I post all of our Austin rental and sales listings on Austin Craigslist under the real estate section. It’s free and sometimes effective, so there is no reason not to post listings on Austin Craigslist, along with photos. In doing so, and in observing how user-unfriendly the Craigslist interface is from a real estate listing browsing standpoint, I’ve come to some conclusions.
The only real effective way to use Craigslist to locate Austin real estate is to search for keywords. For example, there have been nearly 300 new real estate postings on the Austin Craigslist real estate for sale section so far today (4/13/2007). Scrolling down the page reading the listing titles is time consuming and isn’t very productive. Clicking the “Next 100 Postings” link at the bottom of each page, just provides more of the same. You’d have to scroll through 1,000+ postings just to view the last 4 days of new entries. Since postings remain active on Craigslist for 45 days, it’s unlikely that anyone is going to scroll through all available listings. They are instead going to search for keywords.
So if I was looking for a home in Circle C, or Legends Oaks, or Western Oaks or Shady Hollow, I would be typing a search for those neighborhood names. Or I’d be searching for some other attribute such as “South Austin”, “Kiker” Elementary, or “Bowie” High School for example. If I wanted a home that attended Westlake High School, I’d search for “Eanes” or “Westlake”.
So, knowing that my Austin Craigslist posting is most likely to be viewed as a search result, I need to make sure all listing copy is written in a keyword rich manner.
For example, let’s say I have a listing in Travis Heights, off South Congress (soco) in South Austin for sale. Would the following be good ad copy?:
Charming older cottage minutes from downtown and close to everything. Walking distance to neighborhood park and pool and local shops and restaurants.
Notice the lack of relevant keywords in the sample sentence? How would a searcher who wants a home in Travis Heights find my listing when there is no mention of the neighborhood? They wouldn’t. I’ve seen many poorly written ads like this on Craigslist.
Better copy would be:
South Central Austin charmer in Travis Heights minutes to downtown Austin, 6th Street and Zilker. Walk to Stacy Park and pool and to South Congress (soco) shops and restaurants.
Notice the difference? We’ve said essentially the same thing as the first example, but in a keyword rich manner that is more likely to result in the posting being seen by someone searching for a home in Travis Heights or near South Congress (soco).
We can take this concept a step further by thinking of secondary keywords to include in an ad. For example, a rental listing I recently posted on Craigslist is located in Western Oaks. I lead off the ad with:
Great home, nicely updated in a superb South Austin location in Western Oaks close to Legend Oaks and Circle C.
Why am I mentioning “close to Legend Oaks and Circle C”? Because anyone searching for a home for rent in Legend Oaks or Circle C may be interested in this home in Western Oaks also. I want to capture as many interested prospects with the ad as possible. Also, since quality schools are a motivating attribute for many in the SW Austin area, it’s important to mention all schools by name in case someone is searching specifically for a home that attends certain schools.
So, writing a Craigslist ad is not that different from writing website copy. One has to ask “what keywords and search phrases might be used by people whom I want to find this content?” Then make sure those keywords are included in what you write.
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Steve and Sylvia Crossland have been providing Austin real estate customers with Sales, Leasing and Investment Property services together since 1990.
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For advertising on Craigslist - I have found that the Point2 system makes for a straight forward way to minimize the time we take to create ads. For rental properties we use postlets.
The best way we have found to get the exposure is to have 2 or more email accounts with Craigslist and delete the old posting each day from one account and add it each day with the second account.
The number of real estate listings on craigslist is getting so large that it almost does not pay to promote our listings there anymore.
Then again agents that I work with still are getting leads each week from our Craigslist efforts.
good ideas with your strategies!!!
I love Craigslist, and your advice is right on, Steve. I also use v-flyer for all my Craigslist postings - still keyword searchable and makes my postings stand out from thepack.
> The number of real estate listings on craigslist is getting so large that it almost does not pay to promote our listings there anymore.
Uhh, might the number of listings be large because agents like you post the same add over and over again every two days as you describe above?
Tricia, I looked at some of the fomatted ad tools, but in the end I think there is something about an old fashioned written ad with the 4 pictures that seems less intimidating to lookers. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I've been shopping for a new used car on Craigslist and find myself, for some reason, hesitant to respond to the slick-looking car dealer "flyer" ads and more drawn to the basic standard written ads.
Steve
I experimented with the v-flyer on Craigslist and kept track of my responses before and after instituting it and also to the stats (not just on v-flyer but on my website stats, which show where my traffic comes from when). I got an increased response to the craigslist ads when I started using v-flyer, and a dramatic increase in traffic to my website on the days when I submitted the v-flyer ad to craigslist versus the regular postings.
So, clearly, your mileage may vary
> I got an increased response to the craigslist ads when I started using v-flyer
That's good to know. Tells me that my personal preferences may not always be in tune with the masses!
Thanks! Steve
Hey, that's why I tested it! So often my personal preferences tend to be in outlier territory, so I have to go with the figures to know. And even then, I have to go with the figures that work for my particular target markte, because the next guy's target market might not react the same way at all.
Craigslist is a great lead generator, we built a speed loader to craigslist about 4 years ago. We have several thousand agents and brokers who use our services and adhere to the rules of craigslist.
I think we are one of the few companies that do not not use html pasting like V-flyer and postlets and save a tremendnous amount of time with direct posting.
If agents and brokers use multiple e-mail accounts to post the same listings, you run the risk of having your ip address blacklisted by craigslist. ( This means you won't be able to post to craigslist from that computers location)
I use Craigslist Albuquerque or Santa Fe for my listings. I will try V-Flyer again since so many of you have had great results. It has to save time!
Thank you for your post. Fortunately there aren't too many posts for real estate in Montana yet so this has proven to be a very effective tool in this area.
v-fliers on craigslist I never herd that before. I am going to have to give it a try. Thanks for the info
Steve... I like the information you share about using keywords for Craigslist. I invite you to check out and join the group, Marketing Using Craigslist, and to share this post there also. Thanks.