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"Cracking the Craigslist Code" - Part 2

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Ad Maker Tool & Real Estate Auction Systems

A couple weeks ago, I shared the download link for our “Cracking the Craigslist Code” guide and the number one response from readers was “Wow, it sure takes a lot of time & effort to post ‘good’ ads on Craigslist”.

Yes, it does!  The good news is, that’s also the reason the ads perform so well.  I know there are some agents that have assistants postings tons of ads for them, but that’s not the norm. 

My friend Yates, which I mentioned in my last post, has helped several real estate agents post their ads.  When he figured out the secret to the content of a good ad, he was spending 5-6 hours a day creating and posting them.  He knew there had to be a better way.

One day I was talking to him about some things and he shared his strategy with me.  He told me how much traffic he was getting from Craigslist for his clients and offered to try it out on one of my online real estate auctions.  Well, the results were impressive, over 3 times the number of visitors that I was getting from the “flyer” type ads I was posting.


I was so impressed, I got my brother Kevin to help us create a system that would make it easier and faster to create, manage and track these powerful ads.  Yates realized through posting thousands of ads, that Craigslist visitors are not always going to be interested in the particular property you are advertising, BUT if you lead them to your website you can capture some of them as a lead by offering a FREE report, a foreclosure list, MLS search capability or something else that entices them to give you their email address. 

After Kevin had the system ready, I decided to try it in my market (St. Louis, MO).  I'm a real estate broker but I only want to work as a broker part-time so I can also support our real estate auction business.  I setup a "lead-capture" page for HUD-owned homes since I'm a registered HUD broker and started posting a couple ads every other day.  Within 2 months I was working with 3 new buyers helping them buy a home and 1 of them turned out to be an investor who buys or sells at least 1 propety a month.  The best part for me is that when things get too busy for me as a broker, I stop posting ads and slow things down.

If you’re interested in posting ads like we describe in our “Cracking the Craigslist Code” guide, but want an easier and faster way to do it, I invite you to take a FREE 14-day trial of our Ad Maker Tool System.  Check it out for yourself and see how well it works in your market.

Comments (19)

Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Tom~I'm always updating my online strategies...I have to bookmark this and come back to it. Thank you for your enthusiasm in this post!

May 30, 2012 11:12 AM
Morgan Evans
Douglas Elliman Real Estate - Manhattan, NY
LICENSED REAL ESTATE SALESPERSON

Craigslist is definitely a place in my opinion that having a strategy is so important. 

May 30, 2012 11:29 AM
Vanessa Saunders
Global Property Systems Real Estate - White Plains, NY
Real Estate | Done Differently

Great information Tom, thanks for sharing. 

May 30, 2012 09:47 PM
Wayne Jackson
Lakeshore Realty 208-714-4109 - Hayden, ID
North Idaho Realtor, Serving Coeur dnullAlene and Hayden Lake

Tom, That sounds very effictive, how much does it cost. Does craigs list work for mid priced and high end properties?

May 30, 2012 11:13 PM
Wayne Jackson
Lakeshore Realty 208-714-4109 - Hayden, ID
North Idaho Realtor, Serving Coeur dnullAlene and Hayden Lake
Tom Wood
Ad Maker Tool & Real Estate Auction Systems - Ballwin, MO

Wayne,

  Not sure why the button isn't working for you.  It may be a browser issue.  Try firefox or IE that should work.  If not send drop me an email through Active Rain contact form and I'll email it to you.  As far as price, we offer a $17 1st month deal if you want to continue after your trial and then it's $47/month after that.  We have limited the licenses by Craigslist area so your ads remain effective.

May 30, 2012 11:33 PM
John Manuwal
Keller Williams Northwest Montana - Kalispell, MT
Kalispell Montana Agent and Photographer

I get about 100 people onto my site a month from Craigslist ads. I just code them myself. Will look into your info more. Thanks

May 31, 2012 01:46 AM
Adrian Willanger
206 909-7536 AdrianWillanger-broker.com - Seattle, WA
Profit from my two decades of experience

Tom, I think Craigslist can be a real opportunity for new business, I'll go back and look at your early post to get a better idea of the concept. Thanks for the post.

May 31, 2012 03:06 AM
Ben Ganje + Partners
Lakes Sotheby's International Realty - Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis Market Leader

Good craigslist ads are all about putting maximum keywords with links to your site in EVERY SINGLE AD to--here's what I do and it get results:

 

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/reb/3048763547.html

May 31, 2012 03:06 AM
Christopher Ohlsen
Credit Werx, LLC. - Malone, NY

Ben - Thanks for sharing that; looks like a nice landing page for CL. Did you code that yourself?

