I send them back in time. Many of the techniques that plain kick butt were working five to ten years before the Internet really came on for business. Even then, marketers were doing the same thing that we're doing now, except they were using newspaper ads. And they were just as excited about them as we are about squeeze pages, pay-per-click, and ezine advertising.

It's no different. Only the format has changed. They simply wrote their classified ads, and put them into newspapers with tracking codes. Like, they had a telephone number with different extensions that told them which papers and which ads were pulling customers in. Or, they'd have a secret word like "Batman" to use, or whatever. It was manual, but not much different from what we're using today.

My recommendation is that you first find a copy of the book The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams. Not only is it very cool in terms of tricks of the trade, it's just entertaining and interesting. You might find it on eBay because it's a pretty old book, but you can still get it online. Use it to focus on writing great headlines. That's what classified ads are basically, great, pulling headlines. What else do you have room for in a classified ad?

You can only use a few words in a classified ad, so you really need a great headline with a simple call to action. Have a kick-butt headline? You win. You can also look back to some stuff written by Ted Nicholas or to the Robert Collier Letter Book. Keep focusing on the headlines. Also check out the late Gary Halbert's website at http://thegaryhalbertletter.com, which you may already be acquainted with. All of the letters he ever wrote are there, and will continue to be there. Go and read one of those every single day. Gary published an ezine and those letters are basically issues of that. He wrote in a great and funky kind of way. He has tons of examples. Write and copy what he wrote to get the rhythm and feel of how to do it. Also look at Jay Abraham's stuff. Some of his products are digital, and I actually JV with him on a few of them.

There are so many options, really. What it comes down to is that you need to study headlines and classified ads. Thousands of books are out there about writing awesome classified ads, and they apply directly to co-reg ads, and any other kind of headline.

When it comes to short ad copy, those are the directions to go in. Another way is to go to the supermarket and pick up a couple of the tabloids. I'm serious! Get The Star, The Enquirer, etc., and read some of their headlines.

I challenge you to run those headlines in something you're doing, just for fun. Even if the product you're promoting isn't targeted, just spend $10 and do it. Watch the response you'll get. Also check out Wired magazine. They have incredible titles for their articles, and they list them in their table of contents. They're totally cutting-edge for technology, and can be easily applied to what we do.

Any of these methods will help you. Try them. The whole thing is to learn and take action! Don't just sit there thinking you'll do it someday. Just do it! Great copy bringstargeted web site traffic. Traffic helps build your list. It's that simple.