Archive for the ‘Classified Ads’ Category

The Multi-faceted Craigslist

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

The internet has many, many ways of communicating with many people.  One can find any number of methods to do research or to simply drop someone a quick note.  One of the fastest growing ways, however, is Craigslist.  Craigslist is a great way of networking.  And you can use it to meet up with people, to locate long lost friends, to strike up a romantic relationship or to do almost anything else on the internet that you can imagine.  But we want to narrow down our information somewhat, so this particular article will deal with networking and searching a romantic relationship via Craigslist.

TO NETWORK

Craigslist provides a great spot on which to do some networking with others of similar interest.  There are numerous discussion forums available which enable you to read those in which you have an interest.  After doing so, you will most likely come across someone else who may match your interest and can serve as a discussion partner.  And the best part is that all posts to Craigslist include an email address of the person that posted the comment.  And these addresses can either be private or one supplied by Craigslist.  This enables you to contact the poster for further discussion.

FINDING ROMANCE

You can also make use of Craigslists to find a potential romantic relationship.  This section of Craigslist is much the same as the personals in a newspaper or any of the dating sites that are out there.  As with any other similar service, you can place an ad or read one that has been posted by someone else.  And they provide possibilities for both heterosexuals as well as homosexuals.  But keep in mind that there are additional restrictions on this portion of the site that are in addition to the general Craigslist restrictions.  First of all, you must be 18 years of age.  In addition they prevent anyone from impersonating anyone else for the purposes of this type of communication.

Take Precautions -  Any type of dating site or site which is geared to a romantic relationship, must be dealt with carefully.  Craigslist is no different.  Since the internet is a type of anonymous vehicle, it allows people to misrepresent themselves to others.  This may be intentional or quite by accident.  But either way, it requires care in the use of  Craigslist.

The most obvious precaution that must be taken is to protect yourself from those who could intend to cause you physical harm.  One of the best ways to protect yourself is to make sure that your first meeting with someone is in a very public place with many people around.  Avoid any type of secluded meeting until you have had a chance to check this person out face to face.  And even after the first meeting it is still wise to avoid giving anyone your phone number or address until you are quite comfortable with them.

Finally, try to keep a clear and open mind concerning the people you meet on Craigslist.  You will probably get numerous responses.  Most of them will not really fit what you are looking for.  It is possible, however, that you could find that special someone right away.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

Will Craigslist Really Help Your Business?

Saturday, October 17th, 2009

That can be a very loaded question.  Because the answer is, yes it can.   But the answer may also be, no it won’t.  But on the other hand, the answer could be, perhaps it will.  Since there is no clear cut answer to that question, then it must depend on how the site is used and how much knowledge you have of how to use the site.  If you are able to put together some great copy for your ad and also be able to find your target customers, then you will probably do very well on Craigslist.  If, on the other hand, you don’t really know who your potential customers are and your ad copy is rather ho-hum, then you may not do so well on Craigslist.

The opportunity is certainly there for substantial financial gain.  After all, all of the advertising and posting is free so you don’t have any financial commitment going into the process.  You are not wasting a dime.  And the traffic is phenomenal.  There are about ten million visitors to Craigslist per month which translates into about four billion page views.  So you don’t have to worry about traffic; it is there. But to make all of this work for you, you must know what you are doing and how best to work with the site.  If you don’t you will be very disappointed.

DO SOME RESEARCH

Except for the volume of traffic on the site, advertising on Craigslist is not a whole lot different than anywhere else.  You have to have a clear picture of your purpose and what audience you are going after.  This requires doing quite a bit of research so that you are placing the ads in the right place on Craigslist.  You also need to make sure that the wording of your ads is such that you are going to grab the attention of those reading it.  This includes making sure that you have the right keywords present so that as people search they will come across your ad.

Now obtaining all of this knowledge can be daunting.  You can do some of it online but some can also be done other ways.  One very effective way is to provide some surveys to be filled out by members of that group you are trying to target.  Based upon their answers, you can begin building an effective campaign which you can translate to ads on Craigslist.

