I GAVE A PARTY AND NOBODY SHOWED UP!

Did you ever do that? Give a party and nobody showed up? I hope not. I must admit I never have either.

But, I'll tell you what I have done and it's just about as bad, maybe worse. I've placed ads and nobody answered them. Now, that really hurts - not only your ego, but your bank account.

Maybe that's why so many people are afraid to place ads. I hear them say - "yeah, but what if I put in ads and they do not get a response? Then what?" Well, my answer to that is - you lost money.

So, why do ads not pull a decent response? How can you avoid losing money when placing ads? The answer - there is no guarantee. But, you can almost assure a decent response to an ad by doing several things right.

When I first started in business I was going gung-ho. I spent money left and right placing ads, thinking that's all there was to it - just place the ad and watch the money roll in. Well, the money rolled alright, but it went the wrong way - *out*, not in.

However, I did profit from those first dud ads. I profited by experience. I sat down and tried to analyze what went wrong. I read some books on the subject. I talked to some people who were successful in business. Boy, talk about going about it backward, that's what I should have done to start with.

Here's what I learned and followed successfully since:

1. The first thing you need to do - is target your ad. Place your ad where the right people will see it. People who have a need for what you are selling. You don't want to target nudist camps if you are selling clothes and shoes. So make sure your message is going to the right places.

2. Write a headline that gets attention. Not just a mundane - "How I Make Money on the Internet." Instead, how about - "The One Thing I Learned That Started Me Making Money." 'Thing' makes people curious - what is the one thing you can learn to make money? They read on and that's the whole idea. Target the right audience and get them to read your ad.

3. What should you say in your ad? Now, we're targeting our web site here. Our web site where we are going to make the pitch. This is where we are going to sell - on the Internet, from our web site - not from this ad.

So what do we do? We hype our product. Be honest - but hype some (not all) of the reasons people need this product. How it will help them. What it will do for them. Don't tell too much - just stir up their appetite, make them want to know more and then tell them where they can get the full information - from your web page.

Never tell the whole story in your ad. If you do, they will decide whether to buy or not right then - and probably they will decide *no*. Why? Because you can't tell enough in an ad. The ad is only to spark interest and make them want to know more. Your web page does the selling.

Don't be afraid to advertise, but don't shoot your whole wad until you test the ad. If it does pretty good, test again. If it does poorly, don't chase a dead duck - drop it. Try something else.

But don't give up. You may lose a little at first, but that's the idea of testing. You won't lose much and you can live to fight another day. So -

-- Target your audience. -- Make the headline pull them in. -- Don't tell the whole story. -- Sell from your web page.

You will succeed - you just have to start and test.

--May you always walk in sunshine,

--Hal Archer

About the author: Hal Archer has written many published articles and is known for his marketing skills, having built successful businesses both online and offline. He can teach anyone how to earn a full-time living on the Internet.

Visit Hal's website for free information, e-books and free e-courses on making a guaranteed monthly income: http://www.archnetsuccess.com