Users are the engine of a classifieds website and the more the users you have the greater your success will accelerate and reach new levels. But how to get those users to your website? I covered some points in a previous article about promoting a classifieds website, but on this Useful Wednesdays episode, I will be focusing on local media.
Your website could receive different reactions depending on the user´s location. There are countries were a classifieds websites are not common; to which they are more familier with using local newspapers or Facebook groups for the same purpose. While other countries, where classified websites are more popular, the users are very aware of how to use them. What do both of those groups of users have in common? They both watch TV and most of them read the local newspaper. In the U.S., on average, people spend 5 hours a day watching TV and a recent study in the UK found that more than 90% of newspaper reading is still in print.
Local media is still in play and still has a great effect in shaping people’s opinions. This is why you should use it to your advantage and get your website to ride the tides to a greater success! And here is why:
Get more people to talk about your website
People talk about ads, either because they’re fun, they’re very boring or if an ad touched their feelings in some way. But, what matters is that people talk, and right now you and I need to get those people to work as promoters for our classifieds websites. How can we do that? I’m sure you will find a creative way to do it, but I will be sharing some of my ideas later on in this article.
Earn their trust before they visit your site
Using local media to advertise and expose your brand image, gives a better first impression of your website and not perceived as “oh, it´s just another one of those websites”. Also if the ad is designed perfectly, you might actually get them to visit your website right after they viewed it.
Earn more money!
Needless to say, more users = more revenue and a better chance to hit a great success with your classifieds website. Just as I mentioned earlier, users are your success acceleration engine, the more users you have coming, the faster you get to take the lead with your website. I’ve also prepared a short article showing how to earn money with a classifieds website.
How do you get your site out there in front of your users?
Personal network
Let’s start with the basics, check your network of people to see if any of them are working in the media sector, they don’t have to be national TV anchormen (although if that’s the case then you’re in luck!). They could just be working in the sector, which is still helpful because they would know the best channels of communication.
Now comes the hard part, reaching out to those people. I say it’s hard not because people tend to avoid reaching out and asking for help. Trust me, a polite message or e-mail asking how they’re doing and requesting a favor wouldn´t harm anyone. My favorite approach is asking for advice, explain your idea and then asking for guidance on how to proceed.
Famous Local Newspapers
So you put aside a small budget for newspaper advertising, and you decide to go ahead and place the ad. Make sure that you choose the local newspaper used for classifieds and it differs depending on the region.
Local TV ads
I remember Chema telling me about a famous Spanish classifieds website that had a really terrible TV ad that goes for maybe 10 seconds, but the good thing about such a terrible ad is that it gets stuck in a person’s head. Now I’m not telling you to go ahead and do a terrible ad and post it! No, the focus here is to get stuck in users heads in whatever way you find suitable for your business idea.
My favorite way to get into the local media is by going through my personal network, checking my friends on Facebook, LinkedIn and other places and see if any of them can assist me in making my project a success. I know that I would always be glad to do a favor for a friend and I’m sure they will have a similar state of mind.
Do you have any creative ideas of your own? Share them and post a comment in the section below.
Resources:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130808092055.htm
http://www.statisticbrain.com/television-watching-statistics/