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Did Craigslist Block Sprint Cards?
Do you have a Sprint wireless card and post on Craigslist? Sprint wireless cards are great tools as they allow you to get a new IP each time you reconnect to the internet. These have been extremely useful tools that have been used by Craigslist marketers for some time now. However, it recently looks as though Craigslist may have blacklisted or banned Sprint cards from Craigslist. Why would they do this, just how could you determine if your Sprint card has been blacklisted or not and is there anything you can do if you have been affected?
The main reasons Sprint cards were so, or are still so popular is that they allow you to get a new IP each time you redial. Why is this important when posting on Craigslist? Craigslist tracks and logs IP activity, using a dynamic IP service such as the Sprint cards in the past allowed you to get a fresh new IP to post on Craigslist with. Wireless Sprint cards were the main weapon of people posting on Craigslist and sometimes just one person would utilize up to 10 of these just for posting ads. Recently though it looks as though Craigslist my have put a network wide block or ban on Sprint cards. If you use a Sprint card the first thing you should do is test to see if this really is the case for you. The best way to troubleshoot if this has happened is to create a new Craigslist account using a fresh new IP and clearing all cookies and cache from your computer. When you have done this go ahead and post some ads on Craigslist, preferably in one of the sections that does not require phone verification. If your ad goes through and does not request you to verify you account before you can post (aka phone verification) then there is very good chance that your Sprint card and the IP range it is on has not been affected. However, if you attempt to post an ad in a section on Craigslist that does not required phone verification (these sections include all of the sections outside of Services) then it would be safe to say that you are one of the unlucky and have been affected. If this is the case, don’t worry. Your Sprint card is still completely useable and you can continue to post ads on Craigslist, the problem is that you will never to use phone verified accounts if you wish to continue using the Sprint card. In this situation you could either get rid of your Sprint card and find another wireless dynamic IP provider that was not blocked or you will need to obtain phone verified accounts. Beyond requiring phone verified accounts before you can continue using your Sprint card, everything else is as normal.
Having a Sprint card blocked on Craigslist is a possibility. The best way to find out if this has happened to you is to post in any of the non-Services sections on Craigslist that don’t require phone verification. If you must verify before you can post then you have been blocked. You can work around this by either just using phone verified accounts or by trying to find another wireless provider with the hope their IP range isn’t already blocked.
Visit Craigslist Proxy to setup your own proxy server and get Craigslist PVA at the Craigslist phone verified accounts site today.
Earning a Living With Craigslist
Believe it or not, it is entirely possible for savvy individuals to earn their living through Craigslist. More and more individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit are realizing there are a host of opportunities for those who are willing to work hard to earn a living through hard work, learning about online communities such as Craigslist and effectively marketing themselves and their skills or products to those who might be in the market to invest in services or products the individual has to offer. Unlike conventional jobs where there is a set salary for services rendered and an unofficial cap on the earning potential those who offer their services online as an independent contractor have no such cap on their earning potential. However, there are also no guarantees on the amount which will be earned.
In general there are two ways to make a living with Craigslist. This may include offering services as an independent contractor on a contract basis or offering products or services as a small business owner. Alternately, individuals can utilize Craigslist to secure a permanent full time job through the job posting section on Craigslist. However, for the purposes of this article we will discuss the possibilities open to independent contractors and small business owners on Craigslist.
Craigslist for Independent Contractors
Those who offer their services as independent contractors on a contract basis are finding Craigslist to be an excellent location to offer their services or respond to advertisements from those seeking services. An increase in the amount of work being outsourced by both small businesses and large corporations has prompted many savvy individuals to realize there is a market for them to take advantage of these outsourcing opportunities. They can use Craigslist in their effort to do this by placing advertisements for services offered as well as by responding to advertisements seeking contract employees.
There is a section on Craigslist specifically for services offered. Under the topic of services offered there are a number of different categories. The contractor can place a posting under the most appropriate category to reach their target audience. There is also a category for small business advertisements which may be used if there are no appropriate categories for the type of services offered. However, it might be more difficult to reach a target audience by placing an advertisement in such a general category.
