The give away a free site method craigslist flagged instantly almost!

[cowsgonemadd3]

So I wrote this in the craigslist ad:

Hello everyone my name is Austin and I give away free websites. I recently lost my job thanks to the economy tanking and have since been working online in hopes of taking it full time. One thing I am doing now is just giving away free websites. I can help anyone start their first website up whether it be just to showcase your pictures for your family and friends or if you want to start up a niche website to make money online. I can even help you make money online.

You can do a lot with a website and how much better can it be that you can get a website for free? So to learn more come on over to my website and check out what I can offer you.

Well it got flagged! All 3 of my postings!
What did I do wrong?

 

[selection]

you mentioned FREE CL doesn't like the word give away, and free. that's why you got redflagged..

 

[knowledgeblast]

Hey,

Yea, CL is funny like that "FREE" gets flagged quickly, I beleive by competitors but it is a CL Buzz word.

I'm not sure how you are making your money but if you can offer your sites for $1 this may help.

PM me if you want to brainstorm on CL.

Good Luck

 

[bizzybee76]

Cheap, Complimentary...something that implies FREE without being the word FREE may help

 

[wowhaxor]

Plus it doesn't sound beliveable, people will flag that in a second.

 

[bizzybee76]

I was thinking the same thing...

It comes off like "I lost my job and have not money, so out of the goodness of my heart I'm making free websites" Spice the ad up a little bit...

 

[supermat007]

My bet is on this....

I can even help you make money online.

 

[cowsgonemadd3]

How should I spice it up? I am not good at this.

 

[brchcar1445]

Did it ghost or did it get flagged? IF it got flagged its obviously because your add sounds un realistic. You said you recently lost your job and now your giving away free websits. The ad starts off with you sounding desperate then ends with unconditional generosity. It really doesn't make sense? The first thing people are going to ask when you make that post is "whats in it for him?". In this case you get nothing and they get a free website. Sounds to good to be true, and you know what they say about that.

If it ghosted take your pick on possible reasons.
IP address
Certain words
email address
title
It really goes on and on. Did you literally get an email that says you were flagged? If you did then it was someone on the CL website that thought your ad sounded spammy, which it kinda does. If the ad just didn't show up then you did not make it through the CL filters.

Hope that helped a tad.

 

[Grandslam]

I think this should be posted in the CL area of bhw..

but now back to the whole reason for this thread-

IMHO "Working online" is just as much, if not more of a buzz word than the word "free". Same goes for "make money online". CL users hate seeing anything that says "make money online" or "work online."

It gives them the heebee jeebees they got after they bought an online survey ebook for 40 bucks and learned that they could receive a trial pack of gum in exchange for a 40 question online survey about their preferred brand on underwear, instead of receiving a "nice part time income" "working from home" like they expected.

It would probably help to say the suburb of the city you're from so that it looks more credible. Maybe even give your name if your comfortable with that. No way in hell i'd believe someone who claims they would make me a free website if they were reluctant to even give me their first name. JMHO

I know you weren't trying to make it sound spammy, but IMHO your current ad copy already looks kind of suspicious to me. Just change it up a little using some of the tips mentioned on this thread and see how that goes, then report back and we can help you tweak it some more if need be.

Hopes this helps,

GS

 

[knowledgeblast]

Hey,

Very good tips. Right now, when I went back and looked at what you wrote several more times, these are the things that stick out.

Ok, you lost your job so how are you making money? You are struggling now you are going to teach me how to make money online, hmmmm sounds fishy.

My next question is why if you lost your job are you offering me a free website? How are you supporting your family?

In order to make $$$ on CL you need to build trust, or sound believable, or both. Your ad leaves many unanswered questions. So rather than take a chance your ads are being flagged.

If you want to talk about your lost job you are going to have to tell a story and gain emotional triggers and then perhaps create a sense of understanding from others who may be in the same boat. CL offers many ways to make money so just remember to be as creative as possible and maybe look at some of the other postings about how to get your ads to stick on CL.