WHAT ABOUT COMPETITION ON THE SITE?

If you perform a search on Craigslist it can provide you with some very valuable information.  It will direct you to your competition on the site.  By looking at their ads and their approaches, you can learn much about the direction you may want to take.   You can see what is working for them and then use the same techniques yourself.  But in addition, you will also be able to see what the weak points are for your competitors thus helping you to avoid those traps.

Use some keywords for your product or service and you will be amazed at the number of ads that will come up for the competition.  You will then want to study these ads very carefully.  How can you improve on what they have already done?  How much more creative can you be than they were?  And how can you write better copy than they did?  Not everyone is good at all of these things.  That is why it may be wise to enlist someone with SEO expertise.  SEO is Search Engine Optimization.  These people are skilled in analyzing this data and in writing effective copy which can more effectively achieve sales results for you.  Using someone with this knowledge is very often the best way to go rather than trying to do all of this yourself.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

The Price Is Right on Craigslist

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Craigslist offers many, many benefits to those doing business and marketing.  It offers you the opportunity to not only buy but to also sell to a wide community of potential customers.  It will also offer you the opportunity to job hunt, if need be.  But the two benefits we will focus on in this article are the affordability of Craigslist and the fact that Craigslist can also help you to reach your targeted buyers.

A GREAT PRICE

You cannot beat the price of advertising on Craigslist.  It is FREE!!  At least for most types of advertising.  Certain ad types in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco are charged a fee, but even that is low.  So, if you compare advertising on Craigslist with almost any other sort of advertising, Craigslist wins hands down.  There is absolutely no competition.

Think about it.  You can post an ad on Craigslist for a product or service and there is no fee at all.  The only thing that comes even close is in affiliate marketing when the advertiser is only charged when there is traffic generated from the ad.  But that is not the same as FREE.    Craigslist beats anything out there when it comes to the cost effectiveness of advertising.

REACHING A HUGE AUDIENCE

With about four billion page visits per month on Craigslist, what other form of advertising will get you that kind of reach in that time period?  None!  And the effort that goes into reaching that many people is really very low.  So you are making out on both ends.

KNOW YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Now, this is all well and good to reach that many people on any website.  But the thing that you must keep in mind is this.  Not all of those people are in your targeted audience of customers.  This is a huge community that visits Craigslist each month.  But not all of them are the people that you are looking for.  You need to study Craigslist before you participate.  It is divided up into a number of different sections and categories.  It is designed this way to make it easier for both you, the advertiser, to find your customers and for the buyers to find you.  You need to decide how you want to place your ads on Craigslist and in what categories you will find your targeted customers.  But you must also be very careful.  If you place your ads in too many different categories, the “powers that be” at Craigslist may see these ads as spam and in turn may delete them.  So, it is a matter of being very knowledgeable about Craigslist and how it is organized and then picking and choosing the best place or places to insert your ads.

Craigslist is a very valuable resource but only if you, the advertiser, know how to use it to the best of your ability.  As you can see, there is more involved on this site than just simply throwing your ad, or ads, up there and seeing where they stick.  You must know your audience, or customers, and know where to find them on Craigslist.

Tags:
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

How Craigslist Can Serve You

Friday, October 16th, 2009

Craigslist has a myriad of benefits to those who make use of this valuable resource.  Craigslist offers many different things from job ads to product services, real estate offerings to discussion forums.  With about four billion page views every month, it gives you an idea of the amount of information that can be found on this site.  But if you have not used Craigslist, or have not used it extensively, you still may not be totally aware of what it can do for you.  This article will attempt to explain three important areas for those of you who have yet to explore this incredible site.

CRAIGSLIST!  WHAT IS IT?

Craigslist can best be described as a combination of the classifieds in a newspaper tied in with the editorial section of the paper.  Add to that a job site where you can search for employment, a section for products and services and a personals section.  All of this, and more, all rolled into one great site.  You can even post your resume on Craigslist as well as get involved in discussion forums which exchange many ideas.

