The first thing you should consider in advertising is the first thing you should consider when buying real estate: Location, Location, Location. You want to focus all of your efforts on your intended audience. Once you know who they are, determine which publications they are most likely to read.

While large sources have apparently attractive numbers of readers, their advertising rates are usually high. Focus instead on smaller publications, such as targeted newsletters or Internet magazines (ezines). There are publications for sports, hobbies, pets, business, occupations and many other areas of interest. The advertising rates of these smaller publications are usually lower than the big guys and, if you select carefully, the readers almost guaranteed to be in your target market.

To give an example from my personal experience:

I posted an identical ad for an affiliate program in two different publications. The ad ran for the same period in both publications and both were published with the same frequency. The first was a large ezine with over 300,000 subscribers, the second was a publication for online business people with a subscriber base of only 7,000. Below are the results I observed:

Ezine 1:

481 responses

3 sign-ups

Ezine 2:

168 responses

19 sign-ups

So what made the difference? The answer is quite simple. The first ezine's readership was broad based. While many people were curious enough to respond to the ad, very few were serious enough to actually signup for the program. The second ezine's audience was primarily made up of people interested in owning business on the Internet. This prior interest in products similar to the one I offered resulted in better results. Not to mention the fact that the ad in ezine #2 was significantly less expensive. This experience is a great illustration of why it is vitally important to reach your target audience.

The number of Internet ezines is growing every month. It should not be difficult to locate several publications that cater to your your target market. If you advertise in just five targeted ezines and receive only thirty responses per week per publication, well below the averages I have experienced, you will receive 600 qualified responses per month!! If only ten percent of these responses result in sales, it still means an additional sixty sales per month!!! These calculation don't even include the potential for ad-on and repeat sales. As you can see, targeting your advertising can result in very nice profits for you business.

Even with a targeted audience, the results that you experience will vary significantly, depending upon the particular opportunity or product being offered. The other big factor that influences how much response you will receive is the advertisement itself. In another article in this series, I will detail methods of writing effective advertising.

Tony L. Callahan, is a successful Internet Promotions Consultant with twenty years of computer industry experience and is president of his own Internet marketing company, Link-Promote http://www.link-promote.com. He also publishes Web-Links Monthly, a newsletter full of tips, trick and techniques for successful web site promotions. To subscribe, send e-mail to: Web.Links@listbot.com. For an online archive of articles by Mr. Callahan available for reprint, visit: http://www.link-promote.com/articles