Getting Started
Using Craigslist is easy, and navigating the site is fairly straight-forward. The first thing you'll want to do is create an account. Start by finding your local Craigslist page. Each major city (and sometimes county or area) has its own page on which listings are specific to that respective metro area. You can choose from the list of major cities on the Craigslist homepage, or click into your state and your local market from there.
From there just look at the panel on the left-hand side of the screen. Select “Login” or “My Account” and you'll be directed to the sign-in page. Directly under the yellow box where a preexisting user would sign in there's a link that says “Sign up for an account.” Signing up is not mandatory but if you're serious about using Craigslist for making money then you're going to want to create an account.
I recommend using a secondary e-mail as your Craigslist e-mail. It's not uncommon to receive spam e-mails or unwanted e-mails mixed in with legitimate e-mails on Craigslist, especially if your postings become popular or contain main mainstream key-words. It's best to get a free e-mail account with a reputable e-mail website like www.yahoo.com or www.gmail.com and have that account be only for your Craigslist-related e-mail traffic.
Another great option for Yahoo! E-mail users is to create a folder especially for Craigslist posting e-mails. First you have to create a new folder by selecting “Add” which is located right above all your extra e-mail folders. After you've created the folder you then go to your Options and select Filters. In the filter you can just make a simple filter that redirects all e-mail with “Craigslist” in the sender's email address directly to that folder. This is convenient because it allows you to keep your Yahoo! E-mail address without having to worry about any clutter or disorganization from receiving lots of Craigslist-related e-mails.
If you like you can even create a Craigslist-related account and have it forwarded to your Yahoo! E-mail account. This is a great option because it allows you to have all of your e-mails saved on two different e-mail accounts for back up purposes. G-mail is the best option for this.
You can forward your G-mail e-mail to your Yahoo! E-mail inbox and then have those e-mails filtered so that they go into your Craigslist folder. You can further add functionality to this set up by linking your G-mail account with your Yahoo! Account so that you can send e-mails from your Yahoo! Account “as” your G-mail account (e.g. Your Yahoo! Account is bizznissman@yahoo.com and your G-mail account is bizznizz_Craigslist@G- mail.com. You can send e-mails from bizznizz_Craigslist@gmail.com while on your Yahoo! E-mail account.) Yahoo's free e-mail service allows you to link 1 other e-mail account in this way (The paid version allows more).
Forwarding your G-mail:
Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page, and open the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
Linking Yahoo! and G-mail accounts:
1) In the Sending Mail section of the page, enter a name for the new account (for example, Work or School). Type a name for the new account.
2) Next enter a "From" name and the email address of the non- Yahoo! email account. Specify a From name and the email address for the external account.
3) When someone replies to a message that you send from the non-Yahoo! account, the reply automatically goes back to the email address associated with the account. If you want, you can specify a different default reply-to address, such as your Yahoo! Mail address, for responses to be sent to.
4) Click the Change reply-to address link next to the Email address.
5) Click the Change reply-to address link.
6) A Reply-to address box opens
7) Enter the reply-to address you want to use instead of the account’s email address.
8) Enter a reply-to address.
9) If you plan to use Yahoo! Mail only to send messages from this account , you’re done. Click the Save Changes button to finish adding the new account. Click Save Changes
10) The Verify Email Address window opens. You must verify that you are the owner of the non-Yahoo! account before you can send email from it. See below for more on how to verify the account.
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After you've got your e-mails and your Craigslist account set up you're free to start posting ads or searching for them. Here's a brief explanation of each category and subcategory in Craigslist:
1. Community
a) Community based listings
b) Carpooling, classes, volunteer work etc.
c) This section is basically a community information board.
2. Personals
a) Friendship and Romance personals
3. Discussion Forums
a) Basic online forum with many different topics.
4. Housing
a) Basic apartment/house searching section.
b) Find roommates or places to live.
c) Rent out or sell your own property.
5. For Sale
a) Most active section on Craigslist.
b) Sell your junk or online content here.
c) You can also post “Looking for” ads to try and attract sellers of a particular product.
6. Gigs
a) Very similar to the jobs section but made especially for freelance positions.
b) Contains freelance jobs, musical gigs and temp work.
c) Offer your freelance services such as TV Repair or Computer Maintenance.
7. Jobs
a) Primary service/job seeking area.
b) Look for jobs in many different areas from media to real estate.
c) Offer your services and post your information.
To look for a particular listing just click on one of the subcategories. You’ll be taken to a page that has the most recent listings for that category as well as the search interface.
