Good question right? I always thought so! That is until I went through my little learning curve. I can save you from same lessons if you have a few moments...

You see, I do a ton of classified advertising on net. I utilize ezines, AOL, newsgroups (carefully thru my sig), and many web sites. I also use targeted direct email although I'm extremely picky in this area.

So why is it that all everyone talks about is banner ads? Click throughs, CPM, page impressions, etc.., . How about folks like me that can't afford to slam down a few thousand bucks each month to have my banner pop up on Yahoo every time someone types "Internet Marketing".

Now don't get me wrong here, banners are great and I rely on banners to drive traffic to my site too. But fact is, a large part of my marketing campaign revolves around simple effective classifieds and I am not alone. It's cheap and it works.

That's why I've decided to pass along results of my "research" as I like to call it. (Learning curve is a little more honest!)

My question was this: Should I be using my URL, or my email address when advertising with classifieds and direct email?

Before my web site existed it was pretty much a no brainer. I used my email address in my classifieds until I smartened up and got some autoresponders. AR's made much more sense for two simple reasons: They allowed me to do MUCH less work and my prospects received my sales letters almost instantly, which always results in more profits.

You have 3 steps to conquer:

You must first "grab" readers ATTENTION !! In a sea of advertising it seems nearly impossible to catch quick eye of consumer. You are not only in a sharkpool of competition, but consumers of new millennia are skilled at tuning it out. This by far is most important point. If you can't grab their Attention, you can't leave a message behind.

Ok, you have grabbed their attention..Now what happens? The reader becomes consciously aware of you. Your ad now has a glimmer of life. This is readers "Conscious Stage". The memory chip you call a brain has just engaged. No matter how deep, memory is now there. Often, building a conscious awareness, is just that, a process of building. A consumer may not click with you first time they see your ad, but they may second, third or twentieth time. It could be a matter of days or even years, but that long, not forgotten memory has built a foundation of familiarity.

What's Next You Ask?

They form an "opinion". This activates decisive reasoning. They react one of three ways.

1) They react positively and most assuredly shift into fourth and final stage.