Craigslist. Good or bad? You decide

Craigslist used to be much better for IMers than it is now. Ever since they started in with the phone-verified accounts last year, it's been a much tougher nut to crack.

That being said, it is still feasible as a marketing platform in some cases. My guess is that you're doing one of the following things that are causing your posts to get flagged:

1. You're direct linking to a Web site, or -- horror of horrors! -- using an affiliate link within your post. That's guaranteed to get you flagged (or ghosted) right away.

2. You're posting the same post too often. You cannot post the same thing within 48 hours, even if it's in a different city.

3. You're posting too much in one account. I don't know the exact number, but 10 posts a day per account is a lot. Most people limit it to only one post per day.

4. You're using the same IP address for multiple accounts. To be safe, use one IP address per account.

5. Your post is an obvious scam. If you're doing some blackhat stuff, most CL people have their antennae up to that kind of thing.

Personally, I like CL for certain things but not that much for IM. It's usually not worth the effort.

Well, the link that I do put in there is one that just says "click here". So I don't really know if someone would read much into that. And it's a clickbank link, well a "Hop" link, so I dunno if that falls into the same category.
I just did a trial post earlier today, and it was flagged before I even saw it posted. It was my only ad for the day. So, do they scan links or something? I'm confused on the matter

Yep, that's almost certainly your culprit.

Check out the Craigslist TOS and you'll find some interesting things. Here's one regarding what you cannot post:

k) that constitutes or contains "affiliate marketing," "link referral code,"
"junk mail," "spam," "chain letters," "pyramid schemes," or unsolicited
commercial advertisement;

So right there, you're in violation. But keep reading the TOS, especially towards the bottom. It gets downright weird. They actually put dollar values on various transgressions, and by using their service you are agreeing to be bound to them. Here are some examples:

a. If you post a message that (1) impersonates any person or entity; (2)
falsely states or otherwise misrepresents your affiliation with a person or
entity; or (3) that includes personal or identifying information about
another person without that person's explicit consent, you agree to pay
craigslist one thousand dollars ($1,000) for each such message.
This provision does not apply to Content that constitutes lawful non-deceptive
parody of public figures.

b. If craigslist establishes limits on the frequency with which you may
access the Service, or terminates your access to or use of the Service, you
agree to pay craigslist one hundred dollars ($100) for each message posted
in excess of such limits or for each day on which you access craigslist in
excess of such limits, whichever is higher.

c. If you send unsolicited email advertisements to craigslist email
addresses or through craigslist computer systems, you agree to pay
craigslist twenty five dollars ($25) for each such email.

Ouch... that can get expensive!

In a nutshell... use Craigslist to sell tangible goods, post (real) personal ads, advertise a (real) job... but not for affiliate marketing or BH stuff. If you do, you are taking a risk.

By the way, the TOS also states that Posting Agents -- that is, third-party services that will post ads for you -- are absolutely against the rules.

Wow, I never noticed that before. But, honestly, could they enforce it to that extent? Also, whats the point of craigslist if they are going to loophole you to death?
Another thing is this, I see affiliate links and the like all the time on there in the job section. How do they last so long and not get flagged? It just confuses me how some people can get away with it.
What would you recommend for trying to get people to either buy a product or service. As far as advertising goes. Maybe SEO and landing pages and what not. Or go all out with adsense and adwords?

Craigslist is trying to keep scammers away, and they're doing a decent job of it. Of course, that makes it more difficult for the honest people, too. Frankly, with all the scams and e-whoring that was going on not that long ago, I personally think it's a good thing they're doing... kind of. I've never heard of them actually enforcing the penalties they set up, but I'm sure they've threatened to do so for hard-core abusers.

There are certain CL sections where you can legitimately post a link, and I believe the Jobs section is one of them. I doubt they're affiliate links; they're usually links to the Web site of the company offering the job itself. In my area, you have to pay to post in the Jobs section, so you should absolutely be able to post a link in there if you please.

