Tag Archives: freeadlists.com

FreeAdLists.com Starts Tweeting With Twitter

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I have decided to use Twitter to communicate (tweet) some of the new changes going on with FreeAdLists.com. If you haven’t noticed lately, we have been revamping the website. The homepage has consolidated  a bit — less categories — not a zillion of them anymore. No more scrolling marquee for “Featured Ads”.  Now “Featured Ads” are shown two at time and in highlighted boxes.

I hope the readers and posters will find these improvements useful. More are coming…stay tuned.

And by the way, I might also include a ramble or two. I like doing that.

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My top 25 classified ads sites for January 2009

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I decided it was time to update my top 25 list of classified ads websites.  Again, there is absolutely no surprise who the 800-pound gorilla is in this room (niche). My last classified ad list was done  September 2008.

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

People Counts for Jan 2009: Source Compete.com

  1. craigslist.org 46,884,992
  2. kijiji.com 2,659,218
  3. backpage.com 2,111,323
  4. classifiedads.com 1,388,048
  5. kudzu.com 863,147
  6. olx.com 761,414
  7. traderonline.com 740,090
  8. domesticsale.com 683,080
  9. usfreeads.com 559,721
  10. livedeal.com 516,485
  11. pennysaverusa.com 318,370
  12. chooseyouritem.com 265,276
  13. sell.com 257,955
  14. gumtree.com 232,817
  15. recycler.com 221,417
  16. adpost.com 190,109
  17. inetgiant.com 175,215
  18. buysellcommunity.com 135,905
  19. buysell.com 133,304
  20. adlandpro.com 95,913
  21. webclassifieds.us 87,935
  22. tnol.com 64,351
  23. locanto.com 63,041
  24. epage.com 56,591
  25. bargaintraderonline.com 47,602
  26. freeadlists.com (Oh yeah, here is a shameless plug)
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20 POSSIBLE REASONS CLASSIFIED ADS ARE ARE TAKEN DOWN

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Yesterday, I received this email from a FreeAdLists.com poster.  I am not sure, yet, what was the infraction, but here are 20 possible reasons for the classified ad removal.

Contact form on FreeAdLists: posting ads
Monday, December 1, 2008 9:20 AM
From: “Freeadlists.com” …@freeadlists.com
To: WEB..MASTER AT freeadlists.com

Email sent by: FreeAdLists Poster who can be contacted at: AdLists…poster AT gmail.com

I don’t understand why you keep taking my ads down. I am not over posting. Please advise.

20 possible reasons for take down of classified ad — not all inclusive list:

1.  classified ad has been over-posted/cross-posted
2.  classified ad is clearly adult but not marked adult
3.  classified ad is mis-categorized
4.  classified ad has been flagged as spam by community
5.  classified ad is related to online ad posting scams
6.  classified ad is a blatant keyword stuffing attempt
7.  classified ad has banned keywords
8.  classified ad is a 419 scams
9.  classified ad is electronic spam
10. classified ad is a data entry scam
11. classified ad is a pyramid/Ponzi scheme
12. classified ad is an online form filling scam
13. classified ad is posted by a known scammer
14. classified ad is an envelope stuffing scam
15. classified ad is a loan scam
16. classified ad is a duplicate
17. classified ad promotes hate or racism
18. classified ad title is inappropriate
19. classified ad is a typing scam
20. classified ad is threatening or harassing

As any reasonable person can surmise, classified ads related to the aforementioned list add absolutely no value to the site.

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COMPETING CLASSIFIED ADS WEBSITE ETIQUETTE

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Frankly speaking, I do not mind if other classified ads websites post their services to FreeAdLists.com. But I have noticed an annoying trend lately and it is happening routinely: I have seen this particular ad posted dozens of times. Not cool. I will ban the URL permanently if the activity does not cease.

“___post Classifieds ads is offering post FREE ads.

Buy, sell, new, used, advertise, promote your business or product by post free ads on ___post.com – Free Classifieds – worldwide local Classified Ads with photo, Post free ads, free classifieds

Post your ad today by logon to http://www.___post.com

http://www.___post.co.uk”

No one likes to see the same advertisement spammed over and over. Post it once and then move on. Be courteous. Thanks.

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FREEADLISTS.COM – FREE ADS SERVICE TO CONNECT BUYER AND SELLER

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FreeAdLists.com is a free classified ads service to help buyer and seller find each other. We are not involved in any transactions between buyer and seller, so please stop sending us the inquiries for additional information.

Here are a few things to consider WHEN responding to those advertisements:

Never deal with a “distant person”, especially overseas, who asks you to wire money OR cash “cashiers checks” or “money orders.” Without a doubt, they are fake and it is a SCAM. Repeat: It is a SCAM! As I posted on the homepage of the website, always deal in your local area and in person. When the bank discovers that it’s a fraud, you will be the one held responsible.

Do not share your bank account numbers, username/password or social security information. If someone is asking for that, they are a scammer. This should be common sense.

You should avoid shipping and escrow services. These are commonly employed by scammers.

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ANNOYED WEBSITE CLASSIFIED ADS OPERATOR QUERIES OTHERS

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I received this email a few weeks ago from an annoyed webmaster. I emailed a few suggestions but I never received a response. At any rate, I hope the suggestions helped.

Annoyed Webmaster said…

“I have been contacting webmasters of classified sites (I run one as well) regarding how they deal with 419 scams. We started blocking IP addresses at server level and wondered what things you may be doing to better serve your users. I am thinking of creating a list of IPs to share and compare with others. All the best!”

I wonder what other website classified operators were doing to deal with low-life scammers and spammers. I think some of the large classified ads operators might be banning IPs, too.

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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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HOW MANY FREE ADS CAN I POST TO YOUR SITE IN ONE DAY?

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Here is a great question from one of our posters via email. It is about posting multiple/duplicate classified ads. The policy about the aforementioned is also listed in FreeAdLists’ Terms of Use . But does anyone ever bother reading those texts? I seriously doubt it, so here is a pithy response to that question.

The Question:

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 6:28 AM
From: “Freeadlists.com” <_______@freeadlists.com>
To: ______@freeadlists.com
Email sent by: FreeAdLists_Poster who can be contacted at: ______@gmail.com
Subject: How many free ads can I post to your site in one day?

I posted around 12-14 ads on your site this morning. I go to manage my ads and only 7 or so show up! How many ads can I post to your site in one day? Is there a limit? Please let me know. Thanks, FreeAdLists_Poster

The Answer:

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 6:18 PM
From: “Deb” <_____@freeadlists.com>
To: ______@gmail.com
Cc: “FreeAdLists.com” <_____@freeadlists.com>
Subject: Free Ads on FreeAdLists.com

FreeAdLists_Poster,

We are very strict with regards to duplicate ads and ads that have the same link in them time and time again. If you have different ads then you can post as many as you would like. If we feel that someone is bogging down the web site with twenty versions of the same ad or link, then they will be deleted, per our discretion.

Respectfully,

Debra
www.FreeAdLists.com

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