Many people tried to do advertising, but colleges taught them in one semester(4 months) So, don't give up. learn to do it effectively.

Brand recognition is what every one does. It is not effective unless you are advertising to immediate buyers. People with no intentions of buying anything is not interested in brands.

The lure of a need in the future, helps brand recognition. Advertising people describe the wonderful features of the merchandise to sell it.

Price, availability, and quality sell the merchandise. So, a proforma quotation, is what needs a follow up to close the deal. A web page to pay and make delivery assured(confirmed or insured) is the follow up.

If download is free, how can the distro pay for advertising? The distro must sell cd or manual or services to be able to afford advertising. And to bring customer to the distros, they have to have the facility to take the money, and deliver the goods. Once this understanding is reached, then web advertising will be successful. Even Google advertising is not effective against sales growth evaluation. Google charges by the click, not list of customers reached. Magazines provide sales leads from readers who request more literature.