3 Elements To A Deal-Sealing Classified Ad


Have you ever wondered why your perfectly fine classified ad fails to attract the attention you desire? There should be dozens-no, hundreds-of perspective buyers swamping your e-mail inbox with offers. After all, you are offering a mint baseball card, a vintage coat, pristine used car, those wholesale-priced sporting goods, and whatever other attractive items are in your inventory. Instead, you only have a slow trickle of questions, a handful of sales. What gives? More than likely, your sales are slow because you have not mastered the three techniques of writing a classic classified ad.

Of course, give yourself credit for recognizing one important facet of today's selling world. You decided to sell your stuff at an online classified site. As anybody in the business knows, online classified ads get you more privacy, a broader selection of buyers, and a wealth of tools to help you keep tabs on your transactions. When compared to a newspaper, cyberspace is also a wee bit more spacious. There are billions of pages on the Web, and only a few dozen in your typical neighborhood rag. For you, that means a lot more space for your ad to say the least.

With that space, however, comes great responsibility-and great potential. The extra room gives you the freedom to include as much product description and sale copy as you want. You can't just slap together a whole bunch of information, though. You need to use the three special ad writing techniques that will attract buyers and seal the deal: attention, interest, and action.

Attention. Make sure the buyer stops at your ad instead of the thousands upon thousands of others out there in cyberspace. Your ad's title is the first lure to grab his or her attention, and the first component of a catchy title is the item's best feature, whether it's the price, the item's rarity, or its popularity. Next, be sure the title includes keywords or other synonyms for your item that a buyer might use in a search. For instance, a buyer could search for "automobile" instead of "car," "pullover" instead of "sweater."

Interest. Once you have the buyer's attention, hook them with details. There is a direct relationship between the amount of information you provide and the number of sales you'll make. So describe the item as completely as possible-size, color, material, designer, model-and provide a clear, digital photo to finish the job where your words leave off. Even offer your prospective customer the item's history if possible.

Also, try to list as many possible benefits that your sales item could offer the buyer. Come up with some that the buyer probably wouldn't think of on his or her own. And zone in on specific benefits. Use what you already know about your target. For instance, if you were selling a car, you know that whoever is looking at your ad is in need of a vehicle. If your car is compact, perhaps the buyer is in search of great gas mileage. Or perhaps it's power he or she wants if your car is a sports model.

Action. Finish your ad strongly. Don't just suggest to the buyer that you offer a great deal. Tell them it's a fantastic offer that they can't pass up. Use phrases like "Call me now before someone else does" or "Buy now, this opportunity won't last long." Be cordial while you're pressing the issue, of course. Thank them for reading your ad and make sure they know you appreciate their business.

Most importantly, your customers will also value your honesty throughout the whole ad. So whether it's the attention, interest, or action you're shooting for, never lie or exaggerate. Go so far to include any defects if your product is not in mint shape. Your honesty will build trust, and trust above all else makes an ad work. What's more, it makes for repeat customers.

Remember, if you use all three of these elements-or four if you include honesty. When you're finished with it, it should read something like the two examples below.

Example 1:

Discover the beauty of a Forest Hill Home
2500 sq. ft. home, 4 bedroom, 3 baths, double garage, upgraded kitchen, 12 ft. ceilings
This open concept house is situated in a historical landmark district of Rhode Island. It's a wonderful neighborhood to raise your family, with nearby schools and amenities.

(Insert your image or photo here.)

Call for an on-site appointment. Thanks for looking!

Example 2:

Looking for an inexpensive used car that drives well? only $4,950.
2003 Honda Civic, Limited Edition, 65,000 miles, manual transmission, CD, AM/FM radio, power steering, low maintenance. Great on gas - this car will save you $$$ on high gasoline prices.

(Insert your image or photo here.)

Send me a message now. Thanks for looking!

