Eventually I got around to trying free online classified ads. And ya know what? They worked. People came to my web page. Except for my brother ... or maybe he’s still waiting for it to finish downloading.

More importantly, people gave me money at my web page!

(Well, not at my first page ... but that’s another story. Yes, Virginia, there is a point to this story.)

So I posted more classified ads. And more people came.

More classified ad sites sprang up. Then more and more. So many that I found it worth the $20 to send off for Mr. E’s “Top 50 Free Classified Ad Sites” list. And that worked so well that I finally contacted Mr. E –not his real name– about buying the rights to his list.

At this point, in late 1998, there are 12 zillion classified sites [Zillion’s Notta Word e-zine, Oct. ’98]. So I thought I’d have a field day selling Mr. E’s list. But ...

A Funny Thing Happened OnThe Way To The Cash House

I had taken several months off from posting, to refine –and sell!– an approach to another kind of lead source. Because I had stopped paying attention to classified sites, another test of Mr. E’s list was in order; I wanted to advertise up-to-date results.

But the response rate was off. Down. Way down.

I did another test with a valuable freebie, and compared the results to other advertising. The Top 50 Free Classified Ad Sites, my next big money-making project ... sucked. No way could I ask people to pay money for that.

What had happened? (And how can you profit from this?)

I’d done something I vow to never repeat. This is Internet marketing. With so many people coming online for the first time every day, old patterns quickly break down. And I, “I had stopped paying attention” to an online marketing method.

Still, all I had to do was remember what was going on just before I stopped paying attention: “More classified ad sites sprang up. Then more and more.” Now that I was thinking about it, what would happen next was obvious:

Software that helps people post ads faster will be invented and/or become popular. More and more people will use it. Competition will spring up, forcing the price down, which will increase the numbers using it...

I didn’t need to look to see if that was going to happen, I only needed to see if it happened yet. (And my test results already told me it had.)

How To See The Future For Fun And Profit

This is especially simple while the Internet’s growth rate stays high:

Whenever you notice more and more people doing something online, you can be sure there will soon be software to make that easier. So just imagine what things will be like when large numbers of people are using that software.

Now you can see the future.

Next, look around in that future for marketing opportunities.

Now you know what’s going to happen and you can be ready to take advantage of it! (Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?)

Got it?

Give you an example?

Funny you should ask. I just happen to be finishing up a story that does exactly that.

To recap: People in my target market –online entrepreneurs– used to go to classified sites to post their ads, where they would see my ad. But now fewer and fewer of them were even seeing the classified sites. So I needed to change that strategy.

Question: Is there something that more and more of them are doing? Yes, posting to classified sites automatically. Is there a way to take advantage of that? How can I advertise to them as a result of their automated posting? (What do they want more and more of?)

One answer is to have a free-classified site of my own. (Why stop at one?) And when someone posts an ad to it, my autoresponder sends them an email confirmation ... along with my order-pulling, power-word-packed killer ad copy: “Can you see this?”

Now, I’ve been talking about free classifieds. I needn’t have been, though. If you go back and replace “classifieds” with “links page,” or “search engine,” for instance, everything still holds. But those are just examples; don’t get lost in the details.

Get it? Let’s see:

TAKE-HOME QUIZ
(that can make you money!)

1. [5 points] More and more people are now getting their own free-classifieds site. Come up with at least one marketing opportunity that will result from the existence of software that makes it even easier for them to do that.

2. [95 points] Notice something else that more and more people are doing online. Come up with at least one marketing opportunity that will result from the existence (and falling price) of software that makes it easier for them to do that.

3. [extra credit] Send me the resulting profits.

   © Dale Armin Miller is Master-at-arms of the Internet Marketing Success Arsenal!™ “What works online — guaranteed” ... where you can get free, detailed, online-marketing strategies.
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