2. Table Of Contents:
- Affordable Advertising on Craigslist
- Affiliate Marketing through Craigslist
Affordable Advertising on Craigslist
The advertising on Craigslist is certainly affordable. In fact
there is no fee for the majority of posts made on Craigslist.
Craigslist began as a non-profit organization but in 1999 it
was converted to a for profit organization.
However, operating costs are supported by charging
nominal fees for help wanted advertisements placed on the
San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City Craigslist
websites. Additionally, there is a fee for brokerage
apartment listings in New York City.
The vast majority of those posting advertisements on any of
the Craigslist over 300 websites are not paying a fee to do
so.
This definitely makes posting advertisements on Craigslist to be worthwhile from a financial
standpoint.
While the advertisements are free care should be taken to post these advertisements judiciously
because although there is financial loss, poor posting can result in a loss of time and resources if it
leads to poor profit potential.
Why Craigslist is Free
Although the founder of Craigslist, Craig Newmark, was approached in 1997 about the possibility
of running banner advertisements on Craigslist to generate a profit, he made the decision to keep
Craigslist as a noncommercial website.
3. Even after Craigslist was converted to a for profit organization commercialization did not infiltrate
the website. The points listed in the Craigslist mission statement demonstrate why Craigslist has
remained noncommercial:
* Giving each other a break, getting the word out about everyday, real-world stuff
* Restoring the human voice to the Internet, in a humane, non-commercial environment
* Keeping things simple, common-sense, down-to-earth, honest, very real
* Providing an alternative to impersonal, big-media sites
* Being inclusive, giving a voice to the disenfranchised, democratizing…
* Being a collection of communities with similar spirit, not a single monolithic entity
Advertising on Craigslist vs. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is another type of marketing which many business owners find to be both
worthwhile and affordable.
For many the appeal of affiliate marketing is the affiliates are not compensated for their efforts
unless the business owner sees some type of gain from the advertising.
This gain may be in the form of website traffic in the case of pay per click marketing, in the form of
sales in pay per sale marketing or in the form of potential leads when a website visitor performs a
specific action such as registering with a website or signing up for an offer.
While affiliate marketing is very appealing there are others who prefer advertising on Craigslist.
The advantages Craigslist offers to advertisers is, of course, that the advertisers never pay for their
business advertisements and the community receives a great deal of website traffic already so
driving traffic to the website is not a concern.
Why Free Is Not Always Better
However, there are some specific instances where free advertising is not the best type of advertising
available. Consider a product or service for which Craigslist does not have an appropriate category.
In this case advertising on Craigslist may not be worthwhile because although the advertisement is
free, it is also not likely to receive a great deal of attention from members of the target audience. In
this case, advertising on Craigslist may be a waste of resources.
Another example of an instance when Craigslist may not be a great advertising option is when the
market is already saturated with competitors’ advertisements. In this case it can be difficult to sway
customer loyalty so it might be more worthwhile to pay for advertising in a less crowded market.
Affiliate Marketing through
Craigslist
Craiglist is an extensive online community which
has a great deal to offer to users of this community.
With approximately four billion page views per
month it should come as no surprise that Craigslist
can offer a wealth of financial opportunities to savvy
Internet marketers who know how to capitalize on
4. the popularity of this website. Affiliate marketing is one of the ways knowledgeable Internet
marketers can expand on the profitability of their websites.
Craigslist provides wonderful opportunities for both ecommerce website owners seeking affiliates
to market for them as well as those who are in the business of affiliate marketing who are looking
for new opportunities to market for another business.
This article will provide an explanation of affiliate marketing and will also provide information on
how Craigslist can be used to either find affiliates or affiliate opportunities.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is essentially a marketing campaign in which the business owner only pays the
affiliate based on performance.
Unlike conventional marketing campaigns where the business owner pays for the advertising
regardless of the results produced by the advertisements, in affiliate marketing the business owner
only pays when a specific result is achieved. Affiliate marketing usually takes place in the following
three forms:
* Pay Per Click
* Pay Per Sale
* Pay Per Lead
In a pay per click affiliate marketing campaign the affiliate places a coded link on their website and
each time a visitor to their website clicks through the link to the sponsor’s website, the affiliate
receives a sum of money.
The amount of money they receive is based on an agreement between the sponsor and the affiliate.
This amount can be cents, dollars or even a fraction of a cent.
In a pay per sale campaign the affiliate is not compensated when the visitor clicks through to the
sponsor’s website unless they also make a purchase when they click through this link. Again the
amount of money the affiliate receives will depend on a pre-determined agreement and may be a
specific amount or a percentage of the sale.
In a pay per lead program the affiliate receives monetary compensation when a visitor clicks
through the affiliate link and performs a specific action such as registering at the sponsor’s website
or requesting additional information.
Using Craigslist to Find Potential Affiliates
Business owners who are interested in finding affiliates to promote their website may use Craigslist
for the purpose of finding these affiliates. It may seem logical to post affiliate opportunities in the
jobs section of Craigslist but it is important to note this is against Craigslist’s job posting policies.
Review of the policy for posting jobs on Craigslist will verify these requirements. Therefore those
who are interested in finding affiliates will have to take advantage of other areas of Craigslist to
find affiliates.
5. Visiting discussion forums related to your business may be one way to find potential affiliates.
However, when using the discussion forums, care should be taken to avoiding spamming the
discussion forums with links to sign up for your affiliate program.
Such spamming techniques are likely to not be taken seriously by potential affiliates and may incur
more severe penalties by Craigslist moderators.
The best way to find potential affiliates is to make logical contributions to discussions and get to
know other participants offline or to include a link to more information on your affiliate marketing
program whenever you post.
Using Craigslist to Find Opportunities for Affiliates
Those who generate a profit from acting as an affiliate for others can find new affiliate opportunities
through Craigslist.
Although posting these opportunities on the job boards are prohibited it is possible for
advertisements of this nature to appear either because the original poster was not aware of the
restrictions or because they deliberately ignored the restrictions.
These types of advertisements are likely to be removed when discovered but they may exist for a
short time without being noticed.
Those who act as affiliates can also find potential leads by placing advertisements in the services
section or the resumes section. They may also find potential leads by networking with those in the
discussion forums.
You can get more information and guidelines on advertising on Craigslist by visiting
our website:
- => Advertising On Craigslist Websites
Best Regards,
