Hi DP members, I am thinking of creating a free classifieds website. Are there still money in this niche? And actually how to monetize a free classifieds website? I have a strategy for hot to get visitors, but what would you suggest me to be able to hold them comming? Cheers Kal
Difficult. There's many classifieds websites in every country nowadays. You've got to get big before thinking to make money.
Depends on the country you which you live in. There is money in classifieds sites considering how much time you can invest on it, market and develop it. Once you could bring in some traffic that has both seller and buyers and good classifieds that can actually make a hit!
yes, it would be easy to start if you target a metropolitan area rather than a country because people generally prefer localized classified Ads listings.
Agree with the general theme from the above posters - bit of a crowded market, so you're better off targeting a tight geographical or topical niche. As to what can hold them, ask yourself what information/service (etc) you can provide that may be able to get the user to come back.
To monetize it, you eventually have to start charging a monthly fee. I'm looking to start one as well, and I have a domain that gets daily type in traffic. I looked at the competition and there's a guy charging $150 per listing (it's for a big ticket item) and his site sucks & hasn't been updated since 2000 - yet his site is filled with classified ads... there's no reason why it can't be beaten. He has no SEO and can probably get beaten with a good backlink campaign. I just can't figure out how to get enough users at first, even if it's free.
I suggest go niche. We operate some niches sites charing $100 per ad... Others which are more global and bigger can't even sell a $9 premium ad....
That's not an easy niche for sure You will want to know: What are your top competitors doing? Craigslist is a simple, ugly site that does quite well. How did they do this? What could be improved with them? I agree with targeting a specific niche in a specific area to start. MotorCycle sales, Home furnishings, local employment, etc.. Once you get some movement you can then expand upon what you have. Adsense can always be used for one source of income. Another source would be to have "Sponsored or Featured Placements". So in order to get top billing in a desired area they would have to pay a fee for an otherwise free listing. Good Luck!
Yes there still profitable. For monetize,you can charge member such as $10/month to post their banner ads your site. While to get visitor keep coming back,you should organize contest to keep them coming back.
You have to offer something "else" other than just classfields...now it'd depend on you what feature you'd like to add. It has to "stand out" in some way from the rest of the crowd. Heavy investment is required too....at least in the beginning!
You can try Google adsense ads if you don't find any other revenue stream or can trying selling ads on your classified website
I would suggest setting up some kind of niche specific classified site. And then later on have a whole network of niche specific classifieds sites. And then you can monetize with a banner for some product or CPA offer catered to that niche or go out and contact owners of som sites and ask if they would buy a advertising spot on your site(as long as you have the traffic)