Promotion dilemma

[caser85]

Recently I've started a classified ads site. Now I've got a tough situation. See, I've gotten a few people to post ads there. But there aren't many. I'm getting steady traffic coming to the site from being listed in a lot of seach engines and other places. But it seems people are coming in, looking around at the different categories, not seeing much, then leaving. People that have ads to post aren't posting them because they don't see many others there. People who are looking don't stay long because they don't see much.

So how can I ever get my ads up to that growth point where everything takes off? One idea I had was to start posting stuff for sale that I see on other sites. I think this might be illegal, but I'm not sure. I also thought of partnering with another site to display there ads for them, but I think they just might think of me as competition. Any ideas?

[Jason]

Hi Caser,

I think that the problem with taking the items from other sites might not be that the content is copyrighted, but rather that you don't have the seller's permission. A better way might to be to contact the owners of each ad if there is a method and ask them to post their product on your site. If it is free to do, and you can offer them exposure that they are not yet getting and if they are serious about selling, you may get half decent results.

When doing this though, be careful not to spam. it is ok to contact someone out of the blue, but it is not ok to put them onto a list and perpetually mail them.

[tubby]

casey.
I have plenty of adverts that you can use. . . Most of the folk that post to my site WANT SO SELL!
Of course the subject matter is not that wide, it is restricted to Vintage and classic cars,parts,ect .
but; please steal the newest ones - and remove them before they get old . . There is nothing worse than getting emails asking to buy something that was sold months ago.

There are some nice old Fords for sale here - for example
http://restored-classics.com/sell/page16.html

At minimum you should be able to create a few more catagories with some content to view...

Maybe you could Drop the membership requirements until you get more established.

Tubby

[tubby]

Don't go adding their email addresses to any email list you have . . . This will severely Damage your future traffic..

Tubby