Most of affiliate programs require a monthly investment from people who join, and you earn commissions on what they spend. Why not consider that "three month" approach. Give them a gift equal to value of what you would earn in three months if they stick with program. If it's a decent program, they will probably be around a lot longer than three months, and you will have given them a reason to buy from you.

Unless you are a very large company, "Institutional Advertising" probably won't work for you. But you can still attain necessary name awareness. A one time ad does little, if any, good. It is a proven fact that people need to see an ad 5 to 7 times before they act.

I know a person who has advertised same thing in an online Newsletter for years. She provides a bonus for people who sign under her sponsorship, and keeps her name in front of her target market. She averages one or two sales a week from ad, and her income far exceeds her expenses.

Newsletter advertising that reaches your target market, is a good choice if done on a consistent basis. Most popular Newsletters average several hundred new subscribers a month. Many not only publish them, but archive them on a web site as well. Here you get a double "whammy". Your message will be read on web site by many people who don't get Newsletter. Some parts of world limit size of email, and they can't receive Newsletter. But, if they can go to a web site to read it, you have greatly expanded your exposure.

Advertising on web is different from traditional forms. If you provide a reason for people to buy from you, and you keep your ad visible, odds are you will be one of few making any money

She uses a popular ISP, but doesn't use that address in her ads. She feels, and I agree, that an ISP email address does not conjure up a strong "business image". Your choice of an ISP is important if you hope to do business on web. Be sure yours provides an industry standard POP3 email capability. While AOL is great for many things, it does use their own proprietary email system, and isn't, in my judgement, best choice for running a business.

She got a POP3 email address with each of her web sites, so she uses those. She also uses a different email address on her web sites - most web space providers give you unlimited email aliases. She then installed Eudora email package with a different folder for each address she uses. When she gets an email, which was sent to one of those addresses, she has Eudora automatically file it in appropriate folder, and send an immediate response. This lets her prospect know she got message, but more importantly, allows her to track which ad it came from. If email address was one of addresses in her ads, she knows which one. If it came from one of web sites, she knows which ad sent prospect to that site.

But what has happened here? A quick count of emails in each of folders reveals which ad is pulling, and where prospect is coming from. Now, remember unlimited aliases, she got with her web space. If she is going to try to test effectiveness of several publications, she simply uses a different alias for that ad in each publication, and sets up a separate folder in Eudora for it.

There are other ways of course to track ads by forcing subject in your email address, and having a different subject for each ad. The cost of web space however, and email addresses has come down so much in last few years, that having separate email addresses is most likely easiest way to track results of your ads, and present a professional image.

You must test, test, and retest your ads. If you do, you will find winning combination, and realize power of web.