Online Marketing with Classified Ads

by Oliver Ewbank on 16th March 2011

Promoting a business with classified ads is an excellent way to reach your local market, generate visibility and sales. However there is another potential SEO benefit, with the ability to link to a site through your advertisement.

Posting your product or service on a classified ads site is a very useful way to market to your local community. Ideal for a small company, the process is painless, free and very quick to complete. Simply describe your business and promote your offer.

The majority of classified ads are free to post and can often result in a search engine listing. Is this the only benefit? There are a few classified sites which allow you to leave a link back to your site (followed may I add). This will help boost your link profile and stream relevant traffic. If you construct your ad properly the content will be relevant helping search engines understand the context of your domain.

Personal Training Ad on Gumtree

There are hundreds of classified ad sites available to use – below are the pick of the bunch. Some will allow you to include links back to your site.

1.       www.gumtree.com

2.       www.craigslist.co.uk

3.       www.classifieds.co.uk

4.       www.ukclassifieds.co.uk

5.       www.hoobly.com

6.       www.backpage.com

7.       www.oodle.co.uk

8.       www.loot.com

9.       www.vivastreet.co.uk

10.    www.friday-ad.co.uk

Ideal for a service like a personal trainer you can post an ad and get a link back to your site. The majority of ads expire after 90 days but most sites suggest a re-post after a week.  This form of advertising is a worthwhile activity as part of your overall online marketing strategy. The benefits are threefold; a classified ad can reach your target audience, achieve a search engine ranking and grow your link profile.