I was lucky to get one $30 sale through craigslist. Once a week I post the same ad in one different city. I get maybe 15-20 visits each time. Pittsburgh and Columbus seemed to be the cities where I got most of my hits.
Honestly, back when I used to post on Craigslist, which was a year or two ago, I got thousands of visits per day, and I got hundreds of new forum members. I do think it depends though what you're peddling. I had a guy that ordered from me a few times, and would post that he was selling a specific item, a popular item in a particular niche, I'd get a bunch of replies everytime i posted it, people went to the site and couldn't find the item. . . So obviously he was getting some decent traffic. I had someone else try to sell something illegal .. my poor poster girl got banned for that one :O. It's hit or miss, the trick to posting to several cities per day ins't really a dang trick, i giggle when I hear that. Basically, just post.. keep posting, all day long.. but not copy/paste.. actually rewrite your post everytime. I mean there's more than one way to say everything isn't there. Then move onto the next city, start from scratch, and say it again... like.. Hey guys, I found this really cool dating site, it appears to be free, but I'm not sure. There's this really down to earth girl there, like the kind of girl that you only dream about, she's cute, yet eartheral, I talked to her via Private messages, she seems real, if not a little urban.. anyone else been there? Use some href tags if the catergory allows them .. if not then use h1 tags.. at the bottom in red font, put xxwww.thedatiingsite.com now that you've wasted 2 minutes of your day typing that up.... do another... I met a girl at this dating site, she's so cute, and sweet, she actually seems kind of shy, i'm still a little bit worried that the sites not for real though... anyone else been there? I can't make links here because of all the spammers... but you can copy and paste this. .... -- A few of your messages WILL get flagged and deleted, they will all get deleted eventually when they expire. Once in awhile a moderator will catch on, and start deleting all your posts... that makes for a lot of wasted dang time .. so give up that day, and come back the next. I never used a proxy, and I never got banned.. but.. using a proxy and a google email isn't a real bad idea Or you can just PM me with an offer I can't refuse, and I'll go promote your site for you.. We can even do it through oDesk, where you can pay me $30 an hour
LadyHoldem I want to thank you for your informative post, I never heard of craigslist marketing but I think now I am going to give it a try and target students in the USA...I think my student loans site might be of interest to college kids on craigslist... Although I might have more luck marketing my loan site on something like facebook....?
Ahem... You might be correct but based on my experience, craigslist is very useful. Why? Because I got a big contracts from 2 companies. And now I am writing 10 articles for them daily upto the next six months.
Aaron you always make me giggle . Adsence you say huh? Where does that go.. amongst the anchor text? Can I put Adsence in my sitemap? Thanks, Cathy
Without CL there is no way I could have started my web business. It provided me with instant customers and a venue to attract other needed sources. Like most things it can't be perfect for everyone!
Craigslist has given me good responses 90% of the time, and very highly targeted customers = higher conversions
The auto poster on Craigs will require multiple proxies and email addresses doesn't it? That's a pain, I never understood how posting bizops on Craigslist had become such a sport, see how long your ads will stay listed, and not ghosted.
Adsoncraig will get you flagged instantly. I totally agree with Marketing Freeway. You should be allowed to post on CL anyways. That's what it's there for. If you have to make a new email account for every post, something is drastically wrong.
I like the idea of CL. Depending on what you post, where else can you get that type of traffic for free?
Craigslist is still a wonderful place to post...and best of all it's still free. Most people don't believe in CL, but my customers are making massive traffic and profits every single day. Why not you? The main principle of marketing is simple: sell what people want, not what you want. If you respect that, then you can make big profits with Craigslist.