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Home Insider Blogs Mark Juleen's Blog Craigslist Posting Discoveries
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Oct 26
2011

Craigslist Posting Discoveries

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Posted by: Mark Juleen on Oct 26, 2011 22:56

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Craigslist LogoFirst off, if you don't use RentSentinel for their Craigslist posting tool then you are really missing out.  Also, just because you have a tool like RentSentinel, it doesn't mean that it's being used consistently.  It needs to be monitored and measured for success.  I had one of my late night work sessions last night and started digging into the analytics that RentSentinel offers.  All I can say is, WOW!

Here are a few of my discoveries:

- It's no surprise that posting more often can drive more traffic.  We have one property that has posted nearly 2000 ads on Craigslist in the past year.  No wonder they haven't dipped below 94% occupied all year long and are currently trending to 99% occupied.  All while pushing rents 5-6%.

- Including links to our property websites is key.  Craigslist drives more traffic to each individual property site than Bing or Yahoo.  In many cases, it drives more traffic than Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com combined.

- Posting in the late afternoon between 3-6 p.m. gets the most views and clicks vs. posting in the morning.  Mondays also seem to be the best day to post.  If you're going to post at all, the data shows that 5-6 o'clock on a Monday is killer!

- Post titles that refer to the size of an apartment or space features like walk-in closets or split bedroom plan get the most clicks for us.  People want to have room for their stuff.  That is obviously important.  The next most popular post titles include information about the location of the community, suburb, nearby shopping, etc.

I could drill down more, but these are key take-aways for me.   Post often, measure the crap out of it, and you can be successful.

as seen @ MarkJuleen.com


Comments (9)Add Comment
1578
written by Rose M, October 27, 2011
Thanks Mark! Great info! smilies/cool.gif
3120
written by Lawrence Berry, CPM, October 28, 2011
Great pickups Mark, which goes to show marketing is becoming almost a full time job just related to electronic data. We all believed electronic media and computers would make our lives easier, however, it has created some new unique challenges.
3774
written by John Stepleton, October 31, 2011
Great info Mark! Being a third party content manager we are constantly analyzing the effectiveness of Craigslist advertising for our clients. Here are some more metrics and stats that we've uncovered that you may find interesting.

http://bit.ly/rs73kv

8110
written by Janet Stewart, November 01, 2011
Wondering how you the property was able to post 2,000 ads a year without getting flagged and with Craigslist dislike of links how the property was flagged for that either.
67
written by Mark Juleen, November 01, 2011
Janet, one of the great things about RentSentinel is that they help you manage what's flagged, ghosted, and frequency allowed. When we follow their recommendations we can post 5-8 times a day with limited issues.
8110
written by Janet Stewart, November 01, 2011
What are the limited issues? i.e. are you still getting flagged or ghosted? Obviously switching content and titles helps one fly under the radar. I'm curious if part of the work around is having additional computers so the postings are not from the same ip address.

And I'm appalled at the horrible grammar in my previous posting so thank you for replying. (It was a rush but I wanted to reply because I was intrigued.)
67
written by Mark Juleen, November 01, 2011
Janet, sometimes ghosted, but that's really the only issue. RentSentinel makes it easy to alternate titles and content. The best thing to do is to actually always post from the same computer and IP address.

P.S.- No worries on the grammar. We're not writing novels here. smilies/smiley.gif
0
written by jes, November 02, 2011
Mark, with all due respect, it doesn't sound like that much of a deal or that many hidden tricks especially when you're still experiencing the same issues. It's going to be another fee ($40/month) and there are free sites such as use.com, postlets, etc from which a variety of templates can be easily created and stored. But I'm not here to rain on your parade, I'm glad you found a tool that works for you. Perhaps it's a startup alternative to forrent and certainly less expensive.
67
written by Mark Juleen, November 02, 2011
Jes, those free services don't offer any of the reporting and analytics comparable to RentSentinel, but they are free and if cost is an issue they are a great alternative. They also don't filter SPAM, integrate with your PM system, or have the ability to syndicate to ILSs. I've tried the free ones, but I think RS is worth the $40 so I know what's working and what isn't. I wouldn't compare it at all to ForRent. Thanks for the comment.
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