An Often-Overlooked Resource To Help Grow Your Business
The lowly classifieds...
Just as there is different footwear for certain terrain or clothing for different seasons, so too are there different flavors among classified sites. Most are the more commonly referenced "general merchandise" sites and then there are others that specialize in segments and niches. We will (very) briefly explain why you should view classified advertising in a completely new light and how to effectively reach your target audience with little to no expense.
As a business owner or manager you must differentiate your marketing directives between business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2C). Very seldom is any business successful in marketing or creating a brand in both segments, so even though you may serve both it is best to identify your stronger market before proceeding with any advertising. Success is realized with consistency and frequency.
Here is why you must consider classified advertising to grow your business:
- Classified advertising provides direct, measurable advertising in your market.
- It provides a good platform for beta testing products and services before launch.
- Well-structured classifieds are optimized for indexing. This means that search engines will crawl your ad and display during searches relative to your ad copy. This provides a lot more exposure for your ad than simply posting it on the original classified site.
- Established and (again) well-structured sites have a high domain authority; this provides you the opportunity to create a backlink to your site and increase your domain authority as well, which in turn helps to improve your page ranking in the search engines.
- Finally, most are free to use. Why you ask? Because they generate lots of traffic and are able to sell third-party ad space to subsidize costs and hopefully make a bit of a profit.
Below is just a small sampling of what is on the Net. Most are free to advertise and search. Some specialize in market segments, some are niche specialized and some geographically targeted. To reiterate the above, to be successful with this medium you must first decide and commit on a market segment in which to advertise and then be consistent with your message with frequency. It may take a little time initially but the potential dividends are substantial.
