Here’s one that you can use regardless of whether you’re promoting your own product or an affiliate program.  Look at others and see how their advertising is written.  Analyze the classified ads in their ezines.  Check out their solo mailing ads and examine them to see how they are advertising.  Look at their banner ads, how are they worded and designed.

What you want to do is examine the actual advertising that other successful folks are using and model your own ads after theirs.  Not word for word, mind you, just in format.

For example:  You take a look at a successful netrepreneur’s  solo mailing for a product and see how they are using it to get people to respond…

1.2.1 Do they use their advertising to promote an offer or a lead generator?

1.2.2 Are their ads short or long in length?  Why?

1.2.3 How are they using headlines to grab the attention?

1.2.4 Are they sending leads to a webpage or an autoresponder?  Why?

1.2.5 Do they use an obvious affiliate link or a “cloaked” redirect link?

1.2.6 Are they using the same affiliate ad everyone else uses?

1.2.7 Are they targeting an audience in their ads?  I.E. Seniors, homemakers,

1.2.8 Do you spot any specific language words that are effective?  Stop…

1.2.9 Are there any limits and / or deadlines in their ads?  How are they used?

1.2.10 What kind of special tools are they using?  Questions? Testimonials? Stats?

1.2.11 What about their advertising is appealing to you?  Why?

Get inside their heads and look at why they are doing what they are doing.  What is the purpose?  Where does it lead?  How does the entire advertising system work to produce sales.  Analyze it step-by-step.