Seattle blog by visiting the websites Free classifieds Seattle and Seattle blog

Essential Guide To Pay-Per-Click Advertising

Which Engines Should You Use?

Following Goto.com's (now known as Overture) phenomenal success
with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, more than 160 PPC startups
have sprung up.

Out of these 160 PPC engines, only a few may actually have the
search volume to generate a respectable number of clicks for your
site.

Most PPC startups require between $10 to $25 of setup fee which
can be applied to clickthroughs. They offer low minimum bids of
$0.01. But with limited search volumes, they may bring you only a
few clicks each day!

My recommendation is to go for established PPC engines with high
search volumes that can generate higher clickthroughs. The big
boys are Overture (previously known as Goto) at
http://www.overture.com, Sprinks at http://www.sprinks.com,
FindWhat at http://www.findwhat.com.

Overture is the best because they serve over 2 billion search
queries monthly through their partnership with major search
engines such as America Online, Lycos, Altavista, Netscape,
Hotbot and InfoSpace.

You can test the startup PPC engines but commit only the minimum
setup fees. If they generate decent traffic, you can always top
up your account. That way you minimize your risk to only $10 to
$25 per PPC engine. For a list of over 160 PPC engines, see
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com

How To Find Relevant Keywords?

Since you are paying for each clickthrough on your bid, it makes
good sense to ensure that your keywords are relevant to your
target audience.

One of my favorite tools is Overture's Search Term Suggestion at
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

Enter a keyword and it shows the number of times the word was
searched - which indicates its popularity. The more popular the
keyword is, the higher are your clickthroughs. Overture also
generates a list of similar keywords and their search counts in
the previous month.

Overture's tool is one of the best ways for finding good keywords
to bid on. Another alternative is to download Good Keywords at
http://www.softnik.com/products/gkw/index.htm

Enter a keyword into this free software and it will display a
list of relevant search terms and their search counts across
multiple PPC engines.

You can also try JimTools' Keyword Toolkit at
http://jimworld.nu/keywords.html

JimTools can generate a list of related keyword possibilities,
some with search counts, from Goto, Google, Magellan and
WebCrawler.

How Much Do I Bid?

The bigger PPC engines such as Goto and Sprinks require a minimum
bid of $0.05. Startup engines have lesser minimums of $0.01.

How much to bid depends on your return-on-investment (ROI)
calculations.

For example: If you bid $1.00 per visitor, and 1 in every 10
visitors buys your product, your cost-per-sale is $10.00.

So if each sale of your product produces a gross profit of $15,
then your net profit will be $5.00 ($15 gross profit minus $10
cost-per-sale).

Your return-on-investment (ROI), before non-marketing expenses,
is 50.0% ($5.00 net profit / $10 cost-per-sale). Always price
your bids to achieve a positive ROI!

A great tool that you can use to compare bids for a specific
keyword across multiple PPC engines is at
http://www.compareyourclicks.com

To read about how you can maximize your returns from PPC engines,
go to http://internetmarketingfocus.com/article.php?sid=53

You'll learn how to reduce your bids while still maintaining the
same ranking or get a top 3 position for maybe just 1 cent more!

How Do I Track Clicks?

Most of the time, you'll notice that the number of clicks tracked
by yourself is between 15% to 30% more than the clicks the PPC
engine reports.

This is because reputable PPC engines such as Overture have
installed anti-cheating mechanisms that prevent your competitors
from repeatedly clicking on your listings and wasting your bid
fees!

They will count multiple clicks within a specified timeframe from
the same computer as only one clickthrough while your own log
will usually register the multiple clicks.

There was once when I noticed that my log was registering less
clicks than Overture's reports. They were experiencing some bug
which prevented clicks from being properly delivered to the
advertiser's website.

Because I was tracking my clicks, I notified them of the problem
and they credited my account for the bad clicks. Tracking your
clicks give you a more reliable picture of how well your PPC
campaign is performing.

If you have access to your CGI directory, I recommend LnkinLite,
a small yet powerful tracking software that can track clicks to
your site in the background. Get it at
http://www.dtp-aus.com/cgiscript/lnkinlte.shtml

Otherwise you can consider free online trackers at
http://www.hypertracker.com or http://www.linkcounter.com

Keeping in Touch with Your Customers

Owning a small business is hard work. You need to take advantage of every available tool at your disposal in order to maximize your profits. One of the most important things you can (and should) do to ensure that your business stays on its feet is to communicate regularly with your customers.

