If you have not already figured out, Craigslist has recently dismantled the ability for an individual posting on Craigslist to copy and paste an HTML ad into the body of a posting. Ultimately this was probably done to further discourage posters from creating numerous ads and just posting constantly with various pre-made HTML ads. In forbidding these types of ads, Craigslist has basically made it where ads must be uniquely created in the allotted posting forum on their site and tracked manually.

This is not the end of the world if you are used to Craigslist being your number one marketing source. On the contrary, Craigslist can still be just as effective without the capability to copy and paste HTML ads, but it is just going to take a little more time and originality than one may be used to. Plus, if using the HTML ads allowed for you to have an active tracking on which ads were working and which were not, you are now going to need to do a little more digging to figure out this answer.

Whereas you may have just been used to asking a prospective renter how they heard about your community and you accepted “Craigslist” as a suitable answer, now you should have an additional follow-up question to get further into the exact source. Start asking your prospect if there was a particular ad they remember seeing. Was there possibly a title that stood out that grabbed their attention, or maybe was the font unique and that is what drew their eyes to your ad’s title? In nailing down the exact ad your prospect saw, you will not only be identifying which wording you used that may have peaked their interest, but you are also determining which time of the day you posted that ad.

Posting ads on Craigslist is not “free” so to speak. No, the ads are free of cost in nearly all cities, but you are still investing your time and effort into each ad, possibly even more so now than previously. Therefore, since you are making this time investment into these ads, do yourself the favor of asking additional questions once you learn Craigslist is the source to allow you the ability to obtain the highest ROI possible when it comes to which ads you are posting. If certain times of the day you post or certain titles do not seem to be working, continue to change things up. If Craigslist does not seem to be working for your community, check what and how you are posting, because Craigslist is a highly effective marketing tool that is only as effective as you make it.