Posing for-sale ads on Craigslist -Made SUPER easy/easier! Updates SIMPLE -(FREE too)

[tankman1989]

I thought I would post an idea that I had about making it easier to post the items you have for sale on Craigslist. I do a lot of posting and CAN't update things when I sell them on each individual thread but I can do one central update if it can dispearse the rest of the updates to all postings -oh and it's SUPER easy! Sound good?

What I do is make one posting on a forum that has it formatted so it looks nice and is easy to read. I then take a screen shot of that page, crop it and edit to how I want it, post it on my web server and then create a post on CL with the entire posting being just the html tag like this:

<img src="http://images.mywebsite.com/stuffforsale.jpg"

Now what I do is update each of my for sale category pictures nightly and upload it to the server and it automatically updates what is on the CL posting because it is just a picture. I could change the picture to a dog and they would see a picture of a dog instead.

Now, I just thought what happens if people do a search, they won't see any of the results from what is in the ad. Bummer. My work around is to make a comma or semi-colon seperated list of the main key words from the sale. you could add others to help search rank as well.

I'm also wondering if CL will display PDF's as I can create a PDF of the page that has the text and it is searchable.

Finally, I know that I could create an HTML file but I haven't found a way to create one central HTML file and have that file displayed on the CL ad. The easiest way to do all this would be to create the Ad in Dreamweaver, upload the html file to my server and have CL display the HTML file, but I can't seem to find a way to do this.

Is it possible?

 

[PC-Man]

Brilliant work around, perhaps you could add alt text to your image as well.

Good luck with your ad

 

[tankman1989]

Brilliant work around, perhaps you could add alt text to your image as well.

Good luck with your ad

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not sure what the Alt-text is but I'll look it up and add it to the original Post if it sounds helpful.

 

[tankman1989]

Well it looks like this may violate the TOS agreement. I was told that spammer use this technique a lot but I'm wondering if it is done in a non-spammy way if it will pass. I'll have to read the TOS again. I wonder how often they change them.

 

[nightkingdoms]

Yes, spammers use the image technique a lot. In my area the services offered/computer services category is filled with these where each poster has like 10 phone verified accounts and posts multiple times, hourly.

It is not against the TOS to use just an image, however if it looks to graphicy or designed rather than like a screenshot of an actual text post, it will probably get flagged.

 

[RichmondTech]

Since the footer for all of my for sale items is the same on craigslist, I just mention in the footer to search for my phone number and you'll see everything else I have for sale.

 

[Comerwebs]

It is my understand that all images on craigslist must go through the craigslist image uploader. I can tell you that everytime I have ever put an image up on there without it going through the uploader it has been flagged quick

 

[onetech4all]

<img src="http://images.mywebsite.com/stuffforsale.jpg"

-
aren't you missing a ">" at the end?

 

[Rosco]

if you post in the services offered you wont get flagged. i do a ton of posting maybe 2 a day and i never get flagged. i make sure to make sure not to repost the same ad with 72 hours even though 48 is ok... i was getting flagged a lot even around 50 hours but no problem at 72 hours.

i get a lot of business from craiglist for the amount of effort i put in.

 

[atlanticjim]

if you post in the services offered you wont get flagged. i do a ton of posting maybe 2 a day and i never get flagged. i make sure to make sure not to repost the same ad with 72 hours even though 48 is ok... i was getting flagged a lot even around 50 hours but no problem at 72 hours. .

I was doing this for a while and agree that you can post daily or more with this method. ... Until a competitor flags your posts. Here is how I did it.

1. Make a nice flyer with MS publisher or another graphic program and save it as a jpg.
2. Make seven copies of that jpg and name them "flyermon, flyertue" etc.
3. Make seven different text headers for your ads. Make sure they are different enough to not get flagged by the bots as overposting. "Computer Repair - Suffolk" "Laptop Repair - Sayville" "Computer Problems - Call me"
4. Make seven different footers that just have the names of your service areas, in different orders. Since the bots cannot see the text in a jpg, you have to add this for indexing.
5. Post daily.

And yes this is a violation of the TOS.