Craigslist For Marketing CPA?

by 177 replies
212
Here's my question guys:

When researching offers, I have come accross many that have craigslist as one of their main sources of traffic generation. My question to you all is this. What method are people using on craigslist to drive traffic to these CPA offers?
#ad networks (cpm/cpl, display) #cpa #craigslist #marketing
  • I'd stay far away from promoting on craigslist
  • I second that motion. Craigslist's TOS spells out pretty clearly that they don't want CPA offers and most reputable networks will drop you without warning.



  • What do you mean it says craigslist is the main source of traffic? It says this on the CPA network in the offer details??
    • [1] reply
    • When checking the site on google adplanner it shows this info.
  • Craigslist is not a good way to start off, mainly if you want to build a solid business with CPA. Craigslist doesn't like CPA offers being advertised there and most networks and advertisers also don't like traffic from CL.


    William
  • Craigslist is a great place to do list building if done correctly , however spamming craigslist with banners is epic fail for all involved.
  • My buddy, with a little creative help from me did a craigslist campaign two weeks ago. Cant go into details, but drove traffic to a splash page then to a squeeze, then email marketed as part of a 3 part series.

    Results = good

    Still potential if done right. Again some networks dont want anything to do with CL and others are okay if you put steps in the middle like this.
    • [3] replies

    • Exactly, there are some old school harvesting methods that are completly legit. It's the stupid spammers that screw it up . Just look in the electronics section sometime.

      " clix her 2 gt fre iphn 4g ezy"
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
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    • Hehe I ma newb and I did something like that too. I got a couple of signups from it before it became a headache, from flagging amd reposting.
      • [1] reply
    • Without going into the details of your friends CL campaign... Could you at least tell me about the copy he put in the actual CL ad that drove traffic to the splash page?
  • Be careful ... Use a CL traffic friendly network to promote.
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  • Banned
    Stay away from craigslist mate - you will loose all your hard earned $$$
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  • Exactly. You dont have to necessarily stay away from CL, but be smart about it. I always see people say stay away from PPC, stay away from Craigslist, stay away from this and that. You dont need to stay away from anything. Just be creative and smart. There is normally always a whitehat way to approach anything.
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    • I agree. There's money to be made on CL, just have to be smart about it.
  • Craigslist is pretty much a no-no nowadays. It has been pretty saturated already and most of the people on there are poor and not looking to spend money anywho.
    • [3] replies

    • Just be a little creative man and there is plenty of opportunity. Do the same thing everybody else is doing and sure its saturated. I can guarantee there is plenty of opportunity.
    • Banned
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    • Agree. You even have to be careful with not direct linking but if you link to a CPA offer directly that is called suicide. Haven't tried CL for list building yet, you guys say it might worth a try, possibly another way to get people enter your sales funnel?
    • I think this is the Ultimate reason not to mess with Craiglist. It does come across as an online tenement or a ghetto.
  • How are you getting around there posting policies though? Do you have multiple accounts, phone numbers for them, etc?
  • It really irks me when everyone just says to stay away from Craigslist or PPC or some other method, without really knowing what they're talking about. It is especially irritating when they just go on hearsay and haven't actually tried it out for themselves. As with everything else, there is a right way and wrong way to promote CPA offers on Craigslist. I can almost guarantee you that all the bad experiences encountered by some people came from promoting their offers the wrong way on Craigslist, i.e. posting millions of hype-filled ads that were probably flagged within minutes of posting them and/or spamming harvested email addresses with your CPA offer.

    If you make things sound like a blatant advertisement, you'll get shut down almost immediately on Craigslist. This topic (promotion of CPA offers on Craigslist) has been covered ad infinitum in this forum, just go do some research and find out how to promote Craigslist the right way - I'm really tired of repeating myself in here (have done it a few times already but will give it a rest here!)
    • [ 2 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
  • I couldn't agree more, Craigslist is an absolute goldmine for marketers who are willing to think a little outside the box. Don't just be a copycat and clone other marketers' (unsuccessful) efforts on Craigslist, take the time to analyze things and come out with creative approaches that will appeal to the browsers there.
  • STAY AWAY FROM CL...

