How to Use Craigslist to Find Customers

In this article, you will learn easy and simple ways to use Craigslist, as an affiliate marketer, to gain consistent affiliate sales.

As affiliate marketers, you should always be on the lookout for new opportunities. Today, we’re presenting you one: Craigslist. In this article, we’ll teach you how you can use the popular advertisements website to gain consistent affiliate sales. 

Use Craigslist to Find Customers


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You might be wondering if it’s legal to use Craigslist for affiliate marketing. Right off the bat, let us answer this frequent question: yes, it is. In fact, there are a plethora of affiliate marketers who make a consistent income on Craigslist. And best of all, you can be one of them too.

On Craigslist, as an affiliate marketer, your goal should be posting ads consistently and making sales by creating captivating posts. However, we can give you some tips to further maximize your income as an affiliate marketer by getting the most out of what Craigslist has to offer.

Basics of affiliate marketing through Craigslist

Here's how to use Craigslist to find customers for your affiliate marketing program:

1. Get a verified Craigslist account

Many Craigslist users have suspicions about vendors who use a non-verified account. This is a valid concern — anyone can post ads on the website, including those with malicious intentions. To make yourself look more trustworthy, start by verifying your account before you even post an ad.

All you need to do is a valid phone number. Craigslist currently only allows users to perform phone verification in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Some toll=free numbers, VOIP, or pre-paid mobile numbers are also disallowed from performing a Craigslist phone verification.

If you need any further help with how to verify your Craigslist account, check out the Phone Verification help page.

2. Avoid over-posting

Contrary to popular belief, Craigslist does a lot of monitoring on its website. If you post an overwhelming amount of ads, the moderation team will notice it and take the appropriate action against your account. This can, in some cases, even end up in your account getting permanently disabled or terminated from Craigslist.

To avoid getting in trouble, post up to 2-3 ads per day. You can keep consistent with these numbers, and avoid getting your account in bad standing with Craigslist. We recommend strategically planning out when you post ads — there’s a lot you can do with just 3.

For example, many people post as the day progresses. One ad in the morning, one during lunchtime, and one in the evening. This allows more people to see your ad, no matter when they browse Craigslist.

3. Read the terms of service

No, seriously — read the Craigslist Terms of Use.

Let's say you just uploaded an ad for a service you’re affiliated with. Throughout the entire day, you expect people to be reaching out to you to get details, which in return allows you to send them your affiliate link and instructions. However, not a single message reaches you, because your ad was removed by Craigslist.

The above scenario can happen if you’re trying to endorse a product disallowed by the Craigslist terms of use.

Because of this, many affiliate marketers run headfirst into a wall when trying to use Craigslist to generate income. To ensure safety and legality, there are many products banned from being advertised on Craigslist, and you need to be aware of this before posting an ad.

Final thoughts

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