The deadline approaches and your ad STILL has not sold. What are you going to do? Many publishers would leave the ad unsold, but some publishers have found "insider" ways to make money with their hard-to-sell ads.

Let's face it, if the ad is unused at publication, you have made zero dollars. I'd rather have a money saver or a potential money-maker in the ad slot than nothing at all.

You have four great options for benefiting from your unsold ad spaces.

OPTION 1 - BARTER THE AD SPACE FOR SOMETHING YOU NEED

You may be able to get products and services you need in exchange for the ad. What do you need or want? New website graphics? Software? Jewelry? Whatever you're thinking of buying, try trading for it first.

Contact possible trading partners and make your barter proposal. A website where you may find barter partners is http://www.craigslist.org . View some of the posts under the Barter category then post your own ad.

If you can barter instead of buying, that ad just saved you money.

OPTION 2 - SELL YOUR AD SPACE AT AUCTION

You can sell your ad for whatever you can get at auction for it. One of the most popular places to auction ezine ad space is http://www.ezineadauction.com Post a listing that describes your list to potential bidders.

If it doesn't sell by auction deadline, that ad slot may still be able to make you money.

How?

Ask yourself "What can I show my subscribers that will help them solve their problems?" Those are the products and services you may want to promote in the ad slot on a pay-per-sale basis.

OPTION 3 PROMOTE AN AFFILIATE PROGRAM

Search for a product or service your list would likely want. For example, if your subscribers are small business owners, find tools, ebooks and software to help them. Find companies who provide these things and check to see if they have affiliate programs.

Affiliate programs pay you a commission when your referrals buy. Choose an affiliate program that matches your readership and that's high quality. Whatever you promote reflects on your company.

For a list of affiliate programs, visit http://www.associateprograms.com or http://www.clickbank.com . If you have never used affiliate programs, a great course on affiliate marketing can be found at http://www.internetmarketingmadesimple.com/affiliatecourse.html

OPTION 4 - PROMOTE A JOINT VENTURE

You may choose to find other companies to promote on a joint venture basis. The thing about joint ventures is you may be able to get your partner to give a special bonus to your list, especially if your list is large or highly focused.

What kinds of special bonuses?

    * Special Reports

    * Online Audios

    * Online Videos

    * Tipsheets

    * Cheat sheets

    * Ebooks

    * Teleseminars

Imagine giving your list a gift full of valuable information. Your list will be impressed that you gave them something valuable. Furthermore, they may buy.

Here's an example of this in action: An ezine owner gave me (and everyone on his list) a free teleseminar with a top marketer. The information was so useful that I bought the full marketing course. The marketer made money, the ezine owner made a commission and I got great information that helped my business.

The way it works is, before your promotion, your joint venture partner agrees to track your giveaway. You give away something your readers can use, and if they buy from your joint venture partner, you get a referral fee.

Some ezine owners are finding that their affiliate and joint venture promotions bring them more profits than selling ads. The downside of running a pay-per-sale promotion in the ad slot is you may find that your promotion doesn't work. If you run a promotion and it doesn't make any money, you're no worse off than running nothing in the spot.

To easily find out about new joint venture opportunities, sign up for JV Hotlist at http://www.jvhotlist.com JV Hotlist lists companies who want to joint venture with ezine owners.

Now you have four potentially profitable options for unsold ad space. Barter for things you want, sell the space at auction, promote an affiliate program or promote a joint venture.

Resource: Author Raynay Valles moderates JV Hotlist, which brings joint venture opportunities to ezine owners. Read more at http://www.jvhotlist.com or sign up at [email protected]