The search interface is pretty self-explanatory. Just enter the search term and press the search button. You can select a specific subcategory from the drop down box and decide if you want to view only posts that have images or any posts. If you’re on a buying/selling category then you can set your minimum and maximum price. Lastly you can select “title only” or “entire post.” This will determine how your search is carried out.
If you search for title only then the search engine will ignore any text within the posts and only look for your search phrase in the titles of posts. If you select entire post then the search engine will look though every post’s content as well as the title and return any posts that have matching elements to your search phrase. Using title only is useful when you have a very specific item you’re trying to find. Some posters also put loads of unrelated keywords in their posts to try and attract more traffic; selecting title only will prevent you from stumbling on one of these unrelated posts.
Posting your Ads
After you’ve created an account and logged in, you can post an ad easily by going to the appropriate category where you’d like to post the ad. In the top right corner of the screen there is a link labeled “[post].” Click the link and you’ll be taken to a page where you can select the exact category that you’d like to post in.
Select the category and you’ll be taken to the post creation screen. Here you’ll be able to give your post a title and provide the information for the body of the post. If you’re selling an item you will have the option to set the price and the specific location.
Here you’ll have to input the e-mail address that you’d like replies to this ad to go to. You can have your e-mail published or you can select “anonymize.” This will provide viewers with a randomly generated e- mail address by Craigslist to send e-mails to which will be forwarded to your actual e-mail address.
It is advised to always select anonymize to avoid having your e-mail publicly posted and therefore accessible by e-mail spam bots that will store that address in a database and send you constant spam from various sources.
After you’ve given your post a title and explained what your post is about, you’ll have the option to add or edit images (Depending on the type of post you’re making). Generally speaking it’s smart to always ad images to your post regardless of what you’re posting because many people will use the “has an image” feature while searching to weed out any posts where they can’t see a product they’re trying to buy etc
Once you select continue you’ll be taken to a screen where you can see what your ad will look like once it’s posted to Craigslist. If you’re okay with your ad then select continue (Edit will take you to the previous page where you can make adjustments to your ad). You’ll be taken to the Terms of Use page where you must agree in order to be able to post your ad. As with any Terms of Use contract it’s important to read it thoroughly to ensure that you really want to abide to all the terms.
If you didn’t create an account, here’s where you will have to. You’ll enter your e-mail and type the characters of a captcha code. If you did create an account just follow the remaining instructions and your ad will be posted.
After posting an ad Craigslist will send you an automated e-mail with a link to your ad and information on how to modify or delete it. Generally speaking it takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours for your posts to truly become public. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t find your post by searching for the appropriate terms. Just because you can’t find your own ad does not mean that other people won’t be able to see it.
Tips on Ad Writing
It’s important to format your ads so that they’re easy to read and brief. One of the biggest mistakes that new Craigslist posters make is that they provide too much information and their ads look like mini-novels.
People don’t prefer to read large chunks of convoluted text. It’s best to be concise and describe exactly what you’re selling, providing or looking for in as few words as possible. The more eloquent you are the more likely someone is to actually read your ad instead of just skipping it over.
If you’re selling an item you should always include the price in the title. Even though there’s a price option, people generally don’t take it seriously. Too many posters write down $1 or 2$ when they’re actually selling much more expensive items. This makes searching by price somewhat inaccurate and unreliable. By including the price in your title you allow people to search by only title and be able to see the price of your item easily.
Don’t post your personal information like e-mail, address or phone number in the body of your ads. Aside from being unsafe, this is a good way to get lots of spam. You can receive spam messages via snail mail, e-mail and even cell phone text messages!
If you’re selling anything it’s practically mandatory that you include an image of what you’re selling. Including an image will dramatically increase your success rate as many people don’t even look at posts that don’t have images. Even if you don’t have a picture of your product you can usually find an image by searching for it on an online market website like www.amazon.com or a search engine like www.google.com. Be careful though, using images from other sites may or may not be breaking copyright law, always try to ask for permission if possible or get images from public domain sources.
Another good tip is to provide comparative information in your post. If you’re selling a computer at a competitive price then give a link to a different online market selling that monitor so that people can compare. If you sell a car you can link to its Kelly Blue Book page so people can see that they’re getting a fair deal on the price.
Some items take time to sell. I recommend making a post for them every 2 to 3 weeks. Every post lasts for 30 days but the longer time goes by the less likely that anyone will look at your post. It’s important not to make repeated posts every day, however, as this is against the terms of use and is considered spam.
