Archive for August, 2009

Make Money With Craigslist - Fast & Easy Ways to Start Making Money on Craigslist Today

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Make Money With Craigslist - Fast & Easy Ways to Start Making Money on Craigslist Today
By Lucas Adamski

Craigslist is the leading classified ad site where you can sell, buy and trade in your local community. The advertisements range from jobs, internships, books, old furniture, housing, pets and various other services. You will find thousands of sites giving you advices on 'how to become rich using Craigslist'; but the bottom line is anyone can make money with Craigslist with some patience, integrity and little entrepreneurial streak in them.

It is a great platform for people who are starting out or are freelancers. Try and focus on the specific skill sets that you have and you can make use of them through Craigslist. You can offer your freelance services in fields such as blogging, creative writing, data entry, designing, writing, translations and many more, the list is endless for you to make money with Craigslist.

People running small businesses can aim to grow using this channel. As you would be aware that the reach of Craigslist is far and wide, you can promote your online marketing business through it and thus you can make money with Craigslist easily. You can use Craigslist to acquire leads for your business. Later make a genuine effort and build on these contacts. After one posting and a deal with any buyer through Craigslist, you can direct them to your eBay link or any online store.

People who act as affiliates to businesses can also benefit from this site. Affiliate marketers can get leads by posting ads in the services category or the resume section of Craigslist. Discussion forums of Criagslist are also a great platform where you can meet prospective leads.

Similarly business owners looking for potential affiliates can visit these forums and network with people there. Do remember that one cannot post a requirement for affiliates post as this is against the Craigslist policies.

Using little creativity and imagination, you can indeed make money with Criagslist, as it is the best advertising tool available.

Lucas Adamski is 20 years old successful internet marketer who teaches people how to make tons of money on Craigslist. Get free secret report that will show you the most shocking and lucrative ways of making money on Craigslist! Get it here: Make Money With Craigslist.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lucas_Adamski

Craigslist - Buy, Sell, Network, and Make New Friends

Monday, August 17th, 2009

Craigslist - Buy, Sell, Network, and Make New Friends
By Jim DeSantis Platinum Quality Author

One of the most popular uses of Craigslist is for free or very cheap business marketing but there is also an opportunity to make new friends. This article will focus on just a few aspects of the Craigslist community including finding jobs, meeting friends, buying or selling items and discussing important issues.

Each month, Craigslist receives over four billion page views making it abundantly clear that the Craigslist community is an extensive one with many members around the world.

Both small businesses and large corporations can take advantage of the free advertising offered on Craigslist to promote their business and attract new customers. Business owners are free to place advertisements on Craigslist in the section for services offered.

This section is broken down into a number of categories to allow business owners to place their advertisement in the most appropriate location where it is likely to reach the target audience. There is also a section for small business advertisements but it might be more worthwhile to place advertisements in one of the appropriate categories because it is more likely to be found by interested individuals.

In the services section, for example, service providers may place advertisements for the types of services they offer. Advertisements should be placed in appropriate categories but if there is no appropriate category the advertisement may be placed in the generic small business section.

To say advertising products or services on Craigslist is affordable is certainly an understatement. Craigslist only charges a posting fee for help wanted advertisements in three specific markets and specific housing advertisements in one city. Therefore all advertising of products and services is free.

.... Making New Friends on Craigslist

If you are not part of the Craigslist community, you may be missing out on a wealth of financial opportunities as well as the opportunity to learn more about the happenings in your local geographic community, the chance to debate important issues, the opportunity to meet potential friends or romantic partners and the ability to buy or sell items.

Those who are interested in organizing online networking opportunities for likeminded individuals to share ideas can also use Craigslist to accomplish their goal. Placing an advertisement on Craigslist which directs traffic to a message board can help to create a thriving community. Again it is important to place this advertisement in a location where the target audience will be reached.

The discussion forums provide a location for individuals to voice their opinions, answer questions or otherwise exchange information. This section is divided into a number of different categories to make it easier for users to find others who share their interests. Certain categories allow users to post without logging in while other sections require users to log in before posting.

The discussion forums on Craigslist also provide an opportunity to meet others. These discussion forums are divided into a number of different categories so individuals can focus on a topic which interests them and are likely to meet others who share this interest. However, it should be noted that on any discussion there is the very real possibility of heated debates.

Those who visit discussion forums are likely to meet others who share their opinions on relevant issues but there are two sides to every issue so they are also likely to encounter those who oppose their viewpoints. Debate on important issues may remain civilized by there are often situations in which this debate degrades to an uncivil manner.

Additionally, there is a category in the personals sections called rants and raves for community members to sound off about issues which they feel are wrong. This section is restricted to community members over the age of 18 and all other visitors are cautioned that this section may contain offensive or otherwise objectionable material and should not be visited by those who are easily offended.

Craigslist is not just useful in situations where individuals are seeking to organize networking opportunities, it can also be helpful for individuals who are looking to join pre-existing networking opportunities. These individuals would benefit from following links pointing to websites or message boards placed in advertisements throughout the community.

.... Safety Considerations When Networking Offline

The one major caveat to using Craigslist to organize offline networking opportunities is care should be taken to ensure the safety of all of those involved. When setting up offline meetings, sales parties, or other networking opportunities, it is wise to arrange for these meetings to take place in a busy public place. This will help to deter the possibility of a potentially dangerous situation. It will also help to put potential clients more at ease and make them more likely to participate in your networking opportunity.

These are some of the most popular options for using Craigslist; however, these options do not cover the vastness of Craigslist. Take some time to investigate Craigslist on your own to learn more about what this online community has to offer.

