Classified Advertising + Ebay's new Kijiji

[Linda Buquet]

Craig is about to get some competition. Ebay owns Gumtree an overseas focused classified ad sites that some savvy affiliates I know have been capitalizing on. Well now Ebay just launched a brand new free classified ads site for the US called Kijiji.

Here's an article from the New York Times - Can Ebay Take on Craig?

Now, I'm going to plant some seeds about affiliate marketing through classified ads and talk about the VERY VERY LIMITED WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY I see for affiliates with Kijiji.

But 1st a DISCLAIMER: I don't advocate unethical affiliate spamming on classified sites and you should not advertise at all on classifieds that prohibit it. However if you are partnered with a mattress merchant that offers name brands at the lowest prices with free shipping - I don't think it's so bad to advertise that offer in your local area, provided the classified sites does not prohibit affiliate links. But posting "get rich quick" affiliate ads in every city... just don't even try it. If you spam a bunch of crappy affiliate links - it just ruins it for everyone!

With that said, here's a QUICK overview and some thoughts I had about Kijiji :

I took a quick look and there are VERY FEW ads there yet.
Even in the big cities, many ad categories had 0 - 3 ads.
So that means there is a short window of opportunity to get
ads up that last for awhile and get the lion's share of eyeballs.

The downside, of course, is that even though you will be one of very few advertisers,
there probably won't be many consumers reading it yet either.

I could not find anything in the rules YET that prohibits affiliate links. BUT I just did a quick scan. Please do your own due diligence before posting anything that could be against the rules.

I also scanned trying to find any LIVE links in the ads which of course would be a big plus.
I could not find any. It's entirely possible that the only ads I found were posted by people that didn't know how to add a live link - but I tried pretty hard and could only find raw unlinked URLS. eBAY's UK classified site, Gumtree has live links, and I know some affiliates that are taking advantage of that marketing opportunity - but again, it's not US focused.

So there's a chance that powered by Ebay, Kijiji could rival Craigslist and soon get huge amounts of traffic. But if that happens, it will most certainly become spam ridden and prohibit affiliate links eventually. Til then...

So if you check it out, let us know what you find out.
And lets talk about other classified ad opportunities too.
What have you tired???

[Linda Buquet]

So in addition to Craigslist, Gumtree and Kijiji another classified ad site I wanted to mention is Backpage.

"Backpage.com is currently operating in 75 major metro markets. We have partnered with newspapers, radio stations, and television stations to serve as their online classified solution."

They don't get as much traffic as Craigs does, but I've thought about advertising 5 Star.
Has anyone tried it?

[jcorkern]

Backpage does not generate a lot of traffic, but they are more relaxed. The one you just posted does not have active links in the ad. from what i posted. I just posted one ad, but the url's are not active link and html links do not work.

[Linda Buquet]

Hmmm, good to know. Thanks for trying it jcorkern
and giving us the inside scoop.

Let us know if you get any hits or make any sales.

[TheCuteKidDave]

I know a great little site called Everything from Everywhere check it out for some good rankings...

[Linda Buquet]

Wow nice PR. Good rankings too huh?

Thanks Dave!

[TheCuteKidDave]

Ya this site is a gem...post some items but don't spam the site with crap...it's a great classified site.

[bloggingsponsorships]

Yahoo classifieds and USA Free Ads are two other great classified websites.

[k9gta]

Originally Posted by Linda Buquet

So in addition to Craigslist, Gumtree and Kijiji another classified ad site I wanted to mention is Backpage.



They don't get as much traffic as Craigs does, but I've thought about advertising 5 Star.
Has anyone tried it?

Thank you very much for this info :-)

[le marketeur]

The following use restriction in their policies prevents posting links to another site. I tried to include my URL address and got my ad pulled within minutes and received an email telling me not to do that again. Upon closer reading , I'm not sure that my site about cutlery (knives) will not be seen as promoting weapons. If their site is seen as a way to enforce social controls of their choosing, they may have to reconsider whether being politically correct is wise. Their interpretation of "no other purpose" is broad in scope, it seems.
Basically, I can't use them to tell others about my free info site unless I do it in the corresondence resulting from an ad that gets others to email me first.

: Posting an Ad that serves no other purpose than to send traffic to another web site