At the end of 2001, a report issued by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Interactive Advertising Bureau revealed that while the majority of online advertising was in the doldrums, online classified advertising leapt from 7 to 16% of ad spending. The continued growth in online classified ads today is also driving the spurt in traffic that many online newspapers are seeing. This growth can be attributed to a number of factors, many of which mirror off-line classified ad counterparts.
Classified ads, as an ad model, are tried-and-true. They are cheap, easy to produce, can be targeted, and are utilized by the everyday individual. Most of us have paged through a newspaper’s classified ad section at one time or another looking for everything from pets to cars. But will classified ads translate successfully to the Web? Online classified ads DO work, primarily because, like off-line classifieds, people can find relevant content in front of them when they are looking for it. Search engine advertising works much the same way, which is why it too has proved to be so successful.
Online classified advertising enjoys two major advantages over most other forms of online advertising: cost and ease of production. You don’t have to be a deep-pocketed, Web sophisticate in order to take advantage of online classified advertising.
Costs
Online classified ads are cheap and becoming available on more and more types and sizes of websites. Many sites offer classified ads for only a few dollars a month, and prices range depending upon the size of the site. A smaller site such as Biz.com charges $3.00 per month, while mega-portal Yahoo charges $15-$25 per month. Like any other advertising opportunity, it pays to shop around for 1) the best deal and 2) the most targeted location. Try to ascertain the site’s traffic levels at their classified ad sections so you can better ensure your ad’s exposure (one good indicator is the number of classifieds on a site — a few ads likely means that the site receives poor traffic).
Production
Online classified ads are the simplest of all ads to produce. There is no need for a designer, no long email to write - just a few words describing the item for sale. All of the sites that accept classified ads have a simple entry system by which you pay the modest fee and submit the ad. Whereas many online advertisers spend considerable sums of money in the production and placement of ads, online classified advertising makes the process easy. Of course, it helps to write your ad well using as few words as possible.
Major Classified Ad Sites
If you are considering a classified ad there are a number of major classified ad sites. These include:
- Stuff Trader - new but growing online directory of classifieds with photos.
- Recycler - with over 300 categories of classified ads, this ranks as one of the largest classified ad sites on the Web.
- @InterMall - another big directory of online classifieds - one ad only costs $99 for the year.
- Buy Below Cost - slightly different than the above in that it offers free ads.
If you have only a limited budget, online classified advertising may be an effective solution for you. And for those of you with ad budgets to blow, classified ads might be a great spit-in-the-bucket placement to test, too!
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