This is an online community which offers almost anything which you could imagine.  But the best part is in how Craigslist is organized.  When you take a look at the site, you will see that it is divided up into geographical areas and categories.  This makes it easy to pinpoint what you want and where you can find it.

WHAT CAN IT DO FOR YOU?

That is a tough question to answer since it depends on what you are looking for and what you need.  There are probably as many answers to that question as there are people using the site.  For our immediate purposes, however, we will concentrate on purchasing products or services, finding a job, and meeting people.  We will also discuss using the site for business

If you have an item to sell, you can post an ad for that item on Craigslist.  People who might be interested in that item can then read your ad and hopefully will contact you with successful results.  By the same token, you can search for a specific item you are looking for and if anyone on the site has it, then you have made a valuable connection.

Do you need a job?  Well, Craigslist is a great place to search out employment opportunities.  You can also post your resume for potential employers to review.  The job search option offers a number of things such as contract positions and full and part time jobs.

Craigslist also offers a personals section where you can meet friends or even look for a date.  With the dating aspect, certain precautions must be exercised so as to make sure that you are meeting people safely.  In that respect, Craigslist is no different than any other dating site.  It also enables you to just simply meet up with old friends and make new ones.

CAN IT HELP YOUR BUSINESS?

Craigslist is a great business resource.  Placing ads on Craigslist for products or services is the most widely used method of using the site for business.  You can also check out your competitors via Craigslist and see what they are doing.  There are about four billion page views per month, so your message is sure to get out where you want it.

Tags: ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

Craigslist Precautions Are Necessary

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

Craigslist is unquestionably a great resource to use for business purposes, jobs, any sort of product or service, personal contact or even housing.  It offers all users the opportunity to touch base with millions of people and to get “the word” out on their business.  Since it is an online site, however, you must take certain precautions when using Craigslist.  There is always the possibility of encountering scammers and/or predators.

When you consider the fact that ten million people visit Craigslist, on average, per month and that those ten million interprets into about four billion page views per month, you can see why Craigslist is such a valuable resource.  Most of the people who visit this site are upstanding, honest people, but you are bound to encounter some who have devious intentions on Craigslist.  It is the few that you must guard yourself against.  But this should not deter you from the benefits of Craigslist.  In this article, we want to focus on those benefits but, at the same time, caution you about the few who could harm you.

WHY IS CRAIGSLIST USEFUL?

Some people may wonder why they should use Craigslist.  After all, there are a number of other websites that specialize in job hunting, dating, products, service, etc.  So why is Craigslist so special?  Basically stated, Craigslist is effective because it offers all of the above focus areas, and more, in one location.  Instead of surfing all over the web, you can catch everything in one great location.  Although it began on a small scale, it has grown into one of the best options on the internet to find any sort of information for which you are looking.

Craigslist makes it unnecessary to search through huge databases to find what you are searching for.  Plus it makes it easy to locate your particular area of interest.

PROTECTING YOURSELF

Craigslist is no more risky than most other online sites.  But, as with any online site, anyone can easily disguise themselves or their intentions on Craigslist in order to do you harm or to scam you in some way.

Protecting yourself while on Craigslist is of paramount importance.  How do you do this?  Well, the same way you would do it on any other site.  Do not give out any personal information on Craigslist.  This includes protecting your credit card number, your social security number and any other number which would serve to identify you or breach your personal security.  Always be sure that you are dealing with a secure server whenever you give out any personal information.

You must also be careful in giving out your name, address and phone number.  This information can be easily used to locate anyone.  You must also be aware that information regarding where you work or even where you attended high school or college can be used for devious purposes.

No website is full proof, but  you can reasonably protect yourself and your information by using some common sense and being careful.