General Writing Tips & Using Copy for Advertising
Part of being a successful Craigslist poster is being a decent writer. While it’s not entirely necessary to have excellent writing skills, the better you are at conveying information the more likely people will be convinced to buy your product or hire you after they’ve read your listings.
Proper spelling and grammar is a first good step. It’s important that people can understand what you’re saying and a misplaced comma or inappropriately used semicolon can make people question your listings. Often times people become suspicious if an ad seems to have irregular punctuation because it seems like a possible way of disguising ulterior motive in the ad. For instance, you ad could read: Selling ’91 Honda Accord, in “Good” condition. Does that mean the car is in good condition or does it mean the car is actually in bad condition and you’re being facetious? Putting quotes around a word is not an acceptable way to show emphasis. Putting quotes around a word implies that it is either a direct quote from someone or that the word was used sarcastically.
Example A: According to Jim it’s a “Very good” car.
In that example a man named Jim literally used the phrase “Very good” and the author quoted him.
Example B: Mary is really “helpful,” if you know what I mean.
In that example the author is implying that Mary is not, in fact, very helpful at all. The author is using the phrase sarcastically.
Aside from grammar, eloquence and formatting are extremely important. As I said previously, you should be short and concise. When it comes to selling things on Craigslist people simply want to have the essential information. Craigslist is a fast-paced environment; people don’t generally browse the website unless their ready or near-ready to purchase. Brevity is the key to a successful ad.
After you type your ad, go back and take note of how long it is. Are their any parts that you can sum up in fewer words? For example, your ad might say, “I’m selling my Workstation Computer. It has served me well over the past few years but I’m upgrading so I’m selling this to buy parts for my new computer. It works great; I haven’t had any problems with it. It has 3GB of RAM, an Intel Processor and a 160GB Hard Drive.”
That’s a terrible way to start an ad. Quite frankly people don’t really care why you’re selling your item or what you’re going to do with the money. Reading about it won’t hurt the sale but the potential customer might never even read the ad if he or she sees how long it is. Instead you could have just said, “For Sale: Workstation Computer. 3GB of RAM, Intel Processor and 160GB Hard Drive. Works Great!”
Of course this all depends on who your target market is and exactly what you’re selling. Sometimes it actually can benefit you to give the potential client or customer background information. In particular, if you’re selling a used product that doesn’t function 100% or has moderate to sever aesthetic damage then you might want to try and reassure the potential buyer with nonessential information. If you’re selling a bike with a broken gear shifter, it might be beneficial to focus your ad on how well the bike served you in the past. This is a bit of marketing trickery.
At no point should you try to swindle customers into buying bad products, but there’s no need to disclose 100% of the details in the initial sales ad. Get the customer interested with your Craigslist ad so they’re willing to come see the product. This will greatly increase their chances of purchasing the product and forgiving its flaws. If you tell them about the busted gear shifter in the sales ad, they may not even contact you. If you tell them about it after they come to see it, there’s a slight chance they’ll buy the bike anyway out of convenience (most people don’t want to have the feeling of driving somewhere for nothing).
Another good marketing tool is the shining example. You see this in commercials and magazines all the time, usually in the form of a celebrity endorsement. If you’re selling an item that was endorsed by a celebrity or person of interest, by all means include that information in the description. As long as what you claim is 100% true and can be verified by reputable sources, it’s perfectly legal to mention that an item or service was used by someone else. Did The Eagles use the exact same brand of guitar pick as the one you’re selling? Then you’re ad could read “Buy the Brand the Eagles Used!” Assuming you can prove that, at any point in time, the eagles really did use that exact brand of guitar picks, that statement is completely true and is not considered libel or slander. Bear in mind that this is not intended as official law advice and every country, state and province has different laws. Be sure to check the laws in your area before mentioning anyone’s name in one of your advertisements.
Another good way to use examples is to mention TV shows or New Programs that they’ve appeared on. This is used extensively to sell poorly reviewed products. For instance, a particularly low-quality keyboard may have been reviewed in a popular musician’s magazine. Even if the magazine rated the keyboard very low and gave it a bad review, you can still use a phrase like “Featured in Piano&Synth Magazine!” Once again this is technically true, the product was, in fact, featured in the magazine. There’s no need to mention that it was panned by reviewers or got a low score, just use the exposure to sell the product. This goes back to the old adage, “No publicity is bad publicity.”
Keywords are Killer!
