Craigslist still freakin' works. How 'bout that.

by cd8ed
62 replies
I just had better results with one Craigslist ad than I have had with anything else. I have done facebook posts, viral email sites, cashblurbs, and a few other things I am sure. This one Craigslist ad beat them all up. I just wish I could post it more than once every 3 days.
#bout #craigslist #freakin #works
  • Profile picture of the author Hurricane Dan
    yeah craigslist can definitely be effective but its a bitch to get around ghosting and flagging
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  • Profile picture of the author cd8ed
    I didn't think there were ways around them, are there?
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  • Profile picture of the author michaelplies
    there are ways to get around ghosting.
    ever considered outsourcing it to a cl posting professional ?
    but in most cases that would be considered as spam.
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    • Profile picture of the author cd8ed
      Actually, that could be a good idea. Fiverr perhaps. Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author TopHats
    Well how much is outsourcing gonna cost? makes them less appealing and cost effective.
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  • Profile picture of the author GBM
    Craigslist is great...
    I don't understand people who say it doesn't work.
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  • Profile picture of the author bertosio
    Maybe i should look into craigslist a bit more. TBH i thought because of everything getting flagged all the time it was pretty much dead for marketers but saying that not even looked on there for years
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  • Profile picture of the author tsuccess
    I know, Craigslist is sweet but the flagging and ghosting is annoying.
    I'll be glad when I master it.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrafficBot
    Yes, I also just started getting back to craigslist after about a 2 year hiatus. The traffic that CL brings is undeniable and I have begun to see some good results with it. The key is to have multiple accounts and to market in your local area and you should do fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author Delsworld
    My first success with Craigslist was and still is selling Amazon products through custom made links.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    Craigslist is bank.

    The real problem, is getting ads through.

    There's no question as to the quality of traffic there. (Nor the quantity of it).
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  • Profile picture of the author Nicholas H
    CL Is certainly not dead! I myself make about 20 posts per day. Also have been using It long enough to learn a few tricks on the way. Could make more than 20 posts, but my posts are all unique and relevant so I don't want to start spamming. A very effective tool for anyone's arsenal who Is experienced.
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  • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
    You can post more than once every three days lol. first use a pic for your ad and there is software that will change that pic up for you.

    Didn't say it was white hat, just said you can.
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    • Profile picture of the author Deb S
      Glad to see that so many are having success with CL. I listened to a webinar on CL recently and plan to use this as a source.

      Dave, that's an interesting signature line...nice service.
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  • Profile picture of the author stevenschofield
    I haven't tried Craigslist for marketing because everyone said the ads were to hard to get in there and say there maybe I will look at Craigslist in a different light this and check it out
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  • Profile picture of the author DWK
    I've never checked out Craigslist except to locate a yard maintenance crew. I didn't realize so many Internet marketers were making use of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author idoitbigtime
    craig list could be great but it's not simple at all
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  • Profile picture of the author JeremiahSay
    I have little to no result with craiglist. Is it because of my country?

    I reckon CL is more popular in countries such as UK, US, Australia, Canada.. correct me if I'm wrong.

    And if I'm in SG, can I post an ad on Craiglist.ca?
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  • Profile picture of the author telxutixu
    Banned
    [DELETED]
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    • Profile picture of the author hustlinsmoke
      Yeah I see all these little munchkins in my head just sitting at home hitting the flag button for meaness. I mean I get flagged when there legit lol.
      Originally Posted by telxutixu View Post

      I know, Craigslist is sweet but the flagging and ghosting is annoying.
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  • Profile picture of the author Super Warrior
    Craigslist is great! The only thing you should learn is
    posting a good ad which is not considered as ghost or spam.

    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author fin
      I usually make one sale per ad, which is about $24 so not the worst thing in the world.
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      • Profile picture of the author DaZapper12
        Originally Posted by fin View Post

        I usually make one sale per ad, which is about $24 so not the worst thing in the world.
        Damn every once in a while (like few weeks) I go back to craigslist just to try, that is it nothing more, I make sure i post at least 3 ads, and offer a free how to make money ebook, write a small copy like a few sentences, and then if they go through they are added to my list... I have only gotten a couple leads from CL i believe, so I have not made a single sale from there. I just don't get enough traffic or clicks whenever i post an ad there. And I always post in the free small biz ads section... any tips???
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    One of my clients does very well with craigslist along with youtube.

