Are Free Classified Ads Sites For Real?

Needless to say, the online classified ads industry is a big industry

. In fact, it fetches in more than a billion dollars per year, more than what the print classified ads industry brings in. This clearly shows a change in the trends today. Now, when it comes to classified ads, people go online primarily, perhaps because it is so much more convenient to go online than to get a newspaper or a magazine for classified ads.

Indeed, it seemed as if classified ads were made for the Internet.

So if the classified ads industry is worth a billion dollars, does this make the existence of free classified ads sites reasonable?

It is not really surprising that many people question the existence of free classified ads sites. And by question, this doesnt mean that people are contending why it is onlineactually, it is the opposite. People cannot believe that there will be free classified ads sites, especially when a website can fetch it a lot of money for ad space. There is definitely a market for it. Why give it for free?

One reason: because of the competition. There are classified websites that offer free ad space for various ad categories and charge for ad space for the others. The most popular example for this is Craigslist, one of the recognized first in the industry (it has been around since 1995). It offers free classified ads space for practically all of its categoriesfrom personals to real estate, and everything in betweenexcept job postings. Here, Craigslist charges a minimal fee.

So in this respect, free classified ads sites can exist because it has other sources of income. In the case of Craigslist, job postings are not exactly the main reason why people visit the site, so the other content helps the website gain prominence in order to maximize its income source. In an interview in 2006, the CEO of Craigslist, Jim Buckmaster, said that it would rather help people with their classified ads needs than maximize income.

Some free classified ads sites, on the other hand, get income through, oddly enough, other ads and premium classified ads posted on the website. For instance, when this technique is employed by a job listing website, the paid ads will appear first, usually in bigger fonts than the ones posted for free. This way, the free classified ads sites can support the free adsand the paid ads and the free ads get maximum mileage.

Therefore, free classified ads sites are indeed realand they are here to stay. More than a decade has passed and the classifieds industry continues to remain strong. People say that one should be wary of things that are too good to be true. Free classified ads sites arent necessarily the exceptions. After all, free classified ads sites have some flaws, and they are more susceptible to frauds and scams than paid sites. Just the same, free classified ads sites can do the job properly. This is all that matters.

by: Micheal Taylor

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