Apart from the obvious benefit of free advertising, many businesses are still under utilising free advertising sites as a means of creating more exposure and higher visibility.
Since classifieds have such an array of content constantly updated, well-optimised sites do particularly well in search engine positioning.
Therefore businesses that use free classifieds sites often beat the ranks of competitors simply by placing an advert.
To benefit from the advert try to use it as a sales tool. It should have a dynamic strap line or title with targeted keywords to draw the customer in.
Keywords will also help for search results and can easily be found on free keyword tools such as the one offered by Google. Keywords should also be exploited in the title text. Classifieds such as YapYapOK incorporate the title in the URL, enhancing the meta data of the ad and sending it out to Twitter creating further massive exposure to the product/service advertised both as micro blogs and as subscribed RSS feeds.
Try to use industry buzzwords in the body of the advert to generate excitement with the reader. Buzzwords can be easily found on Google for many given industries.
The real estate industry are great at getting potential buyers to view property with buzzwords or descriptive phrases such as “cosy” and “charming” being actually used to describe some of the least attractive attributes of property. Cosy often refers to small, charming is usually descriptive of older style properties with the issues that they encumber. These buzzwords help agents get potential buyers in through the front door, thus increasing the odds of a sale.
Every advert should have the unique selling points in bold particularly if there is a long description. Break the text up with headed paragraphs or bullet points so that the reader can easily spot what they are looking for. Try to summarise at the TOP of the advert so that they can see the attributes or USPs. A more detailed description should follow for those needing to know the finer detail.
If the classifieds enables photo publication then use it, sometimes you can post multiple pictures. A picture says a thousand words and is easy for the customer to digest and identify.
If, as in the case of YapYapOK Free Classifieds you can embed a video link, then implement it. Video is an excellent sales tool for demonstrating products or running infomercials. It catches the eye and increases the odds of a sale
The dynamics of ad placing should be as if you were placing a paid advert where the body of the ad is of primary importance, just because its free does is not an excuse to create a mediocre advert that does not justify the product or service offered. Remember time is a precious resource too, so save it, spend a little longer producing a quality advert which can be republished time after time creating a permanent presence on the world wide web.