    The ghosting can be annoying, but there are tons of ways to get around that. Craigslist posting is somewhat of an art. There are lots of measures people don't take to get around ghosting.

    Like posting behavoir. Most people think its enough to just clear cookies/ip but there are other things you need to do. Like the frequency of posting, how to code ads so you can easily variate them by typing in a bunch of random characters. So many things you can do to get around ghosting. You can ALSO get around posting limits too. I'm not going into depth about this however. No you can't post infinite ads, but you can *renew a lot more than most people think. You do this by setting up your "renew" ads a very specific way.

    Flagging on the other hand is another problem. But for some reason I never had an issue with it. Probably because I'm targeting unsaturated niches.
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  • Profile picture of the author shipwrecked
    You bought a Craigslist ad for a website, local service?
    How much did the investment cost you and how much did it bring?

    If I am not too intrusive on this...

    I am also considering using Craigslist, perhaps you can advice on how to...
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    • Profile picture of the author greatscott
      Originally Posted by shipwrecked View Post

      You bought a Craigslist ad for a website, local service?
      How much did the investment cost you and how much did it bring?

      If I am not too intrusive on this...

      I am also considering using Craigslist, perhaps you can advice on how to...
      I'd like to know this as well
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    • Profile picture of the author fin
      Originally Posted by shipwrecked View Post

      You bought a Craigslist ad for a website, local service?
      How much did the investment cost you and how much did it bring?

      If I am not too intrusive on this...

      I am also considering using Craigslist, perhaps you can advice on how to...
      You just have to be creative.

      Think of a Craiglist ad like a sales page, but obviously it can't look like an actual sales page.

      Just test your copy with different ads and find one that's profitable.

      I think you'll need to do it on your own, because nobody is going to tell you where or how they do it.
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  • Profile picture of the author GetMoreCustomers
    I haven't promoted via Craigslist for online products before. I may try and get into it based on the responses, though.
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  • Profile picture of the author tjaysen70
    Oh yeah, what type of ad? I'm curious to know. Cuz cl does get a ton of traffic that's for sure.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jordan Kovats
    you can 'spin' your ad too. I had 3 variations of three different ads, (9) total, which allowed me to post to different locations daily, and then I would start again on day 4. Simple Notepad file worked. I did that a couple years ago, unless things changed...should still work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Griffin Smith
    I'm paying a $1 an ad (clickable image ad) providing a service people can benefit from and it's my #1 source of traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    craigslist is good.

    a few things, you must remember though.

    1) lots of ads there, and yours could get lost, so you have to posts consistently to get more eyes and curiosity and clicks to your sites.

    2) They are clamping down on the hard core marketers in there, so try to soft sell where you can.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wasister
    What exactly are you doing with craigslist?

    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author wealth1
      The thing I find that has caused the biggest problems on Craigslist is the flagging.
      Mainly coming from other competitors. They know flagging weakens your account
      so it causes you over time so start getting ghosted.
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      • Profile picture of the author Freedom Media
        I love Craigslist! If you can get out of the spam with a 100 ads mindset, Craigslist is an entrepreneurial heaven.
        It's an awesome place for both finding deals and creating deals.
        Not too mention, test out product or service ideas to a huge market for
        free.
        As well as a great place to sell things.
        I've also met a lot of cool people from all walks of life. So give it thumbs up for networking too.
        I've had great luck with Kijiji (Ebay Classifieds) also, selling my German Rottweiler pups.

        Natalie
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  • Profile picture of the author dylan4f
    can effective CL posting be outsourced?

    anybody outsourcing it and having success the same time?

    I never used it as a traffic source and I'd like to explore it a bit, but obviously I don't have time to deal with it..

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Sarevok
    Craigslist gets massive quantities of traffic, of course it works.



