One of the best on-line classified advertising sites in the world is Craigslist.  Craigslist is one of the most popular on-line communities on the web, getting more than 12 billion page views every month.  That’s billion with a “B.”

Craigslist allows businesses and consumers to place classified ads in their directory, and in most cases it’s absolutely free.  Imagine the power of placing ads for your products and services on a site that has more than 50 million users every month.

Ads are categorized into several different areas to make it easy for people to find what they’re looking for.

Placing ads on Craigslist is a very quick and easy thing to do:

1.    First, create an account or log in at craigslist.org.

2.    On the upper right side of the screen, there’s a box labeled “post new ad in.”  Select the city where you want your advertisement to be displayed.  This is most often the nearest major city to where you live.

3.    Select the category that most closely matches what your advertisement is for.  Be sure to select the correct category or your ad will be removed.

4.    Create your ad

•    Title
The title should be attention-grabbing and focused on what benefit the reader will gain by seeing your offer.  Make your ad stand out from the crowd.

•    Location
This lets your prospect know where in the world you are.  It’s not required, but it’s a good way to start building a relationship with potential clients by giving them just a little piece of information about you.

•    Price
Craigslist doesn’t require you to enter a price, so you need to test and see what works best with your audience.

•    Description
Your description should be specific enough to give the person reading the ad a good understanding of what they’re going to receive.  Again, this needs to be focused on benefits.

•    E-mail
Enter an e-mail address that you check frequently because Craigslist uses this e-mail address to finalize and confirm your ad listing.  Until you complete this step, your ad will be on hold.

•    Images
If you see a button labeled “Add/Edit Images” you are allowed to attach an image to your advertisement.  Not all categories allow this, but if you are allowed, be sure to use a high-quality graphic that makes your ad more appealing.

•    Permissions
You check the Permissions box if you want to allow other companies to contact you with offers related to what your ad is promoting.  This is completely up to you and you are not penalized if you don’t check it.

5.    Review your advertisement and correct anything that needs to be changed.

6.    Accept the terms and conditions of posting your ad.  Be sure to read and understand them before agreeing, and make sure you are in compliance with all of the rules.

7.    Get your ad published by clicking the link in the confirmation e-mail sent out by Craigslist.

Following these simple instructions will get you well on the way to generating traffic to your websites with Craigslist.  Your ads usually appear within minutes of your confirmation.

And as always be sure to track and test every one of your ads to be sure you’re getting a desirable response.  Even though it doesn’t cost money (in most cases) to post ads on Craigslist, it does cost you time.  If you’re not getting a good response, figure out what needs to change and change it.