Jim DeSantis is an Internet Publisher and former TV News Editor. If you sell a product or service, be a smarter Craigslist marketer. Go to Jim's blog and grab "Craigslist Tutorial". It's a complete guide, with screenshots for newbies and tips for more experienced marketers.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_DeSantis

Craigslist Advertising - The Biggest Bargain in the World

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

Craigslist Advertising - The Biggest Bargain in the World
By Don A Levy

Any business who wants to sell more of their products or services should look into Craigslist advertising.. No matter if the products are being sold through websites or brick and mortar stores, Craigslist can still be very profitable. Except for job posting and housing posting in some markets, advertising on Craigslist is free. Because of this there is little monetary risk in placing your advertisements and you can experiment without worrying about the cost. The only thing you'll have to worry about is agreeing to the Craigslist terms of service and following the specific guidelines when posting.

A major reason for advertising with Craigslist along with the free ads is the huge number of potential customers you'll be able to reach. According to the Craigslist fact sheet they get more than 9 billion page views per month and have ten million new images each month. More than 30 million people including more than 25 million in the US alone use Craigslist each month. At present there are 450 Craigslist sites in all 50 US states, and in over 50 countries. I have to say these kind of figures really support the claim that Craigslist advertising is the biggest bargain in the world.

With mind boggling figures like Craigslist has, you would think any kind of ad you post would be a winner but not so. You still have to have an attractive ad with a perceived good value in a place where people are looking for it. If you don't you won't be successful no matter how many people come to the site. The huge numbers are great but you still need targeted traffic to be successful no matter what you're selling. With as many different sites as they have you can pinpoint your ads to the exact geographical site you want along with the exact category for your product. Marketers know that a small well targeted audience that is interested in your product will make you more money than a huge audience who is not that interested.

One of the keys to marketing to your target customers on Craigslist is to place your ad in the best location on the overall site. Craigslist has specific sections for different types of business to advertise in. If you feel your ad should in more than one section or area then you need to write another variation of your ad so you don't get flagged.

Even if there is not a section for your business or service you still have some options such as placing the ad in the advertising section for small business. There is a chance that someone doing a search in this area might find it, but a better option, if you can't find a good category to advertise in, is to ask Craigslist to add your category. They might accommodate you if they feel it warrants it. Having your own category to your self for even a little while could turn out to be a real winner for your business.

Advertising on Craigslist is fantastic but spamming is not cool or is it tolerated. Do not under any circumstances run the same ad on more than one category or in more than one location. If you want to run more than one edition of the same ad you must rewrite it so it doesn't appear to be spam to readers or the spam watchers on Craigslist. Spam may not only cause your potential customers to boycott your ads if they see them all over the place, but you may get all your ads deleted and even possibly be banned from advertising in the future. Play by the rules set forth by Craigslist and you won't find a better advertising bargain anywhere.

Don Levy is a retired real estate mortgage broker. Since he retired his hobby has been article writing. While he writes about a variety of subjects he is particularly interested in Craigslist. If you would like to learn more about Craigslist and how to make the most use out of it, click on Craigslist Blog where you'll find a wealth of information about all aspects of Craigslist.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Don_A_Levy

Craigslist - To Phone Verify Or Not To Phone Verify

Sunday, August 2nd, 2009

Craigslist - To Phone Verify Or Not To Phone Verify
By Michael Striga

Craigslist is a free classified open to just about anyone who feels like posting an ad. Up until now it has been one of the simplest classified sites to post on. What used to be simple has now become complex in the never-ending battle against spam.

We all know that spam has been basically a minor nuisance for years. Well, now the spammers are starting to take over Craigslist. Let me explain how they did it. Craigslist attempts to stop people from spamming by checking for repeat submissions. They check for excessive posts from any one IP, but they also require the users to register with valid e-mail addresses. They've even gone as far to implement a CAPTCHA system to stop automated posting as well as any user can flag these posts, but that's become obsessive as well.

There are quite a few new tools out there that allow people to post repeatedly on Craigslist or bulk post as they call it. There's a tool called "Craigslist Auto Poster" there's also "Easy Ad Poster" or "EAP" and each one has built-in strategies to get past Craigslist's anti-spam mechanism. Most people add just a random string of text to the end of each message or random number of periods after the title.

Now those aren't the only tools used to spam Craigslist. They also have use of software such as Ad Bomber or Ad Master. There are also service oriented products such as "It's Your Post", etc. By using these tools the borders of Craigslist have been breached. Most categories on Craigslist have become over 95% spam. The personals were one of the first sections to go than services. More recently, jobs as well as community and for sale sections.

Craigslist isn't taking this lightly, they've tried several gimmicks including phone verification posting in some categories that requires a callback phone number with a password that's either sent using voice or an SMS message. And they'll only allow one account per phone number, spammers have reacted to this using premade phone verified accounts would sell between three and seven dollars each. Spammers have also tried using number portability services such as "Digits Grand Central". Most of those are now being blocked by Craigslist.

Such complicated scams as spammers using free ring tones sites in order to get unsuspecting victims to accept the Craigslist verification call then type the password back from a voice message. That way a person gets a free ring tone and the person selling it gets a free phone verified account.

The forums in Craigslist are alight with conversation. Do we verify or do we not verify? The different ways in which phone verification can hurt the standard poster and how most spammers get past it without so much as a blink. From my perspective it seems as if Craigslist has no idea what to do.

The battle for Craigslist still rages on, who will win? No one knows... Will Craigslist find something that works? No one sure, but if it doesn't you can be certain; this could very well be the end of Craigslist. At that point will be the next victim? Kijiji? Perhaps Backpage? Only the spammers know.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Striga

Michael Striga - EzineArticles Expert Author

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