Blog of an Internet Marketer » Advertising

Few Terminology relating to classified ad postings

Enam — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:17:00 +0000

Classifieds: Classifieds are short notices placed under headings classifying the product or service being offered without it’s own heading usually for offered services, business listings, items for sale, or ‘wanted’ ads. There are generally no pictures or other graphics within the advertisement of a newspaper, although sometimes a logo may be used. But online classified ads may contain image, audio and even video. Video classifieds are new trend of online classifieds.

Title: Title is the Heading of an ad. This is very important. The visitors normally see only this title on the listing page. Recommended maximum length of title is 70 characters.

Description : Description means Body of an ad. This is details of your offer. Here you should describe your product or service clearly. But don’t use too long description. Use HTML and image where possible.

Campaign: Campaign means an whole advertising plan. A campaign may consists of multiple ads posted on multiple classified sites and locations. The purpose of a campaign is to promote one or several related products or services.

Live ad: A classified posting which is available to the visitors of that particular site is termed as a Live Ad or Live Posting.

Flagged ad: An objectionable ad posting which is removed from the site as it was flagged as spam or otherwise objectionabale by some visitors. Over posting flames flagging. So avoid over posting.

Ghosted ad: Some sites like craigslist, backpage, kijiji, gumtree removes some postings without notifying the ad poster. This is popularly known as ad ghosting. This is normally done by some kind of software automatically. This doesn’t require flagging by visitor. A post even may not appear on the site at all. Posting with non-local IP is a major reason of ghosting.

PVA: This term relates to craigslist posting. To post under service categories of USA or Canada craigslist an account verified with a phone number is required. Such account is called PVA i.e Phone Verified Account.

IP Address: Each computer is identified with an IP Address. The free classifieds sites use this IP address to prevent excessive posting by the same poster. Location may be determined from IP address. Most of the popular sites use this information to prevent posting by foreigners.

URL Cloacking: Hiding a long URL with a short redirect URL is called URL claocking. This is required if you are trying to promote your affiliate products on online free calssified websites. Free URL shortening services may be used for this purpose.

Popular Free Classifieds of Australia

Enam — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:51:32 +0000

Sometimes my clients who are willing to market their products or services in Australian market ask me what free classifieds sites of Australia are popular and will be profitable to advertise. So I have compiled a list of popular online free classifieds of Australia.

Gumtree Australia is the most populasr local free classifieds of Australia. Current Alexa rank is 4,576 and Rank amoung Australian sites is 57. Popular cities of Australian Gumtree are sydney.gumtree.com.au, melbourne.gumtree.com.au, newcastle.gumtree.com.au, perth.gumtree.com.au, brisbane.gumtree.com.au.
Craigslist.com.au is the second most popular free classified website in Australia. Current Alexa rank is 28,973 and Rank amoung Australian sites is 748. Popular cities of Australian Craigslist are sydney.craigslist.com.au, melbourne.craigslist.com.au, darwin.craigslist.com.au, brisbane.craigslist.com.au, canberra.craigslist.com.au
cracker.com.au is another free classifieds for Australia. Place an Advert on cracker now
adoos.com.au Australia Free Classifieds. Post your FREE Ad on Adoos.
locanto.com.au Browsing, searching and posting classified ads on Locanto Australia is fast, simple and free. Posted ads will be live for 60 days, pictures may be used and on Locanto you can even add a clickable hyperlink url to your website.
aufreeads.com Also popular in India and Saudi Arabia. Post a Free Classified ad at this Australian classifieds website for FREE! No sign up. No email confirmation. Your ad goes online immediately.
kugli.com Kugli is getting popularity in Australia too. Kugli is already popular in India and Pakistan.
adpost.com Australia free Classifieds for over 1000+ cities, 500+ regions worldwide & across Australia. Post a Free Ad with video.
freead.com.au Australian free advertising portal. Register for free!
ozfreeonline.com Oz Free Classifieds Online is the largest free Australian advert posting site. Place your classified ads, items for sale, wanted to buy sell trade online. Get free classified ads listed in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Queensland and other cities in Australia. OZ free Online has Auction section as well.
dclassifieds.com.au Place FREE classifieds ads on dclassifieds which will be seen by hundred of thousands of australian internet shoppers. Place Your Ad on dcclassifieds
annonz.net Your free local classifieds ads in Australia. register on annonz for free advert today!
quokka.com.au online version of Quokka Free Ad Paper. Quokka was founded by Erik and his wife Elizabeth. It is published every Thursday.
Other sites are following:

www.hukes.com

www.olxaustralia.com

www.ablewise.com/ads/listings/Australia

elist.com.au

yousell.com.au

oznet.net/classiads

dewalist.com

perthonline.net

classifiedshere.com.au

hotfrog.com.au

australiaclassifieds.net

tradingpost.com.au

simpletrade.com.au

Sponsor Ads of Backpage

Enam — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:22:01 +0000

What is Sponsor Ads?
Sponsor ad is a paid option of backpage posting where you can post the same ad on multiple citis (even all the backpage cities) at once with a certain fee. This will save your time a lot to post the ads on each individual city.

Why Sponsor Ads?
Paid Sponsor ads of Backapge get the most visible placement at the top and/or right hand side of every single page in a particular category. Sponsor Ads are ideal for employers with positions in multiple cities, or anybody looking to reach users nationwide or in more than one location. This premium placement greatly increases the response!

The pricing of backpage sponsor ads varies city to city and category to categoory based on demand. A limited number of sponsor ads are allowed per category. They are available on a first-come, first serve basis and can be scheduled for up to 52 weeks. Sponsor ads are randomized frequently with each other to give equal access to the top of the page. Your sponsor ad will appear with thumbnails when it appears on the right. When your ad appears in the top two positions, it will not have thumbnails.

Limit: Only two ads per user per category.

Sponsor ads deliver better results, increase visitors to your web site. Sponsor ads can not be removed by the community, allow full use of html, and are targeted by category with high conversion rates.

Try Sponsor ads of backpage now. This is very effective for “home business” or “business opportunity” type of ads although works nice for various physical products too. Sponsor ads on backapge is the best solution for you if your ads are flagged so frequently on craigslist or you can’t post succesfully on craigslsit.

Three successful years of freelancing

Enam — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:55:41 +0000

I have successfully completed three years as a freelancer. I started on ScriptLance.com. I won the first project on ScriptLance.com on 10/5/2005 at 20:26 EST.

I started with a veiw to get programming jobs as I know Visual C++ and some other programming languages. Eventually I have switched to internet marketing. Now I no longer offer programming as I can’t manage time for programming. At present I am offering online advertising, search engine optimisation and data entry services.

Although I started on ScraiptLance, now-a-days I get projects from various sources and I no longer participate in bidding on ScrptLance.

Craigslist ad posting service is the single most service which brings me a lot of fortune. I am trying to expand my services by offering new services day-by-day.

By this time my team has also grown. Initially I started alone. Then only a few guys started to work with me. Now about 10 guys work with me. I am considering to expand my team further.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to my valued clients who used my services. A lot of thanks to all who provided me valuable information and suggestions time to time.

I hope more young guys from Bangladesh will start working as a freelancer like me and earn some foreign currency for the country.

Country wise list of popular online free classifieds

Enam — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 07:27:19 +0000

craigslist and kijiji are two most popular network of online free classifieds worldwide. Other popular free classifieds networks are gumtree, olx, kugli, locanto, franglo etc. backpage is very popular in the USA but backpage doesn’t has network outside USA except a few sites in Canada

Following is a country-wise list of popular online free classifieds:

USA: craigslist.org, kijiji.com, backpage.com . More free calssifieds of USA.
Canada: craigslist.ca, kijiji.ca, Classifieds.Ca . More Canadian free classifieds.
UK: gumtree.com, craigslist.co.uk, adzooks.co.uk, adoos.co.uk. More free classifieds on UK.
Australia classifieds: gumtree.com.au, craigslsit.com.au, ozfreeonline.com
India classified ad posting: quikr.com, craigslsit.co.in, kugli.com, webcosmo.com, locanto.com, vivastreet.co.in, olx.in
Japan classified advertising: kijiji.co.jp, craigslist.jp
Spain local classified websites: loquo.com, spain.franglo.com,
New Zeland classified websites: gumtree.co.nz, auckland.craigslist.org
Singapore free online classified sites: www.gumtree.sg, craigslist.com.sg, olxsg.com
Italy classified advertising: www.kijiji.it, italy.franglo.com, italyclassifieds.net
French local classifieds: www.kijiji.fr, frenchclassified.com, paris.franglo.com
Germany classifieds: kijiji.de, locanto.com
South Africa classified sites: gumtree.co.za, orangepages.co.za, youpost.co.za
China online classifieds : baixing.com, shanghai.craigslist.com.cn, www.locanto.cn
Philippines free classifieds: manila.craigslist.com.ph, classifiedsph.com
Russia : www.slando.ru, ru.anuncioo.com
Poland : www.gumtree.pl
Hong Kong: gumtree.com.hk, hongkong.craigslist.org
Thailand: craigslist.co.th
The Netherlands: www.marktplaats.nl, amsterdam.craigslist.org
Mexico: craigslist.com.mx, www.mexonline.com, mexico.zeezo.com
Brazil: rio.en.craigslist.org, redeparede.com, brazzilads.com
Argentina: buenosaires.en.craigslist.org,
Switzerland : zurich.en.craigslist.ch, market.local.ch/en, www.kijiji.ch
Belgium: www.kijiji.be
Austria: kijiji.at
Czech Republic: www.slando.cz
Slovakia: www.slando.sk
Hungary: www.slando.hu
Ukraine: www.slando.com.ua
Turkey: www.kijiji.com.tr, www.turkeyclassifieds.com
Taiwan: www.kijiji.com.tw, tw.anuncioo.com