Tags: ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

Affiliate Marketing on Craigslist

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

With Craigslist being as large as it is, it is not hard to figure out that the possibilities are endless with this site.  There are literally endless marketing opportunities for those people who know how to use the internet and have a keen eye on the ins and outs of such usage.  It has been estimated that there are about four billion page views a day on Craigslist.  That represents a sizable number of people visiting this site daily.  One of the great ways to use Craigslist is in the area of affiliate marketing.  And this can be on either side.  If you are in search of an affiliate to do some marketing for you, the opportunities are tremendous.  Likewise, if you are an affiliate marketer, your choices and opportunity for marketing are beyond comprehension.  We will take a look in this article at this type of marketing and how you can use it on Craigslist.

DEFINING AFFILIATE MARKETING

Very simply defined, affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy that pays based upon results.  Normally, when someone does some marketing for your company you pay them even if the desired results are not obtained.  It is a risk you take that your marketing will actually work.  With affiliate marketing, however, you only pay for the marketing after you achieve a specific result.  There are three basic types of affiliate marketing.  The first is Pay Per Click, the second is Pay Per Sale and the Third is called Pay Per Lead.

With the first type, Pay Per Click, the affiliate will place a link on his website which is coded.  Every time a visitor to that website clicks on that link, the affiliate receives a fee.  This amount is negotiated between the affiliate and the sponsor.  In the second type, Pay Per Sale, no money is made by the affiliate unless a sales results from the visitor clicking on the coded link.  On the last type, Pay Per Lead, no money is earned unless the visitor that clicks on the link then requests more information from the sponsor or registers for something.

FINDING AFFILIATES ON CRAIGSLIST

If you are interested in finding affiliates via Craigslist, you can do that.  You must be careful, however, where you post your ad for this purpose.  Regulations forbid posting affiliate searches in the job section so it becomes necessary to list these elsewhere on the site.

Perhaps one way around this is to participate in discussion forums on the site.  But, here again, you must be careful that you do not post links that promote signing up for your programs.  This could be seen as spam and therefore not be taken seriously by affiliates.  Perhaps the best way is in getting to know participants during discussions offline or to include a link to more information that can be obtained.

FINDING AFFILIATE OPPORTUNITIES

If you work as an affiliate for someone else, you can find opportunities.  Again, posting in the job section is prohibited but you can place an ad and claim ignorance if it is discovered.  By doing this, it may stay posted for a bit before it is taken down and therefore may pick up some business for you.  You may also try to post an ad in the sections for services or resumes.

Tags: ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

Using Craigslist Affordably

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

The great attraction to Craigslist is that you can use it at no cost.  Posting ads on Craigslist is done without charging the poster any fee for the posting.  This makes this form of advertising very affordable to everyone.  Craigslist began in 1999 as a nonprofit corporation but has since switched over to a for profit entity.  How do they make their money?  Well certain fees are charged for ads placed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York plus you will pay if submitting a brokerage apartment ad in New York City.

Craigslist has around 300 websites.  And with all, or most, of those postings being free, you can see the volume of people who are using this innovative site each day. But, as with any sort of advertising, you should be careful in posting your ads so as to obtain the best return on them as possible.

WHY NOT CHARGE FOR CRAIGSLIST?

Craig Newmark is the owner of Craigslist.  He has been approached about running banner ads on Craigslist which would carry a charge.  He turned this idea down, however, because he wanted to keep the sites non-commercial.  Several points in the Craigslist mission statement make it clear why this is a free service.

  • To get the word around about everyday items and services in a fair way for all
  • Make the internet a bit more human than it is otherwise
  • Try to be honest and keep things easy and understandable
  • Stay away from the big time intimidating look of other sites
  • Making the site available and affordable to everyone
  • The sites are made of many communities, so to speak, instead of one huge unit

CRAIGSLIST AS OPPOSED TO AFFILIATE

Affiliate marketing is very popular and many businesses make use of it to a profitable extent.  The only problem is that payment and profits depend on a certain action taking place.  No money is made unless a click through is made on Pay Per Click, or a sale is made on Pay Per Sale or a referral is made on Pay Per Lead.  This can sometimes leave a marketer up in the air.