    That way,i will have no competition and more traffic.
    • [1] reply

    • Its very tempting to give selfish advice...but then you have to think about how abundant most traffic sources are. Unless I tell you exactly what I'm doing on CL for example, it is unlikely a dent will even be made on my end!
  • There is still good money to be made on CL. You just have to be very smart about how you do it. Find yourself a good course and stick to it.
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  • dont use cpa on craiglist they will complain to your affiliate network on spamming
    • [1] reply


    • Perfect example of "How I spammed Craigslist and got caught"

      Don't be a dummy and you can strike gold.
      • [1] reply
  • Banned
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  • I've never advertised on CL before.

    Would I able to post some advice and then point people towards something on website?
  • I've had zero problems with posting a simple non-spammy ad directing traffic to my website for more info. I have a full site with quality content and of course sprinkle it with links to my CPA offer.

    I'm killing it on CTR but still only have 1 conversion. Gotta sort out the pre-sell a little better I guess.

    But seriously, I can't believe some people are actually posting their CPA offers directly on CL. Why would you even think that's a good idea?
    • [2] replies
    • I use craigslist to inform the public about the great free information they can get on my site. When they get there, there are a variety of things on the site that make me money, but yes if all they want is some free info, they get it.
      • [1] reply

    • Haha and after a few days of it not working at all or the networks banning the account, they then declare craigslist as 100% dead haha.
  • Craigslist is great for whitehat but better for blackhat...

    Be careful, though! It can cause a lot of problems if you actually go through with blackhat.
  • Craigslist >> Offer = Bad/CL Traffic
    Craigslist >> Optin >> E-Mail = Good/E-Mail Traffic

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    • Classic. Thanks for sharing, Chad.
    • Sounds like a good blueprint... Already liking it!
  • craigslist traffic in 99% of the cases is bad traffic. Simply for the reason that you have to incentivize users to fill the offer - which results in bad traffic to the advertisers.
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    • Woohoo! Got another conversion. Can you make money with free traffic? Yes indeed! My site isn't even indexed yet and I'm not paying for traffic either. Goes to show that with the right offer you can get started in CPA with free traffic just from simple CL (et al) ads.
  • Listen, you can get TON of traffic from Craigslist and WITHOUT breaking their rules. Do like Kenster said, and be creative!

    And like paulie888, it irks me too when people say "stay away from this or that." How can you tell someone to stay away from free traffic in the billions?

    Just last week, I spent a few minutes testing a creative idea I got for Craigslist. Result?

    300 people emailed me within about 2 hours! My inbox was flooded and inquires would not stop coming in. I can easily duplicate what I did and get 30,000 people emailing me, but I don't feel like posting ads all day. If you want to make money posting ads all day, hey be my guest. Not me. And like I said, I followed Craigslist's rules.

    I don't post links. Not posting links minimizes or almost eliminates flagging. I tell people to email me and over 300 did within about 2 hours and begged me to give them what I offered (which was 100% legit, something available for free on the Internet that everyone has access too). Seriously, these people where telling me stories about their family, significant others, spouses, etc trying to convince me to give them what I had "if it is still available" lol.

    The only problem was that I should have setup an autoresponse, but I didn't so I had to reply to everyone one by one!

    Anyways, my point is please be creative. And please be optimistic. There is so much traffic available, its amazing. And again, you DON'T have to break their rules. Study their rules and figure out a way to post a billion ads without breaking their rules. There are ways! I came up with two. And I was only flagged by a couple people who didn't want others to get my offer.
    • [3] replies
    • Craigslist is GOLD for certain offers, and everyone is right, they HATE CPA offers and marketers in general. To do it right so it will work, you have to set up a good auto-responder system. And.. you can't piss off the people on there either. You can so easily have your account BANNED, so if you don't know what you're doing... Don't even try!


    • I did a certain cragislist campaign back when I was starting and I would do the same exact thing. This is a lot of fricken work but I am naturally a hustler and my time wasnt worth as much then as it is now.

      I would write posts in the employment section and have people email me. Posts were geo specific. I got hundreds of emails a day.


      I would literally sit down for hours upon hours writing individual responses back to every single person. I would find something to make sure the email was personalized, either mentioning how I like the name Sydney (if that was their name) or maybe commenting on something they said. The whole point was to make sure they were 100% confident I was a real human.

      Then I would offer them value. Depending on what you are promoting, find something of value to deliver to them. Maybe a ton of great info about finding a job in this economy. Then, somehow work the CPA offer into the mix, maybe a good solid bizz opp or clickbank survey product. Make sure its a good CPA offer though. This is literally barebones craigslist marketing...nothing automated, nothing outsourced, nothing technial, nothing special, just good old elbow grease. This can be done with virtually any offer.

