Competitive Advantages of Craigslist

Making the most of any classified advertising campaign is essential. After all, your marketing dollars are precious and you want to get a good return on your investment. That makes Craigslist even more attractive than most every other classified advertising website on the Internet today.

Why? Because Craigslist is free!

But that’s not the only thing that makes it attractive. Craigslist has millions of visitors every month and billions of new ads are posted monthly. That’s a lot of activity for a website that started as a hobby over 10 years ago. Craigslist has consistently grown in popularity and they continue to expand to new cities and countries ever year.

One thing to note about the Craigslist website is that it has a very strict policy on posting regulations and they take their conduct requirements and standards very seriously. While this can be limiting to the number and types of ads an individual can post to the website, these rules and regulations serve to make it a much better website for classified advertising where spammers and other inappropriate advertisers are banned from using it.

You don’t have to worry about SPAM ads and spamming on Craigslist because it is not tolerated and the minute it is detected, the ads and the user are banned from using the site in the future. But the rules can also be an advantage to a business-minded entrepreneur seeking to expand a business and enhance a brand image and website.

More rules and regulations means less competition – and that could translate into better exposure for you as an online advertiser. By simply following the rules and guidelines of the website, and taking advantage of every possible opportunity to post your classified ads in various cities, you can greatly enhance your exposure across the Internet.

One vital key to success with posting ads on Craigslist is to manage your posting and keep up with a schedule of posting and reposting. People need to see something 7 times or more before they really have it locked in their brains. Even though someone may click on your ad the first, second, or third time, they need to continually see the logo or ad of your website for a period of time. This means that consistency in posting ads is essential.

You can create a spreadsheet or calendar to manage your posting. Keeping up with the ads you’ve created, where they’re posted, and when they need to be reposted makes it easier to leverage the use of classified advertising on Craigslist. Ads are deleted after 45 days so you’ll want to repost at that time.

Many enterprising services have created software that can automatically manage your postings and reposting for you. They save you time and effort when it comes to this process. However, they do come with a cost and deciding whether or not to use a posting service is strictly a personal decision.

A couple of things to consider about software that automatically manages your postings are:

Software can ensure that reposting is handled immediately when it’s due

Services or software can save you time and effort if you use Craigslist consistently for a period of time

These software programs know how to optimize the use of Craigslist and gain you the greatest exposure

Whether you choose to manage your own posting or purchase software or services to help you, you can’t afford to neglect this important free opportunity to promote your website or your business. Give it a try and you’ll be hooked once you see the traffic driven to your website.