Is as useless as trying to get apple juice from an orange.
Sorry, just needed to vent that.
Anyone actually have a success story from the kingdom of Spamalot?
Perhaps you’re just going about it the wrong way.
I’ve gotten a few jobs from simple CL postings. Since they are free and require about 5 minutes to post the ROI for me has been great.
This may be in the wrong forum, or is the mention of Craigslist offensive?
Im with ya man! Every time I post, someone flags me!!! [SIZE=“7”]EVERY TIME[/SIZE] I dont know why but I am pretty sure its other window cleaners.
I got one customer from Craigslist ONE. You got bucket bobs (at least in my area) talkin about 1 buck a window and that anyone else who cahrges (yes thats how bob spells too) more is ripping the public off.
Plus not to mention there is another guy with just about the same company name as mine and this guy actually LOST jobs because he’s trying to tell his customers how to be saved by Jesus!
I cant wait until this economy gets better so these guys can go get a job and leave this stuff to us.
I use Craigslist and Backpage for SEO reasons. I got one job from craigslist. A guy in Texas found me to clean his Mothers house.
I got calls from several yellow page sales reps from my craigslist add.
Ambulance chasers…lol:p
I get responses all the time. But the key to success is location i think…from reading some of these posts. if you have lots of competiiton in your area…its going to be tough. but the no brainer is…its FREE.
I post there around once a month or whenever I think about it. I usually land at least one job. I look at the other guys ads and they are usually way cheaper and list around 2 dozen services they offer. I don’t land $300-$400 jobs from there but I usually will get a $200-$250. Comes in handy to fill out the week.
Hey, never dismiss free advertising.
The odd time my post will be flagged. I’m sure it’s the competition. One of those guys who posts his ads like 10 times a day. Talk about desperate.
I posted once on CL back in the winter and am still getting emails from opportunists who think I’d like to get into some other business. Not a single inquiry from a prospective customer. I have been getting emails from Offshore Savings Solutions for paid leads. That’s the closest to a hint of success I’ve had.
I’m curious how those who did get jobs posted their ads.
I use a lot of different forms of advertising and Craigslist is one of the tools that I use. I can’t turn down free advertising. I use it for branding as well. There are a lot of eyes that look through those craigslist ads. There are a few keys to a successful Craigslist campaign.
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You need to make your ad DIFFERENT from the majority of other ads. You do this by using HTML coding in your ad, use pictures and add your logo to the ad. HTML is pretty easy to learn how to change font color and size. Learn how to center everything and add pictures through Photobucket.com. It automatically will generate HTML tags for your pictures.
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Use craigslist-poster.com to automatically post your ad every 48 hours for you. It costs 1 dollar per posting. That’s 15 dollars per month and that’s pretty darn cheap in my opinion. The trick with Craigslist is you constantly need to refresh your ad to the top of the list and this is how you do it.
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I usually put two links to my website in my Craigslist ad. Both at the top and the bottom of the ad. This is good for generating a lot of traffic to your site. Use google analytics to see where you are getting all of your referred traffic from. I get around 20 to 30 referrals from Craigslist per day to my website.
I have tried Craigslist, and nothing good has ever come of it. Especially when you see ads like this:
March Special *** FREE WINDOW CLEANING! *** 3 hour value performed right away.
• Licensed & Insured
• Household Cleaning PLUS Carpets, Appliances, Windows & More!
• Why Pay More For These Services Individually?
• Get Everything Done For Minimal Cost
• Experienced, Detail Oriented Cleaners
• We Clean To You Specifications, Not A Quick Expensive Corporate Checklist
• Long-Term Friendly Employees
• No Contracts
• Get your whole house cleaned for $79.95
March Specials:
• Obtain A Free Clean With Our Service
• March is Window Month! We Will Clean Your Windows & Mirrors For Free with Our Service.
• That’s A Total of 6 Hours of Cleaning – FREE
:eek:Now thats exactly what we deal with over here, just take that price down 20 or 30 bucks and there you go, San Diego Cuckoolist.com.
Yeah, you may get traffic to your site, but I have a really hard time believing that the professional looks on craigslist to get his windows cleaned.
Yeah - it’s always low ballers or penny pinchers cruising on craigs list. I had a talk with a guy once, who I quoted him $150 to clean his windows, based on his window count (which was sort of low as I figured CL shopper). He told me the last guy did them for $100 and wanted me to match that price. I asked him why he doesn’t just call up his last guy if he did such good work at low prices. His response was - “well, he doesn’t do it anymore.” I told him that it’s no surprise based on the lowball rate. Needless to say I’m not cleaning this guys windows…hahaha
I love the part of the ad about 6 FREE hours of cleaning…lol
Hi I’m Shawn, and I will work all day for FREE!!! So you can make your zero dollar check out to…
I’ve only found craigs list to be helpful one time. Our severe snow we had 2 years ago. I had to figure it out fast too.
So much snow roofs started caving in so we become professional snow removal overnight. For about 2 str8 weeks. First was finding the customers quickly. I have a pretty big base so calling them all in the state of emergency we were in wasn’t an option.
I ended up stumbling across the idea. I called roofing company’s, snow plowing and a couple other businesses and they all were booked out. No one was available but they were still getting calls and turning people away. I gave the pitch “In the state of Emergency we’re in, my window cleaning is now doing snow removal. If you have any customers please don’t turn them away, send them my way” I made appx 20 of these calls.
Now all of sudden I had so many calls the 4 crews I had set up couldn’t keep up. Where on earth am I going to find workers. DING DING DING Thank you craigs list.
I ended up making more money subbing out than I did with my own crews.
I guess I will never understand the hostility towards
a completely free way to advertise.
I have got TONS of work over the years off of
craigslist… with TONS of competition.
One thing some of you need to realize is most
of the ads are horrible. They are either WRITTEN
USING ALL CAPS, misspelled or come off as shady.
We look at the other guys competitively rather than
how the prospect is looking at them.
Having a website alone increases response as it helps
build trust.
I never put my email in my ads (and no one should). I
leave my number and my link, along with the promo
I am having.
If it is not working for any of you perhaps you need to
take a good look at what your ad really is saying.
or rant about it here…
+1
Finished one today from craigslist. Defiantly worth the time.