Donald Lee is the public relations manager for Buysellcommunity.com. Buysellcommunity provides free classified listing services for individuals and businesses to market their products and services online. For global and localized classifieds, please visit http://www.buysellcommunity.com - Free Buy and Sell Classifieds -

More Resources

Is Your Yellow Pages Ad Putting Cash in Your Pocket... or Sucking Cash Out?
Any idea? It's a question that more than a few Yellow Page advertisers ponder. If you are currently spending money every month to run an ad in your local directory, you don't want to wrestle with that question.
Ads Dont Sell - People Do !
More about advertising by BIG Mike McDanielAdvertising is not a substitute for good salestechnique and superb customer service. Insertingan ad in a handy newspaper to call attention to aline of goods will not sell those goods unless youcan back it up with intelligent, well directedsales efforts in the store.
Why Your Ads Aren't Working
The president of a manufacturing company recently asked me, "Why isn't my advertising working?" Have you ever been asked this question? Have you ever asked it yourself?Like most marketing communications questions there are no simple answers. After all, communication is a high level activity.
Seven Ways to Waste Your Money on Yellow Pages Advertising
Each year there is a Yellow Pages arms race where competitors in each category are encouraged to out spend each other. There is only one winner in this arms race, and it is not you! Too many advertisers waste their money on Yellow Pages advertising without first considering their marketing strategy.
How to Write Ads that Increase Your Business
I caught myself wracking my brain over what kind of article I should write for newspapers that would be useful to business people. It struck me that I was making a solid effort to get into the mind of my target market.
Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools
If you're a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don't need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what's on sale, the amount to be saved and your store's name, address and phone number.
Hit Them With Benefits
More about advertising from BIG Mike McDanielIt makes no difference what media you use toadvertise, the rules are the same. Benefits,benefits, benefits.
How to Use the 3 Most Common Direct Marketing Measurements to Increase Your Profits!
John Wanamaker, a 19th century entrepreneur, once famously made the statement, "I know that half of my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half." Fortunately for today's marketers, there are scientific ways to determine which half is wasted, and which half is not, through the use of common direct marketing measurements.
How To Make Your Yellow Page Ads Work
I hear it often, "advertising in the Yellow Pages directory doesn't work!" I smile knowingly and wait for a pause in the conversation, and this is what I say in response to their claims?"It's not the medium - it's the message?and it's probable the market too!" Blank stares often accompany that opening statement. But they do work - and they work well? IF you know how to use them.
The Internet and Beyond - 12 Tips on Writing Better Brochures
Every year thousands of online businesses fail. None of them begin with the idea they'll fail, in fact they have high hopes of success, but they fail all the same.
Offline Advertising Secrets: Using Offline Advertising to Get the Most from Your Name Squeeze Page
Many people online are not using one of the best advertising methods around. I'm talking about offline print advertising.
Do I Need Raised Letter or Full Color Business Cards?
If you've been searching around for business cards that will best represent the image you want to portray for your business, then you've no doubt encountered many options. The Big Two, as I like to think of them, are "Raised Letter" and "Full Color.
Top 9 Reasons To Advertise
Advertising is not for every company. But some require it because their market is big and constantly changing and evolving.
Free Internet Advertising: 6 Proven Ways To Prevent Your Competitors From Stealing Your Customers
It is getting harder daily to generate traffic.And when you succeed in getting new customers, you shoulddo all that is possible to avoid losing them to yourcompetitors.
Persistant Advertising Will Do No Harm!
From my experience, I've been on many discussion groups and have spoken to many other like minded people. The one topic that always seems to arise is how to get massive sales right away.
Advertising That Annoys: The Real Story
Critics conclude that entertaining or "creative" commercials sell better than those that are bland. But liking the commercial may not really be that important in the scheme of things.
How to Save Money by Making Your Own Sign
In the sign industry we commonly refer to the material that the sign is made out of as the substrate. Examples include, wood, vinyl banners, aluminum, coroplast, etc.
Tips for Using Paid Advertising
Quite a few business out there can't survive without some type of advertising and/or brand recognition, so advertising your business is one of the most important aspects in running certain types of business. It's also one of the most frequently asked questions for "how to".
Why Radio Advertising Could Be The Best Thing You Ever Did For Your Business
In the marketing world, radio has earned the reputation of being the odd step-cousin. You know the one.
10 Simple Techniques To Make Your Ad Get Powerful Attention
1. Make your ad's keywords and phrases standoutby enlarging the text.

