Many have been amazed on how Craigslist manages to maintain its standing when it comes to being the only of its kind in terms of providing quality classified ads services to internet users worldwide. It is safe to say that the key to Craigslist’s undisputable performance is its idea of an online community.
Craigslist started out as a free of service classified ads website launched in 1995 by its founder Craig Newman. It became a non-profit corporation back in 1999 and has ever since been serving 190 locals through its different website versions and subdomains throughout the globe. Craigslist offers free classified advertisements ranging from job postings, housing, sales, services, personal ads, gigs, and community events. They also have a forum on the website where both buyers and sellers can interact.
Jim Buckmaster, being the current CEO as of 2000, has maintained the same online mission and philosophy based on non-corporate environment as envisioned by Craig Newman. For one, Craigslist sends out this message through the site’s logo—the peace symbol favicon. It also maintains both a dot-org and a dot-com domain.
Craig’s blog also talks about personal views on issues that concern the public’s interests especially when it comes to the Internet and they don’t just do it for mere PR purposes. In fact, users are greatly encouraged to post their opinions and commentaries when it comes to Craigslist.org corporate decisions and other similar issues, may they be negative or against the stand of the organization.
The fact that Craigslist does not accept any banner advertising from sponsors also maintains their non-profit stance. They also run a non-profit foundation that has already benefited a lot of causes. All these and Craigslist is still able to receive more than 10 million unique users and 8 million classified ads postings on a monthly basis. If this is not success enough, come to think of these: without any public revenues, we can estimate that the website has been earning $33 Million through their paid listings for New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco alone. And why not? Craigslist offers paid listings for $25 in NY and LA and $75 in SF. If they receive 1000 listings per workday, multiply it by 260 workdays a year, then you will get an annual income of $33 Million!
It is kind of impossible to earn that much with such a simple business model. But Craigslist can strongly attest to that. By simply being a website where people can buy and sell any type of goods and services with ease, they are able to get both the buyers and the sellers’ patronage.
The website runs almost the same way as Ebay.com does. The only difference is that Ebay.com complicates the process with auctions and by limiting the purchases through the website. With Craigslist, sellers only need to post their advertisements on the website and wait for replies from the buyers who view them. After that, buyers and sellers are on their own with their business transactions. So it is nothing different from the usual classified ads on the newspaper. Well, the only significant difference is that it is done online and that it offers a huge database that are constantly updated.
That is why although Craigslist has been competing with a lot of websites of the same kind that proliferates in the internet, its reputation as a non-commercial community keeps the buyers and sellers coming to the site for more. Still, Craigslist is a recommended classified ads website for everyone who is looking for just about everything.
Link | Craigslist.org
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
If you are looking to buy or sell your stuff online then Craigslist is the best place to do so. I recently transitioned to Craigslist from the traditional print publications and I can’t believe the difference it has made. If you haven’t already, you should check it out.
Craigslist is a great place for selling locally, but if you wish to advertise worldwide, seek out classified sites where you can post your ads and links to your site! :)