If you want to advertise your business, your services or hire some paid help, you probably want to use classified services. You don’t have to necessarily take out an ad in the paper and pay for it (although that isn’t a bad idea!) There are some free ad sites that will let you post your ad and get word out that you have something you want or something you need. Here are a few options:
Craigslist
Craigslist is free and has some great features including the fact that you can decide how you want people to apply for or respond to the advertisement. You can put your information or have replies come to an online Craigslist address that you have access to. You could also simply refer to your URL and disable replies to the posting.
Kijiji
Kijiji is owned by the eBay folks and is a great classifieds website that allows you to post free classified ads. One of the great things about Kijiji is that you can also post photos unlike Craigslist so this site really lets you jazz up your ads to make them more appealing to viewers.
USFreeads
USFreeads has been around for nearly ten years and can be a great place to get high traffic.
Online Forums
Look at online community forums in your niche. Many will have buy, sell or trade sections that you can post in for free. Some sites have premium ads available that you can buy but you can find plenty of free online classifieds ad places to take advantage of. Forum posting also has the potential of getting indexed for SEO value so consider posting ads in your signature section of your forum profile as well as individual posts.
There are plenty of places to get free advertising online. Social marketing is a great way to do so as well. We’ll explore a lot of social networking sites in the days to come on seanseo.com as well.
About Sean Rasmussen
Thanks! Thought you might also want to know about a website that I run called Listasaurus.com, and instead of just free ads, we’re the first online classifieds site to pay users simply for listing their ads…so while recycling your old items or listing your cars, real estate, etc for sale, you can get paid to do it!
We also recently added video classifieds to our features, which is a wonderful way to show detail to showcase your product or service. We’re one of the first sites to include the video option.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for your comment and contribution, Melanie. The more resources we have for self-promotion, the better. I agree with your comments about video marketing.
Hi, I Think the best free classifieds out there is
http://www.porkypost.com
Thanks for sharing, Alex
There’s a much more comprehensive list of free classified sites at http://www.freeclassifiedsites.net. Thought you’d like to know.
Thanks Jason!
Thanks Jason! Looks like a great list.
Thank you for this list. I noticed that users add their favorite classifieds site in the comments section, so I thought I could do that too.
My favorite classifieds site is http://www.locanto.com/ because it has a simple, easy to follow structure and is not overfloated with spam.
I can see I will be spending a fair bit of time checking out all the great ad site recommendations on here – thanks for this one. I like the idea of a classifieds being simple.
Hi guys,
I don’t have a favorite classified site yet, but I will definitely give the ones you list here a try! Thanks for the info.
Hi Sean,
I haven’t actually tried any of those classified sites. The only one I’ve heard of is Craigslist but I’ll have to give the others a try sometime soon.
Have you had any success with Craigslist Jazz? I wouldn’t mind some guidance on using it sometime.
Your list looks very interesting Jason
Hi Gee,
Yes, it’s seem very comprehensive.
Thankyou for sharing Jason – a very handy list, and useful to have both brief descriptions of the sites and the relevant pageranks. I’ll definitely be referring back to it when I start on my classified advertising strategies.
I’ve used kijiji.ca occasionally and have found it useful. One nice feature is the ability to purchase a Top Ad space of Bump Up position of a nominal fee. Both of these services allow your ad to stay near the top of the first page in the category you’re using. These features would be useful if your ad incorporated a link.
I’m probably dumb, but I have never been able to use Craigslist as it never seems to have a suitable category. Having said that, it is a while since I checked, so it’s worth re-visiting.
I have used the freebie section of AdLand Pro and seen a reasonable amount of visits, but the USfreeads looks to be a good thing to check out.
While I was writing this I hooked up with kijiji to see what was what. Then decided to put in an ad – but they only serve the US – so I guess I now live in LA!
What I do like about it is the lonks then to Twitter and FB
Thankyou so much to Sean for the sites he suggested and also to other contributors who have added to the list. I have just bookmarked all these and this is on the list of thinhgs to do – and is up the top! To be successful you need to be able to take any opportunity that you are offered and that is suggested!
Hi Sean,
I’m like a kid in a lolly shop with all these Free Places to put a Classified Ad online. I have had a bit to do with Craigs List but not any of the others mentioned.
Your article has highlighted the fact that we have many places to list an online ad for free.
I am really amazed at the response this post has attracted and all the additional links that people have posted.
I have never thought about looking at classifieds on the internet. I usually go to eBay.
I have copied these links and will have a good look at them. The fact that they are free is even better.
thanks for the list and advice guys, happy hunting to you all.
Craigslist has been the best so far, especially when you get to use html to design the page yourself, and create the design that suit your business well.