Craigslist is a classified ads website. It has developed into the most popular classified ads website worldwide with sites in different locales. It features several categories that include listings for sale items and jobs. Furthermore, it is a free option for reaching your target market. However, given its free-for-all nature, ads by many others like you compete to be seen. Consequently, depending on the competitiveness of your niche, your ad may be visible for only a limited period. This post may be most suitable for persons who post multiple ads habitually, possibly while traveling, for and from different IP addresses.
Your leads (ie your potential customers) on Craigslist will be able to do the following.
- contact you directly via email and or telephone, whichever means you provide publicly. As pictured below, as the seller, your email address is masked with an automatically generated craigslist email address. When your lead uses that Craigslist email, the Craigslist server will re-direct his email to your normal email address to protect your privacy.
- use keywords to refine their search to find products whose description and or text content has the keyword(s). Remember that Craigslist is a search engine.
- view your ad free of cost
- read your product description
- view multiple product images
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How to post ads on Craigslist
Before you can advertise on Craigslist, you will need to create an account. You must have a different email address and phone verified account (PVA) number for each account. A unique IP address. VPNs will not work as they change with every new use. Ideally, the email addresses should not look similar like johngdoe1@tmail.com, johngdoe2@tmail.com, johngdoe3@tmail.com and so on. Unfortunately, this may require you to have (Google or Excel) spreadsheets to manage all of these details. In addition, you need a browser, preferably Chrome or Firefox because they both have incognito aka private windows from which you can prevent cookie storage while posting to Craigslist. If you will ads from different accounts, get software to clear the cache, cookies and local data on your computer.
- If you used Craigslist before and wish to use a new IP address and email address, clear your cookies, cache and local data (on your computer). Free software is available for these purposes. For instance Ccleaner clears cookes. Google Chrome's Click&Clean is another example. This step is necessary because Craigslist will recognize that you are the same person in spite of the new IP address and email address.
- If you posted other Craigslist ads, honor the rest period (usually 48 hours) between posting new ads for a single IP address
- Open your browser and select the incognito browsing option
- For Google Chrome;
- As pictured immediately below, click on the 3 vertical dots in the top right corner of window. Then choose the 'new incongito window' option. This helps to prevent being flagged by Craigslist.
- For Firefox;
- As shown immediately below, make the following selections to open a private window to avoid being flagged by Craigslist. 'File', 'New private window'
- Note the Craigslist website that is closest to your current log in IP address. Since Craigslist servers automatically direct you to the one nearest to your current IP address, do the following.
- Search for craigslist.org (in Google)
- Search for and note the zip code of that nearest craigslist. You can use the ZipCode.org search page for this purpose. If you like, you can even look through demographic details (population size, income, age profile, ethnicity profile and so on) for the zipcode options. This is useful in terms of noting whether they relate to your target market.
- Go to the Craigslist website
- Click the 'post to classifieds' link in the top left corner. No need to log in as yet. In fact, some people believe that posting without first logging in might be easier to avoid being flagged by Craigslist.
- Make category and other relevant selections. When prompted, enter details like the 'posting title', your email address, zipcode, product description (named 'posting body' by Craigslist), images and so on. Pay special attention to using keywords in the posting title and body because your leads can refine their Craigslist searches with keywords. BTW, although most postings are free, the few paid sections include vehicles sold by dealers, real estate in New York and jobs. If you can sell as the owner when such an option exists for free, consider it.
- The 'posting title' should include
- a geographic location keyword
- a descriptive keyword. Use long tail keywords for search engine optimization / SEO.
- a key benefit or unique selling proposition / unique value proposition
- urgency, if applicable. Example 'motivated seller', 'must sell now', 'limited stock'
- 'Posting body' aka product description should include
- concise, keyword-rich bullet points (rather than wordy paragraphs)
- keywords throughout. At the bottom of the ad, you can include a block of keywords separated by a comma. Do not be shy as Craigslist does not discriminate against keyword stuffing (like Google). Remember that long tail keywords contribute to search engine optimization / SEO. Some people create a heading like 'Keywords related to product X'.
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- create content blocks of information that can be shifted around so that the same ad can be duplicated without technically being flagged as a duplicate. Content blocks include contact details, unique selling point, testimonials and keywords.
- contact details. Even though a small 'reply' button accompanies all ads in the top left corner, include the details within the ad. Depending on your niche, ideal details may include telephone number (and whether to call and or text), email address, unique URL for 'more info re x, y, z benefits' (see precaution re using your main domain on this page), your name and, if applicable, company name. Explain what will happen if you do not answer. For instance, 'I will return your call within 6 hours on Monday to Friday GUARANTEED', etc. Craigslist ads will allow live links only to the details that you included in your contact information fields.