With Craigslist, however, none of that needs to be a concern.  You can advertise on Craigslist at no cost and receive a lot of traffic with your ad.  And with this amount of traffic the chances are good that you will receive some traffic to your website as well.

BUT FREE IS NOT ALWAYS THE ANSWER

Free advertising can be a problem, however, if you have a product or service that Craigslist doesn’t support in a category.  In this case you must place it in a general area and are likely to not get the traffic that will lead to sales.  Being lumped in with a bunch of unrelated listings can sometimes hurt you rather than help you.  Another problem on Craigslist is if there is a glut of ads on the site that are the same as yours.  In other words, too much competition can also hurt you.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

Doing Business with Craigslist

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Business with CraigslistCraigslist can be a very valuable business tool with which to promote your business.  This is true whether you are operating a part time business out of your home or if you are running a full time business that takes up a majority of your time.  There are two areas that Craigslist can help you with in your business.  The first is finding your target group or audience that you want to reach.  The second is assisting you with marketing to that audience.  This article will talk, in detail, about each area.

FINDING YOUR AUDIENCE AND REACHING IT

Before you can promote on Craigslist you must know who you are trying to reach.  Who is in your target audience.  That is really no different than if you were not promoting online.  Finding your audience or target group, is always the beginning point.   In order to do this, you must do some research and find out, not only who these people are, but where they are.

Knowing who your customers are is really a major part of the battle.  You can have the best marketing strategy and plan that has ever been devised, but if you do not know who it is being directed towards then you are wasting your time.  And on Craigslist you can categorize your ads so that they hit that intended group of people.  One of the best things about Craigslist is that a majority of the postings on it are free.  There are some exceptions, however, and those fall into the categories of New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco job listings as well as some housing listings in New York City.  But most of the rest are free.  So, the price is certainly not an obstacle to getting to your intended customers.

If you, for instance, had a moving and storage company in a certain county of Portland, Oregon, you could make use of the free listings on Craigslist to target potential customers in the county or counties in which you do business.  First of all, the listings are free and you are localizing them within the area where your business is most likely to be noticed.

But there are other advantages to Craigslist besides the fact that the listings are free.  Keep in mind that Craigslist pages are viewed approximately four billion times a month.  That accounts for a lot of potential customers.  Your opportunity of visibility far out weighs most other types of promotion.  But again, the key is to be sure that you are categorizing your ads correctly.

USING CRAIGSLIST TO MARKET

You can market very effectively on Craigslist.  And it is not a great deal different than marketing in other types of advertising.  The one thing you want to make a priority is that your copy is well written and that it gets your potential customer headed in the direction that you want him to go.  That direction can be to another website for more information, making a purchase, or getting more information about a product or service.  The best way to accomplish this is the hire a freelance writer to write your ad copy.  A freelancer will be much more likely to put your copy together effectively than if you do it yourself.

Once all of the above is accomplished then you need to get the ad placed in the right spot on Craigslist.  It must be categorized in the most effective method and then it must be placed in the right place to get the attention which you desire.  And now with websites being so popular in business, it will open up your potential locations greatly.

Tags: ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

Craigslist As An Income Producer

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Craigslist As An Income ProducerIs it really possible to earn a living on Craigslist?  Well, the answer is yes.  That is, if you are in tune with the ins and outs of using the internet and a major internet site.  Plus, you need to have the business know how to make effective use of any site.  There are essentially millions of opportunities to make a living using a site such as Craigslist.  Do not be fooled, however, this is not necessarily an easy job.  There is much more to it than just sitting in front of your computer day after day.  Granted, you are within reach of those people who might have some use for your product or service, but you also have to know how to reach the majority who do not just stumble onto your ads.  One great thing about Craigslist, or any internet site, is that there is no limit on what you can make.  In a regular job, your salary is set and that is all you are likely to make.  But on the internet, the sky’s the limit.  But that does not mean that the income is guaranteed.

Basically, you can make money with Craigslist in two ways.  The first, is as an independent contractor.  The second is being simply the owner of a small business.  The following article will go into some detail on each approach.

