I have been reading for two hours all the DP info about posting on Craig's List... both good and bad recomendations. fantastic stuff, thanks everyone. However nothing so far has fit my situation, and I want to be SURE that I don't get de-indexed on Google by trying this out. One thing I noticed in most DP discussions is that for the most part people are trying to promote intangible things on CL: Services, ebooks, and affiliate links. My situation is different. I have two goals: Sell real physical products, and get traffic to my forum. My forum... is 100% relevant to the products! Does that matter? So here's the actual situation, please tell me if I am running a risk in placing CL ads: #1. I have poker chips to sell. High end, nice chips. Many many different kinds. I can sell singles (collectible), or in bulk, or in playable sets. I can sell sample sets, etc. I have an infinate number of ways to sell them so that each "ad" is different. However... my main goal is not to sell a bunch of chips... my main goal is #2: #2. From these Craig's List ads for the chips in #1, I want to place a LINK from the Craig's List to my forum. I run a poker chip forum. This is my REAL business. the physical chips are just "bonus money" or hobbiest collecting that I buy and sell. I make my money from advertising revenue on chiptalk.net. more traffic = higher ad rates. For the links in #2, I can either post directly to the front page, like "visit h t t p ://www.ChipTalk.net for more details about these chips." Or I can actually link DIRECTLY to a page on my forum that is a TRUE article or review of the chips in #1. Very, very relevant and legit. So does running this kind of effort on Craig's List run the same risks of running affliliate, ebook, services type ads? With or without links?
I'm sorry...Where does delisting by Google fall into this? I thought the worst thing that could happen is getting your ad or ad account deleted from craigslist!! Guess I need to read some of these threads on it.
From reading here on DP I found several warnings that the "Spam Team" at Craig's will not only remove your ad, but block your IP, and report you to service that will end up getting you de-indexed from Gooogle and/or other SE's.
Boy...that's harsh! I know they have a problem with spamming but they seem to take it too far. I never really got anything out of it anyway unless I'm selling a couch or a desk or something, so I haven't made a practice of posting there.
Wow that sucks, but how about using those auto-posting and doing it via proxies? Will that help at all, or are those schemes totally bunk?
See I can make every single ad different though, with LEGIT products for sale. I really have these, and I'll really sell/ship them. I can have an infinate number of ways to make every single ad different. Example: Post #1: One Green Pharaoh's Club poker chip. Post #2: 100 Green Pharaoh's Club poker chips. Post #3: 100 Green Pharaoh's Club + 100 Red Pharaoh's Club poker chips. Post #4: Pharaoh's Club Sample Set, "One Red and One Green" poker chips. Post #5: Repeat all the above with another style, etc etc
I think you'd be in good territory even with Craigslist there. What better way not to be spamming than actually selling something tangible. Should be easy to defend against any issues.
You can have ads posted on Craigslist, you can (try to) use an autoposter that (maybe!) works BUT do not forget that Craigslist also reports to affiliate programs It can be cheap marketing but it can damage your business too if you post affiliate links If you sell something tangible it's another story