Hi all; I'm seeing some GREAT feedback here. Peter knows me WAY too well, of course. Jim, Lee & FJ, you make excellent points that we're looking at, too. Keep it up and toss your thoughts and ideas at us. Tomorrow I'll show you the next installment so you can watch as we turn everything around for Deborah - right here at Adland. It's way better than reality tv, don't you think? After all, it's a fellow member, not a stranger. : ) Linda

Hi, Here's some small things that I noticed after visiting the ad and web site. First, the text and image on the classified ad do not mix well. On the full page html ad, you might could remove all text above the image if possible. Then, I would make the image clickable so that it will link to http://www.magickidsusa.com/. I forgot exactly how Kingdom Classifieds works, so their format might not allow for this..? Underneath the image, I would place the discount code in bold font and have it expire the same day that the classified ad expires. The text might read something like: CUSTOMER COUPON CODE: XXXXXX (enter for additional savings) COUPON EXPIRES: October 12, 2005 Next, as someone previously mentioned, I would create an about page on the web site. It might help ease shopper's mind about placing an order. Jon

Hi Linda! This looks like a great place to be. Even after being online for a few years its safe to say I've learned all the things that haven't worked! So it's time to see if I can learn something that does. From reviewing Deborah's ad a few things caught my attention. The first was the text and background color. To be honest I had to go back three times to try and read my way through the ad. Without getting into the text content itself (never having been good with copy myself and another good reason to be here for the learning process) perhaps it could be spread out a little better rather than being all bunched together. Also the use of some headlines rather than Capitalized Text could be used there as well. Perhaps factoring in more customer benefits. i.e. shopping from the comfort of your own home . . . avoid the traffic jams . . . etc Some other good points were also mentioned that came across my mind but there's no need to cover them again. So I guess that's my two cents worth. Hope it helps some.

Hi all! You all know Murphy and his annoying law, right? (If something can go wrong, it will) I was hoping to have this up yesterday, but a technical snafu had to poke it's nose in. There's been some great feedback here! FJ hit a very important point when he said; Also, the price doesn't mean much if I don't get a sense of quality and trustworthyness. Excellent point. Price only matters if we know the company first and like the quality. Jim voiced the greatest concern to any reseller of ANY product when he asked. I would say that the coupon code needs to transfer somehow to the parent site because I may forget about it after I start looking at the products. That happens SO often -- and if someone forgets to put in Deb's code, she won't get her pay. That's the case with a LOT of resellers online. Jon & Winson both mentioned that the classified ad itself isn't a strong seller. And you know what? Most classified ads aren't. The smartest way to use a classified ad is as the first step in a 2 step sales process - but most companies don't teach their sellers that, much less help them sell online! And last, but certainly not least, Peter showed how long he's lived with me. He's already suggested half of my ideas even though I didn't tell him what I was thinking. Of all the great points he made, there's two that stand head and shoulders above the rest. The ones that say "Pick me, pick me, we're the winner!" 1) Working hand in hand with a charity. 2) Building a mailing list of potential customers Those two, together, are powerhouse stuff. The stuff winners are made of. So, here's the plan... We're building Deb a small web site where she can build her own mailing list, and put together a charity event. With clothing that sells for $5 - almost anyone can afford to help kids in need... maybe even while they're shopping for their own kids. That's where the snafu happened. For the life of me, I couldn't get my account at GoDaddy.com to function properly and check out -- and had to get tech help. 24 hours later, here I am. So -- Deb's new site will be at Debs-Kids.com This weekend we'll let Adlanders be the very first to preview it, so do watch your email for a notice.. : ) Linda

It's a wonderful idea!! I could use some (a lot!) of help myself as I'm not at all sure of what I am doing. Thank you for your help regarding the URL - it worked fine