BEING AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR

An independent contractor can be very successful on Craigslist.  When you offer a product or service on a contract basis, it opens up a wide range of business opportunities.  Outsourcing has become very popular in American business.  Many companies are farming work out to other companies, rather than doing the work themselves.  If you have something to offer that fits into this type of  approach, you can be very successful on Craigslist.  It simply means placing ads in those areas where your services will get noticed.

With the many sections that Craigslist offers, one of them is for “services offered.”  Under that, there are quite a few other categories.  Once you find the right category for you, you can place a posting to get the attention of those who need your service.  If, however, you cannot find a category that fits your product or service, you can place an ad under the small business area.  This, however, may not be quite as successful since it is a more general category.

A second method for independent contractors to generate business is to search those ads where someone is looking for contract workers.  The best way to do this is to start in a particular location and then simply browse the jobs.  You may want to make sure that you check  the contract box.  This will help to search out contract work.

BEING THE OWNER OF A SMALL BUSINESS

If you own a small business, Craigslist can be a big help in obtaining additional business for your company.  All you need to do is place an ad under the appropriate category for a product or service.    Since Craigslist receives about four billion page views per month, your chances for success are pretty good.

You can also use the forums on Craigslist.  This can be a bit risky since you need to make sure that your postings are for legitimate business postings and not just drivel to promote your business.  This can be viewed as spam and will be removed by Craigslist.

Tags: ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »

Craigslist As An Advertising Tool

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Craigslist As An Advertising ToolPlacing advertising on Craigslist is a winning situation for just about any business.  It does not matter whether you are strictly an internet business or if you simply have a retail store, Craigslist can be of service in your advertising plans.  Many times you will see results via your ads on Craigslist.  And the best part about advertising with Craigslist is the price.  You cannot beat FREE!  So, since it is free, you are not putting anything on the line in financial terms.  If you don’t get results, you have not lost anything.  But chances are the results will be there.  When you post, the only thing you will have to be obligated to are some agreement on the use terms.

REACHING CUSTOMERS

One of the great advantages to Craigslist is in reaching a high volume of potential customers.  It is estimated that ten million people make use of Craigslist per month.  This ten million figure translates into about four billion page views per month.  So I think it is clear that your ad will be seen with some frequency.

But just as with any type of advertising, sheer volume does not necessarily translate into sales.  The key to getting positive results is in making your ad attractive to those who may be interested in your product or service.  Also, you must make sure that the placement of your ad is such that you will hit your targeted potential customers.

HOW TO FIND THAT TARGETED AUDIENCE

You read above about the numbers, in terms of traffic, that Craigslist gets per month.  What you want to do is to take those numbers and target your customers.  Obviously, your potential customers will be a much lower number than the total that visits the site.  But that is what you are looking to do.  Target a much smaller number of people who are interested in what you are offering.  It does no good to go after people who are not interested in your product to begin with thus wasting time and energy on non-buyers.  Your smaller targeted customers will be much more worthwhile.

In order to get to your targeted audience, or customers, you will want to place your ad in a specific category on Craigslist.  That is how Craigslist is broken down.  Specific categories of business make it fairly easy to determine where your ad should go.  By doing this you are not advertising an auto repair shop in the computer repair section.  You can even place ads in more than one category.  You must take care in doing this, however, as to not make it look like your ad is spam.

What if there is not a category for your type of business?  Well, you can still use Craigslist.  You simply place your ad in the small business section.  You may even want to suggest to Craigslist to add a section for your type of business.  If they feel that there is sufficient need, they may consider doing just that.

CLARIFYING ADS AND SPAM

You are safe if you place an ad in a specific section or two.  But placing your ad sort of “across the board” in many sections may constitute spam.  If your ad is seen in too many unrelated areas, then customers will be less likely to buy from that business.  In addition if Craigslist suspects that your ads are spam, they may delete ALL of your ads.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Classified Ads | No Comments »