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Getting Leads With Craigslist

by sunshne721
10 replies
Hello everyone,

I heard that Craigslist is a great way to get leads for any business. I'm thinking about starting an offline business and selling an email marketing service. My plan is to target business owners in the handyman/home repair niche. I've seen a whole section on Craigslist called skilled trade and there are plenty of business owners advertising their service. I was thinking about emailing these people to see if they would be interested in my service. Do you think this would be a good way to get leads? Does anyone have any experience using this method? This seems like a great method to reach business owners who are already looking for more customers, but before I start I would like your opinion. Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks.
#craigslist #leads
  • Profile picture of the author umc
    In my limited experience those service companies are cheap or so small they can't handle much business, thus the free ads they post. Many are "handymen" for beer money. I found most to be diy marketers and they were getting free leads already and unwilling to pay. YMMV
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  • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
    Originally Posted by sunshne721 View Post

    Hello everyone,

    I heard that Craigslist is a great way to get leads for any business. I'm thinking about starting an offline business and selling an email marketing service. My plan is to target business owners in the handyman/home repair niche. I've seen a whole section on Craigslist called skilled trade and there are plenty of business owners advertising their service. I was thinking about emailing these people to see if they would be interested in my service. Do you think this would be a good way to get leads? Does anyone have any experience using this method? This seems like a great method to reach business owners who are already looking for more customers, but before I start I would like your opinion. Any and all comments are welcome. Thanks.
    You want to offer an email marketing service. Is this correct?

    You want to generate LEADS for these guys who are on craigslist, right?

    Once they respond and say, what have you got....

    what have you got?

    HOW do you get them leads? Who do you send the emails to?

    So, what is your service?

    GordonJ
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  • Profile picture of the author goingxmiles
    Honestly, if wanna save your time and money
    just like the UMC above said ,these people they don't have budget
    I know the ins & out of Craigslist
    It's not a viable business model for you to purse

    I hope this helps
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  • Profile picture of the author sunshne721
    Thanks for the replies everyone. My email service would involve creating email campaigns for the business owner and find potential customers on their behalf. From what you've guys said it seems like Craigslist wouldn't be the best option. What other options are available for getting quality clients?
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  • Profile picture of the author umc
    Maybe you should find good businesses (often top results in Google) and email them since you're saying that you can just email people and develop leads for them. Use the same magic you're going to use for them as your clients for yourself. Be your own client and do for yourself what you claim to be able to do for them.

    By the way, I have to ask, how do you get handymen clients through email? Are you doing cold emails? Do you have lead gen sites where people are opting in to a list and then you're emailing them? I just don't see how you can simply email and develop leads in the residential market without spamming, or maybe you're using some sort of ad network.
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    • Profile picture of the author sunshne721
      Originally Posted by umc View Post

      Maybe you should find good businesses (often top results in Google) and email them since you're saying that you can just email people and develop leads for them. Use the same magic you're going to use for them as your clients for yourself. Be your own client and do for yourself what you claim to be able to do for them.

      By the way, I have to ask, how do you get handymen clients through email? Are you doing cold emails? Do you have lead gen sites where people are opting in to a list and then you're emailing them? I just don't see how you can simply email and develop leads in the residential market without spamming, or maybe you're using some sort of ad network.

      Ok I'll try looking on Google, thanks. Yes I'm getting emails from the business owner's website using the cold email approach. I'll send them a unique, attention-grabbing email with a link to a video opt in page. From there they can learn more about email marketing and eventually sign up to my list.
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  • Profile picture of the author umc
    How are you going to get those business owners more customers through email?
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    • Profile picture of the author sunshne721
      I'm going to create video opt-in page websites for the business owners. The video on the page will advertise their business. My plan is to get these sites ranked in Google so they can attract more customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author GowebMkt
    Have you thought of simply offering them phone calls from the ads?

    Get a tracking phone number that goes to there phone....People see the ads with your number....and you can charge so much per qualified call.

    I have done this on CL and it works OK.

    Bret
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  • Profile picture of the author ClassifiedGuru
    Craigslist works great, but you'll need to use someone who knows what they're doing as the algorithms these days are very strict. However, if you go to Alexa (Top Sites North America), you'll get a feel for how much unique fresh traffic comes to the site daily with cash in hand.
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