If you have been in business for a while, you probably have some loyal customers that you can tap to help you advertise at a very low cost. Even if that is not the case, you can use some old fashioned techniques to help cultivate loyal customers and improve your bottom line.

Pre Sale Techniques

As old fashioned as it may seem, direct mailing efforts can still generate a surprising number of sales. There are several ways that you can attract new customers through direct mail techniques. You can design a postcard printing and send it to targeted customers in your area.

Or you can try a more basic strategy and run a color printing of flyers and post them in strategic areas. Finally, you can print up some brochures and hand them out to as many of your target customers as possible.

During the Sale

This is by far the most important step in keeping in touch with your customers. When customers come in to your store (this especially applies to regular customers) try to get their contact information. Ask them for their address so you can offer them special offers through the mail. Most will be more than happy to accommodate you if you include that little incentive.

Post Sale Techniques

Once you have contact information for your customers, you have to follow through by communicating with them. A good way to do this is by sending out a regular newsletter. It can be monthly, quarterly or (if you are really ambitious) even weekly. Use this medium to keep your customers up to date with all the things happening with your business. You can also design a color printing of postcards to send out to your best customers. Use the postcards to give your loyal customers special deals that no one else gets. This is a good way to make them feel special and keep them coming back.

No matter how you communicate with your customers, the key is to keep reinforcing your company name in their minds. The more they hear your name, the more they will think of your business. And the more they think of your business, the more they will take advantage of your services.

And, most importantly, the more they take advantage of your services, the more money you make. That is what it is all about, right? So don’t neglect your loyal customers. Keep in touch with them and watch the extra profits roll in.

Know more about online printing and color printing.

About the Author:

Katie Marcus writes about the various online printing and commercial printing technologies that businesses use for their advertising and marketing campaigns.

Making A Good Impression For Your Company

If you're running a small business, you are your business. Wherever you go and whatever you do is a business promotion opportunity. Conversely, wherever you go and whatever you do reflects upon your business.

Because first impressions are important, as a business owner, you want to ensure that everyone who meets you forms a positive one. One easy way to make a good first impression is to have a brand or logo. Having a brand, logo helps build customer loyalty. Customers loyal to a brand will be willing to pay a premium price for a product they have come to trust. They will also recommend their brand to other people. Statistics have shown than companies that own successful brands are typically valued several times the net value of their physical assets.

If you don't have a logo or brand to represent your company, look at hiring a professional to help you put one together. A good logo should capture the essence of your business - what you stand for, your objectives, goals, and nature of business. One's logo should also be brilliant enough to create trust and help out customers to identify your company or brand easily. It also must be basic yet very visually charming and flexible or adaptable enough to be used in different media like the Internet, TV, and print advertisement.

Once you have secured a logo, put it everywhere. One easy way to show off your logo and company name is to have it either screen printed or embroidered on shirts. Custom company shirts build a strong business identity and add credibility to you or your company.

Wearing customized company shirts also attracts new customers. No matter where you are, helping a client, putting gas in your vehicle or running to the store, you are a walking billboard. People recall logos and company names, especially when they see them over and over. And if one of the people you run into needs your service, your customized shirt will make them remember your company.

Placing your logo or name on your shirt also makes you stand out from your competition. This is why it is also important to put your logo consistently on everything you own; your vehicle, stationary, website and business cards. When potential clients see your logo, it will stick with them. Logos are like psychological images that consumers have come to associate with the company or product. People also subconsciously want to have a brand and image they can trust and county on.

As any business owner knows, you have to have the edge over your competition in almost everything you do, so why not start by making your first big impression today?

by Justin Morris is a Managing Partner of LEADApparel.com

Promotional Products – That Make an Impression

Promotional products are the one kind of reward you give to your best employees or business clients or loyal customers. Its make an impression that you admire their contribution in your business. These are the people who actually help your business to grow and expand. Promotional products or corporate gifts are like token to develop long lasting relationship with employees or customers or with business clients. What you make sure that promotional products or corporate gifts which you distribute are useful and creating good impression in business concerns’ mind. It is also make sure that promotional products actually reflect your brand identity so select it wisely. With the help of promotional products and corporate gifts you can expand and grow your business. Now business gatherings and meetings are usual and you should distribute promotional products in these types of business gatherings. Promotional products are the best marketing tools and with the help of them you not only increase awareness of your business but also advertise and publicize your business. Imprinted promotional products increase awareness about your business in the people. They are instruments which are useful to assure your market presence. If it is occasion of new product launch then promotional products are the best way to increase awareness about your new products in your customers and business clients.

