Alas! ... To Pay or Not to Pay... that is the question!

... 
There are literally thousands of free advertising sources on the internet, 
but do they really provide a valuable service... versus paid services?  
   
When we first started selling online, we spent a tons of time writing and placing free ads. While we did have some success... if our time was worth even minimum wage...  
we'd have been better off buying ad space from the start. 

Not only did sales trickle in like molasses in January, our inbox got so crammed full of junk email that we'd waste at least an hour or two every day just sorting thru all the junk, looking for that rare order.

Well, it didn't take too long for the light bulb to come on... find a more efficient way...  
or go get a job in the "real world."  

So we read about bulk email and all the other borderline marketing methods. I even downloaded an extraction and mailing program, tried it, and got bombarded with "flames". 
(Basically, from people mad at us for sending them mail they didn't ask for.)

Then, in a newsletter that we had subsribed to along the way, we read that opt-in email was considered to be the wave of the future on online marketing... 
and that ezine (electronic magazines?) advertising in particular was where the best money was, so we started subscribing to every marketing ezine available. (Ezines are free online email-based newsletters.) 

We placed a few ads in some of the better ezines... and kaboom! Things started popping. Within a short time sales were kicking up, the money was flowing in, and it's never stopped. Now, you understand, we never wasted any more time with free ads. 
  
But some of you will go that route to start and to make your life a little easier, we might as well pass on what we learned. We met and learned from others who learned how to use the free ads to their advantage. (Some of them are marketing the BeastTamer.) 

Which route should you go?  
Well, that depends on you! Which do you have more to invest... Time or Money?   

If you have almost no time... then spend a few bucks and use the paid services. Don't worry for a minute about returns. Your business will explode, if you pick the right ezine and hit those pre-qualified prospects. 

On the other hand...  
If money is tight, but you have a little free time... try the free ads. You're investment will be your time, and your returns will be much slower, but they will come. 
 

We have honestly had successes placing ads similar to the Email Signatures
in both free classifieds and ezines. (Click Here to find out more .)