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When was the last time you learned about an ad from the piece of paper?
It's been ages since I have paid attention to any ads in paper. If I want to purchase something, I often go to online channels and purchase it. Don’t you do the same?
This is the exact reason why classified websites like Craigslist exist. Websites like these exist to help us find things at our fingertips hassle-free. In fact, according to one research, the online classified ads market is expected to grow by a CAGR of 9.5% by 2026.
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Even though some might argue that it is difficult to create a website like Craigslist in current times. But, not anymore! Because in this guide, I will walk you through each step on how to build a website like Craigslist.
Let’s start with understanding first what exactly is a classified website and how to build a classifieds website like Craigslist?
Table of Content
- What is Classified Website
- How does Craigslist Work
- Business and Revenue Model
- How to Start Classified Website Development
- Marketing Tactics
- Conclusion
What is Classified Website
When you build a classified website like Craigslist, it is mostly designed to publish ads for goods and services. Some companies also post job openings on such platforms. You are very likely to find paid and free listings on these promotional platforms. Furthermore, these ads are categorized in different sections like real estate, services, vehicles, and jobs.
Classified ads marketplaces often fall into two groups i.e. horizontal and vertical. Horizontal offers diverse goods and services whereas vertical ones focus on particular niche.
When you are investing to build a website like Craigslist, you need to focus on the categories you will want on your website. You can either start with promoting multiple sections or focus on one depending on your business needs and the audience you are targeting.
How does Craigslist Work
Understanding how Craigslist works will help you understand their strengths and weaknesses. Based on this you can define the opportunities which are likely to have and how your product can have a unique selling point over Craigslist.
So, herein, there are two personas one is buyer and other is seller. Sellers post classified ads and sell their products to the buyer. But, the real question is how does Craigslist make money and how to make a website like Craigslist? So, let's explore that.
Business and Revenue Model
Understanding the business and revenue model of Craigslist will serve as a roadmap for you and will help you efficiently define your model. Below are some of ways you go with as you start working to build website like Craigslist:
Paid Advertising
Another name for this model is Pay per Post. When you are investing to make a website like Craigslist, paid advertising is quite a common way to have a stable source of income. Sellers on your platform will pay per post they do in order to help reach the wider audience. This model might look like a huge advantage for your business model, but for the sellers it might not be right.
So in such situations, we always recommend our clients to go with the model which you think will serve your business and users’ needs. In a way try to have a balance of both – it will help you to have a loyal customer base.
Subscription Model
This is the common method which plenty of companies follow today. This model ensures businesses to have a stable source of income and a win-win for users too. You can offer 2 to 3 tiers of model with a certain set of features exclusive for each tier. Users of your platform can select the one which is relevant to them and serves their purpose.
For your startup, it is better to go with the subscription model, but always remember to provide your users with the worth of it. Like what are they getting in return. Developing a product with this mindset will help you to go a long way and have a loyal customer base.
Premium Membership
Providing users with membership is again a great deal of business model you can have. In this model you can focus on how much users should pay to be on your platform and what’s in it for them. Having this mentality will help you and your team to innovate in terms of features and provide better service to your customer base. While calculating your membership don’t forget to include your resources and the amount of profit you expect to have back.
Banners/ Sponsor Ads
This business model is targeted more towards sellers. Herein, to help sellers boost their ad they can pay a little extra and run ads on your platform. This will help them to reach a wider audience and connect with the right set of people. The major benefit of this model is to help sellers meet the correct audience and sell their product or service.
When defining your business model, you can either choose one or go with all. Our team of expert business strategists usually recommends to go with the mix of all of it such that it benefits your business and also provides a stable source of income. If you are wondering how to make a site like Craigslist and build your business models, feel free to connect with us. Our team will help you set a business model which helps you grow.
Next up, let’s discuss the important thing i.e. how to create a site like Craigslist.
How to Start Classified Website Development
Define your Market Niche
Your first step to developing a website like Craigslist is to focus on understanding the needs of your market and defining your niche. Carry out thorough market research and understand what it is that your users and markets require. Having a strong why behind your product’s existence will help you to sell it better, have a strong unique value proposition, and give all answers on how to create a website like Craigslist.
In your market research you can focus on your competitors, study their business cases and learn from their wins and failures. You can also learn more about your users and to know how your product is solving their problem. For example: if you come across something which you think that Craigslist is dropping balls at you can come forward and make it your USP. Overall, helping you to stand out and stay ahead of your competitors.
