Seeking suitable advertising outlet

I am a technical writer, marketing writer, and systems analyst (yes, I
wear several hats), based in the Maryland/DC area. I am seeking a
suitable, cost effective advertising outlet, and I'm hoping someone in
this group can provide some leads.

Currently, I have an ad running using Google adwords, but while that
seems to bring some hits to my Web page, it's not nearly enough.

My ideal target audience would be engineers and executives at
small-to-medium sized high technology companies, including startups.
Unfortunately, I am somewhat constrained by budget.

I can actually describe my ideal advertising outlet, and then explain
why I *can't* advertise there -- and then maybe someone can suggest
some similar options. There is an e-mail based newswire, Potomac
Techwire (http://www.potomactechwire.com) which reaches some 38,000
members of my ideal target audience every day. A five-day ad costs
$175, and a 10 day run costs $300, which I think is pretty reasonable.
Unfortunately....

After I ran an ad several years ago, some other consultants also ran
ads. When some of these guys did not immediately get work, they
apparently called and complained at length, as if it was the fault of
PTW that their ad did not succeed. (Amateurs!) The guys who run PTW
decided to not run any more ads by one-man consultancies.

What I need is something like Potomac Techwire, some kind of newswire
or newsletter that is targeted to high technology, with emphasis on
entrepreneurs and startups, but includes larger companies as well. It
also has to be affordable. For example, I came across something
called Dow Jones Venture Wire, which looked promising, but the ad
rates are totally off the scale for my size of business and budget.
And advertising in The Washington Post or some of the local business
magazines is totally out of the question.

Thanks in advance for all replies.

Steve O.
Oppenheimer Communications: Technical and Marketing Writing
www.OppenheimerCommunications.com

Steven AATT Domain DDOOTT com
To send an e-mail, substitute @ for AATT, a . for DDOOTT, and OpComm for Domain

Hi Steve,

I also use Google adwords. When I went to your Web site, I see
problems you should address BEFORE you pay for any more advertising.

When you go to a Web site (see mine for an example), a visitor should
immediately get an EASY incentive to buy something or click for more
information right away. Just listing your services, as fine as they
are, is not enough.

Try a button similar to mine to click for an estimate, which leads to
a form where the customer can check off the services they're
interested in. Loud and clear on the home page.

TRY IT AND SEE IF YOU DON'T GET MORE RESPONSES INSTEAD OF IDLE
CLLICKS. Sorry about that. last, the caps lock, you know.

On 29 May 2004 05:35:07 GMT, "Steven O." <null@null.com> wrote:

>Currently, I have an ad running using Google adwords, but while that
>seems to bring some hits to my Web page, it's not nearly enough.

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