Many people are feeling financially insecure these days because of the continuing fall-out after the banking disaster. Lots of these people are turning to working from home, even if it is only on the week-ends, to reduce this level of insecurity and dependency on an employer. The Net plays a substantial function for many aspirant self-employed people these days.
If you would like to sell yourself or products on the Internet, you will ave to advertise, the same as you would in your local, physical world. The thing that amazes a lot of Net advertising newbies is the fact that the off line business world and the on line business world behave according to similar principals.
One method of selling goods and services on and off line is through classified ads. The classified advertisement usually sells fairly cheap items (although not always), so the placer of the advert attempts to be as descriptive as possible within the minimum number of words for the advert, because that keeps the cost down.
All the concepts we discuss here will apply to both on and off line classified classifieds.
The first thing to do is think from the readers’ point of view. The reader may or may not want something in particular, but is probably searching for a bargain. How many classified ads are there in your local paper? Hundreds? Thousands? On line it is often thousands – just look at Craig’s List.
So you have to grab the readers’ attention as they scan down the ads. You know what it’s like, you have done it yourself. What catches your eye? ‘Free’ is the biggest stopper. Free delivery, or whatever. If you can work the word ‘free’ into your advert, you will stop most people for a couple of seconds more at least.
But that is all you need, if you are selling something worth having, that the reader thinks is a bargain. You have gotten your foot in the door, so to speak and the householder is listening, for a time. Naturally, this is a common attention-grabber and numerous others will be using the same tactic.
Now you need to make the reader want what you are selling. At this point, the reader likes to feel reassured, so the word ‘guaranteed’ is handy, if you mean it of course. Promise that what you have to deliver is fit for purpose, guaranteed.
This takes a lot of the nagging doubt out of the readers’ mind. Everyone is wary of scams, particularly Net scams and nobody wants to be made to look a fool. Assuage the fears or your readers, and they will be more likely to ‘give you a go’.
The last part is the ‘call to action’ – ‘get it now’. But you can make this even more dramatic by saying things like: ‘special offer must end in seven days’, or ‘only 50 items left’. Nobody truly believes these claims, but they still work.
There is no need to deceive, but you are in competition with people who are less scrupulous, so you have to employ some tactics. It’s a pity, but it is the way of business. Only make sure that the items or services that you are selling are worth the money and up to the claims that you make for them and you will not get criticized too much| for saying you only have 50 left when you have 100 !
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on many topics, but is at present concerned with Google web translator services. If you want to know more go to our web site at Real Translator Jobs Advice.
