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The Craigslist Phenomenon

By
Services for Real Estate Pros with Properties Online, Inc.

So why does craigslist drive the most traffic? The short answer: Because of its huge volume of traffic! Craigslist is a fascinating Internet phenomenon. It reminds us of Facebook: a site that started small, based on a simple, localized idea, but then ballooned into a huge site that everyone wants to use.

Ask any seasoned agent and they will tell you that Craigslist is an incredible tool for agents. There’s absolutely no comparison – when you place a listing on Craigslist, it gets you more traffic than any other listing.

Craigslist was started in 1995 by Craig Newmark with the modest goal of helping people find affordable housing in San Francisco. It is now the most popular online classifieds website in the world, with over 10 million monthly visitors. Agents can take advantage of this huge traffic by posting free ads and by scanning ads seeking homes and answering them.

In addition to its huge amounts of traffic, another useful feature of Craigslist is that it is divided by localities and categories. So as an agent, you can post to the areas that you service. In addition to cities, the real estate section of Craigslist is divided into specific sections, so there are separate sections for apartments/houses for rent, office & commercial, real estate for sale, vacation rentals and more.

In most locations, posting an ad on Craigslist is free. You can create single ads for specific properties, or an ad listing all your available properties for an area. Craigslist ads are easy to create and require no coding design or HTML knowledge. You should definitely include images in your ad – these have been shown to vastly improve response rates. Choosing a great title for your ad is also very important. Try to write a catchy title that includes the words people might search for when looking for the properties you sell.

At Listing Domains, along with your property website, you get a free posting tools with flyers specifically designed for craigslist. These flyers tend to be more engaging than simple posts, and include photos of the property as well as the agents contact information.

Holly Weatherwax
Associate Broker, Momentum Realty - Reston, VA
A Great Real Estate Experience

I use Postlets for my Craig's List ads...thanks for the reminder to renew.

Oct 04, 2010 09:23 AM
Margaret C. Taylor
Century 21 New Millennium MD - Mechanicsville, MD
St Marys/Calvert/Charles MD Real Estate Agent

Thanks for the information.  I had heard it was good but I didn't know it was THAT good.  Margaret C.

Oct 04, 2010 10:17 AM
Phyllis Lerner call 914.438.7556
Corcoran Legends Realty - Tarrytown, NY
Corcoran Legends Realty

...after I create a free flyer with my free Postlets account I post is directly through my free craigslist account... just make sure that you include a hyper link back to your web site or blog for free traffic... other good places to pots are

olx.com - kijiji.com - backpage.com

...all free and easy to use...

 

Oct 15, 2010 10:59 AM
Brien Berard
Remax Professionals Laurel MD - Laurel, MD
Maryland Real Estate Agents - Laurel Real Estate

backpage is good, but my assistant felt that kijiji.com was too cumbersome to use.

Sep 28, 2011 07:51 AM