My Buy Essay

Posts Tagged ‘online classifieds’

Since its launch in 1995 Craigslist.org has quietly become the largest online classifieds website in the world with a regional presence in 190 cities, across 35 countries. Each month over 10 million people log on to the seventh most popular website to buy and sell just about everything. From real estate to furniture, promoting services such as contracting, house cleaning and even babysitting &ndash Craigslist is the one spot where anyone can connect regionally to fill a need.

As its popularity has continued to increase, so have the possibilities for vendors large and small to market their wares on Craigslist. What’s the big attraction? For the most part Craigslist is 100% free to post and search. Only do job postings in San Francisco, L.A and New York City cost a small fee to post. Otherwise, Craigslist is an open free source for new targeted customers, ripe for the picking, just waiting for your business to give them what they want.

Craigslist is regionally based website that truly promotes community involvement. However, you can post in any of the available metros and multiple metros as well. The trick is in designing an ad that gets people attention, getting on a regular posting schedule, following the rules (or at least not overtly breaking them) and searching for new customers daily.

Simplicity in ad design is paramount and it matches the vibe that Craigslist likes to attract &ndash peer-to-peer, real human interaction. It lacks the commercial aspects that add fluff and confusion in exchange for simple ads, most posted by real folks. Design your ad to fit into that scheme is key to a successful campaign.

Get into the habit of posting often on Craigslist and hit multiple metros with different ads to get more reach (if you business can support it). It’s free to post so what do you have to lose!

Understanding Craigslist rules are fairly simple as they are openly published. They are super picky about what you can post, but there are exceptions like livestock and anything illegal (drugs, guns, etc.). One of the major rules that I see as a marketing rule more than a terms of service rule is to post in the category that best corresponds with your product type. This ensures your ad will reach the best target without adding to useless clutter.

Over 8 million people post monthly on Craigslist and that number grows every day. Don’t just sit back and post ads, answer ads seeking your products and services as well.

Craigslist is one of the best ways for every business, large and small to find a new voice online for little more than elbow grease.

Check the website

Take to consider the website’s reputation in finding a good online classified. Check the website if many people use this website as a way to buy and sell their products. Good basis would be: they can publish new advertisements everyday, they are information rich website, they can publish images of the product, the website has a high page rank, has a forum, etc.

Item seller

Look for some testimonial that a person has a good reputation. It can also help you to have a background of the person that will sell the product. Try to gather some information about the item seller to see whether if he or she is a scammer or not.

Look for the quality of the items

Gather information for the product that you want to buy. Learn to ask from others’ opinion and weigh it, so you will not regret later on. Gather information about the product by asking the item seller if it has a scratch, damage and defect.

Check the item price

Don’t forget to make a canvass if the price is too high or not. Check other websites to determine if the product is worth your money. Please be aware of hidden charges. Make sure you do not overpay.

How old the product is

It is better to know what is new and what is old. Make sure that the product is durable. Also you must be able to distinguish if the package has been repacked or repaired. Maybe if it is too old, it will easily get broken.

Ask for a warranty

A personal warranty is a good thing to have. But it all depends on the seller if he or she gives a warranty. Try to settle a return agreement or a new item replacement if you have any problem with the product. If possible, ask for a money back guarantee.

Transaction

Make things clear between both of you, especially when regarding transactions. If it is to be delivered, don’t approve to deliver it in your house without you receiving it. Make sure you have the time to accept the package yourself. This allows you check the quality of the product. Check the quality by carefully looking at all the aspects of the product like parts, damages etc. Make sure that you buy an authentic item and not a fake one. If you don’t like their service, let them know what the problem is. These will help them enhance their service.

If you both agreed to meet at a certain place, the item seller usually is the one who goes to the buyer’s place. If both of you will meet at a certain place, be sure that you will able to test the product before you buy it, by this you will able to know if it is defective or not.

It is a great idea if you are accompanied by a knowledgeable person.

Raymond M. Crisostomo

.ozfreeonline.com

They say the bubble is bursting, but you would not know it by the over 32,669 active housing listings from the past 7 days alone in the San Francisco section on Craigslist.com. Real estate sales are alive and well on Craigslist with the real estate sales section as the #3 most popular category, more agents are realizing the power and value in using Craigslist to reach new buyers.

What is Craigslist?

Started in 1995 by Craig Newmark, Craigslist.com was initially created to help people find affordable housing in San Francisco. Craigslist is now the most popular online classifieds website in the world, with over 10 million visitors monthly and growing. Craigslist features 300 available cities across 35 countries for posting. Everyday people come looking to buy, sell and lease property. Agents can capitalize on this traffic by posting free ads and answering ads seeking homes. It truly is a real estate agents dream marketing tool.

Getting Started

Agents interested in using Craigslist can get started by visiting the Craigslist.com website and deciding which cities to post in. Research other ads in your area to identify areas in need of property listings and to find out what your competitors are posting. The real estate section of Craigslist is divided into sections to direct traffic to specific areas including rooms & shares, apartments/houses for rent, housing swap, office & commercial, parking & storage, real estate for sale, sublets & temporary and vacation rentals. Posting an ad is free except in New York City, which just started to charge $10 for rental listings. Once you know where you’d like to post, create either single ads for hot properties or a combination ad listing all your available properties for that area.

Creating an Ad

Ads are simple to create and are mostly text and require no design or html experience. Your ad should be descriptive with contact info and supporting photos. Images of your properties will increase response by over 200%, so be sure to include shots that really help sell the property. Images can be easily uploaded during the posting process.

Posting Your Ad

Posting an ad is as easy as picking your city, choosing the correct category, selecting post at the top right corner and entering your listing into the form. You will need to come up with a good title to get people’s attention. Your ad should also feature keyphrases that people might search when looking for your property region, style, features, etc. Once you enter your text into the form, upload your images. You will need to enter an e-mail address, but you can choose to keep it anonymous. Then you simply submit, review and wait for the link in your e-mail to publish.

Reposting, Multi-Posting and Auto-Posting

Once published, your ad will remain on Craigslist for 7 or 45 days, depending on your selected city. Staying on the first page is very important but you are only allowed to post the same ad in more than one city very 48 hours. However, to get around this rule, create multiple ads for the same property, but slightly different text or use a different e-mail for each ad. To succeed you will need to repost at least every 48 hours as new buyers come to the website all the time. To automate the reposting process you can use an underground auto-posting service or purchase a script. These programs are not sanctioned by Craigslist but are widely used and highly effective. Keep in mind that buyers are turned off by spam, so be sure to only post your property once a day, per city and category. This ensures you get great placement without coming off as desperate or overly aggressive.

As you can see using Craigslist is a very easy and affordable way to reach new customers. This is only the beginning of what agents can do to promote properties on Craigslist. As Craigslist becomes even more popular it is the agents who not only use the service, but can effectively navigate and exploit creative out of the box ideas that will win.