The number of visitors using Craigslist each month will be out of reach for newbie marketers without understanding that the key to taking advantage of these numbers is to compose your advertising in a way that is sure to reach your target audience as opposed to a wide audience of individuals who have no specific interest in your products or services. It's a common mistake made by newbies.

It is much more worthwhile to reach a small (target) audience of those more likely to have a keen interest in your products or services than to reach a much larger audience made up of many people who likely are just not interested. Those who have an interest in your products or services are your target audience and will not be reached by advertising in a "general" category. It's a case of quality over quantity.

The key to reaching your target audience on Craigslist is placing your advertisement in the most appropriate category. Craigslist has specific categories for businesses to advertise their products or services. The main categories are broken down into a number of sub-categories. For example, those who are in the business of computer repair would be wise to place their advertisement in the computer section that caters to people looking for repair resources as opposed to the section dealing with gaming because individuals looking for computer help will naturally migrate to the computer section that solves their problem.

This is true of anything you want to sell. Never place your ad in the main category. Drill down a bit to find the closest section that matches your product of service. It may sometimes be appropriate to place an advertisement in more than one section. This is acceptable as long as it does not cross the line to spamming the section. But, be sure your advertising copy and layout are different so your ad is not flagged as spamming the site.

If there is not a specific section for the products or services offered by your business there are a couple of options. You can place an advertisement in the section for small business advertisements where it might be found by those doing a search in this section. This will not be greatly effective but, at least, your ad might catch the interest of the casual surfer. Alternately, the you can contact Craigslist to suggest the addition of a new category. They might be willing to oblige if they believe your suggested category warrants an addition based upon potential interest in your product or service but it had better be unique.

A major reason for the success of smart marketers with Craigslist is they know the difference between advertising and spamming. They know it's smarter to bend the rules without breaking them so they never stoop to spamming or so-called black-hat tactics. There is too much to lose if caught.

While placing an advertisement in an appropriate section of Craigslist is acceptable, placing the same advertisement in nearly every category of Craigslist for a number of different geographical regions is considered spam. Spam is ineffective for a number of reasons. First of all, members of the Craigslist community who see a particular advertisement in a number of different locations will quickly recognize this spamming technique and will just as quickly report you to the site administrators. Also, if Craigslist detects the practice of spamming, they will delete all of your postings and could potentially ban advertisements from you forever.

Craigslist can be a powerful source for free traffic if you will learn how to play by the rules.

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