The internet classified advertising landscape has undergone significant changes in recent years. Just two years ago, it was a thriving platform, generating thousands of dollars in affiliate program sales through free internet classifieds and Free For All (FFA) links pages. However, the effectiveness of these platforms has drastically declined due to the abuse by auto-submitters. Despite this, classified advertising is far from dead. The key to successful online classified advertising lies in leveraging search engines to find high-traffic sites that offer low-cost classified advertising.
Free classifieds and FFA's were once a hotbed for generating sales. However, their effectiveness has plummeted by nearly 99.9% due to the abuse by auto-submitters. These programs post to thousands of free classified ad sites and FFA's, usually for a fee. The issue with these services is the oversaturation of ads, coupled with the fact that they rarely post an ad to any sites which receive the targeted traffic businesses are looking for. The question then arises: is it more beneficial to post thousands of ads to sites that no one visits, or to post a few ads to sites that receive quality, targeted traffic?
Contrary to popular belief, classified advertising is not dead. The secret to effective online classified advertising is not a secret at all, but rather a matter of common sense. As of March 2001, almost 90% of internet users found the sites they were looking for through the use of search engines.
You might be wondering, "What does search engine usage have to do with classified advertising?" The answer is simple. Search engines not only direct targeted traffic to the sites listed within them, but they can also be your best tool to find high-traffic sites that offer low-cost classified advertising. These sites can provide the traffic you're looking for and the targeted customers you need to make sales.
Here's how you can leverage search engines:
Let's say you're a member of a network marketing company or a similar home business and you want to drive traffic to your referral website. You could search for phrases like "work at home" or "work from home" on major search engines. The top site for both Google and Yahoo for the phrase "work at home" is a popular site called "Work at Home Moms" (wahm.com). This site offers low-cost classified advertising and can send more than 100 unique visitors a day to your site.
In conclusion, if you need some relatively cheap, targeted traffic to your site, give online classifieds a try. You won't be disappointed!