There are a million different ways to promote products and services, and most of them can be found in these forums. It really depends on what you're promoting.

Yeah, it seems like in the bigger cities that you have to pay to post in the job section. So yeah, you should be able to post whatever you want. But the point is this, if you have verified your phone and email and all that, you should be able to post what you want as well. Then they could contact you if something goes wrong or someone believes you are trying to scam them. Other wise it is just a waste of time.
One more thing, I was wondering since they don't charge in all areas to post, how do they make money to keep themselves running? Because I'm not sure there are enough posts in the paying cities to keep them afloat. Do they do some sort of affiliate program or am I paranoid, haha

I did some quick checking and found an interesting article about CL that was written in 2008. The numbers are estimated, but it mentioned that there were 30 million monthly postings, 2 million monthly job postings and 9 billion monthly page views. Estimated revenue for 2008 was $80 million. Oh, and there were only 25 Craigslist employees. They now have 30 employees and 30 billion monthly page views, so extrapolate. One source says they're bringing in $100 million plus now.

PVA or not, there is no way any company could run around contacting people whenever their post is in question (50 million new ads are posted every month). The system works nicely as long as people use it the way it was intended, which is to sell their unwanted junk, promote their business, look for a date, or find a new employee. Throw in a bunch of people flogging their affiliate products or running out and out scams and the system starts to break down.

On Friday, there were 22 posts in just one of the Jobs categories on the Phoenix CL. At $25 a pop, that's $550 in revenue generated. Do that 260 days a year (weekdays, job postings are less on the weekends) and CL makes $143,000. Keep in mind that that's just one Jobs category in one city. They charge for Jobs ads in 18 cities, including biggies like New York and Los Angeles.

They also charge for brokered NYC apartments, as well as "adult and therapeutic services." CL is estimated to make $36 million a year just from their sex ads.

So as you can see, they don't need no stinkin' affiliate program.

i have a ton of experience in CL from last year, i dont mess with it anymore but its always a headache and a half, if you plan to use it as an outlet then be ready to have a flagging battle, there are some people that just run scripts to flag other peoples ads, the PVA thing has really made it beyond difficult to mass posts on CL so i havent touched it in ages over a year but good luck!

I have been using Craiglist for 2 years and I am still enjoying it. I usually refer it also to my friends. But using craiglist also requires skills

Craig's list works good for promoting local business and selling goods
IM is a tough sell.... try Article marketing

Good for getting rid of junk.
Bad for anything other then propagating citations

Well, I thank you all for your input, and I wasn't trying to sound like I wanted to exploit it. But I have read that it was a good place to start. So maybe I read wrong and started this thing off on a bad foot. I was just a bit confused as to why my posting were getting flagged. It wasn't meant to sound like I was trying to "get one over on" CL.
As far as it not being a good place to post things, I agree. And I have asked for some input to find out what I should be doing, and what works for other people. Havent got a response on that one. I'm sure someone has something that either works or has worked for them. I would love to hear what it was so that I can get going on the right foot.

Curious... do people not read the entire thread before replying? Or are my posts just ignored?

Yeah, I expected a reply like that. Touché.

Actually, my post did indeed represent the "alpha and omega" on the subject. I'm thinking about packaging it as an ebook.

Should I have wrapped that last bit in <sarcasm> tags?

I used to do real well with CL. I wrote some articles on how to work the sytem and many others also did well. In the last year and a half or so I don't use it at all. There is no ethical way to get around their TOS anymore. Another BIG reason I quit using CL is because it is a waste of time. It might be a great way to sell a used grill or a bicycle but it does not work for what most of us do. Your ads get buried so quickly they are never read and people are not looking for anything IM, affiliate, etc related.

I had my own personal account locked and password reset after I tried to post a legitimate job posting for a friend in a different city. After getting my account re-verified I was able to post but my ad ghosted.

