How to Generate Traffic from Free Online Classified Ads Sites

Advertising on classified ads sites is required if you want to generate traffic, get more customers for your products and services. Doing adverts is not hard. What is essential is how you advertise on the classified ads sites. You can do it anyhow but if you want to get the best result, you need to follow the checklist below.

 
This checklist will help you put all the things you need in place before and after posting your advert. You are sure to make the best of classified ads sites if you follow the checklist.

 
Preliminary

1. Identify your niche.
2. Identify what you have to offer. Does it match your niche?
3. Identify audience geography. What country do your target market came from?
4. Research where to place your classified ads.

 
Some of the most common and popular ones are Yahoo, AOL and Craigslist. You can also submit your ads to local community sites and portals, which can be found through search engines. Some sites will charge you to submit your ads; others may be free. Those which charge will likely have higher exposure to people. It may be worth advertising in local or national newspapers sites depending on the rates and the nature of your products and services. They may also include your ad in their offline version.

 
Write your ad

Choose whether to hire a professional to write your ad or to write it yourself.

To hire a professional

1. Advertise your desire on sites like eLance.com and secure a writer.
2. Commission two versions of the ad – truncated and full.
3. Once the ad is written, proofread and ensure it meets your requirements.

 
To write it yourself

1. Structure your ad before writing it. Elements of ad include: Headline, Detail/Benefits and Call to Action.
2. Write a strong section on what you are offering and how it will benefit the reader.
3. Write the call to action.

This must specifically direct the reader to do something, usually to visit a website.

4. Write the headline.
5. Write truncated and full versions of your ad.

Some sites will have an extremely small word limit, while others will allow full ads. Create two versions of the ad to fit various site requirements.

6. Proofread your ad for spelling and grammatical errors.

 
Submit your ad

For some sites, e-mail the webmaster directly and ask for the advertising rate card. For others, read the submission information and guidelines. Optimize your ad according to the guidelines and features provided by each site. i.e. add pictures. This will maximize the exposure of your ad on each site and gets you a better chance to generate traffic to your site.

 

Inquire as to whether it is possible to track and monitor the ad in terms of people clicking on the website link. If all is acceptable, submit the ad and pay for the service(s). Monitor the location and accessibility of your ad on the site(s). Repeat this process until you have submitted your ad to enough sites.

 
Appraisal

If you are satisfied with the level of traffic and leads you are receiving from your classified ad campaign(s), congratulations! You have successfully created a traffic-driving, lead-generating classified ad campaign. If not, go to the Optimization section.

 
Optimization

Delete your ads and resubmit them every few weeks to keep them at the top of the results and updates pages. Use automated submission software to submit many ads to the same site or different sites. This saves time and effort. The more ads you post, the higher your exposure.

 

Originally posted 2011-05-20 07:00:49.