Wayne - I gave the trial a try and I have been generating a good amount of traffic with the basic text ads with links... However, I learned to write HTML 11 years ago... I am not a programmer but I do some light developement, especially WP theme developement. After looking at a few ads generated by the tool I have to say, the output is such simple HTML... Uses the most basic tags. I decided to write a few of my own; made 12 simple HTML templates in notepad and it is actually a lot quicker for me to swap property info and a few characters & tags than it is to use the tool. I've compared analytics and my own are just as effective... That said; it is a great tool for someone with zero experience writing code.

May 31, 2012 04:29 AM
Tom Wood
Ad Maker Tool & Real Estate Auction Systems - Ballwin, MO

Adrian - Yes, using Craiglist is a great equalizer for the person just starting out.  It's definitely a 2-part process.  Posting ads that generate traffic but also having a good "lead capture" system for the traffic to land on.

May 31, 2012 05:11 AM
Brien Berard
Remax Professionals Laurel MD - Laurel, MD
Maryland Real Estate Agents - Laurel Real Estate

It is amazing to hear people say they get 100 visitors a month from CL ads.  I get about three deals a year from CL Ads, but I bet that would go up if I could get a hundred visitors a month from CL.

May 31, 2012 10:40 AM
Donald Reich
Madison Specs - New Rochelle, NY
Cost Segregation Specialist

I get dozens of visitors to my website everyday, from just a few craigslist ads. I'm sure a better strategy would bring me even more.

May 31, 2012 11:08 AM
Laura Cerrano
Feng Shui Manhattan Long Island - Locust Valley, NY
Certified Feng Shui Expert, Speaker & Researcher

I might give this a try... thanks, man! :)

May 31, 2012 12:52 PM
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Andover, MA
Andover, MA: Andover Luxury Homes For Sale

There are some free 'tracker' for Craigslist available. How is this different from them, Tom?

May 31, 2012 03:18 PM
Suzanne McLaughlin
Sabinske & Associates, Inc. (Albertville, St. Michael) - Saint Michael, MN
Sabinske & Associates, Realtor

Thanks.  for the information.  I never use Craigslist anymore.  But, you never know!

May 31, 2012 11:13 PM
Tom Wood
Ad Maker Tool & Real Estate Auction Systems - Ballwin, MO

Donald - Yes - the key is to having a strategy.  It's a fact that with the right ads you can drive traffic from Craigslist to any website you want, how your website converts that traffic is the key to being successful with it.

Praful - Tracking ads is one part of it, the other part is the effort to easily create ads that get noticed and get viewers to click through to your website.  Hope that helps.

May 31, 2012 11:27 PM
Darrin Mills
ERA Advantage Realty - Avon Park Lakes, FL

I am currently testing the system and I think it is GREAT! Definitely a powerful tool if used correctly and consistently. I am sold already.

I have suspected for a long time and this just helps confirm that Google Analytics is not an accurate measurement of website traffic. I have used many other tools and as well as my host's visitor traffic analysis tools. I have never found any two to be close.There are too many browsers out there that are not enabled to support Google Analytic scripts to get an accurate view of traffic. However, by capturing the actually click on the link does.

I notice that your code uses your server to redirect the links therefore allowing you to report to the user how much traffic is going to the website and how many views an ad gets. I believe this is more accurate than trying to figure out how many people are actually landing on a page through server logs.

I say you have done a good job and a good thing by making this available to everyone. I have tried many times to interest active rain agents in projects and efforts with mostly skepticism or excuses why it won't work. It is hard to help people that won't help themselves. I notice reading through the comments that everybody was careful not to directly endorse the product or idea.

I understood the concept immediately and the software couldn't be easier to use. If the user is unable to use this software or be successful with it, they need to go back to newspaper ads.

All that being said, I have two suggestions to improve your product. Add the ability for the user to add classified websites. I post to about four or five classified sites and to different regions within those site. It would be great to track which properties have been posted to these othe sites and regions. Next, add a notes box to each property, to append notes to the property record.

KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK. THIS IS GOOD STUFF HERE. I HOPE EVERYONE WILL TAKE THE TIME TO TRY IT.

Jun 03, 2012 06:34 AM
Darrin Mills
ERA Advantage Realty - Avon Park Lakes, FL

Ben,

Your ad really looks good, but you gave them everything all in one place. You didn't leave anything out. The user has no need to go to your website. They made a decision right there looking at your ad. Get them to your website to see it all. They may decide another one of your listings is exactly what they are looking for if they don't want the one advertised.

 

Jun 03, 2012 06:37 AM