How to Advertise on Craigslist

With Craigslist, you have a chance to advertise on some of the biggest classified pages in the world. Millions of readers in more than 20 countries visit Craigslist to find apartments, look for jobs and buy products and services. Best of all, Craigslist is a free service. Here is how to advertise on Craigslist.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Computer with Internet connection
• Something to advertise
• Valid email address

1. Get online and visit the Craigslist Web site (see link below). Find your local area and click on your city link.

2. Look around on the home page. You will find a bar titled "For Sale." Hit this and you will arrive at the classifieds.

3. Find the "Post" button, located in the upper-right corner of the page. Click on this and you will find yourself at the posting page.

4. Put your cursor in the "Posting Title" box. Write the title of your post. Keep it short: you only get 70 characters in this box.

5. Write a posting description. Put in any details you think may attract the buyer you want. Add photos to your ad if you feel like it. Go nuts.

6. Enter your email address. Craigslist provides a routing address that sends responses to your mailbox but does not let readers know what your real email address is. You should receive a self-publishing email shortly from Craigslist.

7. Verify your content. The goofy letters and characters in the box are meant to prevent automated systems from accessing Craigslist.

8. Read the terms of use and accept. Check your email inbox for a self-publishing message.

9. Use the link in the self-publishing email to finish posting to the classifieds. Keep this email so you can edit or delete your ad later.

Tips & Warnings

• Put a price in your posting title. Some users of Craigslist avoid ads that do not list a price because that is normally the sign of a non-local seller.

• Each letter, symbol and space counts as a character in the "Posting Title" box. "See the Monkey" has 14 characters: 12 letters and 2 spaces.

• Although most posts cost nothing to the user, some ads are subject to posting fees. This mainly applies to job postings in major cities like New York, Boston and San Francisco, as well as brokered housing posts in New York City. Get more details by clicking on "Help" from the main Craigslist page and then selecting "Posting Fees."