Research Your Way To Craigslist Profits

Depending on how a business owner uses Craigslist, determines if it will improve their business or not. So, can it help you? The answer is... Yes, if you do it right. No, if you abuse the system. Maybe, if you just try posting without much thought. Well-informed and resourceful internet marketers that can recognize their target market and craft enticing sales copy will likely find it amazingly profitable to post on Craigslist. Of course, lazy and disinterested internet marketers that do little research or resort to spam when placing ads on Craigslist will probably see little to no financial gain.

The opportunity definitely exists to reap financial gains by advertising using Craigslist. Products and services can be listed for no charge on Craigslist. Plus, with Craigslist having large amounts of traffic (about ten million visitors and billions of page views every month), you don't have to waste valuable time driving traffic to their site. Craigslist offers several advertising benefits, but these can be useless if the proper research or evaluation of the competition isn't done.

Research, Research, Research...

There is a similarity to other forms of advertising and Craigslist. A successful Craigslist campaign needs thorough research, in spite of the massive traffic it receives. Ideally, the research should cover...

 * Who the primary, and if needed secondary, targets are.

 * What categories and locations are most effective when considering your     targets.

 * The type of sales copy that will attract and entice your targets.

 * Which keywords your target buyers are most likely to use when searching for     your offer. Include these in your sales copy.

This type of research can be done offline, as well as online. A useful approach for gathering this type of information is to survey your target group. When done right, you can use their answers to get a solid idea of what your target buyers are most likely looking for. Then all you have to do is combine the information you've gathered into your ad campaign. This will make it a markedly more successful campaign.

Your Competition

One of the best ways for internet marketers to research their competition is by using the Craigslist search feature. It is important to study the competition as it will teach you ways to be more successful. To have more success in this way you can do two things. You can figure out what your competitors are doing to be successful, and adopt those techniques. Or, you can figure out what they are doing wrong, and avoid those techniques.

Enter keywords that pertain to your offer to get some idea of who your competitors are on Craigslist. Chances are you'll get results that have ads from your competitors. Then, analyze those ads to figure out how to create better offers at better prices and how to write better ad copy. Even though you may be able to do a good job analyzing your competitors' ads, you may find it tricky to create better ads. If this happens look for a professional ad copywriter that has SEO (search engine optimization) skills. The writer will be able to use their copy writing and SEO skills to persuade your target to buy your offer, or to at least take a closer look.