Advertising...to us is not selling...its creating relationships...then communicating with those people daily if necessary. We never advertise any program or product directly to any person.
We advertise ourselves and our organization instead.
Our message is the same today as it was in 1983...be consistent and honest..upfront and success will come.
There are many good longtime paying programs on the internet but can you show me how to make them work for me!..is the question...so make your ads about me!...not the program.
As to forms of advertising ...hits and traffic exchanges are a waste of time in our opinion.
CraigsList has been good to us as we can advertise to a particular state and town. Cover you home state first its much easier to communicate with local people.
Solo ads...are the best and then we use newspaper and radio...but again our best source is joining forms like this one and other sites where you can simply visit with others...many people ar looking for HELP...make them a success and you have a friend for life...forget about making them millionaires...if you can show them how to earn $300 a month without it costing then out of pocket money you have friends for life.
Safelist have been good over the years (4,000 Yahoo Groups) but don't seem to be as good in the last few years.
We also have T/shirts that say.."work from home with me" ..then contact info...and a bumper sticker on our car that says my homebased income bought this.
We agree with your idea of Splash pages and making them different so they stand out.
hope this helps you
Be Blessed
the Murphy's..Lutian & Anne