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Sites like Craigslist can be an invaluable tool for real estate professionals and other small businesses. Not only is it free to post listings on Craigslist, but many people regularly check Craigslist – often even before other real estate listing sites.
The only drawback to Craigslist of course is that the ads are pretty plain and most of them tend to get lost in the shuffle. But there is a way to give your Craigslist ads some pizazz and make them get noticed better – and hopefully bring more calls to you.
One thing many people don’t realize is that you can format your ads in Craigslist using html code. However, most of us are not exactly html experts, so formatting an ad in html by scratch can prove to be difficult. Fortunately, there are a variety of options you can choose:
1. Use a Web Based WYSIWYG HTML Editor: There are plenty of online WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors online. Basically they allow you to format the font, size, alignment, styles, and colors of text. They can also allow you to insert images, though you will have to host the images somewhere else on free image hosting sites such as PhotoBucket and others. Then all you need to do is simply view the source code and copy and paste.
Here are a few of my favorite online WYSIWYG editors:
Online HTML Editor
FCKeditor.net
2. Craigslist Ad Creators: Not surprisingly, there are several sites that offer free templates to use to make your own Craigslist ads. Some are free, others are free to try but have a low monthly membership fee.
Here are a few Craigslist Ad Creator Sites You Can Try:
Craigslist Ad Maker
VFlyer.com
Postlets
3. Design an Image: If you’d rather design something from scratch and have access to software such as Microsoft Publisher, Macromedia Fireworks, or Photoshop, you can design the ad any way you’d like and then save the ad as an image. Then, use html code to insert the picture into the Craigslist ad posting box.
Know of any other Craigslist Ad Creators that can help make your property listings on Craigslist stand out? Share them in the comments below.
18 Comments
Great advice. I’ve actually done some CraigsList posting for my dad, who operates a professional service business, and at first (a year or so ago) I only posted textual info with poor results; but late last year I began using an image ad, along with text, and he now receives several referrals to his website from each post.
I completely agree with your post. I think that craigslist is a great way to advertise but it needs to stand out. This is a great piece of advice for sure.
That is correct that Craigslist is the only player left in the game today. That is the topmost media through which we can get some exposure for our apartments. No one really checks the other classified websites. Posting anywhere except craigslist is waste of time and energy these days. So we can say that changing economical conditions affected realtors very badly. Realtors are desperate to make the deal and close that deal without any problems. Because even we think that ok this deal is working so it should happen, but we just think that the deal seems to be not working out. So thanks to you for sharing the links now we can advertise our apartments with more features.
Regards,
Michael McLaughlin, Cary real estate
Thanks for that great information! I’m going to try this and track the results.
Great ideas on making your ads stand out. I think Craigslist can be a real gold mine for those who know how to use it.
Hi Chelle,
great post. I’ve been marketing my luxury listings in Golden and Evergreen on Craigslist for a while and using a veriety of services to produce the ad. I’ve usedthe #1 Expert craigslist patch and the Realbird.com patch– both of which make the post quickly (#1 expert is fastest) but I haven’t found anything that looks better than Postlets!
-Bob
Great information, thank you for sharing it!
I also find a good ad creator site while checking these out,
try this, too
gogopin
http://ad.gogopin.com/
This program is being filtered by Craigslist and will no longer work.If anyone knows of anything that currently works please let me know. and likewise. Thanks
@Stephen, Which program?
I’m now using postlet – the listings look slick and are easy to post to Craigslist and elsewhere. Thank you for the recommendation!
I found a great site that makes HTML based ads for craigslsit and ebay and backpage all for free. You can only upload 5 pics for the ad, but it’s free and the templates are pretty good looking. You can even track your ad exposure.
http://www.slipdex.com
Jason
I am trying to move from the text ads to image ads, but in the “services” section of Craig’s List there is no option to “add a photo”. How does everyone have images in those sections?? Please help, I am new to all of this!
@ Suzanne — try that site I listed! http://www.slipdex.com You can make an ad on that site and upload your picks. I think they only have one services related template, but still worth it!
Jason
I have gone to FCKeditor to create the HTML code for my Craigslist ad—why is the image not showing in the final ad on Craigslist? What’s the point if the image shows up as a box with an X in the middle….any suggestions?
craigslist is very strict nowadays when it comes to job postings. especially in RI
I just love the extractor. It make your ads pop.
I have been using a site that creates some pretty nice looking ads for Free. It doesn’t require you to sign up for an account and it allows you to bulk upload your pictures and re-arrange them in the order you want them to appear. As the website name implies the ads are quite easy to make…
http://www.SimpleAdMaker.com
-Jeff
You have to enter your ad into Craigslist as html – that’s why the editors can be pretty useful if you’re unsure of writing basic html for links or images.
If you are getting an x instead of an image, that usually means the link for the photo is typed in wrong. Make sure you are using the http: prefix beforehand.
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