Let me take a moment to explain how I calculate my break even point; and then we can move on to why understanding your niche's demographic can save you a lot of money and tap into targeted traffic at a much lower cost..

For example, let's say that we're promoting a £279 product with a 10% affiliate commision. That means each sale will generate £27.90 and, if the sales letter is converting at the typical 2%, our income per visitor will be: (£27.90 x 2)/100 = £0.558. So our PPC breakeven point is 56 pence and anything less than that will earn us a profit.

Now, when I see my competitors paying 56 pence per click and above, my decision is easy. I'm going to leave them to it and move on to my "Plan B" where I'll target the same audience but I'll attack the market from a completely different direction based on my in-depth knowledge of the demographics.

Plan B requires a little "out of the box" thinking. Let me explain.. ...{+}

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One of the greatest benefit of using classified advertising sites is that they are often completely free to use.

Some sites allow you upgrade your account and get more options. However, free classified advertising can be often be used to generate healthy profits.

Here are four tips to help you to write successful classified ads:

1. Have a compelling headline. This is the first thing targeted visitors will see. Your headline will undoubtedly be the deciding factor which determines whether your advertisements get seen or not. So be sure to invest your time writing a quality headline. Use "power" words in your headline such as "secrets", "discount", "limited time only". These words are proven to get the click throughs.

2. Provide good quality photographs and pictures in your copy. If you sign up for US Free Ad's premium service, you are allowed to add pictures to your advert. Relevant pictures make your advert more appealing and attractive.

3. Use bullet points in your adverts. People searching through adverts tend to skim sales copy, so bullet points help them to read your copy easily. If you post long paragraphs on your advert, people are less likely to read it and will probably click away.

4. Be sure to use a "call-to-action". This tells a visitor to take an action that you want him to take, such as to click through to your website, to buy your product, or to sign up for your newsletter. Writing a classified advert is really easy once you grasp the essentials. Once you have a profitable copy, you only need to spend a few minutes each day reposting it to the classified ads sites.

Here's a list of the most popular classified ad sites:

http://www.craigslist.org
http://www.usfreeads.com
http://classifieds.myspace.com
http://classifieds.yahoo.com
http://www.oodle.com
http://www.adpost.com

As well as providing you with the opportunity to sell your products, classified adverts can also drive traffic to your websites and, of course, get you backlinks.

Have you considered using classified advertising?

I don't want to burst too many bubbles, but the continuity business model has been around a very long time.

I can remember when I was around seven or eight years old, yes that's nearly half a century ago.. there's no need to rub it in!

Anyway, even at that young age, I was very much into reading and my parents were keen to encourage me. Every month I received a brand new story book. I really looked forward to receiving those parcels, tearing off the wrapping paper to see which book I'd received. They were great stories of adventure and I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Getting back to the point...

My parents had signed up to a "Children's Book Of The Month" club. They paid a monthly subscription and the arrangement was that they would continue to pay that monthly fee until they cancelled.

Many organisations use the same payment structure.. Reader's Digest, Franklin Mint, are just a couple that immediately come to mind.

And, while the offline world benefits from using the continuity model, the Internet offers a much wider range of possibilities including much more potential to automate the billing and fulfillment processes.

In fact, this membership blog is based on the continuity model, as it uses the PayPal subscription facility to automatically collect  monthly payments from Premium Members. That means that I can concentrate my efforts on providing great content without having to spend time collecting cash.

One of the greatest advantages of the continuity model can be seen when you consider the cost of customer acquisition.

When you sell a single product, your advertising and marketing costs must be deducted from the sales price to determine your profit.

When you sell a membership, or other subscription, your advertising and marketing costs can be deducted from the lifetime value of the subscription.

As a seller, I'm sure that you'll appreciate that it costs far more in terms of time, effort and budget to sell a $97 information product than it does to sell a $9.97 product. As a buyer, I hope you'll agree that investing $9.97 is an easier decision than spending $97?

There are several benefits to the buyer too..

• The investment is made in small multiple payments rather than a relatively high one-off price.
• The cost can be budgeted for in advance.
• The cost of access is much lower, thus reducing the risk.
• Subscriptions can be cancelled at any time.
• Content is delivered in smaller easier to "digest" bites.

So, when considering your next product, think about the cost of acquiring a new sale and compare the numbers.