I have embarked on an all out, massive effort, to market my online business over the next 90 days. For a lack of better terms, I call my plan the, “The 90 Day Free Marketing Challenge.” One of the components of this plan is to promote my product with the use of free classified ads. Without question, the most well-known free classified site on the internet is: Craigslist. This article is to teach the reader about Craigslist and how to properly use this type of advertising platform.
Craigslist has a global Alexa Ranking of 39. Likewise, in the United States, Craigslist has a ranking of 9. The site’s users are mostly Caucasian, and they tend to be childless women that earn over $30,000 per year. Why is this important? It’s important because when you place advertisements on the site, you need to know your audience. In the case of Craigslist, you certainly don’t want to place an image ad that is directed toward men. You would be much better off to design an advertisement that is directed toward the needs of the audience… in this case women.
Craigslist is a running list of advertisements. If you post your ad at 7:00am, as other advertisements get posted throughout the day, that 7:00am ad will drop to the bottom of the day’s list. In order to be effective with your marketing campaign, you not only have to target the right audience, but you have to place your ads at the right time of the day. It won’t do any good to place an ad, if no one looks at it. The first day you place your ad should give you the best number of leads. Day two leads will probably drop to half of day 1, and by the third day, your ad will all but completely disappear.
So, what is the strategy? I have found the best time of day to place my ads is around 6:00am to 7:00am. You want to have your ad up and running no later than 8:00am. I’m assuming that people get to work (or they’re at home getting ready for work), turn on their computer, and look around on Craigslist before the day gets going. There is no question the 8:00am time is your rush hour. If you place an ad at 10:00am, it will be completely worthless. The next block of time that is meaningful is between the hours of 4:00pm to 7:00pm. People are ending their day and have a few minutes between activities to mess around on the internet. Once again, if you miss this block of time, you might as well wait until the next morning.
One ad per day on Craigslist will not get it done. In my opinion, you need to be placing 6-10 ads every single day to make a difference. It is important to note, that before you start placing ads, you will want to read up on the Craigslist Rules and Regulations. If you break the rules, they will most certainly shut down your account. Also, you want to make sure you place your ads in your local area. If you live in Chicago, don’t try and place your ad in the Miami market. Craigslist does not like that!
Ghosting is a problem for many advertisers on Craigslist. What is ghosting? Ghosting happens when you place your ad, you get an email response from Craigslist that says everything looks wonderful and your ad is live. However, when you go to the Craigslist website and look for your ad… it’s not listed. This means your ad is being ghosted. Ghosting can occur due to several reasons. To prevent this issue from happening, make sure you read up on all of the Craigslist rules. This will help with posting ads that actually go “live.”
Renewing your ads with Craigslist is the most powerful strategy they offer. After three days of being posted, you have the option to “renew” your ad. With one click of the button, your ad will immediately jump to the top of the list. This is really powerful stuff. For example, if you have 10 ads that are live, and you forget to post for a few days, you can go back to the system and renew all 10 ads. All of a sudden, with a very limited amount of effort, you have multiple ads running (at the top of the list) in different cities. This procedure can generate a huge amount of leads for your business.
Craigslist can be an awesome way to promote your online business. I strongly encourage the reader to explore this strategy.