Feature Lists
For Buyers
Registration and/or login is an essential feature in current time to provide buyers with more personalized recommendations based on their purchase history, likes, location, and etc.
These features are essential to provide buyers with more efficient ways to browse your platform and have their favorites picked. Additionally, these features also make your platform more interactive to engage with.
Providing product details and reviews will help you to gain trust of your users and make them more likely to purchase things. Overall, these details help your users to make better purchasing decisions.
Integrating multiple payment options makes it efficient for users to stay on your platform and experience a quick checkout.
Providing this feature might feel daunting currently, but it has a huge scope when you want to expand your business. Providing users with multi-language support will help them efficiently browse through the platform in their preferred choice of language. As a result, you are very likely to gain a loyal customer base.
For Sellers
Sellers should be able to easily upload their product images and add important descriptions. Providing this detail is going to help them very likely sell their product or service.
Sellers should be able to boost their service or product i.e. run ads on the platform in order to reach a wider audience.
A set of procedures should be there in order to verify sellers on the platform. It should be mandatory for sellers to upload their government IDs for verification purposes. This feature will be extremely helpful to keep the platform secure.
For Admins
Content moderation is very important for such platforms to ensure that the platform is safe and secure for everyone to use.
Any service or product which is flagged by buyers, admin needs to take urgent action of reviewing and removing it. Keeping the platform secure.
Design and Develop
Once you have listed down the list of features, your next step is to focus on designing and development of your product. Start with forming a strong team of experienced designers who can help you build user-centric websites like Craigslist. When designing a platform remember to keep users’ and business needs at the center of it and try to balance it.
Once the application is designed, the next step is to develop it. Rely on the latest tech stack in order to develop a strong and secure platform. While developing the website, your aim should be to have faster loading speed, quick response time, and ways to retain users on the platform.
Remember there is already plenty of competition in the market and users’ attention span is decreasing everyday. In such times, you only have 20 to 30 seconds to gain users’ attention and retain them on your platform or make them remember them. As you start investing more in classified website development remember to rely on the power of good user-centric design.
Test and Launch
This is the final phase of your product lifecycle – testing and launching! Use the current testing methods in order to test your product and solve any errors or bugs immediately. Once you feel your product is bug and error-free, you can now successfully launch it.
We know this might feel overwhelming to carry out each phase all alone. But, don’t worry, as we are here. You can rely on classified website development company like ours and our expert team of developers, designers, researchers, and testers can help you in each and every phase.
Marketing Tactics
It is not just about designing and launching the product. Once your business or product has hit the market, your next step is to keep the word out i.e. sharing your work or marketing it. Gone are the days of marketing using paper and flyers, now everything is a game of social media and digital marketing. Below I have listed down some of the new ways you can market your products:
Social-Media Platform
We all know how social media has changed the way we all connect with each other. Leverage the power of various social media platforms to increase your brand’s awareness and reach a wider audience. You can run social media ads and campaigns to reach your target audience and create content around your product and the problem it is trying to solve.
Affiliate or Influencer Marketing
Again using social media influencers you can collaborate with them to promote your brand and reach their target audience. While signing influencers keep in mind the image and how it aligns with your brand’s value and image. You can provide a certain discount to the affiliate link you share with these influencers.
Digital Marketing
Search engine optimization is the go to way to help increase your brand’s presence on various search engine platforms. Run various ads on Google, Bing, Safari, etc. and make your website rank on these search engines. You can also invest in paid campaigns and organic campaigns on these platforms.
When wondering where to start marketing your product for your website, you can rely on our expert marketers to help you. Our experienced team will help you stay ahead of competition and market your products to the right audience using the right platform and tools.
Conclusion
Building a website like Craigslist is an ambitious endeavor, but with careful planning and execution, it's achievable. By focusing on user experience, incorporating essential features, and adopting a robust development process, you can invest in a classified website development platform that not only emulates Craigslist's success but also brings a fresh perspective to the online marketplace.
Remember, the key to success lies not just in replicating Craigslist's model but in innovating and offering something unique to your users. With dedication and a user-centric approach, you can rely on our classified website development company like ours who can help you with classified website development and make you stand out in a competitive market and provide real value to users looking to buy, sell, or connect within their communities.