      Just be smart and creative guys.


      This was a LOT OF WORK
      This took a LOT OF TIME
      This was NOT EFFICIENT
      This is doable for complete newbies

      I was probably doing $100=$150 a day average with this.


      If you are willing to role your sleeves up and put in some good ol work, there is plenty of money to be made. The problem is that 90% of new marketers want to hit gold right from day 1 and dont want to put in the work to build a business. I tell it how it is :rolleyes:


      Force yourself to be a hustler. Be willing to hustle. Get yourself in the mindset to hustle to financial freedom.

      Ken
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • Wouldn't setting up an autoresponder be a link?
      I see links in ads all the time. Isn't it a matter of what your ad is about and what you send them too? It just involves thinking in terms of your intended audience and putting your service into your own words.
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  • Craigslist is still a great source for traffic IMHO. It has to be done correctly so that your ads go up, stay up, and you do not violate TOS.
    • [1] reply
    • Are we talking craigslist TOS or the offers/affiliate networks TOS?
  • Chris, probably all of the above. There are ways to satisfy the TOS from the traffic side (craigslist/classified portal) and the network side!
  • Banned
    I would stay away from Craigslist - There was a time (most probably still is) that advertising on craigslist worked. The problem now is that if you are caught advertising on craigslist means that you could loose all your hard worked earnings, and have trouble with craigslist as well as the network.

    Think of it this way - You going to have to put time and effort into it to make it work, the chances of you getting caught, irrelevant - cause if you do get caught you have lost Time / Money / Earnings - spend that time, money wisely and you will be able to keep all your profits.

    Good luck!
  • normally, internet marketers post fake ads on craiglist and get traffic but stay away of it otherwise it will spam. Many internet marketers get lots of craiglist accounts from different ips and get traffic, but I don't recommended it, it will generate traffic but not potential customers. I think so
    • [2] replies
    • As long as you're advertising "legit" stuff in the proper categories, the RIGHT way, it's a pretty good source of traffic. And it's heavy traffic and FREE, so do you expect them to make it easy for you? LOL

      Sure, you can't go on there and start pushing email submits or shady rebills, people will complain and flag your ads and you'll be BANNED or they'll ghost your ads. Don't act like a spam artist and you won't be treated like one.

      Craigslist traffic is no worse than PoF traffic. I heard all those networks complaining about PoF traffic a while ago and what happened? Now they act like PoF is the "greatest thing since sliced bread". LOL


    • To clarify, craigslist is just a base traffic source just like any other site on the internet. Unlike other sites, its interactive, which is actually better because you can communicate with your customer as opposed to just plopping up a banner ad or text link.

      You dont have to push anything at the base level traffic. You shouldnt push anything at the base level traffic. This means you cant plop up an ad on Craigslist. Simlarly, you may not be necessarily be able to effectively push people to a traditional landing page and then to the CPA offer.

      Use your noggins and use some creativity. Take the traffic, give them value of some sort, make them like you, then creatively sell your CPA offer somehow.


      In general...

      -If you are brand new to CPA, probably dont venture into CL
      -If you aren't creative dont venture into CL
      -If you aren't offering more value than cost, dont venture into CL

      CL is a gigantic lead generation platform and my bet is that if you used CL in the right way, you can probably do a few hundred a day. To be perfectly honest, when I started I thought CL was dead too and like many people here, I was selling too early and too blatantly.

      Be smart and you can make good money with any classified site!
      • [3] replies
  • Craigslist is not a good way to start off, mainly if you want to build a solid business with CPA. Craigslist doesn't like CPA offers being advertised there and most networks and advertisers also don't like traffic from CL.
  • From a networks point of view and personally - I would stay away from craigs list! - There are so many hidden untapped traffic sources that I will be able to write thread after thread.

    I will make you a deal - If you are serious about succeeding in the IM, pm me with your email, experience, and future plan and goals (Be serious - cause I am serious ), and we can schedule an 1-2hr coaching session - GRATIS. (I have one condition though - It will have to be convenient for me / or the affiliate manager I assign to give you the training) - BUT PLEASE stay away from Craigslist.