    I would suggest playing by the rules though.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brains Gone Wild
    I'm glad to see so many Warriors having great success with CL, as well. I've been making decent (and surprisingly steady) income on CL for awhile. Thankfully, now it's on auto-pilot so I can pursue other things. The trick (one of many tricks) is outsourcing good posters. I always tested ads with my own CL account, locally, to see how it does first. Anyone looking to try some easy, free CL marketing..... try these 3 first:
    -Join iPhone/Android jailbreaking affiliate programs and place ads (great conversion)
    -Join tickets affiliate programs and place ads (lower conversion but high commissions)
    -Join pay-per-call affiliate offers and get creative! Pay-per-call makes me a small fortune each month on CL but be careful b/c the networks will slap you around - they hate CL.
    make sure you're playing by the rules or you'll lose your aff network accounts!

    Just a few ideas for anyone on the fence about trying CL. As mentioned on here before, don't get spammy - get creative with your ads/copy and try to be genuine in what you're offering. test, re-test and test again. You'll find something that works and when you do, put it on 'auto'. Heck, I even listed an ad once promoting a WSO (as an affiliate) and got a couple sales out of it. You can sell anything on Craigslist!

    Hope this helps - Good luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author dylan4f
      Originally Posted by Brains Gone Wild View Post

      Thankfully, now it's on auto-pilot so I can pursue other things. The trick (one of many tricks) is outsourcing good posters.
      Hi Brains,

      can you recommend some good posters?

      Thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author jordanwarrior
        Originally Posted by dylan4f View Post

        Hi Brains,

        can you recommend some good posters?

        Thanks
        Same here. I've been looking around for decent posters. I need to place ads in 89 smaller localities. They don't all need go live on the same day and could probably be rotated so it comes out to 20-30 per day.
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        • Profile picture of the author greenowl123
          Originally Posted by jordanwarrior View Post

          Same here. I've been looking around for decent posters. I need to place ads in 89 smaller localities. They don't all need go live on the same day and could probably be rotated so it comes out to 20-30 per day.
          Go to Fiverr and use the search function there. There are about 4 or 5 good CL posters there. There is also a very good Backpage poster there who will post 75 Backpage ads for 5 bucks.
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  • Profile picture of the author RachelLily
    Craigslist still works. You just have to be patient and creative when you create your article about whatever it is that you are promoting. Also, you must target the right crowd of people that you are advertising to.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Dalenberg
      Originally Posted by RachelLily View Post

      Craigslist still works. You just have to be patient and creative when you create your article about whatever it is that you are promoting. Also, you must target the right crowd of people that you are advertising to.
      My biggest mistake was giving up on it for a while after they started to buckle down on their TOS. But just like those who stuck with Adwords despite changes, I came back to CL after finding that patience.

      ONE TIP: Image ads - you can't beat them.
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  • Profile picture of the author time4vps
    Craigslist is internet dustbin. It's like Herbert from Family Guy...
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    • Profile picture of the author anwar001
      Can Craiglist be good for someone selling SEO, content writing or web design or software development services?

      I would also like to know what do you mean by ghosting?
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    • Profile picture of the author donhx
      Originally Posted by time4vps View Post

      Craigslist is internet dustbin. It's like Herbert from Family Guy...
      Ha! I go to CL at times... when I do, I think of it as online "dumpster diving." I am interested in this thread, and hearing people are making money there. It seems to me to be a wasteland of uncategorized spam.

      But I will take the word of those who have commented and see if I can do something with it. There is no question it is a traffic magnet and it is good to hear some are harnessing it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dresden14
    Im in the finance niche, found it far to hard and my conversion rate was 3 percent. I was doing 400 plus ads a day
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  • Profile picture of the author chocolatedog
    Could some one explain ghosting? My responses from Craigslist have sucked. From hearing other people's responses hear I starting to thing its me who sucks.
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    • Profile picture of the author donhx
      Originally Posted by chocolatedog View Post

      Could some one explain ghosting? My responses from Craigslist have sucked. From hearing other people's responses hear I starting to thing its me who sucks.
      Ghosting is the process whereby CL accepts your ad, and you can view it, but no one else can see it.

      Many people would consider this an act of fraud, or at least deceit, but CL considers it a good way to placate people who place ads they don't want to show.

      Another part of the ghost ad problem is that no one is sure of the criteria CL uses to ghost ads. Spam appears regularly, but many normal ads don't.
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      • Profile picture of the author chocolatedog
        Thank Donhx that explains a lot. I have posted ads before and have not been able to see them.

        Thats pretty lame of Craigslist. to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author strongvpn
    I like Craigslist and learning how to use it
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