Business Builders

Make Craigslist Work for You

Craigslist has quickly become one of the most visited resource websites on the web. I am a true believer that no matter what your business is, you can benefit from Craigslist. I have multiple clients that bring in thousands of dollars of new business with some simple methodologies, clever ads and persistence.

 So how do you make Craigslist work for you? Follow these methods and you will be on the right path: 

 1) Sales Pitch - Remember who you are targeting and write for them. You have a split second to grab someone’s attention so make your posting title snappy. Also, stay away from using symbols in your title - it looks like spam. Keep it short and to the point (unless you are selling something that requires detail, like a house or car). One of the main objectives if offering a service is to grab the visitors attention and get them back to your website where you can have more control over what the visitor sees, as opposed to craigslist that is somewhat limited in displaying ads.

2) Format / Layout - If you are offering a service or product that you plan on selling more than once, you should really consider building a template that you can upload pictures to and have more control of how text is displayed. Depending on your industry, there are many tools out there that can assist you with this. From basic ones like this, Craigslist Template Generator http://thelastreal.com/ to more complex ones like Vflyer - http://www.vflyer.com. My advice would be to find one that you are comfortable with and can create an ad or template easily as this is something that you should do every couple of days.

3) Submission - While there are programs that claim to auto submit your postings, sometimes it is best to naturally submit them through craigslist. Craigslist has cracked down on spammers over the years and has made automated posting more difficult - and will continue to do so. The last thing you want to do is get blacklisted, then you won’t be able to post anything without getting a new set of credentials.

4) Persistence - It is very important to keep submitting your ad on a regular basis. Craigslist has set up measures to prevent you from submitting every day but you can do so every 2-3 days. I advise keeping a document on your desktop with all of your text and ads. It will save you a lot of time. Realistically, the procedure should take no more than a few minutes to complete once you have it down.