So, using some common sense, you identify either some web sites where you can place an ad, or a newsletter that appears to cater to your potential client base.

The next step is tracking your results. This is where many budding entrepreneurs miss boat. There are a number of ways to track where your inquiries are coming from. Probably easiest is to give an email address which is unique to that ad. If you have your own domain, you most likely have unlimited aliases that all come to same email address. AOL gives you multiple email addresses, and if all else fails, get yourself a supply of free email addresses.

You can also use web to help in your tracking. Designing a unique form, which sends you an email for each ad someone responds to, is not an overwhelming task. You can build a keyword right into form, that person filling it out will never see, that lets you know exactly where they saw ad.

Newsletters are a good choice. If a newsletter has been around for awhile, and has a decent number of subscribers, they are doing something right. If your ad is not pulling, odds are either you are in wrong target market, or have a crummy ad.

The first mistake someone might make is confusing subscribers with potential customers. One newsletter with 500,000 subscribers may produce minimal results, while another with only a thousand or so, may produce a lot. Here is where you have to determine if newsletter you are considering is reaching your target market. If it is, and you have a decent product or service, which is affordable to those you are trying to reach, you will do business.

While we're on this, how about ezines that allow free ads. This is could be a further waste of time and effort. Yes, there is even software to place your free ad automatically to these, again by thousands. Many of people placing ads this way never even see publication they submit to. Some require you to subscribe before accepting your free ad, and this helps build their subscriber base. There is however, little if any loyalty to publication, and many times, only reason they subscribe is to be able to place their ad. If they bother to read it, they might make a cursory scan to ensure their ad is there, and then delete it.

So what should you do? First, find a few ezines and web sites that accept paid ads, and most are relatively inexpensive. You can get your message out to thousands of potential customers this way. Don't think a "one time" ad however will work. It can take 5 - 7 or so exposures to your ad before you can expect results.

One other mistake you should avoid is to assume that larger subscriber base of publication, better results will be. An ezine with only a few thousand targeted subscribers, many times will produce better results than some that have several hundred thousand that are not.

So, when planning a marketing campaign for your business, do a little research. Don't stumble around in dark, hoping to find something that works.