What do classifieds sites live out of?

Hi,

I wanted to create a classifieds site several years ago, but decided to start other sites instead.

I just can't comprehend what most of them live out of, because listings on many of them are free and all monetization techniques I can see on their pages are AdSense (and similar) ads.

Your ideas, suggestions, experiences?

 

Precisely..third party ads and paid listings. I don't think these sites can generate much revenue unless they receive large amounts of legit traffic from users who are actually looking for something.

 

Unless you have huge amount of traffic to your site, you can just use 3rd party ads to monetize. If you have huge traffics, you may opted to create paid ads option

 

Wicked, but on TV shows I saw offices of 20-30 people working on a single classifieds Craigslist-type site.

Otherwise, Craigslist itself has 30+ employees and had an Alexa Rank of 43 today, but it's not evident to me how they're making their money...

Anyway, with that many employees, Craigslist should have at least 60,000 $ income per month only to exist and that's just a rough minimal income calculation.
I suppose few people would work for less than 1,000-2,000 $ per month in the US in this field and even that would be a rather small salary. But if I'd add the expenses with the office space (rental/ownership), electricity bill (the must have at least 30 PC's running for long hours daily or almost daily), taxes and other expenses... Then they should earn a lot more than 60,000 $ per month.

It's hard to imagine their business model, but they're smart indeed (proven by the fact that they've gotten so far) - a few years ago I saw an interview with the founder on CNN. Very successful company, indeed.
Would like to take a deep look into these business models and revenue systems...

 

Classifieds sites usually have a lot of traffic and average visit duration is often above 5 min. They monetize on advertising and premium (paid) ads. Often they are attractive to direct advertisers because they can target their ads in a certain category or even subcategory.

 

We started a free / premium classifieds service back in early 2012. We're on our way to become one of the fastest-growing US classifieds.

@Mr.Dog you should've gone with your gut feeling and started a classifieds back then.

It is a very competitive area, no doubt about that. What helps us win and get ahead of our competition is these two things:

1. Premium (featured) and all cities ads

2. Our own affiliate program

It is feasible to make some income just on AdSense or other similar advertising, but unless you have your own affiliate program or paid ad option that brings in more traffic for those who use it - running a classifieds can be tough.

Still, it is a niche that can be profitable - if it's used the right way. Think outside the box and you can get ahead in almost any area of internet marketing. All it takes is a worthy vision and persistence.

 

Either by charging all listing or by charging some listing like premium listings

 

Some big sites merely exist through investment, not due to a successful business model.

Money gets pumped in to become the leader in the market and one day dominate enough to generate revenue.

Making money is a whole other story.

 

Indeed... making money is a "whole other story".

It's a nice niche, anyway. But it's a lot of work too, especially if you have other projects ongoing...

 

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