Posts Tagged ‘Craigslist’
Advertising on Craigslist
October 29, 2011 | 
Author Advertising on Craigslist is worthwhile for just about any business offering products or services. Whether these products are offered through ecommerce websites or physical stores, the business owners can see financial gains through advertising on Craigslist. Firstly unlike other advertising opportunities there is very little risk involved in posting on Craigslist. With the exception of job postings and housing postings in specific markets, advertising is free on Craigslist. Users are asked to agree to the terms of service of the community and are expected to follow specific guidelines when posting advertisements but there are no financial obligations to those placing advertisements on Craigslist. This means those who post advertisements do not have to be concerned with whether or not the advertisement they place will meet their expectations in terms of sales generated.
Reaching Potential Customers on Craigslist
Another reason why posting advertisements for products or services on Craigslist is so worthwhile is the likelihood of reaching a large audience of potential customers. A review of the Craigslist fact sheet reveals pertinent information regarding the amount of traffic the website receives. According to this information Craigslist receives approximately four billion page views each month with ten million people using Craigslist each month. From these statistics it is clear that advertisements placed on Craiglist are likely to receive at least some attention from potential clients.
With so many visitors using Craigslist each month the advertising possibilities are limitless, however, there are no guarantee any of these visitors will be interested in your products or services. Like any marketing campaign, your advertisements on Craigslist must be intriguing, informative and in a location where you will reach your target audience.
Finding Your Target Audience on Craigslist
Weve already discussed the number of visitors using Craigslist each month but the key to taking advantage of these numbers is to target your advertising in a way aimed at reaching your target audience as opposed to a wide audience of individuals who have no specific interest in your products or services. It is much more worthwhile to reach a small audience of those with a keen interest in your products or services than to reach a much larger audience of those who are not interested. Those who have an interest in your products or services are your target audience.
The key to reaching your target audience on Craigslist is placing your advertisement in the most appropriate locations. Craigslist has a specific section for businesses to advertise their services. This section is broken down into a number of categories. Those who are in the business of computer repair would be wise to place their advertisement in the computer section as opposed to the automotive section because individuals looking for computer help will naturally migrate to the computer section. It may sometimes be appropriate to place an advertisement in more than one section. This is acceptable as long as it does not cross the line to spamming the section.
If there is not a specific section for the products or services offered by your business there are a couple of options. Business owners can place an advertisement in the section for small business advertisements where it might be found by those doing a search in this section. Alternately the business owner can contact Craigslist to suggest the addition of a new category. They might be willing to oblige if they believe this category warrants an addition.
The Difference between Advertising and Spamming
Advertising on Craigslist is one thing but spamming is quite another. Placing an advertisement in an appropriate section of Craigslist is acceptable; however, placing the same advertisement in nearly every section of Craigslist websites for a number of different geographical regions is considered spam. Spam is ineffective for a number of reasons. First of all potential customers who see a particular advertisement in a number of different locations are likely to recognize the spamming techniques and be less inclined to patronize this business. Also, if Craigslist detects the practice of spamming they may delete all of the postings and could potentially ban advertisements from the individual in the future.
Written by Hiero
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Why Your Enterprise Can not Afford Not to Market on Craigslist
Craigslist is not often the finest advertising selection but there are certain circumstances in which a organization can not pay for not to promote on Craigslist. For the reasons of this post we will study two frequent scenarios exactly where a company owner ought to definitely contemplate promoting on Craigslist simply because failure to do so can be detrimental to his business. These examples incorporate tiny startup organizations devoid of a large advertising and marketing spending budget and current businesses whose direct opponents are promoting extensively on Craigslist.
Modest Startup Businesses Advantage from Marketing on Craigslist
Small startup companies typically have a great offer of work ahead of them to commence competing with existing firms who are currently thriving. These organizations may possibly by now have founded consumer bases and may possibly have significant funding budges for the objective of getting new customers. Consumer loyalty can be difficult to break and new companies both have to provide drastically much better quality merchandise or solutions, equivalent items or services at diminished rates or a slick advertising marketing campaign with client appeal.
Nonetheless, scaled-down organizations almost never have the advertising spending budget required to orchestrate an elaborate promoting campaign. This is when Craigslist will become a necessity. Smaller companies can target their vitality on producing exceptional promoting copy without having spending exorbitant quantities of money to run these advertisements in other forms of media this kind of as newspapers, magazines, television or radio.
It is crucial to not that while cost-free advertising and marketing is interesting, the advertising should be just as sophisticated as it would in markets in which the company entrepreneurs would be necessary to shell out a fee to operate the advertisement. This will assist the business to maintain a skilled image and will entice possible client to attempt their items or solutions.
Do not Allow the Competition Corner the Industry
An additional situation in which a company can not pay for not to advertise on Craigslist is when direct competition are creating use of the advertising opportunities on Craigslist. This is essential since companies who do not advertise in the exact same locations as their competition are fundamentally conceding potential customers who peruse these areas to the competition.
Envision you very own a dog walking business in Portland, Oregon. If there are a significant amount of members of that neighborhood using the regional Craigslist web site to discover dog walkers, you will most likely pass up out on these business chances because these individuals will probable choose one particular of the men and women advertising on Craigslist for their puppy walking needs. If you have been to location a well created advertisement in an appropriate part of Craigslist you may locate you are ready to gain a market share of the available company.
There is, even so, a single caveat to putting commercials wherever your rivals are marketing. This practice is not regarded as worthwhile when the industry is already saturated with competition. Contemplate the over case in point of a canine walker in Portland. If there are a small amount of competitors competing for business on Craigslist it is worthwhile to location your individual advertisement here. Nevertheless, if actually hundreds of dog walkers are flooding the site with their advertisement it is not worthwhile to publish an advertisement due to the fact your advertisement will likely be misplaced in the shuffle. It is much more worthwhile to market in other places. Checking Craigslist periodically may even now be a excellent concept due to the fact individuals advertising and marketing on Craigslist are likely to not see wonderful acquire from this marketing and may possibly resort to other alternatives. When you notice a decline in competitor ads, it is a fantastic chance to include your advertisement.
Resource: Post Magic
Created by Ahtesham Chaudhary