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!