Feel free to share popular free classifieds of other countries here.

Craigslist like sites for Canada

Enam — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:23:11 +0000

Like craigslist.org in USA, craigslist.ca is also very much popular in Canada. Craigslist has implemented phone verification for Canadian cities too. So it’s time to seek other sites like craigslist for Canada. Following are some popular online free classifieds sites of Canada I frequently use:

kijiji.ca : In Canada Kijiji is as popular as craigslist. In some cities kijiji is even more popular than craigslist. Kijiji has many more Canadian cities on it’s list than craigslist.ca
backpage.com : Although very popular in USA, backpage has only a few Canadian cities: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal
Red Leaf Ads: New but nice free ad site. Try it.
http://www.adpost.com/ca/
Tradepoint : Tradepoint is Canada’s free online classifieds network for used autos, cars, used trucks, boats, computers, Canadian real estate, antiques, furniture, electronics and much more.
Oodle free classifieds : free classified site as well as free classified search engine.
http://www.cdncc.com/
Classifieds.Ca a premiere free classifieds ad network of Canada
Adoos Canada
Canadaclassify.com Canadian Online Local Classifieds Service
BuyAndSell.Canada - Canada’s National Free Classified Ad Network.
btcanada.com – Free Ads – Canada Free Classifieds
OLX Canada
http://www.sellitbuyit.ca/
http://www.classified.ca/
Canada’s bargain city
Kugli local classifieds
Hoobly free local online classified site.
Locanto Free Canadian Classified Ads.
Post an AD is a FREE Online Classifieds Website for Canada.

Marketing of a new website

Enam — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:45:53 +0000

Marketing of a new website is not an easy task. A lot of new websites are coming into existetance everyday. Only a few of them can catch significant amount of traffic. While quality content is a must for an website to be popular, a good website with unique quality contents may fail to catch expected amount of traffic due to lack of proper marketing strategy.

Follow are some marketing strategey which should be considered to market a new website:

Advertising on free classified sites like craigslsit, backapge, kijiji etc.
Exchange links with relevant sites. Don’t exchange links with spammy sites.
Bookmarking on social bookmarking sites like digg.com, stumbleupon.com, delicious.com etc
Blogging on free blogging sites like wordpress.com, blogger.com.
Comment posting on relevant blogs
Posting on forums
Directory submission
Offering affiliate program
Advertising on local newspaper, TV, billboard and other off-line media
Submitting press release
Article submission
Sponsoring news letter
Marketing through social networking sites like MySpace.com, facebook.com etc.
Advertising on Google’s AdWord and similar other advertising network.
Search Engine Optimization
Publish RSS feeds and submit your RSS feeds on feed directories.
Publish videos on YouTube and other video sharing sites.
Promote on Yahoo Answers
Make a custom 404-error page so that you don’t miss any traffic. You can provide a link back to your main website or directly redirect to your home page.
Put a “Tell a Friend” feature on your site so that anyone can easily refere other people to your site.
Promote on Yahoo Groups and google groups
Offer free news letter.
Buy traffic
Participate in traffic exchange programs
Put your website address on your business cards, brochures and flyers etc.
Use twitter.com to send regular updates of your site.
Make a lense on squidoo.com

Tips to get maximum response from craigslist posting

Enam — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:40:32 +0000

Following steps may help you to get maximum response from craigslist posting:

1) Put all necessary details in description but keep it as short as possible. Use short description with phone number, if applicable. But don’t use your personal email address. Use anonymous email feature if you need to receive email queries from the visitors.

