Each week, several hundred people take the time to submit a free
ad to our web site, and most will never be heard from again. Our
experience is that approximately 10% of E-mail addresses used for
this purpose are not valid after a month. What causes this?

For starters, many of them are "free" E-mail addresses that
people abandon if they don't make a "killing" in the first couple
of days, and here is the surprising part - most returned mail
that we get back, is due to the fact that their mailbox is full!
They are probably sitting on a "ton" of prospects but don't have
the ambition to check their mail. Who needs them?

Another large group are AOL addresses - they get their free hours
and try to go into business. When the free hours expire, they
are out of business.

We require that free ads be renewed each week to ensure that the
people who submit them are still "alive and well". Why do we do
this? The answer is simplistic. We don't want people who visit
the web site, to find a bunch of ads from people who are no
longer in business. We queue the free ads by the length of time
they have been there. If an ad is renewed, it moves up the queue
if ads ahead of it are not renewed. Therefore, if an ad is near
the top, it is a pretty good bet it will be around for awhile.

"But I put a free ad on a web site and had no responses." Let's
face it - it takes between 5 and 7 exposures to an ad before
someone may respond. Some people have had their ads on free
sites for years - why you might ask? Because their ads are
generating customers, and they track where the results are coming
from. If they get a few sales each week from a free ad, it is
certainly worth their time to take a few minutes each week to
renew it.

There are plenty of web sites that offer free ads. What should
you look for from one of these sites and what should you
consider?

First - forget the programs that submit ads to hundreds of web
sites at a time. We used to accept those and had several
thousand ads submitted every few hours. Most put a top limit of
300 ads to be submitted this way, and your ad may have had a life
of a minute or so. This is a waste of your time.

Second - forget ads that are auto-submitted, and not approved by
a human being, as you may find your ad intermixed with ads you
do not wish to be associated with - I know I wouldn't want to
find my ad between ads for various porn sites. Even if they are
categorized, the porn site owners don't care - they will place
their ads anyplace they think they might find an audience.

Third - if a web site offers free ads with enhancements such as
Bold Titles and automatic links to web sites, for goodness sake
use them. This will make your ad stand out in the crowd. But
don't violate the rules set down. Your ad will most likely be
rejected.

Fourth - don't use a free E-mail address in your ad - these are
not a good harbinger of permanence, and many people will not
respond for that reason. Your very best bet is to have your own
domain. If you don't, at least show that there is some
stability. I would much rather do business with someone who has
an E-mail address and a Web Site through their ISP, than someone
promising outlandish claims with just a "Hotmail" address.

Let people know you are "alive and well" and the odds are they
may just do business with you.

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Bob publishes the free weekly "Your Business" Newsletter
Visit his Web Site at http://adv-marketing.com/business to
subscribe and place a Free Ad for your business.