Monthly Archives: August 2008

MY TOP 25 CLASSIFIED ADS WEBSITES FOR JULY ‘08

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It is that time again. I’m listing my top 25 classified ads websites. There hasn’t been many shifts but one constant remains: craigslist continues to lead the pack – no surprise there.

Congratulations to Michael Phelps (8 gold medals!) and Usain Bolton (100m-9.69 secs/200m-broke 12 year record set by Michael Johnson-19.3 secs) for setting new world records. The Beijing Olympics wrapped up today.

Here is the list of free ads sites. (Some charge for premium services)

People Counts for July 2008: Source Compete.com

  1. craigslist.org 39,867,528
  2. kijiji.com 2,453,484
  3. backpage.com 1,551,075
  4. classifiedads.com 924,168
  5. kudzu.com 751,909
  6. livedeal.com 651,428
  7. traderonline.com 635,511
  8. olx.com 568,318
  9. domesticsale.com 512,283
  10. usfreeads.com 444,847
  11. pennysaverusa.com 344,659
  12. gumtree.com 258,333
  13. recycler.com 237,943
  14. buysell.com 227,779
  15. sell.com 210,665
  16. tnol.com 182,684
  17. adpost.com 146,520
  18. buysellcommunity.com 118,883
  19. webclassifieds.us 102,077
  20. inetgiant.com 84,867
  21. adlandpro.com 83,966
  22. epage.com 58,900
  23. bargaintraderonline.com 52,172
  24. locanto.com 45,582
  25. adflakes.com 31,487
  26. freeadlists.com (Oh yeah, here is a shameless plug)

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ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES ON YOUR WEBSITE – REALLY?

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I received this email a few days ago. What really concerned me was that the sender and signed didn’t match on the messages, and they all used web-based email addresses. I did a quick search and found some more interesting discussions related to these emails. Here are two links: New Type of Spam – Partnership Proposal andFlooded with Link Requests. What are your thoughts?

By the way, there is another creative scam out there: Nigerian 419 Fraud Hits Bloggers Selling Advertising Links and Bloggers Beware: Nigerian Fraud Has Evolved Into Display and Text Link Ad Solicitations

At any rate, I have included two different email exchanges for two different offers. Note the difference between “George” vs “Goerge.” Also, note the differences in the email address, one has a “.” between the first and last name whereas the other one is contiguous.

————-

Here is an offer for FreeAdLists.com:

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 1:36 AM
Re: Website Partnership
From: “George ????” george????@yahoo.com
To: @freeadlists.com

Hello Roy,

A representative of our marketing department contacted you with enquiry about advertising on your website (your correspondence is below). First I want to thank you for your reply.

I will pay you in advance for 3 months – $15. If you do not agree with that price, please name yours, so we can proceed. I can pay you via Paypal, Moneybookers, google Checkout.

Our website is http://www.casino??????.com

Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you

George

Todd,

What’s your proposal?

Roy
——————
FreeAdLists.com.

— On Thu, 7/31/08, Richie Mcelroy wrote:
From: Richie Mcelroy
Subject: Website Partnership
To: “freeadlists.com”
Date: Thursday, July 31, 2008, 12:34 PM

Hello,

I just came across your website - freeadlists.com and I want to ask if I can
purchase a text link on your website.

Please e-mail me back and I will send you additional information.

Best Regards,
Todd McGregor
Advertising Consultant
Business Development Department

If you do not respond to this email you will not receive any additional emails
from us. To permanently delete yourself from our list, simply reply to this with
a blank email and you will not receive any communication from us in the future.

UPDATE: Here is another offer for TopBlogLists.com:

Sunday, August 10, 2008 9:46 PM
Re: Advertising Opportunities on your website
From: “Goerge ????” goerge.????@yahoo.com
To: @freeadlists.com

Hello Roy,

A representative of our marketing department contacted you with enquiry about advertising on your website (your correspondence is below). First I want to thank you for your reply.

I will pay you in advance for 3 months – $15. If you do not agree with that price, please name yours, so we can proceed. I can pay you via Paypal, Moneybookers, google Checkout.

Our website is http://www.casino??????.com

Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you

George

Ms. Stevens,

What’s your proposal?

Roy
——————
FreeAdLists.com

— On Sun, 8/10/08, Tabby Shotts wrote:
From: Tabby Shotts
Subject: Advertising Opportunities on your website
To: “topbloglists.com”
Date: Sunday, August 10, 2008, 3:17 AM

Dear Webmaster,

My name is Sandra Stevens and on behalf of Promotion-onweb, I am pleased to advise you of a great opportunity for your website topbloglists.com.

I would like to introduce you with some of our clients that are interested in
advertising on your site.

If you are interested, please let me know and I will be happy to send you
further information.

I am looking forward to your reply at your earliest convenience.

Best Regards,
Sandra Stevens
Advertising Consultant
Business Development Department

If you do not respond to this email you will not receive any additional emails
from us. To permanently delete yourself from our list, simply reply to this
with a blank email and you will not receive any communication from us in the
future.

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MITIGATING THE IMPACT OF SCAMMERS AND SPAMMERS

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FreeAdLists.com officially launched 15 months ago and has experienced substantial growth in the free classifieds space. But as with any growth endeavor, there are always inherently negative issues. One negative issue is the impact of these two low-life entities: scammers and spammers.

To mitigate this issue, we focus on the quality of classified ads being posted. There is a common belief with classified ad operators: more classified ads are better, right? Not really. If classified ads are deemed low-quality/scams, it is hurting the site’s integrity with the search engines and regular visitors.

Classified ad sites can become unruly and problematic if there is a blatant disregard to classified ad management. This is especially difficult if the screening process is lacking; thus allowing almost anyone to post without first validating the type of material being posted. FreeAdLists.com, however, is very active in screening for scam/spam classified ads. This screening makes the website much more useful to potential posters. Scheming classified ads such as chain letters, 419 Nigerian scams, typing ad forms at home, loan scams, etc. are routinely screened and managed by the site. Although this is a time consuming process, the positive results to the users of FreeAdLists.com are too beneficial to simply ignore.

As a result of stringent classified ad management, FreeAdLists.com has received numerous emails from posters inquiring about their classified ads that seemed to have vanished into the “bit bucket.” These posters were advised of the ad screening process, and in most cases, afterwards, they cease to spam or scam again. Obviously, if their activity didn’t stop, their IP and username were banned.

To increase the probability of persistent classified ad placement, FreeAdLists.comcustomers are advised to follow five basic etiquette rules when using the site.

1. Never use the same ad title more than once in a classified ad. This is not helping SEO as many wrongly believe.
2. Never use keyword stuffing in the classified ad description. Again, this is not helping SEO as many wrongly believe.
3. Never cross post your classified ads in different categories. That will turn off a potential buyer in a heartbeat.
4. Avoid posting classified ads that promote illegal/hate, warez, wallpaper, and splog links.
5. Go ahead and flag classified ads that are obvious scams but please flag with care.

HOWEVER, we can’t screen/monitor all the spam/scam ads – it’s darn near impossible – so use common sense when responding to free classifieds.

Remember the old US postal axiom: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Now that sounds like good advice. Caveat emptor!

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