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Have you ever been driving and seen an almost empty billboard with only the words: "Your Ad Here" followed by a phone number? (In case your not familiar with the word "billboard" it's a large outdoor signboard that holds advertising and you can read them as you drive on highways.)

Now placing your ad on a highway billboard is not free however you may have something that's just as effective and is totally free.

If you are building a list of subscribers or selling products other than affiliate products you have your own billboards. You probably call them "thank-you" and "download" pages.

Every time someone joins your list or buys something from you you have captured their attention and they are reading what you have to say. Sure you need to say "thank-you" and maybe you even need to give them some instructions for completing the subscription or getting their product but you can also make a recommendation for another product, service or list.

While many internet marketing experts state that you should use this space for your upsell, I'll tell you that it's unrestricted space and you can use it however you want. Sure, if you've got an upsell product then this is the perfect place to let your reader know about it. But if you don't have an upsell product you can still use it to recommend a product that is related to what they've just signed up for or bought.

An even better way to use this empty space is to give your new reader or customer a good quality gift like a free report or ebook. By giving them something extra you are now seen as someone who delivers more than expected and that will help you with future sales.

If you do give a gift the important things to remember are:

* The gift should be of value to the intended receiver.

* The gift should be about something they are interested in so they will use it.

* The gift should be something that will help you with your business. A viral ebook, a report promoting another product, a tool with your brand are just a few of the things that make a good gift.

Saying thank you is a must. Leaving the rest of your online billboard empty is wasting some of your most effective free advertising space.

Remember, those who get to your thank you and download pages are part of your targeted market, they're interested in your offer because they've just accepted 1 and giving them another offer is free. And that's as good as it gets in online marketing.

To Your Success,

Susan

PS If you've ever seen a "One Time Offer" after you've signed up at a free membership site you've seen an effective use of a thank-you page. The "OTO" was designed to:

* Create a sense of urgency so the reader would make a purchase.

* Get new affiliates to advertise the membership site. (Viral marketing at work.)

The "OTO" is 1 example of how you can put your free advertising space to work.