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We can no longer turn to the list of Craig for small business ads. Every business struggles sooner or later, but if your entire reputation is built around being the free alternative, you better count on losing all of your customers when you start charging. I just hope Craigslist is ready to build from the ground up again.
In response to this terrible news, I encourage thee to feel free to advertise your products/services in the comment section. When I find, or make, an alternative that is both free to post and regional (in my case that would be the US) I will share it here and everywhere. Maybe even on Craigslist. That would be worth paying for.
Yes I already know major cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles have always been charged to post on Craigslist for things like job ads, but why didn’t someone in the company come up with the idea to make sponsored posts instead of charging every person who posts? Greed maybe? Desperation perhaps? Experimentation? If it is, was it worth it?
To wrap things up, remember that everything changes in a blink of an eye and there’s no way to go back; only forward. Everyone’s favorite online classified ad website is now on its way to an early grave unless they realize their mistakes fast. Hopefully there are already online alternatives for everyone’s region. Please share what you find.
$5 might not seem like much to ask for a post to a website, but self-employed people and small businesses post multiple times per month, some daily. The performance of these classified ads is extremely low in comparison to the costs when you take into consideration the number of ads your ad will compete with, the limitations of how much is shown on a person’s screen, the divided retention rates for each subcategory and uniformity of each ad. If we wanted to pay for an ad, we would go to Google, Facebook, Twitter or an ad network.
Here’s an actual idea, Craigslist. Let us post once per day for free on any account. Charge us to upgrade our limited free membership to a $5 membership to remove the limitations. Then maybe try the sponsored ad thing I mentioned earlier. Whatever it takes to keep your reputation.