Getting the most out of online ads 

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If your company regularly uses classified advertising, you may want to consider the Web for supplement or alternative advertising. The Web can provide special advantages and techniques that are unavailable in print publications. In this article, I will present an overview of classified advertising on the Web. Also on hand will be a few suggestions on how to make the most of online classifieds. 

The state of classified advertising on the Web 

Although the Web has grown at an unbelievable rate in the last couple of years, online classified advertising has yet to recognize its full potential. However, the usefulness of classified ads, in any medium, has always depended largely on the target audience and the advertiser's expectations. Let's take a look at some of the advantages of classified advertising on the Web. 

Advantages 

The major advantage of placing a classified ad on the Web is exposure. A single ad can potentially reach a worldwide audience. Few newspapers can offer such widespread exposure. Web Classifieds ads can provide technology advantages that print publications can't. For example, a Web classified ad can include a link to the advertiser's home page or a mailto tag to allow immediate E-mail replies. Some ad sites even allow you to place a small graphic in your ad. The following sections discuss some business applications you might consider. 

 Employment 

The job market on the Web falls mainly into computer-related fields. If you're looking for computer-related employment, checking out Web classified ads can prove very fruitful. A company's chances for finding employees through Web classifieds may depend on the types of positions it's trying to fill. If the company is looking for computer-literate workers, a sizable number of candidates are certainly surfing the Web. 

Real estate 

Buying or selling real estate through online classified can be difficult. You'll need to set clear and strict requirements about what you want to do. Pursuing classified real estate ads on the Web is worth a few minutes once or twice a week, but keep your expectations realistic. If you decide to employ this technique, you should also consider working with realtors via their home pages. 

Venture capital 

Several sites have sections devoted to bringing investors and entrepreneurs together. Not surprisingly, the majority of the ads are from people looking for capital. If you have money you want to invest, you might find Web classifieds worth investigating. However, if you're looking for venture capital, your best bet is look for investment companies' home pages. 

Start up business opportunities 

The Web is almost over flowing with investment and small business startup opportunities, but you will need to be cautious. As is the case in the off-line world, offers are often misrepresentations, with exaggerated claims of how quickly and easily you can make money. Some are outright scams. A healthy doze of skepticism few thoughtful questions, and remembering the axiom "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" can usually help you separate bogus ads from legitimate ones. 

 Effective exposure 

An old saying tells us that "You're known by the company you keep." If your online classified ad ends up nested among dozens of pitches for get-rich-quick schemes, the people you're trying to reach aren't likely to take it seriously. They probably won't even see it. So pay attention what's already on the Web site that you choose for your ad. Yahoo!'s Classifieds page is a great source of classified advertising. There, you can search for regional and local advertising sites, as well as USENET newsgroup advertising and ads organized by subject you'll find the page at http:/www.yahoo.com/Business/Classifieds 

A site's organization can greatly affect your classified ad's exposure. A site may claim tens of thousands of hits on its main page, but that doesn't mean a lot of people are reading the individual ads. Look for sites that display several ads on a single page. This format makes it easy for a visitor to read all the ads simply by scrolling. 

Another common page format lists a title for each classified ad; the visitor clicks on a title to read its corresponding ad. This format makes browsing a somewhat more complex and time-consuming process, and it invites visitors to skip many of the ads. However, if you're confident that you can write a catchy title that will attract attention, you might consider this format an advantage--people will read your ad but probably not your competitors' ads. 

If responses from Online Classified Advertising increase, it may not be a bad idea to have a complete company web site and use banner advertising. This form of advertising will be discussed in the near future as well.