Advertising on Craigslist

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

We’ve 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 Michael L. Mayhew
Michael Mayhew is the publisher of “Craigslist Traffic”.
You can get additional information at his website:
http://webmasterautomation.com/craigslist/
(c)2007