Anyone doing Community Classifieds?

[jds41979]

I am starting a community classifieds in my city and wanted to start a little discussion with those that are attempting the same thing. I have noticed that there is a good potential for this in my city of 50,000. Just like any business starting up it will take time. I have created flyers and taken them to local businesses and I am trying to create business relationships to help get a draw to my site....ie getting with small car dealers and trying to get them to use it. after I can get a few businesses joined and starting to use the site I will spend some money advertising...hopefully in our shopper..and maybe even TV or radio.

[GeoTut]

I am doing the same thing in a city of about 25000 or so. Radio is where i am heading with advertising, especially the ones that Air the local sports games! Good luck with your business!

[myerin]

I'm doing the same thing as the two of you in a town of about 30,000. My site has been up for about three weeks and I have had a good response. I've done no advertising as of yet, I plan on radio and possibly cable. I'll probably start running my ads once I reach the 1,000 registered users mark...hopefully right after Christmas.

Have you been charging from day one? I've given everything away, including the upgrades. I figure once the site is populated, I can turn on the payment gateway.

What other types of income generators do you presently employ on your sites.

Thanks for starting this thread as I am pretty new to the industry and it would be nice to share ideas with others.

Myerin Petersen
http://polktrader.com

[GeoTut]

You'll find that radio has some good responses. Make sure the station you pick targets the correct age group. If you get an oldies station, then you target mostly elderly folks who don't even know that computers exist, let alone how to use them to post things. Go with most popular community station that plays a mix of music. Maybe even pick 15 second ads that fill in around the weather report, everyone likes to hear the weather report! Best of luck to you.

[jds41979]

it has been very slow going...partially because I have not given it the attention it needs (ie work, family, etc). I have slowly added businesses to use my site and link items to their own web page, but still have a long way to go.

I created yard signs for the real estate FSBO it has: HOUSE FOR SALE... VIEW ONLINE AT ABC.COM...LOCAL CLASSIFIEDS...and a blank spot where I put velcro on and then created a cutout of the same shape thats blank and the seller can put their phone number on the rectangle cutout and take it off when done...right now I have given them away...but may sell and offer a buy back program.

[RAS]

OK, in regard to radio advertising, I have to say that I have seen it NOT work more than I have seen it work. I was the #1 salesperson for a hip hop station that the community I was working in hated and also went from the bottom to #1 or #2 depending on the month when I went to another station - local sales if any of you have similar experience. The #1 reason radio does not work for LOCAL advertisers (see mom & pop) is because of the commission model. Radio rep's need to make their numbers. They make them by selling advertising. Since most radio sales people don't last very long, the sale is more important to them as their #1 interest is making their # to keep their manager off their ass. You can figure out the rest.

Most people who buy advertising are mesmerized by the #'s of listeners the station has based on the latest Arbitron ratings. Look at this reach/frequency b.s. Want to know more about your sales rep? Meet with them the day after the Arbitron ratings come out. If their numbers are up, they are joyous and will be dancing in the street. If their numbers are down, they will tell you they had a bad book. That they hear the station playing wherever they go. Clients are getting great results... etc. etc. etc.

If you made it this far, Radio can be the best bang for your advertising dollar. In most cases, your allocation of these dollars (still thinking mom & pop - limited budget here) will not have your sales rep. buying drinks at the end of the day - this is good for the buyer.

Depending on your ad copy etc., the most important thing you need to know is that a customer/client will have to hear your ad several times before they even know who you are or what service you are providing. Not every listener is in the market for your product/service today. But when they do need your product/service, you have to rely on something they call Recency.

In regard to classified ads, most people "Top Of Mind" think Craigslist. How do you get in the game? Not by purchasing as many ads as you can purchase and doing that over 2/3 weeks. You are better to purchase ads in certain time slots over a longer period of time. That way, the listener becomes familiar with your product/service/company. Spot purchases are more expensive this way but will work much better. This is a hard sell. Most radio sales reps hate this model as results are seen over a longer period of time. This is also hard for business owners but it works.

If you go to the town square and yell for 15/30/60 seconds 6 times a day for two weeks, most people will forget about you within two weeks. Take those 84 times and do them once a day for 84 days or twice a day for 42 days, you have a better chance of people who are in the town square at those times (remember people have habits) will remember you. Radio listeners have habits - most do not listen to the radio the entire day and don't stray from this model because they are #1 at work. Same rule applies.

If you have McDonald's budget, then do what they do...

I went on to long and have to run. Excuse lack of editing and perhaps continuity of thought. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

[Festus]

Hi,

I have had good to excellent results with press releases. You write them yourself, so they're free (not counting your time, of course) and they're easier to write than a lot of people think. A basic press release follows a formula and is fairly short (400 words-ish). Look up how to write a press release in a search engine and give it a try. I've been using press releases for a long time and am rarely disappointed.

Best of luck.

[littlerhody]

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[ezimedia]

HI All

Thanks RAS for the detailed Radio ad tips.... this will help us out greatly in the future if we ever do radio ads.

I also rely on seo a lot for my site.. and am thinking of adding more pages with unique content on it about thing going on in my local area... this could help drive local people to my local classified ads site..