5 Hot Tips To Increase Traffic Using Free Ads

Unless you are completely new to the internet, the odds are pretty good that you are familiar with a free ad site or two. While Craigslist gets the most attention, there are plenty out there to help get your name out there when trying to promote your business. Here are a few more...

1. Kijiji
2. Backpage
3. Gumtree
4. Yahoo Classifieds
5. Recycler (L.A. area ads)
6. OLX

There are many others as well, but these the sites that are currently getting the most traffic. While it can be time consuming, posting ads to these sites is free, which is an important word when starting an online business.

Posting to these sites is only half the battle; now, you must find a way to sell them on what you are offering. The following 5 tips are essential when creating an ad that will either make the viewer click on it or move on.

1. Create a headline that stirs up emotion and screams for attention - Think in terms of filling the need of your potential customer. I always like to start with a question like "Are you tired of living paycheck to paycheck?" or "Could you use more traffic for your website?". Another good tip is to try to use words that stir emotion like free, guarantee, limited-time, amazing, etc. Check out this list to give you more ideas.
2. Keep the ad copy short and sweet - Make your ad copy too long and you risk boring the visitor into hitting that back button. Leave any long salescopy for your website - your job is to get them to click on it to either order or get more detailed info.
3. Stress the benefit to the customer - Too many ads focus on "We" and "I" when writing their ad copy. Think about how your product or service will benefit them, which means using more "you" and "your". A good example would be "Never get another harassing call from a bill collector again - Try our guaranteed Credit Restoration program today."
4. Post to as many relevant categories as you are allowed - Many of these classified sites are extremely strict when it comes to their posting policies. Figure out what you can and can't do, and squeeze everything you can out of each site.
5. Borrow from your competitors - DO NOT steal or plagiarize...just do something similar to what is working for your competition. If you are seeing the same ad for months on end, chances are it is working pretty well for them. Learn what you can from it, and make changes to your ad accordingly.

For new or existing businesses, the bottom line is extremely important to your success. Taking advantage of as many free opportunities as possible is key to getting your name out there to the public and your bank account a bit healthier.