Re: Free classified ads

From: Michael Martinez <Michael_at_xenite.org>
Date: Mon 11 Dec 2000 14:33:01 -0500

TERESA WILSON <togoodtobetruelol_at_yahoo.com> WROTE:
> Hi! I just want your response about the free classified
> ads that you can put out there. I am starting a home
> base business and don't have much money to get it going
> so I thought I could use them to get the word out to
> people until I can do something else. I feel it is
> better than nothing.

Yes, they are better than nothing, but that's about all
you can say. I've tried the free classified ads on
occasion but I've found the legitimate classified ads
services are falling by the wayside and are being
replaced either by pyramid-like ad networks (where you
are required to let other members of the network send
you email, thus opening yourself to a torrent of
unwanted promotional email) or by auction sites.
Yahoo! and Excite, for example, both run huge
"classified ad" services which are not classified ads
at all. They are auction services.

I have also run into sites which use Free-For-All
(called FFA) link pages for "classified ads". These
are not legitimate classified ads, either.

A true classified ad service doesn't require you to
sell any merchandise directly, to accept bids, or to
accept email from other classified advertisers. All
the legitimate services do is let you list something
which may or may not include any of the following (Web
site, telephone number, email address) for a period of
time ranging from 1 day to a few weeks.

But I've never been sure many people actually browsed
the classified ads Web sites anyway. I don't recall
getting much if any traffic off of them. I would
guess this model just hasn't translated well to the
Web, so you'll need to look for other ways of
promoting your home-based business. That includes
search engine positioning and writing articles for
ezines.

And I might as well toss out that I've been looking for
resources which help you place ads in ezines, in part
because people keep asking for them on this list. I
haven't found any yet. All the services I've looked at
either offer you the means to create your own ezine or
simply offer to rent you lists of what they call
"opt-in addresses" so you can send out your own
mass-mailings. One site I found claimed to have a list
of several hundred ezines where you could buy ads but
you had to purchase their book and software to get the
list. And I didn't buy.

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Received on Mon Dec 11 2000 - 13:33:01 CST