You are a small business owner or marketing professional and your budget is limited. You need a free advertising solution that can potentially reach new customers. Therefore, classified ads are the way to go.
In June 1836, French newspaper La Presse was the first to include paid advertising in its pages. This advertising system allowed it to lower its printed price, extend its readership and increase its profitability and the formula was soon copied by other papers.
Digital media is the new print media, and nowadays classified ads are often free! Therefore you get free ads and a backlink to your website as long as the ad is running (most free classified ads will run for 30 – 45 days, but the amount of time may vary). Some sites may charge you for what they call “premium” posting, but for the most part, you do not need to waste money on this.
Classified ads are a great way to get a backlink to your website. Given there are no follow links, they are still good to have, so a user can get to your website, which in a sense indirectly helps with SEO and page rank as long as that person does not bounce (leave the site right away).
Let us take a look at some of the most popular free classified ad sites out there and examine each one closely.
Free Ads Time
freeadstime.org
As the name implies, this website allows you to post free classified ads. The setup is clean and the categories are clear. You can post an ad with or without an account. If you know how code the link by hand in HTML, then you can add it manually and you can add a backlink.
Pros: Simple easy to use. You can either create an account and keep track of your ads or post an ad without an account. If you post an ad without an account, they will notify you by email and you will be given links to edit the listing.
Cons: There does not seem to be a lot of posters using the site (this may depend on city and region). Manual implementation of HTML links.
FinderMaster
findermaster.com
A modern look and more than a few interesting newer features offered by FinderMaster makes it an ideal local classified ads site. Automatically detecting your region upon your first visit or its simple yet complex designs are examples of what you can expect to come across on your visit to this website.
Pros: Ads can be posted for free both as a member or as a guest. Its ease of use can’t be ignored and it covers a large number of areas and categories.
Cons: A great number of ads are posted in certain regions or countries and the other countries seem to be low in the number of posted listings.
WallClassifieds
wallclassifieds.com
This classified ads site has differentiated itself both through its user experience design and its user interface design. Basically, navigating through the website is quite intitule and it very well can be a to go place for posting almost anything. It’s free, local, and yet again quite easy to use.
Pros: Most classifieds force you to browse through a few pages before seeing the results you’ve been after and this is not the case with the WallClassifieds. It saves you those extra steps and it enables you to select a city and the category right from its homepage.
Cons: You won’t be able to spot certain filters such as selecting the number of doors for a vehicle through its search pages.
Classified Ads
classifiedads.com
This is a free classified ads site that is easy to use. All you have to do is click on “Post an Ad” and the site takes you to a page where you can post an ad first and fill out your account details later. The site is very clean and the categories are very well defined. The site is also very active with a lot of traffic.
Pros: It is quick and painless to set up a user account. You can add HTML to each listing, which means a backlink to your site.
Cons: Poor search engine. When I did a search in my city, I did not just get results for my city. The search results showed ads from all over the place, from Los Angeles, California, to Detroit, Michigan to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Only one of them was from anywhere close. This is annoying for someone who is impatient.
Backlink: Yes, no follow
Classified Ads Pro Tip: Use this site for backlinks. You can add as much HTML as you want. This will take the ad viewer directly to your website’s landing page and that’s exactly where you want them.
Oodle
oodle.com
Oodle, Inc. is an online marketplace based out of San Mateo, California. It was founded in 2004 by ex-Excite executives Craig Donato, Scott Kister and Faith Sedlin.
On the surface, it seems like a really good Classified ads system, but when I signed up for an account on May 30, 2017, I had a bad experience. The very first post I made for a client got flagged even though I did not violate any of their terms of service. I sent in a dispute and they have so far not responded. If and when they do respond, then I will edit this comment.
Pros: Easy to use. It is integrated with USA Today, so your ads also appear on their site. As long as you manage to create an account and not get your account flagged for no reason, then it should be a powerful tool to reach new audiences due to its appearance on USA Today’s classified section.
Cons: They do not offer HTML linking, so you cannot get a backlink to your site. The site is also either very buggy or it just did not like me, because it flagged my very first post and banned my account after I tried to make two more.
Oodle Pro Tip: Make sure your user account information is consistent with your social media profile. I’m not 100% sure, but I believe I know why my account was flagged. Oodle has an option where you can sign in with your Facebook profile. The moment I did this was when my ad was flagged. I had my Archmore Business Web company Facebook profile opened and not my personal profile. Since I signed up using my real name and when I clicked on the Facebook account link button, Oodle may have flagged my profile as a fake because the information did not match. Then again, I am not 100 percent sure, but it seems highly likely this was the case.
Backlink: No (Yes if you have a premium, paid ad)
Penny Saver USA
pennysaverusa.com
This is a popular site for anyone looking for coupons and discounted goods or services. Pennysaver USA has an easy way for you to upload coupons in the form of image files. You can also set a discounted price within the ad itself and you can also give people the chance to give you a best offer if you are willing to work with custom pricing.
Pros: A great place to promote discounts and coupons.
Cons: No outbound HTML links. You do however get one business profile link where you can add a single website. I do not see this as effective, because it is not noticeable.
Penny Saver Pro Tip: Be sure to have your coupon saved as an image file that can be uploaded. JPEG is always a good format. Make sure the image size is also not too large or too small. 600×400 pixels is a good size.
Backlink: Yes, no follow.
Locanto
locanto.com
Locanto is a worldwide online classifieds network with areas dedicated to jobs, personals, for rent, for sale, services, community, real estate, vehicles, and pets. Locanto Classifieds is available in more than 60 countries worldwide.
Locanto Classifieds sites are operated by the German startup company Yalwa located in Wiesbaden, Germany. Locanto was launched in July 2006 with a local classifieds site for New York City. One month later, on August 21, 2006, the service was extended to the U.S. cities. With Locanto, you are allowed to include HTML code, links, and pictures in your ad, and your ad will remain on the site for 60 days.
Pros: They have a good search engine. You can set your search radius as low as 20 miles from your city or more and the keyword search is accurate and precise, so you get exactly what you want. Social media share buttons. Mini analytics.
Cons: I really did not notice any issues. The only downside would be a lack of users in certain areas (they seem to be more popular in some cities than others).
Locanto Pro Tip: Take advantage of their mini analytics options in the My Ads section of your account. You can keep track of how many people viewed your ad to find out if it is doing any good. Also, take advantage of the convenient social media sharing buttons.
Backlink: Yes, no follow.
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