Using appropriate keywords is one of the best ways to get your ads noticed. The one downfall of Craigslist is that the ads are so temporary that it’s highly unlikely for you to get any results in major search engines like Google or Yahoo!. Luckily you don’t need to; you can still get all the exposure you need through Craigslist using its own search engine.
One method that many people use is to put random, popular keywords at the bottom of their posting. This has limited success. On one hand you are slightly more likely to get off beat clicks from people looking for completely unrelated products and services. That’s about the only upside though. People looking for different products and services probably aren’t interested in what you’ve posted about anyway and people who are interested are almost always put off by seeing a big stack of generic keywords at the bottom of your post. It makes your post seem like a possible scam.
The best practice is to use related keywords where they actually make sense. Instead of just listing keywords randomly at the bottom of your post, you can try to implement them where they actually make sense within your ad. It also helps to read through your ad and see if there are any generic terms you can turn into specific keywords or specific phrases you can turn into generic keywords.
If you’re offering service as a computer repairman then instead of saying “I can work on any computer” you can say “Proficient in PC and MAC using Windows, OSX and Linux.” We’ve lost some of our brevity but we’ve gained some important keywords: PC, Mac, OSX, Windows and Linux. People might have a specific need for one of those computers or operating systems and your ad only says that you can work on “any computer” they might not find you! Now you’ll be getting hits from people who have all three operating systems and need help.
Placement of keywords is also important. Titles are the number 1 marketable part of your ad. A bad title can turn the most beautifully written advertisement into a complete waste of time. If no one is interested in your ad then you won’t get any clicks or exposure. And, as I’ve mentioned, people tend to search within titles only to avoid keyword bombing (When people put unrelated keywords in their postings). It’s very important to put relevant keywords in your ad title that will attract clients in customers. Using our example above you might change this title: “Computer Repairman, I’ll work on any computer!” to “Windows, OSX and Linux Computer Technician.” By adding the keywords in your title you’ve greatly expanded the amount of people who will find your ad via searching.
One of the best ways to think of good keywords is to actually search Craigslist for something that more or less matches what you’re trying to post. Take note of the top results and see what kind of keywords and titles they used. Try not to copy from them directly but definitely learn from what they did and use it to your advantage. You could combined the keyword usage of the top 5 entries and you’ll have a single entry that’s better than any one of theirs.
Organize Your Listing
We’ve already discussed that people don’t like to read giant blocks of text or sift through shaky grammar. Another pet peeve of potential clients is trying to find relevant information. People look for certain details when they go to buy a product or seek out a service.
If you’re selling a computer, you shouldn’t write the specifications somewhere within your advertisements in paragraph style. People seeking computers want to immediately know the computer specifications and often if it takes them more than 2 seconds to find the specifications they’ll just move on to another ad. Computers and most other electronic devices should have their specifications written clearly at the top in a tabular manner like so:
Computer: Dell OptiPlex 755
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz
RAM: 6GB DDR2 PC-6400
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 4670
Keyboard: Included (HP 108-key)
Mouse: Not Included
This allows the potential customer to skim through the pertinent information and stay on the page longer. Here’s another example:
Car: 1991 Honda Accord
Color: Blue Green
Engine: 2.1 Liter V4
Mileage: 230,000 Miles
Gas Mileage: 20MPG City, 24MPG Highway
Title: Pink Slip In Hand, passed smog
Condition: Good
Kelly Blue Book Value: $1,800
By putting the absolutely pertinent information at the top you allow the client to get interested in the product and remain on the page. This can be a double-edged blade. If your item is not in like-new condition then this set up might allow the potential client to spot the flaw and move on fast.
Sometimes it helps to burry less-than-stellar information within the rest of your post. Again, this seems sneaky, but we’re not trying to swindle anyone we’re just piquing their interest. The point of advertising online in this way is to get people interested in buying the product, the rest of the sales magic usually happens when the customer comes to review the product in person.
It’s always a good idea to disclose important information about non- functioning and/or broken items to avoid unhappy customers and potential lawsuits, but when you disclose that information is up to you, as long as it’s BEFORE the customer has paid you or signed any type of contract. The customer deserves a chance to back out of the deal if he or she feels that the product or service isn’t what he or she ultimately wants.
A customer will likely forgive you for waiting ‘till the last minute to mention a shortcoming of the product but finding out about problems in products only after already buying them will result in very angry, ex-customers. It’s just bad for business. In general you should try to be as honest as possible about what you’re selling or providing and if there are problems with the product or service, downplaying product flaws is preferred over omission.
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