Craigslist has positioned itself as “the” go-to place for online classified ads. There’s a Craigslist for nearly just about every metropolitan area, and state-wide ones for places that are a little more rural (maine.craigslist.org for example).

So the real question is, and there is plenty of evidence of it already (just browse around a little): Is Craigslist a viable place for an online advertising strategy to take place. It should be in the mix, there isn’t much to stop you from doing it… you can list anything under services, you can selectively place advertising of products into the classified sections where they are appropriate.

The benefits:

1. Lots of eyeballs - depending on your target audience (especially if they are net-natives) it could be a gold-mine.

2. SEO placement - Google simply loves Craigslist, and why not, in terms of traffic, they are right up there with the best of them.

3. Easy to post. Sure you cannot auto-bot post stuff, but if you really take the time to craft a thoughtful message advertising a service, job opening or product, you can seemingly reap some serious benefits.

I am not suggesting that you spam Craigslist, you will inevitably be caught. But selective use of their services under the guidance of their well-thought out TOU, could prove to be fruitful and should be considered as part of your online advertising mix.

Technorati : advertising, craigslist, online+advertising