How to get new clients on Craigslist?

Second that, look in the Computer section under Gigs.

Make sure you also look under the Jobs section. I have found clients in the following categories: art/media/design, business/mgmt, internet engineers, marketing/PR/Ad, & web/info design.

In the past, when I started my offline business I had a really good thing going giving away free websites. I would actually post in the Free section offering free Wordpress) websites. The caveat was that they had to buy hosting through my affiliate link. At the time I was signed up with Commission Junction and I got $100 per Hostgator signup.

Kool idea. Apart from that great advertisment content can attract visitors.

You might want to avoid Craiglist emails altogether. As a former real estate investor, I hated it when I got the spam messages on Craigslist. Real estate agents do not look at the messages if they use the word spam or have no relationship with their ad.

Your best shot is to be honest with them and say you have an idea that might help them. Preferrably call them if possible, but be prepared for a lot of hangups. Another option is to go to open houses on the weekend. Open houses are hours of boredom with a few moments of hope that someone will show.

From my experience, Craigslist is a TOTAL WASTE OF TIME, unless of course, you're selling a couch or an iPhone.

I've experienced it from both sides of the coin. I've posted ads offering services and I've answered ads from the 'gigs' section of the site.

I have done everything in my power to post ads that did not violate their listing policies and personalized some ads to ensure that they don't look like SPAM, all to have Craigslist 'GHOST' my ads. (GHOSTING is when they tell you that your ad is listed, but they think for some remote reason it's SPAM and they don't show it in the listings.)

I've relentlessly responded to gig ads where people are looking for a service provider. I even had an RSS feed coming in and telling me when a new ad was posted that showed keywords that would be related to the services I offered.

Over the course of a year, maybe a year and a half, I've gotten ZERO business from Craigslist. If I had gotten paid for the time I spent trying to get new clients from Craigslist, I'd be wealthy from that alone.

My advice to you is to find a different method to getting clients. Craigslist is a TOTAL JOKE when it comes down to it.

Sure. Go read the latest WSO that tells you that there's a goldmine on Craigslist. Get a little excited about it, which is a natural reaction to hype and great copywriting. And then go work your tail off following the eBook method for getting clients from Craigslist. If you get a new client, you might make enough to break even from your eBook purchase.

If you'll take the time to thoroughly read some of the 'gig' ads, you'll find the vast majority of posters are already telling you what they're willing to pay for a project. You'll find a trend that most are only willing to shell out $100 or less to have their $10,000 website built.

Here's a general rule of thumb for your business and you can quote me on it: "If you take your services to a yard sale, you'll only get a yard sale price and you'll only encounter yard sale prospects."

Surely, you're worth more than a yard sale price. Ok, I won't call you Shirley anymore, but you get my point.

What you offer is SO much more valuable to clients that really want what you have to offer. They're NOT on Craigslist or any other classifieds site for that matter, looking for the BEST SEO guy or web guy in their area. BUT, the people looking for a SLAVE willing to work for almost nothing ARE on Craigslist.

Sorry to be such a downer about Craigslist. My backside is rather burnt from wasting so much of my time trying to do the same thing that you have good intentions for, as I once did.

I take that back. I'm not sorry. Here's why: I only wish I had someone a little more experienced than myself tell me this when I had the 'brilliant' idea of trying to prospect through Craigslist. It would have saved me a ton of time and money. AND, I wouldn't have had to suffer the frustration of misaligning my valuable services with the WRONG group of prospects.

I couldn't say it any louder. Stay away from the dark side. Run Forest, Run. Don't run into the light. Don't spit into the wind. And last but not least, DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME.

Hands down, read this guys post:

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...st-3years.html

It is by far, the BEST advice I have read on here so far for getting new clients. In response to this post, I just finished this site: Denton, Texas Business Review | Denton County Business Profiles

I took it one step further than he did and it is truly a 'door opener'.

Read his post, then visit the website I just finished last week. By then, you head will be swimming with ideas to do this yourself and in a few months, you'll kick yourself for ever thinking about using Craigslist.

I'm using this strategy to get the door, win their trust in one call, build a relationship, and shoot for a 33% closing ratio.

Do you want offline clients that do not have a website, or offline clients that have a website and need SEO services?

Actually you do have the tools to rank a site. Use your head you are smart enough to be on this forum. There is plenty of advice about ranking sites & you can even out-source some of it. Dont limit your opportunity good luck

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Rich

I landed a $36,000 SEO Client on Craigslist. Yes there are a lot of tire kickers on Craigslist, but you just have to weed through the losers to get to the winners.

Very good point. I'll admit that I'm guilty of this.

Exactly, Mac

If a salesperson in the B2B arena, which this is, will determine to set 10 appointments per week he should be on his way to a 6-figure income.

Of those 10 appointments, I have found they generally break down like this:
1 or 2 of those prospects can be sold by the first person that walks in with a decent offer. They are LOOKING for what you have and want it NOW.

Prospects 3-5 can be sold by a pro saleserson.

Prospects 6 - 7 can be sold by a top-notch supersalesman.

Prospects 8-10 won't be sold by anybody.

Of course, the numbers get skewed by various factors, a major one being that the better a salesman gets the harder he qualifies his prospects prior to the appointment which naturally improves his closing ratios.

If you only set 2 or 3 appointments in a week you have set the odds against you. You rely on being lucky enough to run into a prospect that is ready to purchase. But, what if all three of those appointments are the ones that fit in the 8-10 category?

The point of this rambling is that if you set 10 appointments with businesses per week, you should be able to close enough to make a good living.

If you closed 2 deals per week and each purchased a $300 per month maintenance package from you, how long would it take to be earning a nice 6-figure income?

Good luck,
DTaylor