    Good luck!
    • [1] reply
    • Because of my early success with classifieds I'm setting up a posting schedule like this:

      * 28 ads targeting 14 keywords
      * 10 classifieds sites
      * Post 1 ad for 1 keyword on each site every day for 14 days
      * Then rotate to the second set of ads for the next 14 days

      That way each ad is seen only once a month. I figure this will take me 30-60 minutes a day and based on what I've seen from posting on 1 site for the last week I'd say this schedule will get me very close to my $100/day goal.
      • [1] reply
  • Thanks for the encouragement Ken. I'll compile the numbers for the week tomorrow but basically I've had less uniques resulting in fewer sales, but a higher CTR.

    Most importantly my site has shot up in the search results. It's now on page 1 for most of my keywords and in position 3-4 for a few. This is just from adding content and the backlinks from the ads themselves.

    So even if this site doesn't reach the $100/day mark for me it looks like it will create a steady flow of sales. That's not surprising since the same niche has produced a steady profit from adsense for over a year.
  • Amazing dude, keep us posted on whats working and whats not.

    As you get better, start targeting slightly more competitive keywords to get more traffic. Free traffic is the best, aint it!

    -Ken
  • They use methods that will get you nowhere fast. Promoting CPA offers on Craigslist is the same as scamming. You must lie to do it and as a result your business is built on nothing and therefore can and will disintegrate sooner rather than later.

    Not to mention that most, if not all, CPA networks disallow traffic from Craigslist. If they track the traffic back to Craigslist they will keep your commission and close your account!
    • [1] reply

    • I 100% disagree. Craigslist is just traffic like anything else. If you are creative enough, you can work with CL to deliver value and then sell your CPA on the backend completely ethically and completely whitehat.

      YES, many people who promote on CL do scam and do some pretty crappy stuff, but people do the same with all traffic sources. The point is that there ARE ways to do it ethically and whitehat and its not fair to lump CL with Scam.

      If you read the rest of the thread, you can see there are ways to deliver value to the CL viewers, then upsell down the pipeline a good offer they may be interested in and follow all rules, not deceive anybody in any way.

      Just my thoughts
      • [3] replies
  • Yep. I mean its probably not the best for complete newbs to do because those are the people who are most likely going to direct link to the CPA offer and get in trouble' but the point is that if you use the traffic source correctly its good for everybody and a huge source of traffic and monetization potential.

    But i would prefer everybody to stay away, better for me.

    Be smart and work hard!
  • No worries buddy!

    The problem is that when you go on craigslist, most of what you see that you can pinpoint as being affiliate or cpa marketers at work is deceitful and just garbage. To really use craigslist effectively as a legitimate traffic source for the whole value chain, you blend in. Half of the stuff I've personally done on CL, you wouldnt have even sniffed as being the work of a CPA marketer.

    In other words, its much easier to see the bluefart CLers than the legitimate ones, making it seem like all CL strategy is fart!

    See ya around buddy!
  • Ok. I have been making decent money with Clickbank for awhile, but quite frankly I see the potential with CPA so I am making a shift in that direction. I agree that Craigslist could be a hidden goldmine if harnessed correctly.

    Obviously direct linking may not be the best option, but what about this scenario:

    1. Write an article.

    2. Post to ezinearticles.com (or your own blog, or another article directory).

    3. Once article is approved, create ad on craigslist with a link to the article.

    4. Person reads article, clicks on link (domain redirected to my affiliate link), and signs up for a freebie.

    5. See my CPA earnings rise.

    6. Rinse and repeat.

    Do you think this method could still get someone banned? Wouldn't the referrer be ezinearticles.com and not Craigslist?

    Would like to hear the input of some experienced CPA guys/gals on this one.
    • [1] reply
    • Can anyone here suggest a good guide/ebook that will show, step by step, what a newbie like myself would need to do to make money from Craigslist Traffic & CPA offers without getting banned from a CPA network. In the past, I have made some good money from Craigslist traffic (and luckily did not get caught/banned) by direct linking, but I know that this strategy will never work in the long run.

      What I'm looking for is a guide/ebook that has a workable plan that I can put into action today and start earning from Craigslist traffic without getting banned from my CPA network.

      I know that there is Real, Good money to be made from Craigslist traffic. I just don't know how to go about doing it the right way.

      All suggestions and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
      • [1] reply
  • You really won't find any network out there that likes CL traffic and depending on the offer , if your not hiding your traffic ...you'll get dropped from the offer or banned from the network.

    Oh , and don't ever tell your AM your promoting using CL lol....you'll get the ban hammer
  • Okay, I'm done defending CL haha.

    It works and I know you can do it completely ethically and I will continue to monetize.

