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What is Craigslist? Best Place to Market Your Service
For example, assume you are advertising a childcare service. Childcare services provide a number of ways to market your product to consumers. First you'll want to consider your ad. Trust and reliability are of utmost importance in any childcare service and should be the focus in your ad. If you gain positive feedback from other Craigslist users, be sure to maintain your list of references to ensure your services will be portrayed in the best light.
While Craigslist is known for its no frills image and straightforward content, it's important to provide sufficient information regarding your childcare business including contact information and credible referrals. If you're able to, design your ad template to convey comfort and trust (i.e. nothing indicating money is the primary goal $$$.)
Once the ads are created, the next step is getting them out to the consumers. While the logical place to post the ads is under the `Childcare' category under `Community,' there are a number of complimentary links to get the word out about your business. For example, check out other discussion groups, like events, or the `sale' category for `baby and kid toys'. If your ad comes off as legit and genuine, your opportunities to market in unfamiliar territory could flourish. Simply put, Craigslist.org is a website that provides online classifieds to local communities. Similar to your local newspaper, Craigslist classifieds include housing, cars, goods and services, employment opportunities, social events, and more. Unlike your local classifieds, Craigslist allows a majority of participants to post their listings for free.
Not surprisingly, the `free' part makes a HUGE difference. As in 4 million new classifieds each month! Where newspaper circulation has dwindled in recent years, Craigslist has seen a 100% growth in regards to the number of new users (Editor and Publisher).
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Started over a decade ago in 1995 in the dot.com flourishing city of San Francisco, founder Craig Newmark, a java programmer, began the website as a way to keep his friends in the know about local art exhibits and social happenings. His "list" of friends grew, as did the content presented on the website. Newmark originally championed Craigslist as a non-profit grassroots endeavor, intended to "Humanize and democratize the internet," (Fast Company 2000). In its simplest form, it was an attempt to bring the community together. Users were allowed to post free classifieds whether it was for the purpose of selling a motorcycle or locating a smoldering brunette seen earlier that day on the subway.
Newmark nurtured his bare bones business model in San Francisco, a city not shy about voicing its opinions or voicing anything for that matter. What caught wind in the Bay Area quickly spread to major cities across the country, and the site is now available in over 300 cities across the United States and 35 countries.
Although Craigslist was originally pioneered as a not for profit, and still retains the .org at the end of its URL, Newmark incorporated the company in 1999 and appointed Jim Buckmaster as CEO. While the staff of eighteen at Craigslist is relatively tight lipped when it comes to the money it brings in, a recent Fortune magazine article postulated the company's 2005 revenue at around $20 million.
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