Writing an Effective Classified Ad

Just because a classified ad is free or very inexpensive doesn’t mean that it is not a truly effective way of selling your merchandise. More and more people are giving up on looking at print media when searching for items in favor of the finding and comparing on the internet. With a small amount of planning and a little bit of thought writing a successful classified ad will not only help you sell more quickly but will also help you get top dollar for your goods or services.

Writing a Good Eye Catching Title

When a person looks through the classifieds the thing that pops out from the screen is the first and maybe last thing they will click on. Good titles should be full of descriptive and illustrative words.  As an example a title could read “Baby Stroller Good Condition.” A better way of writing this would be “Newer Top of the Line Baby Stroller, Low Mileage.”  

Writing a Description That People Will Read

We have several goals in writing a top quality description.  It needs to be interesting, to the point, and spell out all the features of what we want to sell.  Making the ad too short and leaving out important details is not good.  Writing for the sake of writing is not a good idea either. Think through and make a list of the item details and features. Don’t use a bunch of unnecessary words and unimportant fluff. For instance if selling a stroller.  You could say: “My daughter found this stroller to be very comfortable and she took nice long naps in it.  We were also able to carry her diaper bag and toys in the compartment underneath her seat. Call for details.”   A better way of writing this may be “Comfortable nicely padded stroller with large storage space for diaper bags.  Some extra features are handbrakes, emergency brake, three reclining positions, and collapsible sunshade.”  The first description used 37 words, the second only 24. The second description told of four extra features and was easier to read.

Delivery and Contact Details

If someone is interested in your item don’t make them jump through a bunch of hoops to figure out how to see it.  For instance if you leave a call number give them a best time to call.  Put that right in the ad.  Tell them where they can view the item. Don’t put your address in the ad but give a general location. If your perspective buyer lives 50 miles away she may not be inclined to make the drive. Save yourself time by putting that information in the ad.

Making Your Ad Search Engine Friendly

US-Free-Classified-Ads.com is search engine friendly.  Your classified ad can be optimized very easily to show up in search engine results. There are just a few things your should do.  Place your keyword in the title, in the first sentence of the description, once or twice in the description body, and in the last sentence of your ad.  Don’t overload with keywords, you don’t want to sacrifice readability. With the word “stroller” as a keyword it would be easy to make your ad keyword rich.

Proof Your Ad

One of the biggest ways to lose credibility is having grammatical and spelling errors in your ad. Use a good word processing program to write your classified ad and use the spell check feature.  Read the ad after the spell check to make sure that everything makes sense.  Spell check can’t help with the misuse of a word. If a prospective customer sees that your ad is chock full of mistakes they will automatically think you are either dumb or lazy.  That will give them qualms about your truthfulness and make them skeptical that the item is as good as described.  Then copy and paste (Keyboard shortcuts for copy and pasting: Press the Ctrl button and the C button to copy. Press the Ctrl button and the V button on your keyboard to paste) it into the classified ad.

Post Good Pictures in Your Classified Ad

A picture’s worth a thousand words and a good quality picture is worth even more. Before you take a picture do what the professionals do.  Stage the picture. Look at angles and lighting. Using Props is a good idea. A vase with flowers in it is much more inviting that an empty vase.  Then take a few more minutes and edit the photo.  Most computers come with a simple editing program.  Do not post blurry and out of focus pictures.  Take them again if you need to.  The extra couple minutes of time can be the difference between a quick full price sale or a lingering discounted sale.  Take the extra time and you’ll have an effective and well written classified ad.