Business advertising

Without testing you will never know how good or how bad your ads performed. Before the advent of internet, advertisers used to test classified ads quality using certain techniques. However, there were no such things called free classified ads then.
Free or paid, you are spending your time with classified ads and you need results from paid or free classified ads. Even in case you are getting an opportunity to list your product for free, you still need to test the effectiveness of the free offline or online classified ads.
The techniques that advertisers employed to test the success rate of an ad were quite simple. To test the effectiveness of the words used or to test which paper give maximum mileage to the ad, advertisers use specific telephone numbers or post box numbers.
By noticing which extension phone ringed the most and which post boxes filled up, they could measure the effectiveness of the ad. For each specific ad, they used to give a telephone number with a certain extension number. The extension number is their code for an advertisement that appeared on a specific newspaper.
With free online classified ads, it is easier to trace the effectiveness of an ad. Checking the server statistics, one can identify which ads performed well and which sites were good for classified ads placement.
Always have two sets of classified ads copy. Continuously test both the copies under similar conditions. Identify the one that performs better.
Don't throw away the less performing ad. Give the second classified ad copy some modifications. Again test the two ads by exposing both of them before the prospective customers. This kind of testing never ends and you continue to better your ad campaign.
Equally important is channel testing. Which online free classifieds are giving you the best results? You can borrow the same technique that newspaper advertisers applied to test the effectiveness of classifieds ads even today. Have separate toll free numbers to give your prospective customers. Monitor the number of times each toll free number rings. This way you test the effectiveness of your ad quite efficiently.
Which are the common classifieds ad copy writing techniques that bring the best results? Over time it is noticed that the classified ads that describe the product without adjectives convert best. However, it is also OK to use occasional adjectives like 'excellent quality'. Otherwise avoid exaggerations that people may not believe.
One thing to keep in mind while writing classified ads is that people actually are looking for the product. Otherwise they will not be looking at the automobile classifieds section of local newspaper.