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Ultimately, the most important aspect of any ad on the Internet is the ad copy--the subject and text which tell the reader what she needs to know. Unlike older methods, however, the Internet requires a slightly different approach to advertising for both individuals and enterprises.
Most participants in a newsgroup or mailing list only read a few of the articles posted. Usually, they scan a list of all the subject lines for articles that interest them. Because your ad is very dependent on this first contact with the reader, you should take the extra time to write a brief, informative, and effective subject line.
Basically, you need to present the most important information about your ad in 38 characters or less--the maximum allowed by some newsreaders. In your subject, you should specify what you are selling--items, manufacturers, styles, and sizes, where appropriate. If space is available, include your price and locality, but do not include hype. Also, don't make 30 posts in one newsgroup in order to give each item its name in lights--you'll lose people who don't appreciate your waste of bandwidth. Better is to write one article for each appropriate group, then be as specific as you can within the subject line. If your ad is a "Wanted" ad, the inclusion of "Wanted" somewhere in your subject is required.
Great subject lines:Even if your ad is in the appropriate group, it may be deleted from some groups just on the basis of a lousy subject line.
Now that you have a descriptive title, you need to write the body of your ad. The key to a good advertisement is the same as the subject. Keep it short, but include as much pertinent information as possible. For example, the best ads in the newsgroups usually fit on one screen--about 18 lines. In this space, you should:
State exact items, services, and
prices in detail.
Stating that you offer a certain product line is not enough. You must provide specific examples. Any reader knowledgeable about your products should be able to read your ad and easily see the "end-user value". Be certain you include model numbers, special conditions, and, most importantly, prices. Also include shipping and payment information. We repeat: failure to include prices for merchandise will make your article eligible for cancellation.
Keep your ad reasonably short, but
not too short.
As a general guide, if you are offering one item, you will rarely need more than 12 lines. If you have 12 items, try to use no more than 2 lines per item. 40 items, no more than 1 line per item. If your list of qualifying offerings won't fit in 50 lines, list a few representative items or services, then offer to send the full list by e-mail to interested parties. Alternatively, include a link to your catalog on the World-Wide-Web. But be sure to include the requisite examples to prove that your ad is appropriate! Very few readers will scroll past the second page of your article, so be brief, don't waste space, but say what you need to. If your prices are good, readers will check out your web site.
Posts that just have a web address, and no specific offering, are not allowed in biz.marketplace. You are welcome to include a web address in your ad, even encouraged to do so. But ads that just ask a user to try a web site for certain types of items fails in many ways. Yes, it is short, but it doesn't include the easier-to-access information provided by your competitors in their ads. Also, ads like this don't instantly demonstrate the special-advantage requirement. Your offering must prove its worth solely from the news article. Otherwise, the biz.marketplace.* moderators reserve the right to remove it.
Yes, the biz.marketplace.* newsgroups have official moderators. Because of the volume of posts to these newsgroups, they are not moderated in the traditional sense, but rather the moderators sporadically delete inappropriate posts. Usually, they will send you e-mail to let you know what was wrong with your post if it is deleted. But, because they are volunteers, they couldn't possibly screen all, or even any significant percentage of the large number of posts to the biz.marketplace.* newsgroups.
Something you want to leave out of your ad are blank forms. They waste far too much space for the number of responses you are likely to receive. If you want to send a form by e-mail to those who respond to your ad, you may do it, but ask yourself, what purpose does it serve? Is it worth the cost of transmission and storage?
When you write your ad, just present technical information and facts. Do not include commentary or marketing hype. Because of the high level of education of most of the readers, marketing hype and gimmicks only waste bandwidth and invite questions about your reputability. Present your product in a serious technical light and you will sell more in these newsgroups than if you present it as the biggest innovation since the atom bomb. Also, the laws of various consumer protection agencies about truth in advertising apply and are strictly enforced in their own way on the newsgroups.
Hype can be several lines of marketing gibberish, or can be as simple as including non-value-added adjectives like "Spectacular" or "Free". We all know you can't get something for nothing, so don't waste the space.
If you offer items which belong in different newsgroups, such as a variety of PC and Macintosh hardware, then please write a separate article for each of the intended groups. PC users do not like to sort through listings of Macintosh items, nor should computers or computer services be posted to the non-computer groups. Instead separate PC and Macintosh hardware into separate posts. You will lose sales if a PC user has to skip over a group of Macintosh hardware before finding your PC section. Posting to multiple biz.marketplace groups is another criteria for cancellation.
If your e-mail host sends automatic replies, or if you don't regularly read mail in the account from which you are posting, please include an e-mail address in your ad where you, personally, can be reached. Autoresponders work well for responding to large numbers of catalog requests, but they don't work well when people have questions, comments, or complaints. Some Usenet Marketplace users will not do business with companies who refuse to make a live person easily accessible for questions. We also urge you to respond to such questions, comments, or complaints, as users will often complain to your system administrator if you cannot be reached.
One final note, please do not include binaries in your advertisements. Pictures of your advertised items are nice for potential browsers, but you must remember that your ad will be stored on a few thousand different news servers. That adds up to a lot of memory, enough that it is usually bad netiquette to post binaries to any groups that aren't specifically for that purpose. Also, many people have to download all of the articles in a group in order to read that group. Binaries cost heavily in transmission time. A better idea, if you have a picture available, is to mention it in your ad, and offer to send the binary by e-mail, uuencoded or MIMEd, to interested parties. Or, put it on the Web.
This tried-and-true format is the most successful way to advertise on the Usenet Marketplace. Usenet readers just want facts. Marketing hype and personal commentary is not a good idea because many people see it as wasteful--don't forget who is ultimately paying for the distribution and storage of your ad. If your article is more than a screenful, and you are only offering a few items, make your ad shorter. Otherwise, the majority of readers will simply ignore it.
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