    Good luck all!
    • [2] replies
    • Yep. There are CPA offers and affiliate/partner products that work well with CL. You can't just go on there and promote shady email or zip submits and expect your network to like that traffic source, or your ads not to get "flagged".

      Plus, if your network is telling you NOT to run your offer on CL, take the hint... don't try to run that offer there!
    • Me too Ken. This a complete "lost cause". LOL

      No more comments..
      • [2] replies
  • Banned
    I must be careful about using CL for affiliate/CPA offers. I consulted with Peerfly and EnvyusMedia about using CL and they don't want me to use it, even if I create a twist of my own. They're smart enough though, investigating each page of the offer I have.
  • Do whats right by you my friend. There are plenty of alternatives without getting burnt for breaking certain ad policies.

    Good luck.
  • Are there any cpa networks out there that actually says, "Yes" we allow CL traffic as long as you don't spam and only do white hat methods??
  • You can just convert the traffic so its technically not CL traffic although orginally derived from there!
    • [1] reply
    • I see I see ... So that's where the creativity comes from.. Giving me some ideas now. LOL

      Thanks!

      • [1] reply
  • CL to YT to CPA...hmmmm


    Its feasible, but I can see some dilution problems through that sales funnel, especially because you may lose a lot of people at the YT step.


    But who am I to judge. GO FOR IT. I am a fan of testing everything, who knows maybe you find a great strategy nobody else is doing...many great ideas come from wacky and bizarre ideas
  • Promoting CPA offers on Craigslist is a great way to get banned from affiliate networks and not get paid for any of your leads generated in this fashion
  • Hey,

    Here is a really effective strategy that worked with various offline clients,
    but will work the same way with CPA:

    1) Create a simple 12 line Ad with A picture at the bottom
    At the end of each line of the ad add three dots...
    For some reason it works well because people fill in thier own ideas
    into your ad and create their own vision

    2) Get jing.com and copy the Ad into a jpeg

    3) Go to photobucket.com, create an account and put in the Ads

    4) Grab the html code from the photobucket.com site and put into
    the craigslist ads... change the html link to your own site.

    5) Now here is the trick, put in arrows in your title so it
    would get noticed more

    6) Have a simple opt in form on your site where you
    give something away for free...

    7) Build your list and then sell them your product

    Rinse, lather, repeat.

    Good luck.
  • Are there any networks that actually like it when you get traffic from craigslist?
    • [1] reply
    • I think the feeling is mutual between Craig and the Networks.

      The only way to make it work is to "blend" yourself into the community. If you're advertising something, make it of some type of value to the users instead of spam.

      Direct-linking to an offer is considered spam unless it's in the right category. You can get away with DLing a dating offer, if done the right way. Definitely do not try it with an email submit or rebill.
      • [1] reply
  • Oh FYI,

    its been said that a lot of networks use craigslist to drive traffic to their own offers in their proprietary marketing!
  • craiglist i stay far and just on to email- and ppc marketing.
  • Banned
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  • Banned
    Unfortunately I cannot post on US cities because I'm from a different country. My ads will be ghosted there if I will post. For now I use BackPage as an alternative, and your ideas have already given me a "BIG BANG THEORY" of my own and I'm taking action now to split test my ads.

    Woohoo!
    • [2] replies

    • Big Bang Theory...that sounds groundbreaking. Hopefully it is Let us know how it goes
    • BackPage traffic is absolutely HORRIBLE. If you can get 4 or 5 visits per month you're pretty lucky. Maybe because it gets 1/60th of the page views per month CL does. And if you can believe it, US Free Ads is even worse!
  • You just have to be creative. There are always legitimate ways to do business whatever your source of traffic, just be smart about it.
    • [1] reply

    • I just came up with an idea that I am havnig my friend try out. The first part involves putting listings on craigslist. He put up 3 listings, which probably took about 5 minutes max to do. So far at last check I think there were 400+ personalized responses he received.

      This is not a CPA campaign, its not tricking or deceiving, its a rather clever method I have a feeling will do really well. The point is that there is a ton of free traffic on craigslist and if you can think creatively enough, its a hotbed of opportunity...cpa or not.