This is just my 2 cents

 

[cowsgonemadd3]

Okay this is what I used in my new ad and it still got flagged! 2 out of 3!
"I have lost my job thanks to the economy and I need something to do. I have been making websites for years and like doing it.
I work for cheap too for now so if you want a website it will be just 1 buck. Contact me for more details."

 

[UndeniableSpirit]

Maybe you should think about saying something like "I will give you guys the best deal possible, just contact me and we can speak further" rather than giving the actual price of a buck.

I don't know what way you're taking this, but when they contact you, you can THEN say you're giving them away for free as long as they sign up for hosting (with your aff link) - basically the offline method that was mentioned a while back

 

[crashed]

Don't use the word cheap.

I'd say go with losing your job, so your trying to get into IT, and you need some experience with making websites so willing to do it for free in return for reference. Even better get yourself a domain with a basic website for "your company" set up and say you do it in return for being able to put a link to your domain on their site...

Hope this helps,

 

[Batchweb1]

nice stuff

 

[UndeniableSpirit]

Don't use the word cheap.

I'd say go with losing your job, so your trying to get into IT, and you need some experience with making websites so willing to do it for free in return for reference. Even better get yourself a domain with a basic website for "your company" set up and say you do it in return for being able to put a link to your domain on their site...

Hope this helps,

Yeah, that's yet another way to take it as well. Basically, you need to make it sound like YOU get something out of it to make it seem believable.

I'm sure if you check out a lot of CL ads in your category, the ones that stick offer some sort of transaction.

What you've basically done is offer TONS of consideration on their end, but almost nothing on you're end which makes it stand out as spam

 

[cowsgonemadd3]

Well I got two replies, one wants a phone call and the other does not but wants help.
I don't plan on talking to anyone on the phone, I just don't want to.
I will email them both. All 3 were now flagged but the good news is I got two replies.
I will try some new ads like you guys said and I will get back to you later on.

 

[CyberDilemma]

What category are you posting in? If you are not in the right section, it will get flagged.

 

[cowsgonemadd3]

Okay this one got flagged almost instantly also:

Hello everyone and thanks for checking out my posting. I hope I can help you out by building you a website.

Just to let you know my name is Austin. I have recently lost my job thanks to the economy and am trying to go full time online. I am starting out making websites and need experience. I have been making websites for years for myself but not for others. I need experience puting up sites for others and that is why I have this listed in the free section. Contact me for more info. I hope I can help you out!
Some terms apply......

What did I do wrong now? I am posting in the freebie section on the craigslist. I just read it says no digital items. I read that earlier but it never hit me until now. Uh where should I post a service like this?

 

[kallen]

are there others in the city you are posting in doing free websites? If so you are probably getting flagged by them... I gotta tell ya, this is what I've been doing... I probably shouldn't do this but, I'm moving on to a new thing anyway cuz this one is too time consuming for me. First of all, get out of that free section and quit giving them away free, or $1 or whatever, that makes it totally unrealistic... Be up front (assuming you are doing the hostgator thing or something similar) just add up the hosting price for a year and roll it all together (add a bit for yourself too) and post the price "WITH 1 DOMAIN NAME AND 1 YEAR WEB AND EMAIL HOSTING INCLUDED" and get into some of the BASIC features of the hosting plan (dont get too complicated cuz people are not going to understand)... Hosting is cheap really, so when you add up everything they are getting $175-$199 is a dam good deal any way you slice it. I have been a web developer for the past 12 years and I made $60 an HOUR before losing my job, so people know this shit costs money, and honestly I cant stand doing this for this cheap anymore and I need to move on before it makes me even more depressed.

My problem is, I believe I can do better with something else... AND I'm just burned out on it... And with that said, if you are doing hostgator I'd stop... Go get yourself a reseller hosting plan and sign them up there yourself and make them commit to at least 6 months or a year of hosting to make it worth your while... They will then see exactly how you are benefiting from it and that overcomes their first objection. IMHO there is no need to be BH about this method.

Good luck