Tips and Tricks for Success on Craigslist

You may be wondering why anyone promoting an online product or business would worry with posting ads on Craigslist. Well, we may have the answers for you.

Classified advertising and promoting your business under the “Services” category are both free!

Craigslist has proven effective in driving traffic for many online entrepreneurs for years and the trend is heading upward as classified advertising is one of the best ways to reach a target audience.

You’re driving free – yes, FREE – traffic to your website just by creating a dynamic, engaging headline and very short content for your ad.

Now, you may have a better idea of why there’s so much hype about classified advertising on Craigslist for online businesses. Taking advantage of an opportunity for free promotion just makes good common sense. And it makes excellent business sense too.

There are a few things can make your advertising experience even more effective. Take a look and make sure you’re optimizing your experience by utilizing these tips and tricks.

Measure your traffic. Although this may be obvious to you, it’s worth stating again. You can’t improve what you can’t measure so traffic measurement becomes critical. You can do this by simply creating a separate landing page on your website where visitors can link to directly from your Craigslist advertisement. Tracking visitors to this page will give you a good idea of whether or not your ad is working for you.

Manage your posting schedule. Craigslist has some very specific rules and guidelines for posting. Ads can only be placed at one city or location at a time. Duplicate content is not allowed and the Craigslist ‘police’ will let you know if you violate this rule. This means you really need to manage your postings. Create a schedule that includes a listing of your ads (by name or other identifying indicator) and the dates they should be posted, reposted, and deleted. Use this schedule faithfully to ensure you are taking full advantage of posting opportunities to keep your ad consistently in front of potential customers.

Run your ads in different cities simultaneously. Although we’ve stated above that the rules disallow duplicate content, you are allowed to post different ads in different cities so take advantage of this. Include it in your schedule for posting to track it carefully. Modify and customize ads for different cities to make them unique.

Create ads that add value. Your ads must include something valuable for your readers and the content should engage them enough that they want to click on your link or email you with inquiries. Take time to carefully identify the major benefits of your products and include them in your content. Keep the ad short and succinct.

Give people a good reason to click. Free give-aways, discount coupons, special offers, limited quantities, and other types of offers can make potential customers click to your website. Once they click to your website, capture their email information, solicit their opt-in permission, and fully engage them in your website. Getting them is only half the work – the other half is keeping them!

Now that you know why you should advertise on Craigslist and what you should do to be successful, get started with your advertising campaign today. Evaluate your success and create an advertising strategy that brings visitors and converts them to customers through your valuable, unique content.