Definition of Craigslist:
Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements β with jobs, internships, housing, personals, erotic services, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs, resumes, and pets categories β and forums on various topics.
The beauty of Craigslist is that it can be used in a number of different ways. Some of the most popular uses of Craigslist include advertising, meeting people and finding jobs.
Advertising on Craigslist:
Advertising products and services is one of the many valuable uses of Craigslist. Those who are hoping to generate a profit from the sale of their products and services often turn to Craigslist for advertising for a number of reasons. The two most significant reasons are affordability and a large existing audience.
Finally, advertising on Craigslist is appealing because there is no need to generate traffic to the website. Craigslist already receives approximately ten million visitors per month who generate approximately four billion page views per month. There is no denying advertising on Craigslist has the potential to reach a massive audience. And that is the why Craigslist has gotten so much attention the past few years as an advertising medium.
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 Craigslist 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:
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.
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.
Promoting Your Business through Craigslist:
Craigslist can prove to be an excellent avenue for business promotion. Whether an individual has a small business which they operate on a part time basis or a thriving business which has become a time consuming endeavor, Craigslist can help the business to increase in profits and popularity. The two main components to successfully promoting a business on Craigslist include reaching the target audience and running a marketing campaign which will appeal to this target audience.
Advantages:
Craigslist has a lot of advantages over newspaper ads. There cannot be a second opinion that products being sold on line tend to sell off more quickly, as you have greater scope of giving more information about the product that clarifies doubts, if any.
Also, it is feasible to add images and video clips on internet which is impossible on newspapers. More importantly, classified ads can be posted free of charge on Craigslist but it is not so, in newspapers. The quality and description of the product is not as much as can be had on Craigβs list. The time taken to post an ad is also more on newspapers than on Craigslist comparatively, since there is no submission process that consumes time.
The claws of internet are capable of spreading even to the remotest parts of the world whereas, the newspaper ad is confined to reach only people in a particular city or state and limited by geographical boundaries. Hence we see that classified ads on Craigslist have more advantages than on newspapers and it is no wonder that Craigslist has become instantly popular.
