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Potential CraigsList Goldmine

by Scot Standke
34 replies
Hey Warriors,

Here's a little something that looks like it has some great promise.

I placed an ad on my local CraigsList last night offering my local search positioning and/or basic website building in exchange for local services.

I posted the ad late last night and have already gotten some interest.

One gentleman may be pouring my a new slab in my driveway and the other may be providing my landscaping and lawn care service.

These are things that you would normally have to pay out of pocket, why not barter and get them for a few hours of your time?

If the driveway deal goes through, I'll be saving around $4,000 and the website he wants built will take me very little time to build and get ranked for him in my local market.

Give it a try, you never know what you'll find out there. A lot of folks would love your services in exchange for what they do and these would be folks that would probably never seek this type of service from you in the first place.

It really makes no difference to me whether I make $4,000 on a job or am able to save $4,000 on something I need done anyhow.

Let me know if you try this and get any results.

Scot
#craigslist #goldmine #potential
  • Profile picture of the author Tony Hetherington
    Ye olde days of bartering return - I love it. What am I offered for 3 goats?
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    • Profile picture of the author Scot Standke
      Originally Posted by LaunchWorkshop View Post

      Ye olde days of bartering return - I love it. What am I offered for 3 goats?
      Well, you could package the three goats into a lawn care package, people hate to mow their own grass

      Scot
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    What a terrific idea. I thought it was going to be some more CPA garbage ... how refreshing.
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  • Profile picture of the author raskal
    Even better, I find that people who want to barter USUALLY get crap in return. Honestly who wants to trade a $1000+ website for $150 worth of karate lessons? So I try to contact those people, say "Take a look at the people offering the services, and when you see their quality...give me a call" More often then not I can turn that barter customer into a paying one.

    I do agree with you though, if you can get a $4000 VALUE for something you you would charge $2500 for, then yes this is a great strategy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Heidi White
    I need a gardener real bad... and a roofer.... and a personal stylist

    - hmmm -

    barter, what a great idea!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jagged
    Hey Scott,

    I've been bartering services on Craigslist for a while now with much success. I actually started a thread a while back on it....in it I detail my experiences, which are simular to yours....some good info in that thread:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...e-success.html

    Now...I not only use the barter to trade services with others...I use it to locate smaller start-up businesses that do not have a website yet or maybe they have a crappy website that needs repair, or maybe they need to get into google local...either offer a barter or straight-up cash deal....most start-ups are eager to jump at a website or a way to get in front of more customers....they know the value but most have no money in the budget for that....

    Good luck in your bartering....
    ~ken
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
    I LOVE bartering! Makes you feel like you got a total bargain, doesn't it?
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    I've bartered face to face and had good success, haven't tried it via ads though. Will do.
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  • Profile picture of the author InternetMarketingIQ
    How is this a Goldmine? You are exchanging your labor for their labor.
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    • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
      Usually it goes the other way: the guy offering the tangible
      (ie. physical materials and hired labor) product wants no
      offers from guys wanting to trade a website for a service
      that costs the contractor real dollars to perform.

      Often barter ads for building services specify "no vacation
      time or web design".

      ###

      3-way bartering/brokering as taught in Jay Abraham's
      books is worth looking at when the guy who has what
      you want (say, $6000 worth of tree trimming) has no
      interest in your service. Find a way to barter your service
      with another party for something the tree-trimmer wants
      (typically boats, motorcycles, cars, guitars and other
      things that retain value or can be fixed-up and resold)
      then you may be onto something.
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    • Profile picture of the author NikkiG
      Originally Posted by InternetMarketingIQ View Post

      How is this a Goldmine? You are exchanging your labor for their labor.
      Sure but in many cases your labor is FREE to you and you may trade that two hours work for $2,500 worth of product or service.

      The other flip side is that you can trade products or even services that you outsource for other stuff.

      So I get some warrior here to create a website for not a lot of money, then I trade that with the local carpet store for a couple of grands worth of stock for my beach house. (Lots of web places charge huge money for offline web clients)

      So the carpet guys give me thousands of dollars worth of product (which cost them maybe hundreds at wholesale), they get a website valued at a few grand (which cost me a couple of hundred) and the web designer gets another job done and paid.

      Win win win and it took me maybe an hour or two to jack it all up.

      Now that is over simplifying this whole deal but with a little thinking this is a goldmine.

      I am loving barter and I think Scot may like it for exactly the same reason I do...
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      • Profile picture of the author Scot Standke
        Here is the third reply I got in less than 24 hours to my ad:

        " i would be interested in talking with u about the work u need done . please e-mail me back . i currently don't have a web site , but might be interested in getting one soon . i am a carpenter and i do concrete as well . thanks!"

        Call it what you will, but I know I'll be getting my driveway repaired in the near future and the original $3,000 - $4,000 cost I was staring at will probably end up costing me a few hours of my time or a few hundred dollars if I outsource the whole deal.

        Don't know how you can beat that.

        I'm sure the major companies in certain industries may not want a website built, but the upstarts apparently will jump at this opportunity and as long as they are insured and can provide some examples of their work, I'm down for it.

        Scot
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  • Profile picture of the author clositherapi
    I posted a few things on craigslist... however, i never really had much interest it seemed? guess i will try again, since reading this post was so beneficial...kathleen
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    • Profile picture of the author Scot Standke
      Originally Posted by clositherapi View Post

      I posted a few things on craigslist... however, i never really had much interest it seemed? guess i will try again, since reading this post was so beneficial...kathleen
      Maybe I just got lucky, but my ad was pretty casual, in fact here it is:

      <=Begin Ad=>

      Title: Trade Your Services For...

