Classified advertising can be an expensive nightmare. Most publications charge by the word and so to keep the cost down you need to grab the readers attention and interest readers enough to phone you, all in as few words as possible.
The grabbing of attention is the written version of shouting across a crowded bar to a mate. The shout is your headline text, the reader being your mate and the bar is the rest of the column your advert appears in. People who scour classifieds are normally looking for something specific and do so like an Internet search engine, they scan for keywords that relate to what they are after and then check out the price it's being offered at.
There's two strategies that can be used here.
The first is to put the keywords that relate to what you are selling in the headline of your advert.
Fantastic Ford Fiesta For Sale
1 years test and tax no rust
Full service history £800
Phone 777327
If you are advertising in a specific section of a publication, it's possible to trip up the reader by throwing in a headline that looks out of place in the section. Taking the above example, the ads in the motoring section will be full of headlines starting with the make of vehicle. This puts the reader's brain in auto mode enabling the reader to scan ads that only relate to what they want more quckly. By chucking in something out of the ordinary you break their concentration and attract their attention.
Is Your Wallet Bulging?
Buy my Ford Fiesta
Full T/T and S/H
£800 Phone 777327
You can also put an ad that usually resides in a specific section in a totally unrelated section. This works in the same way to trip up the reader and get your ad attention.
But there is another way. Pictures say a thousand words. Adding a single picture to a classified advert in a publication isn't cheap and the service has only been available in recent times as the printing trade's technology has advanced. There is a way round that extra cost and the majority of the people that will read your advert will be able to see your pictures.
For the one off cost of 'NOTHING!' Wight Portal allows you to advertise, not only in words but up to 10 pictures, whatever you have for sale and display it on your own web page.
It's all done in easy steps.
First, become a member of Wight Portal, this too costs you 'NOTHING!'
You then go to the Wight Portal Free Ads section of the site and create your advert by filling in a simple form.
Upload your pictures and hit the submit button. Done your page is made and is listed within the Categories page.
Finally, in whatever paper you want, you place a classified advert for whatever you have for sale and tell the readers they can get more information and see pictures by going to the Free Ads section of Wight Portal and entering the LB ID code, that is found on the top right of your listing page, into the search box.
If you look at the classifieds in any of the publications available they mostly all have the same layout.
What it is
A brief description
How much
Phone number.
That's between 15-20 words minimum and will cost between £4 and £5 minimum every time it appears in the paper. If you are selling something for £60 and it doesn't sale after 3 weeks of advertising, that's a quarter of your profit lost. What happens after 10 weeks do you give up and throw it away?
The Internet is not only the whole world's information at your fingertips, but also a tool to be used to help you make extra money. Wight Portal doesn't charge for advertising anything that's included in the category list. There's no limit on the amount of words used in the description and up to 10 pictures can be included.
So the next time you place an ad in the paper why not utilise Wight Portal.
If it's your first time here then welcome, please feel free to explore and also signup. Once you're a member you can post in the forum, use the chat room and place an ad in the free ads section. You can now share your favourite videos from YouTube and GoogleVideo.
It is the aim of Wight Portal to be the definitive social site for the Isle of Wight. Unlike any other social site I know of, it is possible to download Wight Portal onto your desktop, thus eliminating the need to search bookmarks or remembering web adresses.
This is achieved through what is called a browser wrapper. It works similar to a PDF reader like Adobe's, but instead of static text and pictures it contains live web content, in this case Wight Portal, along with other sites.
Along with the social side, Wight Portal contains a business directory. This is also somewhat unique as instead of displaying text links to the advertisers site it uses a screen shot of the businesses home page. To find out more read the following article.
Well that's enough welcome spiel.
Enjoy
Admin
Wight Portal
Because the users of this site seem too shy to use the chat rooms, below is a simple shoutbox. If however you want more functionality click the chat room link above the main menu.
The Only Interactive Business Directory That Can Be Downloaded!
Dear Business owner. How much does your web site owe you? Just think about the costs for a moment. Maybe you paid for someone to design and build it, then there's hosting and domain fees, the time spent updating and optimising your site, or maybe you pay someone to do this for you. Your site looks fantastic, but who sees it? Being in the top 10 of a search engine is not showing off your masterpiece, it is stuck behind a paragraph of text. There's no point having a work of art and not having it on display. Wight Portal is an interactive business directory, not only does it sit on the Internet as webpages but can also run in it's own program that is downloaded to your potential customers desktop. |
Ad copy is a nightmare to write and made even worse if you are given limited space for your text.Why struggle with advertising copy when you've already designed the perfect branded advert for your business. A picture of a good looking website is more likely to get clicks than the user having to wade through loads of text, to see if your service or product is what they are after. A directory is normally only used when the user is after something. Wight Portal offers more than just a directory, it is designed to be used as a one stop community communications tool. Advertisers taking an active role within this portal will have a captive audience for their marketing message. Wight Portal offers...
24 Hour Full Page Advertising, that is unique in appearance compared to every other listing in your catergory. By doing this you are using your own brand identity. There is no point in having spent time, money and effort in developing a professional looking web site just to hide it behind a text link along with thousands of others doing the same. It is also no good just sticking your ad in a directory if the directory doesn't get used. Wight Portal is for the Island community, it has elements that are not normally found altogether.
Wight Portal offers your customers:So what does it cost to have your website
- A forum where you can communicate with customers and potential customers. Recommendations posted by past customers will be on view for all users to see.
- A games room with thousands of online games to play, ranging from classic and modern arcade games to brain teasing puzzles.
- A free ad system for non trade selling.
- We also offer A community site wrapped into a program that can sit on the users desktop like any other program. When the program is executed it shows only live Wight Portal website content.
Most Internet based directories are only advertised online. They are also after as many advertisers as possible. Wight Portal isn't greedy, it's after only the best 15 to 20 businesses in each catergory. The whole directory will only hold around 360 advertisers. Having such small numbers, gives you the advertiser a level playing field to compete on.The majority of Wight Portal's advertising will be in the local press where most of your customers look, this inturn increases the coverage and use of Wight Portal.
included in this innovative advertising
portal?
Compare Wight Portal's prices for advertising with other directories in the table below.
A saving of £47.88
Fill in the form below to get started