      Think outside the box, dont trick, dont deceive, stay within the posts and you are good to go. Try and go the fast cash deception route and you are hurting yourself and others
      • [2] replies
  • Yeah Ken,

    I'd also like to know how your friend got 400 responses with only 3 listings. In your opinion is it the category your listing is under that makes a massive difference?
  • I'm not going to say too much because its a clever idea that I think is going to do really well, but its related to employment. If it turns out to be just a mediocre campaign and not worth pursuing for either of us, then I will reveal the whole thing...mediocre for somebody is gold for another right!

    Wish I could be more helpful...eeek
    • [2] replies
    • Ahh, I think I'm following this one. Some type of bait-and-switch campaign.

    • What about the city or geographic region? Would you say perhaps that New York City would be better than a suburban area? I would think with an offer like Netflix, everyone every where would be interested, but if the offer was for say a membership dating site, perhaps areas with more money would work better?

      I have also tried CL for something else, asking people to email me for more info. I tried NYC and Chicago, I got no responses. I was just wondering how I check the stats as you have said your friend knows how many viewing he has gotten.

      Thanks for your input. I have learned so much about CL/CPA. Is there a CPA/Twitter thread on here too?
      • [1] reply
  • I think, if you promote CPA from your CL poster (Who is mainly from South Asia), you must get result. I just use it free section of cl & get result. You must need to inform, every post need to live at list 24 hours, other than, you will not pay them...
  • Dont do Craigslist!

    Its a guaranteed way of getting banned from pretty much every CPA network.

    Any questions just let me know
    Nick
    • [1] reply
    • But what's the case with other sites like Backpage ?
      • [2] replies
  • Always check up with your affiliate manager before driving traffic through CL - advertisers usually don't like it.
  • That's why it's important to have a well diversified business with many income streams! A lot of what we as marketers do online we don't have control over so you really need to diversify more than the traditional business. Even things like SEO, Video marketing, PPC, PPV, is very much out of our control. Things change fast and often online...diversify!
  • This thread is interesting. Was thinking of getting into marketing on Craigslist and other classified sites.

    So unlike another thread I read, it seems CL is still an effective place to market.

    Any suggestions of method/techniques for a newbie to use?
  • Kenster, I was wondering what your average conversion was with your CPA offs off of every 1k responses you had?

    Thanks bud
    • [1] reply

    • It is completely dependent on what your doing. When I was "bumming" and individually answering repsonses when I first started, conversion was decent, but the time and work was hard (gotta do what you gotta do when you're a starving entrepreneur).

      If you are directing people to a blog/site and elongating your sales funnel, conversion will normally decrease but this is sometimes necessary (such as if you are doing CPA).

      I am testing out something right now that isn't CPA related but initial conversion has been great


      So it's completely campaign dependent.
      • [1] reply
  • You will never make good stable revenue from CL unless you are spamming people. And its just not worth it! There are so many traffic sources out there that CL is just not worth it these days my friend
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  • yep, I know 2 years ago CL was a good traffic source, but now, things start to die out, CL is like google in some ways, they make sure that their site won't be overrun with spam and spam, so they have to put more restriction
    but it only apply to CPA, I never have any problem with posting normal ads to sell stuffs offline
    guess they get better daily huh?
    • [1] reply
    • I have problems with posting for selling anything, even real products with no links in the post. They just ghost ads at will.

      How do you get by posting out of your area or do you? I can't get an ad to show out of my own state. And they won't accept Skype or VOIP numbers, so I have to use a local number.
  • I live in Houston, Texas
    I just use 1 account since I start CPA until now and post like 4-5 ads daily with it

    so far, no big problem, no ghosting, some flagging here and there. The last ads batch I posted, all ads got up there and stay until they expired. If I post too much, CL just tell me that I pass my daily limit and that's it.

    oh and I use my personal cell number to verify that account
  • Actually, most of the offers I see on the networks I'm on, forbid the use of Craigslist.
    • [1] reply
    • They all do. If you haven't noticed lately CL is "Scam-Central Station", home to scammers, spammers and flaggers. lol

  • A lot of people just don't understand what it means to 'be creative'.

    IMO you can use CL if your using it in the right way.

    Therefore, obviously don't just put CPA offers directly on there. Actually do the opposite. Set up a login/opt-in form and get the user in that niche to supply their email. Then you can use that email to promote offers to them.

    P.S. Make sure you run whatever campaign your going to do by your Account Manager and don't cross the CPA networks T.O.S.

    ~Andrew
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    • Well said Tallon. Scam artists steal the show in many circumstances and often make some nice short term cash, but almost always its the whitehat marketers that make it big and build sustainable income streams. Building a business and earning money aren't necessarily one in the same. Building a business is about sustainability.

