If you interested in online business like me, you might already noticed that one of the best things offered on the Net is free stuffs.
Many, if not most, online businesses today offer free products and services – either meant to attract customers, membership sign ups, or simply just that – free service for everyone.
Online Business offering free services – Always here to stay
The typical (and very lucrative!) business model on the Net today is to offer free services with the aim to attract a large number of visitors to your websites. When the time comes, the generated buzz and traffic are utilised to attract advertisers. If you wonder where all the online businesses offering free services get the revenue from, the answer is from the advertisers (some from premium services offered to members). The example of this type of online business is Facebook and AdBrite.
Another typical business model with the similar concept is to offer free services while growing the real assets of the business – subscribers, members, and the community. The end line, eventually, the business is meant to be sold to the blue chip companies – Google, Yahoo!, or the likes. The example of this type of online business is Feedburner and Blogger, both acquired by Google.
Free classified ads business – Lucrative?
The fore-father of all free classified ads online business is, of course, Craiglist.
Offering free listing for all, Craiglist is meant to be buzzed and heavily trafficked website. While no advertisement on sight, Craiglist does offer a listing for a fee for ads in certain region.
Similar to Craiglist of US, there is Gumtree, one of eBay’s classified ads sites.
Together with Kijiji, another classified ads sites owned by eBay, Gumtree are plotted to takeover the Net classified ads business.
Gumtree is already the top classified ads sites in several countries, including UK and Australia.
As an e.g., you can view job classifieds in Gumtree Australia. In Gumtree Sydney alone, there are almost 110,000 ads listed site-wide, where almost 19,000 of them is job classifieds.
How to run a successful free classified ads business
It is certainly not an easy job to contend those big guys, although possible.
Just like other online business, if you don’t have the adequate financial backings, you may want to consider bootstrap your free classified ads startup.
Classified ads software scripts are available, both free and paid. If you are not a techie yourself, hire one to install the script. Again, if you are not a web designer/developer yourself, consider having your classified ads project outsourced.
In my opinion, the key in running a successful free classified ads site is timing, ease of use and simplicity. Delay monetising your classified ads, and focus to the core business value – free for everyone.
Are you currently running a classified ads site or thinking about starting one? Please share your story by commenting to this post.
Ivan Widjaya
Free classified ads
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nice blog… very informative..
God Bless!
Hi,
Thanks for commenting! :)
This blog is exactly on the point and this what we are trying to do at Infozeal Inc with AdsGlobe.com.
Way to go.
Karen,
I’ve visited your classified ad site – very good, indeed.
Cheers!
There’s so many free classified sites out there. I think the key is to specialize in a very specific area, such as pets, autos, etc.
Jason,
I agree – specialisation is key :)
This is a very good post especially for newbies like me.iam developing a new local business site and am looking for blogger compatible program to run a local classified ad site. Any one with help can email me.
Charles,
You can certainly use WordPress, as it is well developed, not only as blogging platform but as a CMS, that may include the use of it as a classified ad site. Just Google “classified ad wordpress” and you’ll see those offering such mod ;)
Yes,there are so many classified ads websites and these sites are very helpful for me to do online business.I am running a business and i post my products ad in free classified sites.I have paid nothing for that.And your blog about online business is so good and helpful for all business man.thanks
I’ve been looking for a free classified ads and thanks for your effort on posting this kind of article. Just keep on updating your post and surely many of us want this.
Hi,
I have designed (Installed a script) a classified ad web site. I’m close to launching it but before I do I would like to exchange information and ideas with some of you here. Any feedback you could give me about my site is appreciated?
Thanks
Mile,
IMO, script/design is one thing, but getting the word out is a different thing. Focus on getting the script to run as intended, and focus on promotion.
Hi guys, I have to agree, if you offer your site free until you reach a point where people come to your site and see that there are other people using your site you have a better chance of making a successful classified website. If you are on a small budget then start out with a cheap script then if you can make enough money get a custom one.
Hi guys.After building a classified ads site, what is the best way to get people to start visiting and also posting stuffs. Is there a growth pattern yo classified ads sites? Thanks.
erhny,
The best thing is to announce your classified ads site to forums in your target niche. If your classified site is a general one, you can start from webmaster forums and social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. You can also try to promote to other classified ads.
If you have more resources, announcing via press releases can works wonder. You can also try advertising program, such as Google AdWords, but that could be costly.
I hope this can help you.