Make-sure that the promotional products you send to a client has a high perceived worth. This is by no means endorsing profligate spending on corporate gifts to the detriment of your organization. Promotional products to your most valued clients and customers should underpin this fact. This is because the clients are likely to see that gift as your measure of their value to you. Thus tacky gifts are to be avoided in every measure. When you want to give a promotional product to an outstanding employee, try to ensure that the gift has an "outsider" element. By this it’s meant that the gift is not an item the organization in question ordinarily deals with. It makes no sense for a wine making establishment to give two bottles of their best brands to their super sales man. When you decide to distribute promotional products then make sure that your selected promotional products are meaningful and useful for the business clients and customers. Be selective in choosing promotional products because they are the items which reflect your business or products or service.

If you want to buy your kind of promotional products or corporate gifts then visit http://www.brandable.com.au and get your promotional products which better reflect your brand identity.

10 Tips For Writing An Unforgettable Ad!

1. Publish a picture of yourself in your ad. This will show people that you're not hiding behind your web site and you're not afraid to backup your product.

2. List how many famous or respected people have purchased your product in your ad. These people should be fairly known by your target audience.

3. Publish the results of any tests your product has passed in your ad. Your product may have passed a durability test, safety test, quality test, etc.

4. Publish the results of any positive surveys you've taken from your customers in your ad. Just survey your current customers and list the results.

5. List any publications that have written about your business in your ad. It could be a product review, on a top ten list, an article, etc.

6. List any related books that you've written in your ad. When you list a book(s) you've wrote, it gives you credibility because it shows you're an expert.

7. Have a professional looking web site to publish your ad on. When people visit your site and it looks unprofessional, they'll relate that to your product.

8. Publish any endorsements from famous people in your ad. Some people will think if a famous person, enjoys your product, so will they.

9. Use a money back guarantee in your ad. This will remove the risk from your potential customers and show them that you stand behind your product.

10. Provide testimonials from satisfied customers in your ad. The testimonials should include specific and believable results you customers have received.

About the author: Larry Dotson 50,000 FREE eBooks, Web Books, Courses And More! Visit: http://www.ldpublishing.com

Various Business Greeting Cards Tips

As your business adds more and more customers, make sure you collect some basic information about them, such as their mailing address. That way, you can send out greeting cards to your customers. Greeting cards can be a great way to entice these customers to come back to you for more business. And there is nothing better than a loyal customer, right?

Here are some tips to remember the next time you print greeting cards:

1. Plan Ahead

Not only do you have to continually collect information from your customers, but you need to plan your greeting card campaign, too. Plan ahead to make sure you can cover the cost for materials and postage and any other costs that come up. And make sure you get the cards out soon enough to arrive on time.

2. Shop Around

Decide what kind of greeting card you want to send to your customers, and shop around for that type. Try to find the most cost effective way to send a great message. There are many options out there, so take the time to find the right fit for you.

3. Use Greeting Card Etiquette

Even if something does not sound offensive to you, it might to someone else. Be scrupulously clean when it comes to your greeting cards. Be careful not to say anything that might offend anyone. It is a good idea to try out your greeting card idea on others before you actually print greeting cards, to get an idea of how it will go over.

4. Personalize Your Cards

Include handwritten notes on the greeting cards that you send out. You do not have to have totally handwritten cards, just a small, personalized note on each one. This little detail can have a profound effect on your cards’ effectiveness.

5. Have the Whole Company Help

If you have employees, have them all sign the cards. Obviously, this isn’t an option if you are sending out thousands of cards. But, most likely, you are not. So have the whole team sign the cards you send out. This is a fabulous little touch that many people will really enjoy.

6. Handwrite the Address

Even if you do not write handwritten notes inside the card, or have your whole team sign it, you should definitely take the time to handwrite all of the envelopes. People do not like getting mail that looks too professional. Make it more personal by handwriting the recipient’s address on the envelope.

7. Use Snail Mail

You might be tempted to save money by sending an email greeting card, but don’t bother. They are just not nearly as effective as a real paper greeting card. Take the time to make real cards, and write out the addresses, and send them the old fashioned way. It will pay off for you in the end.

Learn about print greeting cards.

About the Author:

Katie Marcus writes about the various online printing and commercial printing technologies that businesses use for their advertising and marketing campaigns.

