Getting Results From Online Classifieds

By Betty Ann Wilkins
Posted Thursday, August 26, 2004

Do Online Classifieds work?

Sure they do, but there are a set of rules that you MUST follow if you want to get good results from free classified advertising.

Let's start with Free Classified Ad Sites....

Most people believe that these sites are a huge waste of time. They claim that the only people to use free ad sites are those who post ads. In some cases this is true, but do not write off all free classified sites completely. The trick is in knowing how and where to post free ads that will bring a huge response to your offer.

There really are high traffic free classified sites, that are not just from other ad posters. But you must keep in mind that there are also hundreds that are nothing short of useless!

So, how do you find the good ones?

I could give you a few to should try out, but the simple fact is that what's good now, might not be in a few weeks or month from now. Not only do you need to test your ad copy, but also where you post them. Always test and key your ads so that you don't waste time posting to unproductive ad sites.

The thing to remember about free classified ad sites is that they give you a risk-free way to test your ads before spending your hard earned money on expensive, albeit high profile sites.

What about Fee Based Classified Ad Sites...

Fee based ad sites usually do a very good job at getting just as many buyers as they do sellers to their site. Before you spend your hard earned money to run ads on fee based ad sites, you should be certain that your ad is effective. As mentioned about use the free ad sites to test your ads effectiveness first.

How do you know if the fee based site is any good?

It's really difficult to know. Different fee based sites advertise in different places, so while some offers will do well on one site, others will bomb. The truth is that you will have to experiment with different sites to determine which work for a given type of offer. You would be better off to do some e-zine advertising initially since it is usually better targeted and low in cost.

On to E-zine Classified Ads....

E-Zine Advertising is the best producing as well as being the best targeted type of online classifieds at present. Access to a good e-zine directory is all you need to get the necessary demographics to choose appropriate e-zines for your offer. You can easily find free and fee-based e-zine directories. E-zine advertising tends to be low in cost and very effective. Again, be sure to only use proven tested ads.

What about Your Signature File...

It is actually a free classified ad. Be sure to use your's in newsgroups, forums, and all your e-mail correspondence. You can also use it for testing different ads.

Keying Your Ads....

Keying your Ads is one of the most important things you MUST do. And it's easy to do.

There are many ways to key your ad:

Ask your prospects to use a specific subject line Use specific web addresses for each ad If you have access to your website's log files you can just add "/?your-ad-id" to the url

Below is an example (they all go to the same website but the log will show them as different pages)

(http://www.the-work-at-home.com/?Ad1)
(http://www.the-work-at-home.com/?Ad2)
(http://www.the-work-at-home.com/index.htm?Ad3)
(http://www.the-work-at-home.com/index.htm?Ad4)

Without coding your ads it is virtually impossible to determine which ones are working for you and which ones are not.

Resources:
Free Classifieds via autoresponder:
mailto:freead@the-work-at-home.com
mailto:freead2@the-work-at-home.com
mailto:freead3@the-work-at-home.com
mailto:freead3@the-work-at-home.com

List of 2725 Classified Ad Sites:
(http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Classifieds/)

E-zine Directories:
(http://www.the-work-at-home.com/lifestyles.htm)
(http://www.netmastersolutions.com)
(http://ezineseek.com/)

Ad Tracking:
(http://www.roibot.com/b.cgi?IM2716)
(http://www.roibot.com/w.cgi?IM2716_atc)

*This article available by autoresponder at: mailto:article_41@sendfree.com

About the Author
Betty Ann Wilkins, Publisher/Webmaster New Business Start-ups - Working from Home Resources, Information & Tons Of Freebies Let us help you to Start Earning from Home Today! (http://www.the-work-at-home.com/newsletter/)