Spammers have made it extremely difficult for even legitimate businesses.

Yeah, and that's the sad part. Honest people get the boot because some people ruined it for others. I'm not saying I haven't tried to advertise there, but not the overkill alot of people do. It just gets too much and gets frustrating trying to make a decent dollar

John: I wasn't trying to get into a flame war or anything, just having a little bit of fun. Your post was valid and appreciated.

Craigslist is ridiculous. I've tried to post many none-marketing ads, and they always get ghosted. I've even verified my account by phone and gotten ghosted.

My brother, who has zero knowledge about internet marketing, tried to advertise his apartment for rent ... and got ghosted.

If there are millions of ads posted a day, there must be millions of average users who are thinking their ads are showing and wondering why the hell they aren't getting any action.

Craigslist has turned into a ridiculous and completely frustrating hellhole -- all the more so because most people still go there thinking that's the place to go (and so there are few other effective places to advertise).

Amen man. Seriously, well said

The issue is that you're violating their terms of service. Period. Try this: Create a free report with links within for 'more info' and list it in the Free Section with a brief description of the report. I don't think that would be breaking their rules...

I know you can post links in the services section of craigslist. You may want to try that.

It's amusing to see some of you defending craigslists TOU and discouraging people from using craigslist in whatever way they wish. Clearly, obviously, craigslist encourages illegal prostitution in every state. Maybe craigslist shoud consider abiding by the LAW.

ayyaya....internet marketing is a bitch. All these rapid
changes...could never get used to it.

I would have to agree and say that Craigslist is a bogus place to try and generate leads for your Internet Marketing business. If you need leads, get on social media sites and add some value!

Craigslist has a lot of traffic and that's what makes it worth while. Any site that has a high ranking like that with its type of functionality is going to get hit.

I've been promoting a Clickbank product on Craigs List for a while now without any problems. It may depend on what you are promoting.

You are probably not treading on anyone's toes troy23.

The same goes on sites like Ebay where I see plenty of people breaking the rules. In ignorance to start with, I just did as I saw and then had my auctions taken down.

I had one auction taken down which to this day I do not see broke the rules, but Ebay objected and when they object you cannot do anything about if they do not see reason. I am aware that competiton will force my auctions to be taken down if they see anything at fault.

Boy! I just got started today for the first time and,i read
every post, and i am so thankful to you all for the knowledge
i came away with.

Before i go let me ask this question: are CL rules put there to obey or disobey?
When i was a kid many many years ago my mom lay down rules; for her kids,
if we disobeyed them, we was punished; if we obeyed them, we were not.isn't
that what rules are for? Be they our rules or CL rules.

Yea I tried to post an intern job under gigs and got flagged by a bunch of people right away? Then I tried to re-post and got ghosted? When I went to the forum help as suggested by CL, I got bashed by every person on that forum. People calling me names and making childish jokes? All for me posting an internship in the gigs section. Pretty crazy on there.

Update: I finally just got 2 ads up in the gigs section. I had to create 3 jpgs of the whole copy I wrote and then posted the html in the post. That worked finally!

Man... CL sucks now! I remember the good ol days I was able to creat 2 ads at 7am and 2 ads at 4pm every day in the services section and generate 10-20 calls per day for my mortgage business.

It's good if you know how to use it, but it's not as good
as some people make it sound. Some people make it
sound too easy to get traffic from it.

I feel what you've said in your article is very true, but doing online marketing wont be a good strategy that one needs to follow in the long run of any business.

There's a good course out there teaching you how to use CL for IM. It's a very good course, but it's so BH though.

As far as I know, it'd be fairly difficult to make legitimate posts about IM products and/or generate IM leads in Craigslist. This has a lot to do with the fact that Craigslist was never designed to be a marketplace for digital products. On the other hand, it is an absolute goldmine if you do offline marketing, as there are plenty of real businesses out there that are actively searching for experts who can help them with their online marketing.