Writing One and Two Line Ads

By Jane Fulton
Posted Saturday, August 7, 2004

Some of you have expressed, to me, that you are a little afraid of writing ads. In this article, we will talk about writing one or two line ads and why they are more effective.

One of the first things to think about is, 'How do you read ads?'. Are you in a hurry and just scan them? When you scan do you just look for the jist of the ad? Do you get bored because of all the yada, yada, yada? How long is your attention span? When reading ads do you wish they would get to the point, so that you can know if you are interested or not? Do you get impatient with the same ad over and over? If you answered 'yes' to any one of these questions, what makes you think that others don't feel the same way?

That brings up another question. Are your ads being read? Would you like for your ads to be read? If you want your ads read, I am going to offer some suggestions:

1) Most people's attention span is very low, especially on the internet. Everyone is always in a hurry, therefore you need to keep it short. After all what are you trying to get people to do with your ad? You want them to visit your site, or an affiliate site and maybe make a purchase, right?

2) You don't need to write a book. Simply tell the people about your offer, but make it tweak their curiosity. We'll talk more about this later.

When I read ads, I scan them to get the 'jist' of the ad. What are they trying to tell me? Oh, it's about a Free cell phone, with all the trimmings. I already have a cell phone and I am happy with the service I get. No, I'm not interested. Next!

Let's stay with the cell phone ad, for a minute. Let's say that your cell phone offer is unique, in some kind of way. Maybe you will offer a person 3 months of Free service, if they change to your service. They never find that out. Why? Because their isn't enough room to say all of that in the ad. Where would there be room enough to really expand and tell them all the good stuff? On your web site or your affiliate website.

Lesson # 1-- You can't sell them in an ad! You need to get them to visit the web site! How can you do that? Let's have a closer look at that question. Which ad would you be willing to click on:

Ad #1: Get your Free cell phone, including voice mail, three way calling, unlimited nights and weekends, paging, caller ID and much more, for only $39.99! Now that's a deal! Visit us at: (http://mycellphone.com)

Ad #2: We can save you money! How does $122.00 sound? (http://mycellphone.com)

In the first ad, if you aren't in need of a cell phone, you won't bother to click the link. In the second ad, doesn't that peak your curiosity? It does mine. I would begin to think, They can save me $122.00? How? I would click the link, go to the web site to find out.

TIP: Your ad is not to sell the person. An ad is to peak their curiosity enough to get them to click the link. The web site is where you sell them. Doesn't it make sense that
you have more room on your web site to tell them about your offer and explain it to them? If you can get them there, you might make a sale, even if they already have a cell phone. They may want to change the service they now have to your service. Wouldn't that be great? You have made a sale!

You have to think like your customer. Would you like to save $122.00? Of course you would. We are all looking to save money, especially in today's economy.

Now let's do this exercise. Take a few moments to think about what you are selling? How could you describe it and peak my interest? Now condense the ad down to 1 or 2 sentences. Think about what 1 or 2 lines would peak Your curosity. Send me an ad about your product or service (1-2 lines) that will make me click on your web site, or your affiliate web site. Send me the ad at mailto:funad@janes-place.com We will have 2 winners. The 2 winners will have their ad spotlighted in our newsletter. Talk about exposure! Set-up another email account at yahoo.com -- jpad@yahoo.com , which stands for janes-placead@yahoo.com and let's see how many responses you get from the ad. Test it in other newsletters too! If you get a good response, it will tell whether this works or not. You will also collect the email addresses from those who respond, so that you can market to them later. I will write an article later and explain how you would do this. You can only win trying this out! I promise I will not embarrass any one! If I have any suggestions, I will email you personally. Deal?

About the Author
Jane Fulton is owner and webmistress of (http://janes-place.com) "Home For Newbies & Beginning Marketers". New to the internet? Frustrated? Take janes's hand and she will guide you through your frustration to confidence! Sign-up for Newbie & Affiliate SOS Newsletter Today!
(http://janes-place.com/sos.htm)