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Make Money on Craigslist How to Use the World’s Best Classifieds

Do you know how to make money on Craigslist? Craigslist is the world’s largest and best classified site. And the best part is that almost all of the classified ads on Craigslist are free.

Craigslist started out as a simple email list that Craig Newmark sent to friends in the San Francisco bay area. At first it was a list of the weekend’s parties and events. As his personal list of recipients grew, people began asking him to list a roommate vacancy or a job opening.

Eventually, he decided to put the list online and let anyone post to it. At first, the site was only for San Francisco area users. But in 2000, they set up separate listings for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Portland (OR), San Diego, Seattle, Washington DC, and Sacramento.

The site currently has more than 550 cities in 50 countries around the world.

Craigslist gets 12 billion page views a month and is the world’s 8th most popular English language website.

Knowing this, do you think you could make money on Craigslist?

Well, you need to keep in mind that Craigslist has an internal culture that isn’t overly friendly to internet marketing sales. In fact, the official url is www.Craigslist.org with the .org reflecting the company’s “relatively noncommercial nature.” There is a sense that it’s okay to list your couch for sale but not an ebook.

Still, internet marketers have found ways to make money on Craigslist.

There are several sections to Craigslist including community, housing, jobs, for sale, and services. Craigslist asks that you post internet marketing opportunities in the appropriate services section. For instance, a debt consolidation offer should go in the Financial Services section.

Not all marketers agree with the Craigslist guidelines and they post to other sections at their own risk. For instance, you can create ads for ebooks and place them in the books for sale section or give away subscriptions to your free newsletter in the free section.

Many people promote affiliate marketing and other internet business opportunities in the jobs section. This can be risky as these ads often get flagged. If you get flagged too many times you can lose your rights to post to Craigslist.

The most visited cities are posted under “US Cities” on the right hand side of the screen. San Francisco is, by far, the most visited page on the site. If you want to get your web site indexed quickly, make a post to the San Francisco page.

You can make money on Craigslist if you use the world’s largest and best classified site wisely.