Welcome to the third part of my Craigslist 101 series. Last time, we covered how to reply an ad on Craigslist, and how to use the Craigslist RSS feed. Now that we’ve covered the basics, we’re going to delve a little deeper into Craigslist, and talk about flagging, target audience, and category listings.
Flagging
If you’ve spent any time on Craigslist lately, you may have noticed the Please flag with care” box in the top right hand corner of all posts. If you take a closer look at the box, you’ll see four categories: miscategorized, prohibited, spam/overpost, and best of craigslist.
What happens when a post is flagged? Craigslist tracks the number of negative flags each post receives; if there’s enough negative feedback, the post is removed. Note that each user’s flagging is only counted once, i.e. even if you really dislike that ad for a work-at-home pyramid scheme, flagging it over and over won’t do any good unless other users flag it as well.
Flagging may not seem like much at first, but it’s one of the reasons Craigslist is so clever – by giving users the power to determine which posts are important and which are spam or abuse, Craigslist is not only making its consumers feel wanted and appreciated, but taking advantage of their manpower.
So how do you avoid having your post flagged as miscategorized, prohibited, or spam? A few simple guidelines:
→ Why are you posting this ad? Is it a serious ad, or are you “just testing the waters”? If you’re in the latter group, and you annoy enough Craigslist users, it won’t take long for them to start flagging your posts for removal.
→ Does your ad comply with the Craigslist rules for posting, or is a prohibited category? Not sure? Check the conduct section of the Craigslist terms of use. (Tip: selling something? Check out the list of prohibited goods and services.)
→ Who’s your target audience? What category should you list in? If you’re selling a car, do you really want to post under “yard sales”?
→ Do you really need to post to more than one area? Multiple posts and overposting are often flagged as spam, and result in the removal of a post. Remember: you don’t need to cross post to several regions, as your ad is already included in the general area search.
Need more help with posting? Check out our earlier Craigslist 101 article, how to post an ad to Craigslist.
Already had your post flagged? Visit the flag help forum to get help working out why.
Target audience & category listings
We’re going to tackle these next two topics together, given the inextricable nature of their relationship.
Working out who your target audience is seems like common sense to anyone who’s posted enough classifieds. And yet, it’s a step that’s often skipped – many small advertisers figure that a) everyone will be interested in their product or b) their target audience is immediately obvious, making keyword planning and research irrelevant.
But, for Craigslist, a site where multiple posting can result in ad removal, knowing your target audience and, perhaps more importantly, their interests, is essential.
First, make up a list of keywords to describe your audience and their interests. For more on how to do this, take a look at my recent article, Using Newspaper Styling to Make Your Ad Stand Out for more.
So now that you know who your audience is, you have to post your ad to a category. The upper level categories – services, housing, job, and for sale – are pretty self-explanatory. But what about the deeper category postings? Should you post your piano in “musical instruments” or “furniture”? What about a personal training position? Does it belong in “medical/health” or “salon/spa/fitness”?
The answer varies, because people vary. In Denver, a piano might be considered furniture, while in Boston it might be better off listed as a musical instrument. The key to putting your ad in the right category is research. Spend some time looking through possible categories, noting down who posts what where. Are the majority personal training jobs listed under “salon/spa/fitness”? If so, that’s probably your best bet.
Remember, posting to more than one category on Craigslist is a quick and easy way to get flagged, so always think before you post.
Next time: why you should search outside of your region, and a few helpful Craigslist tools.
By Peta Andersen
April 30, 2009
© Daype Inc.