      Would you like to trade your service for mine?

      Do you do concrete repair, home remodeling, lawn care, car repair, carpet cleaning, etc?

      If so, I'd like to trade you the following...

      When you type your search terms into google for Oshkosh, does your website show up on the first page of Google results?

      If not, you are leaving a ton of money on the table for your competitors to get at.

      I can get you to the top of the results in your local area and I have proof.

      Don't worry, this is not one of those scammy deals that's infiltrating CraigsList, I live here and have proof of concept.

      I can even build you a website if you don't already have one.

      Send me an email if you are interested, you never know if what you offer may appeal to me.

      No obligations either way.

      Scot

      <=End Ad=>

      I hope that helps you out.

      Scot
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Huynh
    Great idea Scot. I've had some success with barter before. You an barter for products in addition to services. People and businesses have stuff laying around that they never use. By bartering with them, you are helping them get rid of things that they're too busy or lazy to put up for sale.

    It's a good idea to barter with other internet marketers too. Not all transactions have to be with cash. You're ultimately trading value for value.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bruce NewMedia
    I've done just as Scott's suggesting many times....

    It is easier to trade services for services tho, as Loren points out, but its still pretty doable. Examples: I've had remodeling done, car repairs (tho I've supplied parts), alterations on wardrobe, painting, accounting work and on and on.

    ...and the quality of services provided has been fine.
    _____
    Bruce
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Ramsey
    Originally Posted by Scot Standke View Post

    Hey Warriors,

    Here's a little something that looks like it has some great promise.

    I placed an ad on my local CraigsList last night offering my local search positioning and/or basic website building in exchange for local services.

    I posted the ad late last night and have already gotten some interest.

    One gentleman may be pouring my a new slab in my driveway and the other may be providing my landscaping and lawn care service.

    These are things that you would normally have to pay out of pocket, why not barter and get them for a few hours of your time?

    If the driveway deal goes through, I'll be saving around $4,000 and the website he wants built will take me very little time to build and get ranked for him in my local market.

    Give it a try, you never know what you'll find out there. A lot of folks would love your services in exchange for what they do and these would be folks that would probably never seek this type of service from you in the first place.

    It really makes no difference to me whether I make $4,000 on a job or am able to save $4,000 on something I need done anyhow.

    Let me know if you try this and get any results.

    Scot
    I actually got a car this way once Still driving it too.
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    • Profile picture of the author mubeachbum
      bartering is awesome, I've used it for dental care, auto care, and fitness membership for simple seo services.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChristineP
    Did you know in Canada - that bartered services can actually result in taxable income and gst/hst?



    TaxTips.ca - Barter transactions can result in taxable income, deductible expenses, and GST payable.

    Christine
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    Needs Updating...

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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisChoiSEO
    Wow didn't know people were the eager to make such barter deals. Great idea. Thanks Scott.
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    I work for food.

    LOL. I'm a popular guy at pot luck dinners. No chips and sodas from me. I bring MEAT. courtesy of the restaurants I build sites for. I'm working on a deal now, if it goes through my wife will never have to cook again.
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  • Profile picture of the author LandoFormosa
    Looks like a good idea - will try it...
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  • Profile picture of the author AbizerNalwalaUK
    Hey folks,

    I am new to this forum and learnt a lot from this thread of discussion. Before reading this thread, I had no idea what a barter meant, but now I exactly understand the concept - thanks to Scot, Nikki, Ken, et al.

    Will come back to you folks soon with a few qestions as I am about to start developing my website :-)

    Cheers!
    Abizer
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  • Profile picture of the author Scot Standke
    OK, here's a quick update.

    So far I got 5 responses to my ad.

    Playing phone tag with two of them.

    Concrete guy coming over tomorrow to look at my job and see if we can't iron out a deal.

    Carpenter coming over sometime this week to look at my deck job in exchange for some SEO work.

    And a plumber that may be interested in a website in exchange for a few small plumbing upgrades here.

    Gotta love it.

    I'll let you know if I finalize any of these deals, but judging by the response of this ad, it's certainly something I'll be doing again and again.

    Scot
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnB23
      Even better in this economy. Carpenters, plumbers etc probably aren't getting all the business they can handle. So what does it cost them? Its business they wouldnt have had otherwise.

      Basically, they put their skills to work, you put your skills to work, you both walk away with something.
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  • Profile picture of the author asharam
    hmmm you just gave me an idea on how I can get a drumset again, thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author rlharding
    I am doing it on a smaller scale on one of my blogs. There are so many of us newbies who can't do things that I set up a barter section. Sort of a blatant plug but also to say there are even smaller ways to barter that work.
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  • Profile picture of the author badboy_Nick
    Hey I like this idea. Kinda like "freecycle" where you give stuff away for free into the community. I like this idea of service-swapping ... especially in todays economy I can see it as a real money saver for a lot of people. I'd use Gumtree for myself tho (UK).
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  • Profile picture of the author Nic Lynn
    My teeth are much whiter thanks to bartering!

    You don't need to just place ads... you can just talk to the people you do business with everyday like your favorite restaurant or bar, your dentist, your gym or personal trainer, etc, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author anthonyk
      Oh yea, I love it!

      Pretty cool idea, and it obviously pays off, and is a win/win
      situation.
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