- Allow the blue link to stand out by typing the contact information in precisely the same format as it exists in your contact details section. Once posted, the link will appear automatically. This only works with your telephone number and email address (and not URLs, even short versions).
- a unique selling proposition / unique value proposition like 'Let me save you $10,000 each year.'
- a call to action / CTA in text format
- Since Craigslist is known to attract scammers. Inspire trustworthiness whenever possible to hopefully set you apart by using
- words like 'reliable', 'honest' and so on. You may qualify this with illustrative details
- testimonials
- competitive advantage statements if you do not have testimonials. Essentially explain what your customers say. Example; customers have told me that they appreciate that, while other companies do x, y, z [undesirable things], I do a, b, c [desirable things]
- 'Posting body' aka product description should NOT include
- the price because you want to encourage the lead to contact you
- content that is a duplicate of another ad. Ads that appear so similar that they can be considered duplicates. For instance, do not duplicate the titles, images and or text.
- To re-use the same image, you will need to change details like the file size, color and name.
- To re-use the same text, you will need to change especially the first and last few lines. A workaround is to swap paragraphs.
- Do NOT use the same domain name within the body of your text. This will make it too easy for Craiglist and or competitors to find, target and blacklist all of your listings.
- Avoid blacklisted keywords. Although it may be difficult to determine what they are, avoid words that can potentially upset the community.
- requests for too much personal information that exceeds what is absolutely necessary. This is important to avoid turning people off in fear of being scammed.
- Click 'Publish'. If you had not begun this process by first logging in, Craigslist will send you an automatic email requiring you to confirm that you have in fact posted the ad. After you have confirmed the ad, the ad will go through the Craigslist ad evaluation process.
- If you want to post multiple ads, finish working within the current account and remember the rules regarding maximum postings per category, ie 1 ad per category and 2 ads per session within 48 hours. So at this point, you can post in a different category. See a Craigslist coach's diagram below. Be consistent with each IP address and associated email addresses. Although inconsistencies may be tolerated for a while, your accounts may be flagged eventually.
- Renew ads after the initial 48 hour period has expired. When you do this, renewed ads will not count towards your daily quota.
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DOs
- Craigslist visitors are often wary of potential fraud and other crimes, including attempts to farm email addresses and other contact details. Since the site is a free for all, Craigslist is also known to be used by unreliable and unscrupulous persons. Consequently, for greater success, consider easing the mind of your leads by demonstrating how you are a trustworthy source and setting ground rules. For instance, if you will exchange goods and cash, agree to meet at a public place that is well frequented and equipped with security cameras. Mall with banking facilities and police stations are a good idea. Using places with banking facilities so that you do not need to walk around with cash that a stranger knows about. Do not meet at the home of a stranger.
- Avoid having un-posted or flagged ads. Craigslist may evaluate an ad before allowing it to go live. The ad evaluation process includes checking for blacklisted keywords, whether the new proposed ad is a duplicate of a pre-existing ad, the ratio of your live versus flagged ads, your IP address, the number of ads you have already posted for the day and so on. Craigslist has a flagging system in which either Craigslist or another user flags inappropriate ads (that latter case in which you will receive an email notification). Getting to many flagged ads can lead to being eventually banned and is therefore undesirable.
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Diagram by Craigslist coach to illustrate Craigslist's guidelines. You can post up to 10 ads every 48 hours without having trouble like having your IP address flagged or, worse yet, blocked. This is a safe way of advertising on Craigslist.
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Guidelines in summary
- Open up to 5 accounts from a single IP address
- Post up to 2 ads for any single account within 48 hours.
- Post up to 1 ad within a relevant category.
- Post within the local area of the IP address from which you are logging in. You may extend the local area only slightly by selecting a 'right column' of nearby location options (pictured immediately below). Craigslist uses complex tracking systems that include cookies to note your IP address. You are likely to raise red flags if you do not post in your local area. Your IP address can also be flagged when you are using a VPN
- If you need to meet the counter party in person, pre-bundle cash with rubber bands and post it notes with the amount written.
- Avoid mass flagging the ads of the competition. You will eventually be banned.
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CONTENT RELATED TO ADVERTISING ON CRAIGSLIST
- Google PLAs. Although a different system, steal these Google PLA tips to beat the competition in Craigslist
- Long tailed keywords
- MS Excel tricks for automatically re-arrange content like words and content blocks to create multiple versions of a title and product description
- Sales funnels. Know when and how to advertise
- SEO tips
- Craigslist is not popular in a few countries in part because of an already well developed online classified ads market place. You may need to consider using those other options. Some examples include the following.
- Australia - GumTree
- Canada - Kijiji
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