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White space, black space , blue space ... I guess it all depends on the background color you use on your web pages ... can be an important tool when it comes to selling your message. You see, empty space can sell just as effectively as words.

Of course, it doesn't quite do it in the same way as words and images do. Instead it's much more subtle because it's quiet, it's silent and so many marketers fail to see the value in a message that makes no noise.

They feel that they have to fill every available space with words, information, images and clutter in the mistaken belief that the more space they use the more chance they have of making a sale. But in just about every situation less is more.

There may have been a time when overloading advertising space with information may have worked but the marketplace has moved on. The consumer is so accustomed to seeing advertising that, if there's too much information in a confined space, they skim over it and nothing really sticks.

A couple of months ago I talked about billboard advertising and looked at the way it was really making a comeback. In fact it's making such a comeback in the United States that more money is being spent on billboard advertising than on advertising in newspapers.

That's happening because billboard advertising is working for the advertiser. If you stop and compare the average billboard with a newspaper ad you will begin to see why. On the billboards that seem to have the biggest impact there's a heck of a lot of empty space.

One billboard that we saw last month really stands out as a great example of how not to overload the viewer with information. It was the normal-sized landscape billboard with a plain white background. There were just three things on that billboard. One the left was the head and shoulders of a race horse in full gallop. On the right was the head and shoulders of a harness racer in full stride and between the two was a URL for a horse racing website.

It was very plain and obviously very simple and yet the message on that billboard has stuck with me for weeks ... and I have absolutely zero interest in horse racing of any kind. That billboard got its message across in just two or three seconds and it did it because the message was plain to see.

The message wasn't smothered in too much information. Instead it sat there against a plain background with plenty of white space around it and people saw the message. The empty space was selling the message too. It was telling people that what they saw was important, what they didn't see was unimportant.

Steve and I have been looking at newspaper advertising here where we live. You see, small businesses here don't have local search from either Google or Yahoo and people aren't going on line looking for the local information they might need.

But at the same time newspaper advertising isn't working either and billboard advertising really isn't an option around here. So what does a small business do to get its message across?

Well for one client we went back to the newspapers to advertise his services but this time we wrote the copy instead of leaving it up to the paper and we included a lot of white space. The end result is that we have one very happy client who has seen his sales soar in just a few days.

So, wherever you are advertising, don't be afraid to leave plenty of white space. Recognize empty space for what it is - a very effective marketing tool. Even though it doesn't seem to say anything it can have an incredible impact because it focuses the attention of whoever is seeing the ad on the text or the images that you are using.

It works on billboards, it works in newspaper advertising and it will definitely work on your web pages. When a surfer hits your adult marketing pages he or she is looking for the freebies and that's where their focus is.

If you leave plenty of empty space on your pages the words and the marketing message will be far more likely to jump off the page and it increases the impact of the information that is there on the page.

So don't feel you have to fill up every available space with noise and information. Be brave enough to leave empty space because it's part of the message too and sometimes, saying nothing can be far more powerful than saying too much.