More Advertising Information:

Related Articles

What Does Your Business Card Say?
Business cards are the most underutilized andmisunderstood marketing tool in business. Manypeople spend the bucks for cards and don't make aneffort to get them into the hands of those who canhire them or buy from them.
Seven Ways to Kick Up the Power of Your Print Advertising - More Small Business Power Tools
If you're a retailer and the only kind of advertising you do is built around sales events, you don't need much in the way of advice. All your advertising needs to do is spell out as clearly as possible what's on sale, the amount to be saved and your store's name, address and phone number.
Create Your Dynamic Elevator Speech
So, what's an elevator speech, and how do you get one?What Is It?An elevator speech is a short (15-30 second, 150 word) sound bite that succinctly and memorably introduces you. It spotlights your uniqueness.
Testing Headlines
A correspondent to AdBriefing, my monthly newsletter, has posed a very sticky question. How, she asks, can you tell whether a headline you have written is a good one?or not? What she means by this, I imagine, is whether the headline will actually help to make sales, rather than just act as a passing amusement to its readers.
A Quick And Easy Way Of Getting More Customers From Every Single Ad You Write... Guaranteed!
FACT: Most people don't spend anywhere near enough time on creating a strong, compelling headline.Which is why many copywriting experts.
Harness the Power of Direct Marketing - More Small Business Power Tools
One of the most powerful tools available to small businesses is direct mail. By this I don't mean electronic, Internet-based mail, but the old-fashioned kind that requires a stamp and a trip to the post office.
Add More Pizzazz To Your Ad For More Profits
I recently completed a Marketing Makeover for an Adthat wasn't generating results for the owner of a Piano Tuning Business.Here is the original ad:========================================A BETTER PIANOA well tuned and adjusted piano is a beautiful instrument.
Custom LED Display
Custom LED Display, as the name specifies, facilitate control anything with any message that you can think of, from hours of operation to daily specials. These are used by almost all industries like factory, banks, airports, universities, libraries, and many others.
Yellow Pages Ads - Buying Secrets
Yellow Pages Ads - Buying SecretsOK- let's agree that many businesses can benefit greatly from Yellow Pages advertising. Let's also agree that few businesses enjoy paying for this "necessary evil".
Using Flyers to Advertise Your Online Business
Using flyers is one commonly overlooked method of advertising offline. Flyers are extremely easy to create.
Small Cards, Big Ideas: Alternative Uses for Business Cards
Aggressive business card marketing isn't about handing your business cards out to everyone you see.The card itself must have a new use, an innovative design, or something other than the usual contact information printed on it.
Wheres Me Pot of Gold and Lucky Charms?
We already know this from our history books. If you want to make money today, you must first look back in time to the first time in history that a large portion of our country all tried to get rich at the same time in the same place.
Tips On Writing a Successful Ad
When knowledge is based on truth it is powerful!When it is critical knowledge, its presence can drive our success, while its absence may contribute to our failure. I will attempt to convey in this report some useful and practical knowledge about how to write awesome ads for the World Wide Web.
Five Characteristics of Highly Successful Advertising
Have you ever spent a small fortune on advertising that generated disappointment rather than sales?Many small business owners have been down the road of flat advertising results and are at a loss when it comes to developing new ideas to improve the response to their ads.Whether you run ads in your local newspaper, your industry's top periodical or on-line, you need your investment in advertising to pay for itself, and then some, in order to justify its cost.
Sex in Advertising: Does it Sell?
We're surrounded by advertisements that desperately compete for our attention. Everywhere we look, we find ourselves inevitably drawn to images of scantily clad attractive men and women that are supposed to somehow inspire us to purchase products they endorse.
The SKINNY on Radio Advertising
From meager beginnings in 1920, radio has grownwith us to be a major player in advertising. Theradio industry says they get about 8 percent ofall advertising bucks.
Cross Cultural Advertising
"Culture is a like dropping an Alka-seltzer into a glass - you don't see it, but somehow it does something,"Hans Magnus Enzensberger.Culture affects everything we do.
The SKINNY on Newspaper Advertising
The SKINNY on NewspapersUsing the paper is considered gospel by manypeople in business. Use it wisely and it can be agood tool.
Driving Customers to You - Your Car as a Marketing Vehicle
You can turn your vehicle into a rolling advertisement. Costs start at just a few dollars, and you can put your business name, slogan, phone number and web site URL in front of thousands of potential customers while you are driving along the freeway, stuck in traffic or even while you are parked.
What Happened? Troubleshooting Poor Response from Ad Campaigns
Too many small business owners today run ad campaigns that get little to no results, and they have no idea why. When you have the knowledge to troubleshoot the poor responses, you also have the knowledge to make the needed changes so that - next time - your sales improve! Let's take a look at the breakdown of an ad campaign, and how to determine what went wrong.