Top 10 Proven Classified Ad Selling Tips To Guarantee A Successful Sale of your product

It’s Spring Cleaning Time! The weather is getting warmer and it is time to dig through those closets, garages and storage areas and turn your unused items into cash! Traditionally, this is the busiest time of the year for classified advertising. Motor vehicles and recreational vehicles are especially big sellers during the warm weather. If you are considering selling, now is the time. Hundreds of potential buyers are out there reading the Sunday morning newspaper every week, so take advantage of the opportunity to sell your items. Below you will find some great tips to help you get the ball rolling.

1.PREPARE: Determine the items around your home that you no longer need. Once you have collected these items, confirm that they are in working order and in good selling condition. If items have been in storage for a long period of time, you may need to clean them up to make them more attractive to potential buyers.

2.RESEARCH: After all items are collected, do your research. Determine the value of your items and decide whether it would be worth you time and effort to place a classified ad. Some things will do well on their own while others may do better in a garage sale setting. If certain items do not have enough value to justify placing an advertisement and you are not interested in hosting a garage sale, donate these items to a local charity for a nice tax deduction.

3.WHERE TO ADVERTISE: Once you have the items sorted out, you need to decide the best method of advertising. Most items will do best advertised in your daily newspaper since you will be able to reach a local audience. Online classifieds generally do not receive as many local buyers, but most are free so you may want to place an ad there as well just to cover all the bases. If you are selling a larger item such as a car, motorcycle, motor home, etc., you will also want to place prominent for sale signs on the items themselves. You can also utilize bulletin boards in your local community to post a free advertisement.

4.DRAFTING YOUR AD: What are the most attractive selling features of your items for sale? Decide which of these features you want to highlight in your advertisement. Look for classified ads for similar items to get an idea of how they are written. Check out the competition to see how your item is better or different than the items that will be running along side your ad.

5.WRITING YOUR AD: Create a catchy title to get your reader’s attention. This will spark an interest in your classified ad. Always include the brand name when applicable. Price should only be included in the title if it is an obvious selling point. Next, you need to write the body text of your ad and entice buyers even further with the details. Make your description clear and factual. Provide specific details in what it is that makes your item stand out from the others. Be honest in your representation and do not make your item appear better than it actually is. Always include the price in your ad. Take some time to view other classified ads for similar items in your newspaper. This will help you determine a fair asking price for your item. Keep in mind, just because you paid $1,500 for your dining room set, does not mean you will receive that much for it on resale. Be realistic in your expectations. Furthermore, if you will only be available during certain times of the day to discuss your item, make a note of this in your advertisement so buyers know the best time to reach you. If possible, include your email address.

6.INCLUDING PHOTOS: A picture is worth a thousand words. Some local newspapers provide you with the option to include photos with your classified ad. Be sure to include the photos! When buyers have the opportunity to see an article for sale they have a higher degree of interest and are more likely to buy when they follow up by telephone or email to ask questions or to get more information. If your newspaper does not offer photos or the photo option is too expensive, you can use an online classified photo hosting service. Visit http://www.seethisitem.com for information on how to include free digital photos with your newspaper classified ad.

7.COMMUNICATING WITH BUYERS: Do your best to be available when customers call for information regarding your item. Be polite and helpful and answer all questions to the best of your knowledge.

8.SCHEDULING APPOINTMENTS: If you receive numerous calls for your item, be sure to space out the appointments so that you will have enough time to spend with each buyer and your appointments will not overlap. Safety tip: Whenever possible, have someone home with you when a buyer is coming over to look at your item. You really can never be too careful when dealing with people you have never met before.

9.NEGOTIATION: Decide before you negotiate, the lowest amount you will be willing to accept for your item. This will assure a smoother negotiation process.

10.PAYMENT: Never accept a check for your item. You should only accept cash or money orders. If a buyer decides they want the item, but they do not have cash on them, always take a deposit to hold the item until they are able to come back. Be sure to set a deadline for them to return with the balance due. Even though you have a deposit, do not stop showing your item since the deal is not final until you have the cash in your hand. If someone else is also interested, tell them you just received an offer, but you will be happy to take down their name and number in case the deal falls through. This will give you more options should the original buyer back out of the sale.

That’s it! Keep these selling tips in mind and you will be on the road to a successful sale. Take your time, be thorough and most of all have fun! If you follow the steps outlined above, you will be turning your unused items into cash in no time.

