Last Updated on September 6, 2024
The simplest way of describing what Craigslist is all about is to state that it is a one stop resource point for nearly anything and everything that can be offered on the virtual platform. It covers such a wide array of topic that is almost impossible to conclusively and categorically state its specifics.
Craigslist Basics
People are always looking for information to receive or to share and the Craigslist is where all this can be done. Some people refer to Craigslist as a complete form of divulging information much like the trusty but old fashioned newspaper. Here information is not only just provided but it is done in a very user friendly manner and this is done through an efficiently designed listing of 450 different geographical areas. This makes any information available in any given area instantly.
As would a newspaper Craigslist provides information but here is where the similarities end. The Craigslist allows for further more in depth information to be available and also the means to create and interactive exchange of ideas or sentiments about the exchanged information.
There is also the very interesting avenue of being able to post personal information with the intention of making new friends or finding romantic type partnerships. From dating prospects to finding a suitable job, Craigslist provides immeasurable assistance wherever it’s sought. Using Craigslist to seek out lost friends and relatives can be done through this method.
From a business perspective the Craigslist can also be of valuable assistance. Being on the receiving end of billions of page views on a regular basis, avails the efficient reach of information to an equally vast number of people. It is also a simple way of promoting any business. The Craigslist can also be used as a tool to research the competitors business and its ways of reaching their potential target audience and customers.
The Advantages Of Craigslist
Craigslist is a popular tool most people use when they are seeking information. This information sought can be from any of the various arrears found on the list. However Craigslist can also be used for business purposes too.
There are two main categories the Craigslist can provide a great deal on assistance in. these include the ability to ensure the target audience is reached and the efficiency of running a marketing campaign. Both these area are very important and arguably important to the success of any business online or offline.
One of the first things the Craigslist can be used for is to determine the target audience and where they can be found at any given time.
Having a well designed advertising campaign or even using the right tools does not translate to the message getting through to the target audience if the said audience cannot be indentified or located.
Having the added advantage of being able to post almost anything for virtually free, the Craigslist is able to direct the target audience to the site from a number of different locations immediately.
Besides the advantage of free advertising the Craigslist also creates the additional benefits of giving the postings a very wide target audience because of the 20 billion page view per month.
This inadvertently means the posting are able to reach and penetrate areas that would otherwise not been available to the businesses if other means of advertising was used.
Another important benefit the Craigslist provides for its online or offline business is the recommendation of correct slot listing within its sites.
Sometimes not being able to discern the best location for the listings could inadvertently cause the site to achieve less success than it should otherwise be able to.
Targeting The Right Audience
Advertising is very important to ensuring the target audience is reached successfully. Banner advertising has proven to be quite a useful tool when implemented properly.
When most people are surfing the internet for any useful information they will be attracted to advertisement teasers which may appear on the screen. This then creates the interest to open the sites if the information in interesting to the said target audience.
When the decision is made to use banner ads for advertising and customer awareness purposes, choosing the webpage that it is to be featured on also makes a difference in its acceptance and interest levels.
Besides being much cheaper, banner ads perform better when featured on targeted web pages. This is mainly to unsure the right target audience is reached instantly and cost effectively.
Visually striking ads are very effective in drawing the target audience desired. Using the various tools to decide on what type of design or content will most portray the site’s content will be what determines the interest in the site for drawing the target audience.
The choice made must in some way reflect the idea behind the content of the site because based on this idea the target audience will be prompted to visit the site. Using brightly colored graphics makes the banner ads even more appealing and noteworthy.
Designing the banner ads with the core target audience in mind is always a wise and prudent step to take. The ad content must be relevant and informative to the target audience.
Before making the decision to purchase or place the banner ads on a certain webpage, having some knowledge of the content the website administrators will be including on the said web page is also necessary as this should always be material that is as closely related to the individual’s own content as possible.
Managing Your Cost
Having some idea of the probable costs that will be incurred when managing a site on the Craigslist is both informative and gives the individual an idea of what to expect.
The following is a general breakdown on the possible cost that could or would be incurred.
• $56 / year – this cost would be for the web hosting feature. There are several possible choices when can make when deciding on a suitable and reliable webhost provider.
Among the items offered are free domain name, unlimited email accounts, unlimited disk space, unlimited SQL databases and more. There are also occasional discounts given.
• $0 – this is for the installation of the Word Press which in as open source platform which is totally free. This process can be done both quickly and easily.
• $99 – there would be a need to purchase a WordPress template. This also requires no coding and easily installed.
• -$150 – is one area where there is actually a credit in favor of the individual. This “money” is awarded to the individual to allow them to advertise on Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Bing and others. Each of these has different costs which are paid upon posting.
Therefore the total cost incurred would actually work out to be only $5. The combination of the WordPress with the ClassiPress template is the best way to create a website similar to that of the Craigslist.
Using the cost effective and underrated online marketing tactics of the Craigslist to an individual’s best advantage is recommended. The fact that Craigslist has a visiting list running into the millions every month, the site posted will have the benefits of this huge number of viewers to the site.
Thus in terms of cost again there is no cost incurred when done in most states, however nothing is completely free and so an investment of time and some level of seriousness is required.
