Finding the Right Community on Craigslist

If you’ve decided to join the hundreds of online marketers who are now promoting their business and products on Craigslist, congratulations on a smart business decision. Creating compelling classifieds ads that promote your business on this site can drive traffic to your website and expand your marketing exposure. And it can all be done for free!

One important thing you need to determine is what people are searching for and where they’re searching. Since Craigslist is a community based posting service, meaning you choose a city to post in, it’s important to choose the best place to advertise and to position your ad appropriately.

For example, in Atlanta, there may different things that people are searching for in the site than what people are searching for in Chicago. Some communities are more actively engaged in utilizing Craigslist than others and it’s essential to know which communities are most likely to use the service.

There are a couple of ways you can more fully assess what’s going on in the various cities included on the website.

By visiting the site at www.craigslist.org (not that it is a .org website), you can go to the right-hand side of the page and find a listing of cities and countries that are serviced by Craigslist. Click on one of the cities to get a look at what’s being advertised in that community.

Going to the Services Offered category for the city will take you to a listing of different services. For example, you can choose to view postings and advertisements for beaty, computers, financial, small businss ads, and more. Click on one of these links most closely related to your business and you’ll find a listing of the ads.

When you click on an ad in this section, you’ll find a variety of postings. Note how important it is to have an incredibly appealing and interesting ‘headline’ or description of your posting in this section. This is what draws people to your ad.

Once you’re in the section, you can view different ads and how they are written and displayed. Take a look at the topics. Evaluate the graphics and pictures and see how much appeal they add to the advertisement.

This give you an idea of what is being advertised in this particular community or city. Now check out other cities to compare what is being advertised and you’ll have a better idea of what seems to be most important to that community.

Another way to find out what’s happening in a community and learn more about what people are talking about is to go to the forums in various cities. By clicking on the discussion forums by category, you can learn a lot about what people are asking. There are various discussion groups and some are more active than others based on the city.

Determining which discussion groups are most active can help you identify the best place to promote your business and website. Discussion forums are established for art, beauty, education, fitness, food, outdoor, women, writers, and many more categories.

Click on the ones most relevant to your business and take a look at what is being said. You may have answers and your website may address may of these questions. You can respond in the forum and you can include a link to your website for further information.

Before you post your classified ads on Craigslist.org, make sure to evaluate the various communities and what they are looking for before you select a city. This will help you focus more directly on your target market.

After all, your target audience is the one you want visiting your website anyway. Make it easier for them to find you by finding them first.