I analysed ads in a recent issue, which was pretty representative of norm and what you'll see everywhere. From 20 classified ads, 10 -- that's a whole 50% -- were for "well- known" programs using their familiar URLs, many of which were duplicated back-to-back like sardines in a can in same issue and contained similar if not identical wordings.

Come on, how effective is that?

Many of these programs are questionable to begin with, but even if they are genuine you are NOT going to get sufficient responses from those ads to make it worth your while. You have to do something individual and unique to make any real money, anywhere. That's always been true and still is, even on 'net.

Real Hype

Of rest, one was for a well-known scam or at least something which has been uncovered as a plan that does not work and which uses questionable methods. Check things out before you promote them. You may be acting in good faith, you may have been fooled and I appreciate that it is difficult to admit that, but you will be judged on it so it MATTERS.

Claims of specific returns, unless you are referring to realistic amounts you can prove that you made, are a another matter. The "promises" are almost guaranteed to be hype. Don't touch them with a long pole and don't make this mistake in your ads. Don't copy ads that make these claims, which came with program, unless you are personally making income in required number of digits by using it. We won't believe you otherwise.

The Smart Ads

That left nine of our original 20. What were smart ones? Several were for ezines. Now that's smart. Advertise "outside" to get subscribers, then you have chance to develop trust and rapport with your subscribers. They will be more likely to join your programs or buy your stuff than anyone you "cold-call".

Only ONE ad was for something (non-ezine) that was totally unique, theirs, their own experience and recommendation, using their own domain URL, properly "keyed" for tracking. I bet I know who will have got most clicks from that issue.

One out of 20 is 5% -- fix that percentage in your mind.

You will probably have read that only 5% of people (on Internet or anywhere) will make real money. Now you can see who it will most likely be and why. Think about it and apply it if you want to be part of that percentage. Do your own unique thing and your ads will be unique.

When they are they will be effective.

1.Get your site listed in search engines for appropriate keywords.

2. Use your keywords on search engines to find sites of similar interest and exchange your links with them.

3.Get involved in keyword bidding. You can get best results at http://www.goto.com and http://www.findwhat.com .

4.Get involved in pay per click search engines. An excellent resource on this is http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/

5.Get listed in directories related to your particular interest. You can find directories of interest using various search engines.

6.Search for ezines that relate to your target audience and advertise. You may use following resources to search for ezines. http://www.ezinesearch.com http://www.liszt.com http://www.ezineseek.com http://www.pennmedia.com/ http://ejournal.coalliance.org/

7.Of course you may participate in various discussion forums of interest .This can be very time consuming. You can search for appropriate forum at:

http://www.forumone.com http://www.liszt.com http://www.dejanews.com

8.Advertise in related classified sections of Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Lycos.