2) Use image whenever possible. In the categories where you can’t use external image and need to upload the images, image size is restricted to 300×300 pixels. If you upload images more than this size, craigslist will downsize. So it’s better to use image not larger than 300×300 pixels.
3) Use attractive titles which clearly describe what you are offering. Avoid using excessive symbols and capitals. Lenght of title is limited to 70 characters only. If you title is more than 70 characters, craigslist will discard the extra characters which may make your title meaningless. Be careful not to use titles longer than 70 characters.
4) Use your webpage URL in description, if you need traffic to your webpage. Use multiple domains if required. Free URL forwarding services like tinyURL.com will not work. So you must register your own domain to redirect visitors to your webpage.
5) Post the ads on appropriate time. Proper posting time varies depending on service or product.
6) Post the ads under the appropriate category and appropriate locations. Posting ads under wrong category or location may compel the visitors to flag your ads.

Free classifieds : future of internet marketing

Enam — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:34:04 +0000

Available methods of advertising on the internet:

Pay per click advertising like google’s AdWords
Buying text and Banner advertising on other sites
Email advertising
Social media advertising
Advertising on free online classifieds
Sponsoring news letter
Search Engine Optimization
Sponsor listing on SERP, directories, yellow pages etc.

Advertising on free online classifieds is getting popularity very rapidly. Online free classified sites are catching good numbers of visitors. So advertisers are showing more attention to advertise on free online classifieds. Since advertising on those sites are mostly free and yet giving good number of targeted traffic, there is strong competition among the advertisers to post ads on popular free online classifieds websites. craigslist.org is the most popular free classifieds site and pioneer in the field of free online advertising. Competition of advertising on craigslist.org is so high that some categories of the big cities like New York or San Francisco get thousands of ads. craigslist authority try hard and fast to reduce number of ads posted to acceptable limit. Phone verification is the latest attempt by craigslist to reduce number of postings.

The main reason free classified advertising is getting popularity is that posting ads on them are mostly free although some of those sites have featured listing option and these free classifieds produces quick and geographically targeted traffic. I guess in the future more and more advertiser will give more importance on advertising on free classifieds instead of expensive PPC advertising.

Every month, a lot of local free classifieds and specialized free classifieds are coming into scene. For example:

http://www.yourny.com/ is a free classified site only for New York and http://www.bostonfreeclassifieds.com/is only for Boston city.
http://www.petclassifieds.us/ and http://www.petsads.com/ are only for posting pet related ads.

These sites will play vital role in the internet marketing field in the future.

Free Classifieds advertising and SEO

Enam — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:22:34 +0000

I frequently face a question from my potential clients whether ad posting on free classifieds sites will help in Search Engine Optimization. Well, before answering YES or NO to this question let’s examine what happens when ads are posted on free online.

Most of the free classifieds sites including craigslist.org and backpage.com allow hyperlink to other website in ad description. So getting one-way backlink from free classifieds advertising is quite possible. The problem is that those backlinks aren’t permanent. Each post has a certain life span ranging from 7 days to 6 months (popular sites have lower life span while new sites have longer life span for the postigns). Postings will expire after that time and the link will no longer exist. So one time posting will not be of much help in the long run. In case of continuous posting on a weekly or monthly schedule, search engines will always see some backlinks from those sites and will index those pages. So to get benefit from free classifieds sites for SEO, continuous ad posting is required.

Some sites like vivastreet.co.uk allows to reposting and the URL of the original post doesn’t change upon reposting. In such cases getting almost permanent link is possible provided the ad is renewed regularly.

Another option of SEO is also available. Although it is also transient in nature, sometimes it is highy effective. It is possible to post an ad whose body is filled up with targeted keywords in high density. Search engines like google picks the posting pages from popular free classifieds sites like craigslist within 24 hours (even earlier). And postings on craigslist and other popular free classifieds get very high position on SERP. So it is possible to reach google first page for some specific keywords within very short time with this method. But when the ad is expired, you loose everything.
Finally, it can be summarized that ad posting on free classifieds may be helpful in SEO but primary purpose of free classified advertising is not SEO. Getting targeted traffic quickly is the main purpose of free classified advertising.