Small business owners are always looking for great ways to get their name out to their target audience at inexpensive prices. Using Craigslist to display your company's products and services is a very cost-effective solution to nationwide advertising. Craigslist allows you to post a new advertisement to cities all over the United States every couple of days under 1 account. First I will explain the mistakes that people make when using Craigslist for small business and then provide a solution on how to fix them.
Mistake #1: Using Text Only Ads
Americans are lazy and don't read boring walls of text in advertising (unless they're reading useful blog posts like this one). It's much easier to present your company in a professional manner with a full color advertisement.
Solution: Contact North Country Design today to let us design you a full color Craigslist ad.
Mistake #2: No Contact Email Address / Generic Email Address
By using a anonymous email address or not leaving a way for your potential clients to contact you directly from the Craigslist post you're losing leads. My recommendation is to create a new email address at your company that you can use to receive emails from Craigslist. Be creative! Perhaps use something like " This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ".
Mistake #3: No Link From Your Ad To Your Web Site
Remember in #1 when I said that American's were lazy? I wasn't kidding. You'll want to give your target audience a quick way to learn more about your products and services by providing them a direct link to a landing page on your web site. Don't just drop them on your home page and hope they get some relevant information - build a landing page specifically for this audience so that you can retain them. If they can't find what they were looking for on your web page they will leave ... quickly.
Solution: Contact North Country Design today to let us design your landing page! Our full color Craigslist ads will link directly to your landing page so that your audience can get the information they need and help you turn the lead into a sale!
Mistake #4: Running The Same Ad Over & Over
If you're following my advice you should be looking to re-post your ad at least two or three times a week (or more if you have more than 1 Craigslist account). Having a few different designs of your advertisement is a good idea. You want to continually develop fresh content so that you remain visible in the eye of your target audience.
I recommend putting together at least 3 Craigslist ads and having each of those ads link to a landing page on your website. Regardless of the size of your small business you always want your audience to see your company as professional, trustworthy and something they need.
Solution: Call North Country Design and tell them that you read this article on MiNeeds and we will design 3 Craigslist ads for you & develop a landing page for your web site for an all-inclusive price. You can use these ads in rotation on Craigslist for many months at no additional cost.
Click here to contact North Country Design about web design services.