Abide By The Rules
As Craigslist is such a Net icon, they have to be intelligent about Craigslist material. So prior to you posting, make certain that you abide by CL’s material rules.
You ought to only think about utilizing Craigslist if you have high quality, relevant material to market.
Once you compose a Craigslist posting, any links provided must match the ad material. Put differently, no spamming. If you are reported as a spammer, Craigslist will bump off your listings, ban you from posting future ads, and you might black-list your fellow net authors.
You shouldn’t post repeat material- Craigslist recognizes this material! It might allow you to post a similar listing on a few different Craigslist locations, however will then begin to block you and you will see duplicate material warnings.
Even if you alter the text, CL may recognize duplicate links. So, select the Craigslist geographic locations (Ex. Boston versus L.A.) as well as the Craigslist site section (Ex. Forums versus Events) that you believe will be the best match to your material.
You ought to read and abide by the Craigslist material rules to ensure that you don’t breach any policies.
The most beneficial way to post a free of charge posting is to visit our home page and click on “post to classifieds”. It’s set on the left-hand side of the page in the filled in area. Fill out our net form and go forward from there.
You are able to post a free of charge ad without an account, which works like this:
- Complete the posting form and present your posting.
- You will get an e-mail containing a link to a net form.
- this form will let you make last-minute alterations and then self-publish your posting.
- When self-published, your posting will come up on the site inside 15 minutes.
- keep your e-mail, because you are able to utilize the link later to edit or delete the posting at any time.
- if you misplace or delete this e-mail, and need it later, you are able to have it resent.
Posting from a Craigslist account will let you post, edit, delete, and repost without requiring the self-publishing e-mail.
Abstain from excessive postings, which once again, might result in removal or blacklisting. You might likewise need to post under a few assorted e-mail addresses.
Things To Avoid
There are always things to avoid when using any web host or any other tools. There is a lot of negative impact that can seriously cost the loss of viewers when this is not seriously considered.
Below are some of the recommendations to be taken into consideration when deciding what to avoid when using the Craigslist:
- Using material that is misleading is definitely something to avoid. A degree of honestly does play an important part when posting ads on the Craigslist. People would not appreciate making the effort to view or purchase something only to find that it is not as posted.
- Using language and jargon that can be misunderstood or too complicated to understand could also work against the success of the post. Because Craigslist has so many posting and viewers, creating something that is interesting yet simple is advantageous and encouraged.
- Keeping a vague and constantly fluctuating price tagged to the items or services posted should be avoided. Having the potential customer constantly having to guess the prices would definitely cause the potential customer to be annoyed and perhaps even put off by such a level of unprofessionalism.
- Keeping the contents simple and attractive is better than creating complicated and cramped information pages. Most visitors to a site will either stay on the site and view further or switch to another site quickly, thus the general aim is to attract and keep the interest of the visitor for as long as possible.
Promoting information or items that are not interesting or unsalable would not benefit any party and would in fact be a waste of time and resources.
This will only cause people to overlook the site and move on to other more interesting sites. Avoid guess work when deciding on what to feature.
Where Should You Post
Craigslist.org is a group of assorted, geography based sub-sites all linked collectively under one blanket web site. For instance, there’s Craigslist Boston, Craigslist L.A. and Craigslist D.C.
If visitors go directly to Craigslist they’re looking at their local area, not the U.S.A. or a total country. And, when you post an advertisement or listing, you have to select just one geographic area.
Consequently, prior to you posting, think through the demographics of the population of every Craigslist area and who would be most interested in your site material, product or service.
You may in addition to that assume that the bigger cities have a lot of visitors compared to smaller ones. And, Craigslist tends to be more popular on the west coast than east coast.
Where To Put It
There are a lot of areas of the Craigslist site that align well to marketing and driving traffic to your site, blog or Hub Page. The area you pick out ought to be tied to the material you wish to market or link to. Here are a few illustrations.
If you are marketing seasonal products or have composed a blog or Hub Page that has material about a certain holiday or time of year, you may produce a listing on the Craigslist “events” section that directs traffic to your web page(s).
For instance, around New Year’s Eve you may market limousine services or around February 14 you may promote Valentine’s Day gift ideas.
The Craigslist “Services” section may work well if you are marketing material about a specific service. The “General” area within the Community area may be utilized for almost anything, but it’s one the least targeted areas of the web site.
The “Discussion Forums”, if utilized wisely, may generate traffic. There are discussions posted on more than seventy subjects including autos, beauty, diet, gifts, cash and sports.
It’s crucial to remember that most forum visitors are there to chat, not study advertisements, so you might need to take part in a discussion before you include an ad or link in your material. The forum users are speedy to flag posters as spammers and you wish to avoid being banned.
There are thirty classes inside the Craigslist “For Sale” section, from boats to electronics. If your web site or web page is selling a particular, relevant product, this area may be a perfect match for traffic propagation.
I cannot stress enough… Your goal ought to pick out the site section that best matches the relevant, high quality material you wish to market. This will lead to bringing forth the most traffic.
Using Craig’s List to promote you site or your product can have very good results id you follow the information listed above.
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