Craigslist is not only used for scams and online prostitutes contrary to popular belief.  I’m sure most of us have found a good deal on there or got rid of an old futon at some point or another in our existance!  It can also be used as another tool to not only advertise your services but hint to the search engines what your geographic location is.

Here is an example of an insurance agent in western Washington offering some form of dental insurance:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/fns/1351953261.html

He’s got the right idea by advertising what he’s offering to Craigslist goers as you can see but I do have several ideas that might boost the value he gets out of a post like this one.  First I would create a strong call to action like Get A Free Dental Insurance Quote Today to See How Much You could Save.   This gives the reader of the ad a clear concise path of what he’d like you to do.

The next thing I would do is change the URL. He’s got the right idea of linking to his site but craigslist allows us to post html so we have control over anchor text.  So instead of posting a link that looks like http://www.oakinsure.com he could post something that looks like Western Washington Dental Insurance and tell the search engines exactly what the page he is linking to is about.

Craigslist does add the “nofollow” tag to outbound links so you’re not going to get any link juice but as mentioned this strategy if used well could not only give the search engines another indicator to your geographic location but bottom line you could get some calls to your shop or hits to your website from a potential buyer which is exactly what we’re all about.

Ideas like this one and many more can be found in my business boosting blueprint.

0 Comment   |   Posted in Local Search September 01, 2009