      I have spoken to more "dark" marketers and they may make 10 grand a day for 10 days in a row but then they may go 3 months without making a dime. A better business model is to make a legit $1,000 a day for every day of the year

      At least in my opinion.




      Andrew, I 100% agree. Many times people think creatively at the surface of a method or strategy when they need to be more creative about the process.

      The biggest problem is that too many marketers (particularly on CL) want the instant gratification of a straight sales campaign. You really need to dig deeper than that to make money on CL...and many other traffic sources for that matter.
  • I get a ton of traffic from CL and if done right its a sure thing for solid, precise targeted traffic. I built a whole program around it.. I'm such an authority on the subject that if you type in Google. How to make money with/on cl/craigslist, I'm spot 4 or 5 depending on what keyword you use..

    Its a legit place. you can even, if you are smart do CPA or Affiliate sales in the business section. Not hard..

    Best of luck...
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    • Lots of "bum" ways to promote on CL. Most people try spamming and get the ax right out of the gate
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  • It also help if you know your way around words and headlines, im sure if you get a catchy one, click will go through the roof!
  • Can you recommend me some networks which allows cl traffic??
  • Although a lot of CPA networks don't accept CL, I'm learning more that if you go straight to the vendor instead of through a network, they may not care as much.

    Especially for lead-type CPA, not just rebills/email submits etc.

    And if you're getting leads for local businesses, they probably don't care as long as the prospect is targeted and they can close sales with the leads you're sending em.
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  • you can make y money from craiglist using cpa offers. I'll give you a small hint. i have seen some good paid wso about CL with cpa. Sorry i can't name it . go to the wso offer section and find the cpa wso's and start sending Pm. you will find the person easily. Thats all i can say
  • Select offers that will attract the general public and you will succeed in craigslist.
  • using craigslist isnt a good idea because they might blacklist your IP, and now they are suing people for abusing their services.
  • How important is using an IP that is local to the area that you are posting to?

    If it is important, what is the best solution?

    The only thing that I can think of is just using a nationwide dial up.
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  • I am having pretty good success by outsourcing MicroJobs to workers to post a Spinnable Classified ad on Craigslist. Right now, I have a total of about 60 ads per week getting posted. That's 31 days of exposure for each ad. It seems to be working well on conversions by sheer volume.

    One word of advice is to have your ads posted in the mid-afternoon and it should be toward the top of the ad list when folks get off work and check for ads after dinner
  • Way to sell it man lol

  • Nah, the BIGGEST problem with CL isn't getting ghosted, but getting your accounts froze due to spamming. If you want to make any decent money, you need to run ads in numbers, and to them that is spamming. CL has many ways to track you down.

    Congrats on all your success with them, I don't know how you do it. I think it's more of a waste of time always trying to bypass all their BS.

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  • not a good idea..
    CL = BH = Ban nuff said
  • I think there's still plenty of opportunity for CL but as Kenster and others have said, you have to know the rules. If you look at CL as a way to harvest contact information, that's probably the best way to go. On the other hand, if you are simply putting a link out there to get a sale, you'll get banned.
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  • You don't necessarily have to look at it as direct linking from craigslist to your offer. What you can do is find people that are looking for work, pay them to hand out flyers for instance. Then you can earn money on the backend.
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    • But what if your offer is an ebook on how to make money? Can you link directly to the site that sells the ebook without getting ghosted?
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  • I would not recommend it.
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  • G'day,

    Just make sure you stand out from the crowd, and spend some time creating a unique angle and you will do alright on CL. Follow the herd and you too will fall off the cliff!

    cheers, Patrick
  • CL is powerful if done right.

    One thing I wanted to point out is that a lot of bluefart methods are used on CL. Many posting ipods/ipads for sell then when someone emails them they're sent to a email submit for a free ipad + other methods I won't talk about.

    Great source of traffic, but unfortunately a lot of spammers using it
  • I used to LOVE using CL but unfortunately too many spammers who ruin it for everybody else! SO ALL YOU SPAMMERS ARE WASTING YOUR TIME BECAUSE YOUR GETTING FLAGGED OR GHOSTED...LOL
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    Craigslist For Marketing CPA?

    Here's my question guys: When researching offers, I have come accross many that have craigslist as one of their main sources of traffic generation. My question to you all is this. What method are people using on craigslist to drive traffic to these CPA offers?