Independent contractors can also gain business opportunities by responding to advertisements seeking contract employees. In searching for a job on Craigslist individuals can begin with a location and then browse through different types of job by category. The easiest way to find a contract position is to use the search feature and check the contract box to include this term as a part of the search criteria. This will ensure the search results returned include only contract positions.
Craigslist for Small Business Owners
Small business owners can utilize Craigslist to reach a larger audience and grow their business. Those who have a small business have a couple of opportunities to use Craigslist to their advantage. The most obvious way to promote a business on Craigslist is by posting an advertisement in the appropriate category under the for sale or services sections of the community. This can be very effective because Craigslist receives more than four billion page views per month meaning there is a large potential audience using Craigslist.
Small business owners can also use the discussion forums portion of the Craigslist community to generate greater profit for their business. However, small business owners should use a great deal of caution to ensure their promotional postings are not viewed as spam. There is a distinct difference between posting information related to your business in a way that is informative to the reader and spamming the boards with useless posts intended solely to promote your business. Spamming is not only likely to be overlooked by readers but also runs the risk that the Craigslist moderators will delete your posts or take more severe actions against you.
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Promoting your Business Through Craigslist
Craigslist can prove to be an excellent avenue for business promotion. Whether an individual has a small business which they operate on a part time basis or a thriving business which has become a time consuming endeavor, Craigslist can help the business to increase in profits and popularity. The two main components to successfully promoting a business on Craigslist include reaching the target audience and running a marketing campaign which will appeal to this target audience. This article will discuss these two components in greater detail to help the reader realize how Craigslist can be used to grow a business.
Reaching Your Target Audience on Craigslist
Promoting a business on Craigslist doesn’t have to be a difficult process. However, it is not necessarily automatically easier than promoting offline either. Promoting your business through Craigslist does have some similarities to the process of promoting your business offline. The main similarity is that the business promoter musts do their research to find out who is included in their target audience.
Even the most well thought out and innovative marketing campaign will falter if it is not reaching the intended audience. This is why it is so important for those who are trying to promote their business on Craigslist to be sure they categorize their advertisement correctly to ensure their intended audience will receive the intended message. The majority of posts on Craigslist are available free of charge with the exception of job listings in New York City, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area as well as brokered housing listings in New York City. Therefore small business owners can take advantage of the free posting on Craigslist to reach their target audience in a number of different locations.
Consider an example of a company offering moving services in Portland, Oregon. A small moving company that is relatively new might want to take advantage of the free advertising available on Craigslist. To have the best opportunity to reach the target audience the company should place a services offered posting under the labor and moving category for the counties in which the services are offered. Placing the post this way makes it far more likely to reach an audience of those who are planning a move in the desired county than it would if the same exact advertisement was placed as a job advertisement under the category of government jobs in a county in New Hampshire.
Besides being free for most postings, Craigslist offers additional benefits. The most significant benefit is a large audience. Craigslist receives over 4 billion page views per month. With such a large audience it makes it possible for those who post on Craigslist to reach a large audience. However, as previously mentioned, care should be taken when placing the post to categorize the advertisement correctly to ensure the advertisement is reaching the target audience.
Effectively Marketing on Craigslist
Marketing effectively on Craigslist is not very different from marketing effectively in other forms of print media. One of the most important elements of an effective marketing campaign on Craigslist is professionally written copy that appeals directly to the target audience. Hiring a freelance writer skilled in writing sales copy is an excellent idea in this situation. The business owner might be quite knowledgeable about their business but they do not likely have the skills necessary to convey the purpose of the business while also effectively convincing those who read the posting to perform a specific action. The specific action may include visiting a website and making a purchase, requesting additional information about the products or services or performing some other desired action such as visiting a traditional store or place of business.
The other component to marketing effectively, as previously mentioned, is placing the advertisement in the correct section of Craigslist. Categorizing the advertisement correctly is important but it is also important to place the advertisement in the right physical location. Products and services which are only offered in a limited area such as a particular city or county should be advertised in these exact locations. However, those who offer products via a website might consider placing their advertisement in all of the location to which they are willing to ship their products.
Tags: business, Craigslist, Promoting, Through