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Any luck using Craigslist for offline clients?

by shockwave
7 replies
I'll admit right out of the gate that I really haven't pursued this route with too much zeal, but I'm curious what your experience has been with finding clients through Craigslist.

I'm pretty savvy on the SEO side of things, meaning I very good at SEO (on and off page), websites, Craigslist Image Ads...etc, but my experience has been that most "small businesses" (specifically residential contractors) simply can't afford what I offer.

What have you experienced?
#clients #craigslist #getting new customers #luck #offline #offline clients #prospecting
  • Profile picture of the author redlegrich
    You first say most small businesses, and then qualify it with just residential contractors. Hardly a decent sample size. First, there needs to be at least a few residential contractors patrolling CL for SEO experts, do you think there are many? I don't think so. The construction business is populated by hundreds of small companies barely hanging on, I suspect most of the subs (versus general) don't have websites. And yes they likely can't afford you, heck they are two steps from BK in most cases!

    You of course can make the case they need you more than ever as the value of one decent lead will pay for your services many times over. But.... the construction industry at that end of the spectrum is in pretty dire straits and has been for years. In Seattle there are something like 50 carpenters for every open carpenter job.

    I think you can find business on CL, but I think you are better off going after the companies straight away by calling on them.
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    • Profile picture of the author shockwave
      I was really just using residential contractors as an example. I am indeed well aware of how limited contractors are as I worked for Service Tragic for 4 years. My efforts have been directed towards contractors who focus on high ticket items like cabinets, countertops, windows...etc.

      I made a few efforts towards accounts/bookkeepers, spas...and the list goes on. I guess my point is that it seems that a lot of businesses on Craigslist are as you point out - barely holding on.

      I think next on the agenda will be some good 'ol fashioned cold calling to the people who are already spending on Yellow Page ads.

      I also thought about targeting businesses who use Groupon. I think Groupon can be good if a business leverages all the client traffic on the back-end of the sales funnel correctly, but I'm not sure that quite happens. From what I've read, it seems that Groupon is a GREAT deal for the consumer, but the businesses usually get very few repeat clients - basically devaluing their product/service for nothing.
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  • Profile picture of the author GregSilva
    If businesses can't afford what you offer then you need to look for ones that can. You won't find those buyers on Craigslist.
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  • Profile picture of the author markwarrior7
    Most companies looking for seo services on the craigslist cannot afford professional seo services.
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    • Profile picture of the author shockwave
      Originally Posted by markwarrior7 View Post

      Most companies looking for seo services on the craigslist cannot afford professional seo services.
      I agree that may be mostly true. However, I really don't push "SEO" as my experience has been that anything SEO is shunned pretty quickly because these business owners get a hundred calls a day about it. They don't understand it, or they don't know who to trust, or they've already been burned.

      I focus more on the Pay-For-Performance Lead Generation side of things. Even then, it's still seems difficult to get any responses to an ad. I even use (what looks like) a YouTube video - really it's only a hyperlinked image of a YT video to drive them to my landing page that explains how I can help them get more local customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    I'd agree with many of the earlier comments about CL...

    Though I have gotten some good arrangements with contractors who post on there. It has largely been barter-type deals, and I basically went looking for someone to do job 'X' or 'Y' on my properties and offer web work to pay for it.

    In some cases I have not even needed to pay for materials, which is pretty unusual, I know. So, I think you have to have certain objectives to make it work on CL. ..and yes, most contractors posting on CL are very small one-man-bands and are very limited financially.
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    • Profile picture of the author sprks79
      My client acquisitions via Craigslist are mediocre at best. I have a few that I got for Craigslist that are still with me today, but if I had to do over, I would probably take that time and focus on something else. Don't get me wrong, it does work, in limited success, but you cant make it a large part of your client hunting.
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      PBN site builder. Expired domain scraper. Website Hoster.....Oh, and an amazing guy. :)

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