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I was skeptical of advertising on craigslist, but after two weeks and 2 jobs i am a believer. I had my web designer put together an ad for me. It cost me $54 and for the design and I could not be happier with the cost of craigslist (free) I post it every Tuesday. The best part is that it comes up on organic searches very high top 5 in most cases. Heart is the link to what the add actually looks like. When I post it it is just a long code.
Greg:
Thanks for sharing; like your ad!
Greg,
Are you still posting on Craig’s list? Is it still working out well? I looked online at Sacramento craigs site and I didn’t find a listing for you on Tuesday (doesn’t mean it’s not there). Also, read a couple ads and saw this for a competitor:We also do carpet cleaning!!!
**FALL SPECIAL**
*Free Carpet/Fabric Protector On All Cleanings*
CARPET:
$99.00 for up to 990 sq ft. Fast Drying.
* Free Spot & Traffic Lane Treatments *
UPHOLSTERY:
$99.00 Couch & Loveseat. Fast Drying.
* Includes Spot Prespray, Hand Shampoo, & Hot Water Extraction *Really???? $.10/sq ft? $99 for a couch AND loveseat? Free protectant? Wow. This company will not be around long. This leads me to my question for any and all. Craig’s list is free and I would like to start using it. How bad are the price shoppers on it? Seems like everyone on there is dirt cheap if they are advertising prices. Also, I have had another idea with Craig’s list. Seeing as how, like many of you, my slow time is just around the corner (jan, feb), I hate having days where I have no jobs at all, especially when I have an employee on payroll. Unfortunately, this sometimes happens in the slow months. We all know that sometimes you can spend a ton of money during the slow time and not get any ROI. Has anyone ever tried a “X% discount this day only” type thing, especially on a site that’s free? I was thinking if I gave a discount only on a day when I have no other jobs scheduled, what am I losing? Have us clean that day and get a discount. Once again, that day only. I am still examining this idea as I don’t want it to come back and bite me some how.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Dave,
I would like to remind everyone what I do in my slow Jan & Feb.
I send out nearly 2000 post cards (listed on the advertising section) offering 25% off to most of my current customers (we weed out the scuzballs). I am proud to brag of our $10,000 Jan and $17,000 Feb this year. The cost of sending these out is fairly low, I’m guessing around $500 in postage and another $200 for cards and ink. We make the processing a family affair during Christmas break, in fact, my father-in-law helped one year.
I may shake things up a bit this year by offering 25% in Jan., 20% in Feb., 15% in March and 0% the remainder of the year.
Brian,
I send out about 700 postcards in Dec to my good customers offering $25 off, and give them (3) $20 off coupons to give to friends. Expiration date of 3/31, although if I’ve cleaned for them in Nov or before I send them out in Dec, I extend the expiration to 5/31. Still, I’d like to be busier as they are still slow months for me even with people using these. A lot of the calls I get in these months are low dollar jobs too. Spot cleans. That’s why I’m wondering about craigslist.
I think Craigslist, Kijiji or any other free advertising sites are a good idea.
And I think that it is important to remain consistant with all advertising.
It can send mixed messages if we use the quality approach some times and a discount approach other times.Craigslist from what I’ve been told has worked well to find employees.
I’ve not heard concerning advertising for customers.
We use craigs list from time to time. It’s nothing to get excited about for us. I think the most we book was 5 jobs off 1 listing then the rest of the time 1 job if lucky. But for a free listing and 5 minutes time posting you can’t beat it. The hits we get usually don’t mind the price we state. They are comparable to the phone book customers.
Mike
i use craig’s list a lot to find deals. i’m afraid to post ads on this site because of other cheap ads quoting prices. i would be curious to know if a good ad like greg has is a better eye opener for customers vs. something in only text.
greg, did you try craig’s list without your ad? if so, did it work?
Craigslist will never be a stand on its own campaign. What I like about it is the way google reads craiglist. I have not perfected it, but from time to time when you are searching for a carpet cleaner in my area My craigslist ad shows up in the top 5 organic (free) This is why I paid to have an ad built that looks professional. For me it is all about the branding of the name, and logo. My ad is saved on my computer. All I do is cut and paste every week. It take about 2 min and it is free. We have only booked a 5-8 jobs off it, but that was a few jobs that we would not have booked otherwise. Don’t feel that you need to get into the $14.95 a room game it still works for us and we charge regular prices
greg,
thanks for the reply. point well taken!do you have a copy of your ad in which you can attach to an email? if so, i would love to see it and possibly integrate that flyer into my business if you would not mind.
let me know when you have a moment.
That’s a nice looking ad!!!!
Hear is a copy of the ad. I did not create it my web designer did her name is michele and she is very resonable. I think that I only paid $50 to have her make this for me. She took our exsisting landing page and modified it for me. I open up the attatchment copy and paste into craigslist once a week. I only have to fill out the first part of the craigslist form about discription and location.
If you are interested she can be reached at micheleswebdesign@gmail.com
She is very nice and easy to work with but forget talking to her live. In two years I only talked to her once., and that was after repeated requests. The rest was email. I can’t tell you how much she would charge you do to the fact I have spent thousands of dollars with her on multiple web sites, and she gives me a lot of freebies. on
Heaven’s Best Carpet Cleaning Service(916) 987-8368 – (530) 677-1141
Heaven’s Best Carpet Cleaning Service
(916) 987-8368 – (530) 677-1141
Greg I got a flyer made up very similar to yours. I got it to upload on CL but then it looks way to small. How do you get yours to come up like a full size sheet?
Thanks!
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