How To Make Sure Your Ads Get Read!
© By Lena Sanchez

With all the ad submissions I receive daily I find that about 2 out of 5 are not written to be answered nor will they draw attention to be read even if the content is something you might want.

Roadmap to failures that I see daily are;

a. Poor Headline. Make sure your header line is worded to attract attention but explains what a person will get if they answer you ad. 
Ads are answered according to the attention they get and/or the curiosity it draws to make a person want to read on.

b. Not reading instructions?
How do I know people do not read instructions?

I do not publish my Ezine in HTML and that is stated in both the URL for paid ads http://www.envirodocs.com/specials.htm and in N.E.H.B. Facts ezine and every new subscriber welcome and free ad offer I send out… Yet the rules are not being followed and people submit in html format!

c. Either people do not understand how to format or are again ignoring instructions? If the reason is not understanding what format means, let me explain "formatting." It means to put lines in no more than 60 to 65 characters per line. And no more than words and or lines than the submission requirements stated by each individual person offering ad publishing service. 

Simple ad format instructions in MS Word.

Go into your word program and type out the ad with the proper number of words required by the person you are going to submit to. Then highlight the first line and go up to the tool bar and Tools. Click on tools and select Word Count. Word Count will tell you how many words, line and characters both "with" and "without spaces." Use "with spaces" as the count! If the highlighted line has more than 60 or 65 characters, whatever the submission service requires, then place your cursor at the end of the amount of characters and hit enter. Continue with each line until you have a properly formatted ad.

d. Failure to put proper Subject in the subject line of the email?
This little event leaves me guessing are you a spammer trying to get your ad published without the proper channels or are you lazy? No subject line filled in or filled in improperly means no ad published. 

e. Do not capitalize all words in most ads. There is the exception to that rule but for the most part capitalizing the first letter of each word or putting * or " or => at the beginning and the end will attract attention, but if the wording is not enticing enough they will go on to something else.

f. Failure to make sure the URL or emails are clickable or working!
When an ad is submitted to me I randomly click on URL's to see if they are working, and about 1 in 25 are not, which means a lot are being publish that are incorrect as I do not check all of them!

When I write an ad I always do a copy and past into the browser my URL to make sure it is a workable or correct URL. It only takes a space or a letter out of place to make it inoperable… 

Emails should never have spaces nor be written as Emailto:youremailaddress.com or emailto:youremailaddress.com  They have to be mailto:youremailaddress.com  without the e, E, to be clickable. The Internet has so many ads in front of people everyday that if an ad isn't immediately clickable it will be overlooked. Double check the email address to make sure it is correct and a letter isn't out of place or a space accidentally added.

These are simple techniques that will give your ad a better chance of being publish and/or read! I fail to publish ads that are not submitted properly and I do not have the time to return every single one and explain what is wrong.


*** Lena Sanchez a retired Medical office nurse/administrator Consultant. Brief bio at http://www.antibiotic-alternatives.com/lena.htm  
Owner of OLH Marketing Enterprise, Antibiotic Alternatives Naturals . Editor of "Ask Lena Health Questions and Answers" weekly newsletter Subscribe Click Here