Most people know Craigslist as a site for posting classified ads, but it also can be a powerful tool to drive traffic to your website.

Craigslist is used all over the world. It’s one of the Web’s 40 most visited sites worldwide. Millions of people visit the site each day in the United States alone. That means a lot of traffic opportunities for you, and it’s usually free to use.

How to Get Traffic on Craigslist

At the outset, it’s as simple as can be. People go to Craigslist looking for products and services. You can advertise yours on the site and include a hyperlink in your ad. When they see your ad and what you have to offer, they click through to check out your website. If you know what people are looking for, you can craft an ad that will drive traffic to your site.

Although you have to target a specific city when using the site, some demographic research will help you choose the right city based on market concentration. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t let you list duplicate listings in different cities.

Local search is growing on the Web as more people use mobile devices for browsing and shopping. If you’re interested in mobile marketing, Craigslist is a goldmine. It’s also great for offline businesses.

Where to Post Your Craigslist Ad

Craigslist has a number of different places for posting ads. Most people put their ads in the ‘Services’ or ‘For Sale’ categories. These are the categories that attract customers.

You can also slip your hyperlink into a forum post. Just like regular forum marketing, if what you’re offering is relevant to what people are looking for, they will click through.

Other categories can help, too. If you’ve got a holiday-themed promotion, for example, you can list it in the ‘Events’ category. Depending on what you’re offering, there are many places to post.

Tips on Success with Craigslist

The key is to use Craigslist correctly. If you don’t, you won’t get any traffic. If you really blow it, you’ll be banned from the site. Craigslist is not supposed to be used for backlinks.

Make sure everything you offer through Craigslist is high quality. Just like all of your other offers, deliver on what you promise. If you do this, word-of-mouth will begin to advertise for you.

Your ads must be short and to-the-point. It can be a bit of a challenge to tighten up your wording, but remember, you have only 200 words with which to attract the reader and call them to action.

Your ad’s category, message, link and the site to which it points must all be relevant to one another. This is key in obtaining conversions. If your ad isn’t relevant, although people may click your link to see what your site has to offer, they’ll bounce right back off your page.

Craigslist ads show up in Google and Yahoo searches, so make sure you make the most of your ad. In fact, much of your traffic will come from searches and not Craigslist users. The keyword phrase should be in the subject line.

Finally, read and follow Craigslist’s rules or your ads will be erased and your account may be banned. Don’t post too many ads at once and don’t be too obvious with marketing ploys.

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Toby Russell, Internet marketer, publisher and property investor offers tried and tested methods to help you succeed on line. Get my FREE MP3 Download Interview With Top Internet Marketer & FREE 94 page Free Special Report -Available at =>http://www.startinternetmarketingonline.com

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