How to Stimulate Word of Mouth Advertising For Product Advertising

If the promotional items you give out end up in the attic or shoved in the back of a desk drawer, they are probably not doing what they are supposed to be doing. However, if items you passed out to the customers are being seen again and again, chances are, word-of-mouth advertising is stimulating your business.

With media (radio, televisions and newspaper), messages can come and go. But, the exposure promotional items can give equals longevity. While there is no real scientific way to measure how many impressions an item can receive in its lifetime, we know that it works and ultimately gets well over its money's worth. I used to work at a radio station that passed out license plates. We had a very fun logo- and still after ten years of being on the air, they are a sought out item. We began to limit the number that were handed out at live action broadcasts, and that drew people to event after event. Everywhere you drive in our area, you are sure to see a dozen or so cars with Froggy 101 license plates on the commute. This may draw people to flip on the station to see what's playing. With the amount of impressions they get, these 'mini-billboards' sure generate more word of mouth advertising than a real billboard would, for a fraction of the cost. When concerts came to town, we'd have the country singers autograph them, and then either give them away or auction them off for charity. Those, which were often bought by business owners, are on prominent display in bars and pubs around the area. This is just one small example of how word-of-mouth advertising can explode through a small item.

Bumper stickers and static stickers are something that constantly generate word-of-mouth as well. What college doesn't sell them? Parents and alumni can also have them too! Coffee and travel mugs, and even koozies (can coolers) can all create buzz about their namesake in offices, at people's homes or at the beach. While many people use their 'free t-shirts' to sleep in, many others will wear them to the gym or out jogging. This could create locker room talk about when and how they got the shirt. At a bar, you may help someone open a beer with a keychain from an insurance company- and guess what- they need insurance.

Word-of-mouth can also even help for short-term goals, such as at a seminar. You may be passing out a really cool item, which makes you the talk of the floor. Or, maybe everyone at the county fair wants to stop by the Heavenly Touch Massage Therapy stand for a stress ball.

Plain and simple, if you use the right kind of promotional items, people will use them- and others will see them being used. "Where's you get that?" could become a common question to the user, making them a walking, talking billboard for your own company. If a t-shirt cost you $3.89, but the person wears it to the gym once a week- think how far that little sum of money actually went!

Product Advertising

When we talk about product advertising, In most cases the goal of product advertising is to clearly promote a specific product to a targeted audience. If you are marketing private label rights digital products there are many ways that you can do this. You will first need to figure out what your advertising budget is. It doesn’t matter how much money you have to work with but it is important to know this up front before you start any marketing. So what are the ways that you can start marketing private label rights digital products?

There are free and paid marketing methods for your product advertisement campaign that you can choose from to use. It doesn’t matter which ones you use. You just want to remember that you need to use more than one marketing method. That way if one of them doesn’t work for you then you will have other methods that will.

Here are some free product marketing methods that you can use:

One: you need to write your own articles or hire someone to write them for you. Once you have your article then you will want to post it to your website, blog and distribute it to the different article directories. Search engines love articles that are full of helpful and unique content.

Two: you can use traffic exchanges to get the word out about your private label rights product.

Three: for your product advertisement campaign you can get involved in forums that have something to do with the topic of your product. You will want to be able to use a signature file that will be posted each time you answer someone’s question or ask one of your own. You don’t want to just advertise your product out right. You want to be a helpful participant in the forum and let your signature file do the advertising for you.

Four: you want to do a joint venture with other business owners asking them if they will send your product advertisement out to their list of subscribers for a part of the commissions. You will more than likely need to let the owner of the list have a free copy of your product before they will agree to do this. They will need to make sure that it is something that will be beneficial to their customers before they send it out.

Five: you can write a press release or hire someone to write it for you. Then you can distribute it to all of the different news places that accept them.

Here are some paid marketing methods that you can use:

One: you can use pay per click search engines such as Google Adwords. However, before you do this you will want to make sure that you learn everything you can about them and how they work. Otherwise you will end up spending a lot of money and not making any money. This is very important to do before you use this form of marketing.

Two: you can buy a solo ad with a list owner. That way your ad will go out all by itself without others there to distract the subscribers. The results that you see from this will depend on how big the list is.

No matter what method you use for marketing private label rights digital products you want to make sure that you know how each method works. This will mean that you have to educate yourself on the different methods that are available. This can take some time but it is well worth the effort. You need to remember that the free marketing methods will take more time before you see results. The paid methods will work faster to make you some money. However, they can get expensive if you don’t know how to do them right. Figure out which methods that you want to use and learn all you can about them before you start to market your product.