Thinking Of Setting Up A Classifieds Section
906 days agoNot in this blog of course but for my business directory. What do yo guys think of having a classifieds section for my business directory? Sure, it will not be like those big names classifieds like St701 or Mocca, but I am thinking of setting it up like Craigslist, which allows people to freely post ads online without the hassle of registering and so on. Of course, then there is Craigslist Singapore, which would offer the same thing to their users. I guess in order to compete with Craigslist, I will have to do a lot of Search Engine Optimization, some advertising and promotion along the way. By the way, my business directory, I did a ton load of Search Engine Optimization and it has good ranking for certain categories, some of which are pretty popular in Singapore.
The main reason why I am thinking of setting up the classifieds section is because I don’t think that just a business directory is useful for my visitors. It is just too static and to a point, very boring. There isn’t anything to keep visitors coming back, unlike classifieds where visitors come to look for new or better deals and to post ads. And businesses usually don’t update their websites, which would mean that if they have any promotions or special offers, nobody knows if they just visit their websites. Adding a classifieds section would really help businesses increase their exposure online and enhance business opportunities. Furthermore, there are quite a number of people out there doing business without a website. Since the classifieds doesn’t require them to have a actual website, they can still post their company information, products and services online. It is actually a very flexible option for small businesses.
Of course, everything costs money. That includes webhosting, the classified script, modification cost, time and effort. So although the ads posting are free, I think I will be offering featured ads which would cost a little more. What featured listing offer to customers is increased “ad period”, random frontpage appearance, better ad formatting and perhaps more photos are allowed. I guess about S$10 per featured listing would be reasonable?
Anyway, this is just an idea. I will need to finalize the cost of setting this up. And with so much competition out there, it is an uphill task. However, from what I see, it seems to me that all those big name classifieds are merely “following the crowd” without understanding the promise of classifieds publishing. I think that classifieds should be all about the content (yes, the advertisements themselves) instead of the name of the publisher. And they can offer way more than what they are currently offering now but sadly they are not doing it. Well, wish me luck. I need to do some brainstorming first before committing my limited resources.
If you are interested, please take a look at my Singapore Business Directory.
