| Craigslist is a network composed of various online communities. It's main purpose is to provide free advertising on a wide array of topics, and runs the entire gamut from personals to want ads. Craiglist also features several discussion boards and forums where people can leave notices or ask for opinions on various matters. The site is among the top 50 websites world wide, and generates it's revenue through corporate sponsorship and some paid advertisements. Using craiglist to divert traffic to your website is one free and effective way to increase your presence on the internet.
Placing personal advertisements on Craiglist is free, so this is one of the first thigns you'll need to do to get started. Keep in mind that Craiglist caters to a wide variety of interests, so by necessity is separated into several categories. Find the category where your website will fit into best and place your ad there.
It doesn't quite stop there, however. If all you had to do was slap ads on to make traffic flow to you, life would be so much simpler. However, like any good marketer, you need to make your presence felt and known. Your next stop should be one of the site's forums. Here, you can get to know various members of Craiglist's online community.
It is this community that drives Craiglist and makes it the success that it is. Craiglist encourages a sense of interaction between it's members, and is as much a social interaction site as it is a free advertising site. When going through the forums don't be pushy about yourself and your product. Forum mods are fair but strict, and getting recognition as either a flamer or spammer can spell disaster for you and your site's reputation. Generally, stay low key at the start and get a good feel of the people you're with on the forums. Ask questions politely, venture opinions when necessary, and generally just get known by the community. Don't even mention that you're there to promote your site unless people ask about it; they'll get around to it when they've gotten to know you better.
Once you've established a good reputation on the forums and have a better feel for the people on them, you can start to swing conversational topics more and more towards your site and what it's about. This will lead people to visit your ad posting, and through it your website. Once they start to do so, you just maintain the momentum you've established and you're good to go. The chain reaction set up by having a good reputation and establishing good rapport with people is incredibly valuable, as people who like you will help promote your site, bringing in their own friends to visit it as well. Furthermore, maintaining your own presence on the forums even after you establish an initial "crowd" means that you'll be meeting even more new people over time, adding even more to your traffic once you get around to setting up good relationships with them.
This may seem a simple enough process to talk about, but is actually incredibly difficult for people to do, especially those weaned on classic "in your face" marketing tactics. This is a sure way to get an electronic door slammed in your face. The forums, where the people are at on craiglist, is the key to getting your website's reputation and traffic rate up. It requires people skills, and plenty of diplomacy. If, on the other hand, you're a born flamer who thrives off being an annoying twat and loudmouthed, attention hungry boor then this option probably isn't for you. You might want to consider therapy though...
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