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My craigslist ads need improvement

by zer0Edge
8 replies
I have been using Craigslist for about a month or so to advertise my web development services and generate leads. In the first week I received about 6 replies from just posting a total of 5 ads everyday morning and afternoon. While I know that is not great; it surprised me considering it was my first time even visiting the site. Since then my response rate has dwindled. I only received one response last week.
I have studied my competition, other ads in different cities, changing titles and body content; but I seem to have hit a wall. The leads I have gotten and have successfully made clients out of have been great. I don't think Craigslist is dead or a cesspool of low-ballers and tire kickers. I would like to eventually make it my main source of leads other than by word-of-mouth. Any advice would be great. Thanks!
#ads #craigslist #development #improvement #leads #web
  • Profile picture of the author jamesfreddyc
    Well, since this is the offline section --- have you considered picking up the phone and calling into your niche and setting up some appointments to meet with prospective customers?

    Have you even identified who your prospective customer is?
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  • Profile picture of the author CraigsPosterCenter
    Originally Posted by zer0Edge View Post

    I have been using Craigslist for about a month or so to advertise my web development services and generate leads. In the first week I received about 6 replies from just posting a total of 5 ads everyday morning and afternoon. While I know that is not great; it surprised me considering it was my first time even visiting the site. Since then my response rate has dwindled. I only received one response last week.
    I have studied my competition, other ads in different cities, changing titles and body content; but I seem to have hit a wall. The leads I have gotten and have successfully made clients out of have been great. I don't think Craigslist is dead or a cesspool of low-ballers and tire kickers. I would like to eventually make it my main source of leads other than by word-of-mouth. Any advice would be great. Thanks!
    Are you sure you are posting unique content?
    Its very important to get leads on craigslist and attract customers. You should work on making each of your add unique and better than the previous. See what your competitors are posting. And work better than them.

    Contact me for any further help:
    Skype: craigslistposting.center
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    • Profile picture of the author craigsposterpro
      Many of our posting clients are web design companies. They provide us with spun ad content and multiple phone numbers which empowers us to post a wide variety of ad content to minimize flagging. We also encourage them to submit an accompanying image in their ad which showcases some of their work.

      I also agree with James that you should go "old school" and consider personal contact with local businesses in the form of Chamber of Commerce meetings, dropping flyers around, setting up strategic partnerships with other local complementary businesses, local Meetup groups, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author zer0Edge
      Originally Posted by CraigsPosterCenter View Post

      Are you sure you are posting unique content?
      Its very important to get leads on craigslist and attract customers. You should work on making each of your add unique and better than the previous. See what your competitors are posting. And work better than them.
      All of my titles are original. I try to stand out by offering things that my competition does not and put it in the title, like a free consultation, audit, etc. I think the bulk of my problem is that I am only posting in one section in one city. However, I believe that I should receive at least a few calls a week.
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  • Profile picture of the author internetmarketer1
    I agree. Look at what other companies are doing right now, and then look at what they are doing. Try to see if what they are doing is possible for you to do, but try to do it even better.
    Signature
    Tired of Google?! Exhausted from all the rehashed trash?!
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  • Profile picture of the author daneelpeter
    Banned
    Use HTML tags and code them in a professional way for posting your ads that i can help
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  • Profile picture of the author RedShifted
    1) Your headlines need to be extremely compelling. And it's also wise to incorporate a "pattern interrupt" into the headline itself. A pattern interrupt would be like having 9 regular finger nails, then 1 that's painted black. That black nail is going to get peoples attention. So when I write my headlines I always structure them in a way that 99% of my competition isn't. Like if noone is indenting their headlines, I'll indent mine so they stick out.

    2) You need to write up an offer that people can't refuse. There's a simple formula over in the copywriting section to do this. I basically tell a story that relates to my target market, I indirectly build fear, then I provide a free solution.

    3) I use mostly basic text. The only images I use are pictures of all our 5 star reviews online. And I pick out the reviews that really sell the hell out of our service.

    4) Keyword stuffing on the bottom of my ads. I always try to stuff about 20-30 potential phrases that people might type into the search bar. This is for when my ads fall off the first page. And its also for people who don't browse craigslist but go straight to the search bar.

    That's basically it. I also spin my ads but I take my time and do a good job. I will usually waste about 3-4 hours to rewrite sentences, words and phrases so that the ads are still very compelling, but so I can quickly generate dozens of different versions.

    Then I post all these ads on a bunch of different accounts. I have 3 computers, a vps and a server with 3 virtual machines. Each with its own local proxy. And on each machine / pc I have 3 CL accounts which is 21 total X 3 = 63 ads every 48 hours or 31.5 ads / day.

    -RS
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  • Profile picture of the author celebcaleb
    Would it be wise to target bloggers as the audience I want to sell to? I am sure bloggers need web design and web development services too. not all of them are tech savvy. Plus there is no phone banter
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