7. Key your ads to find out which one's are working. Or simply have several email addresses or auto responders and calculate which email address receives most response to your ads.

8. Keep records of every one who responds to your ads. Follow up with appropriate messages about your product. Of course give them option to opt out of receiving further correspondence.

9. Free Classified Ad Sites are a great way to test your ad writing skills before placing paid ads in publications online. Study how other marketers at these sites write their ads. Respond to their ads to see how they further market their product. Don't forget to set up a free email account especially to handle your request.

10. Study offline publications. And, advertisements you receive by snail-mail to see how they put it all together. This will help to build your ad writing skills and confidence in your copy writing abilities.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BB Lee is Editor/Publisher of SmallBizBits Newsletter. Visit site at http://www.angelfire.com/zine/smallbiz Limited Time! New Subscribers Request Your Free Ad! mailto:smallbiz@angelfire.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sentence would be better if written like this:

"We started our business in 1995. We sold and serviced vacuum cleaners. My brother and I did everything ourselves."

Use Consistent Spellings and Punctuation

Certain words or terms can be written correctly in more than one way. For example, "ecommerce" and "e-commerce" are both correct. The key is to pick one spelling and use it consistently throughout document.

Similarly, Jane Doe, MD and Jane Doe, M.D. are both correct. Again, you want to pick one usage and use it consistently.

If you're using numbers, decide whether to use number signs or to spell out word. It's a common practice to spell out numbers under ten and to use numerical signs for numbers over ten. i.e. We have eight employees." Or "We have 28 employees."

Limit use of Adverbs and Adjectives

Business writing is improved when adverbs and adjectives are removed or used sparingly.

For example, "Our new facility is very, very spacious" is better written as, "Our new facility is spacious."

"Our spacious, new facility really meets our needs," is better written as, "Our spacious facility meets our needs."

And, most importantly of all:

Strive for Clarity

Be clear about your message. Identify main point you want to make for entire document, then condense that point into one sentence. You might use that one sentence, or you might not. But you MUST decide what it is. If you have not formulated this one point in your own mind, your writing will not portray most important thing you want to communicate.

For example, what is one main message I want to communicate with this article? It is sentence #1.

"You can contribute significantly to your business' success by developing your writing skills."

The Resource Box to include: ================================================ How to Write Business Plans, Business Proposals, JV Contracts, Human Resource Package, More! No-cost ebook "Beginners Guide to Ecommerce". Business Writing by Nightcats Multimedia Productions http://www.nightcats.com ================================================