Co-reg is a method for generating targeted subscribers onto your mailing list.  Basically, you, as the newsletter publisher or product author, place a short ad for your newsletter or product with a co-reg service, and that service shows your ad on a variety of sites in their network.  Usually, there will be a checkbox beside your ad so that prospective readers can click the box to indicate that they want to receive information from you.

It’s called co-registration because your listing is placed along with other offers, so when someone signs up for an offer, they get the option to sign up for multiple newsletters without having to re-enter their personal information.

As an example, when someone signs up for a free e-mail account with Hotmail, Hotmail displays a page that says, “Hey, do you want to get some free stuff?”  That person can look through the list and put a check mark next to anything of interest to them.  Once they hit submit (or whatever button is there), the co-reg service sends that person’s name, email address, and other sign-up information to the right publishers.

You, as the publisher or advertiser, pay the co-reg service for each subscriber they send to you.  So basically, you’re paying for a targeted opt-in subscriber.

Co-registration can be a very effective tool in your arsenal.  It allows you to build your list of subscribers very quickly.  You’re able to set it up and let it run on auto-pilot.  The co-reg service does the work for you.

Additionally, co-reg can be much less expensive than pay-per-click and other forms of on-line advertising.  At the same time, your business will gain wider exposure because chances are your ad will be placed on sites you might not normally have access to as an advertisers.

It’s not all smooth sailing, however.  Co-registration does come with some challenges that you’ll have to deal with if you decide to use it in your marketing strategy.

First, sometimes people will sign up for your newsletter and forget that they did so since it was on a page with a lot of other offers.  This can lead to spam complaints and cause problems for you with your web host.

Also, some of the major autoresponder services do not allow you to add co-registration leads to your autoresponder campaigns directly from the co-reg service.  What that means is, you would have to use your own autoresponder tool or one provided by the co-reg company to follow up with those leads.

Of course, you could then use your creativity to get your subscribers to go to one of your regular opt-in pages and join your normal mailing list.  And this isn’t an issue if you run your own autoresponder software or if your autoresponder service allows you to use co-registration.

Once you’ve decided that co-registration is a good tool for you, here are few things to keep in mind:

•    Select a co-reg service that delivers your leads immediately.  You want to be able to follow up with your new subscribers as soon as they subscribe so they remember who you are.

•    Use a co-reg service that permits you to require double opt-in for your leads.  This will reinforce to your new subscribers that they joined your list, and will help you be sure you’re building a list with valid e-mail addresses with real people at the other end.

•    Talk with the co-reg service and be sure they target the market you’re interested in.  Be sure you understand all of the costs up front.

•    Make sure your description targets the people who would be interested in what you’re offering.  The more focused your ad is, the better the chance you’ll get responses from the people you want to work with – plus, you’ll minimize your un-subscribes.

•    As with all of your marketing efforts, you need to test and track your results.  If something is not working, fix it so you are profiting from the time and money you’re putting into your advertising.

Co-registration has somewhat of a negative reputation among some internet marketers, but it can be extremely productive in terms of getting you subscribers quickly and allowing you to test your marketing system.

Craigslist allows businesses and consumers to place classified ads in their directory, and in most cases it’s absolutely free.  Imagine the power of placing ads for your products and services on a site that has more than 50 million users every month.

Ads are categorized into several different areas to make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.

Placing ads on Craigslist is a very quick and easy thing to do:

1.    First, create an account or log in at craigslist.org.

2.    On the upper right side of the screen, there’s a box labeled “post new ad in.”  Select the city where you want your advertisement to be displayed.  This is most often the nearest major city to where you live.

3.    Select the category that most closely matches what your advertisement is for.  Be sure to select the correct category or your ad will be removed.

4.    Create your ad

•    Title
The title should be attention-grabbing and focused on what benefit the reader will gain by seeing your offer.  Make your ad stand out from the crowd.

•    Location
This lets your prospect know where in the world you are.  It’s not required, but it’s a good way to start building a relationship with potential clients by giving them just a little piece of information about you.

•    Price
Craigslist doesn’t require you to enter a price, so you need to test and see what works best with your audience.

•    Description
Your description should be specific enough to give the person reading the ad a good understanding of what they’re going to receive.  Again, this needs to be focused on benefits.

•    E-mail
Enter an e-mail address that you check frequently because Craigslist uses this e-mail address to finalize and confirm your ad listing.  Until you complete this step, your ad will be on hold.

•    Images
If you see a button labeled “Add/Edit Images” you are allowed to attach an image to your advertisement.  Not all categories allow this, but if you are allowed, be sure to use a high-quality graphic that makes your ad more appealing.

•    Permissions
You check the Permissions box if you want to allow other companies to contact you with offers related to what your ad is promoting.  This is completely up to you and you are not penalized if you don’t check it.

5.    Review your advertisement and correct anything that needs to be changed.

6.    Accept the terms and conditions of posting your ad.  Be sure to read and understand them before agreeing, and make sure you are in compliance with all of the rules.

7.    Get your ad published by clicking the link in the confirmation e-mail sent out by Craigslist.

Following these simple instructions will get you well on the way to generating traffic to your websites with Craigslist.  Your ads usually appear within minutes of your confirmation.

And as always be sure to track and test every one of your ads to be sure you’re getting a desirable response.  Even though it doesn’t cost money (in most cases) to post ads on Craigslist, it does cost you time.  If you’re not getting a good response, figure out what needs to change and change it.

The first thing to be aware of is you need to place your ads in the newsletters and websites the people in your target market visit on a regular basis.  It does you no good to place your ads where the readers don’t care about what you’re offering.

Set up your advertisements so that you’re not trying to sell a product or service from the ad.  Your sales letters or sales team members should do your selling for you.  Instead, place ads with the explicit intent to drive traffic to your website.

Of course, the only way to get the response you want is to write a powerful ad.  The components of a great ad are:

•    A compelling headline that highlights the most important benefit the reader will gain if they find out what you have to offer.  The name of your product or gift isn’t necessarily compelling.  Use the headline to grab their attention and tell them you’re going to solve their pain.

•    Then make them an offer they’d be crazy to refuse.  One great way to accomplish this is to offer a free report or free e-course in your ad.  Be sure you’re offering something that appeals to everyone in your target market.

•    Lastly, tell them what they need to do in order to get their gift.  Use a direct command.  For example, if you want them to visit a website, explicitly state, “click this link to get your free gift.”

Classified ads give you a very limited space to make a big statement, so keep your ads short and simple.  Be very clear in your language as to what the reader will get and how they go about getting it.

Next, test your ads as inexpensively as possible.  Research the best e-zines and classified advertising sites and find those that have a good circulation or a high traffic ranking at a reasonable price.  Then, once your ad is getting your positive results, you can ramp up your advertising and publish it all over the place.

One thing to keep in mind is that not all newsletters and websites will give you the same results, so keep track of where your visitors are coming from and what kind of conversion you get from those visitors.

If your ads aren’t working in one location but they’re doing fine in others, just remove that ad.  You’ll have to decide if the problem is with the ad or if that publisher simply isn’t reaching your intended audience.

On-line classified advertising can bring a flood of traffic to your web pages.  The key is to make sure you’re putting your ads in front of the right audience.