Build a Classified Website - How to Build a Successful Classified Advertisement Website Business

A Classified Advertisement website is where users post there advertisements either for free or pay per post. Such websites might be targeted to a niche or general purpose use.

The websites are not exclusively for posting advertisement but products and services are bought and sold. Building a classified website is not an easy task but new improvement in software and specialized web hosts have made it easier than ever.

There are three ways to go about building a classified website. The first way is to pay a web designer to build your website.

Another method is getting a good host like Bluehost select a paid plan and register your domain name. You can download Wordpress then select Auto installer in you cpanel and click a classified App like Osclass or a classicraft Wordpress theme.

The third method is to buy a ready made classified website. Let us examine how to build a low cost Wordpress classified website.

Low Cost Wordpress Classified Business

There are many ways to start a classified advertisement website and earn regular income. You don’t need previous experience to create an income generating classified website in less than 15 minutes.  If you’ve built a website before it will take you an even shorter period.

An effective way to build your classified website is using Wordpress. Wordpress allows amazing professional plugin that makes the process extremely uncomplicated.

Starting a classified website is easier than you imagine. Today things are much simplified and require mostly drag and drop to build amazing websites. You don’t need complicated technical knowledge or a degree in software to create attractive websites.

The Cost of Building a Wordpress Classified Website

To build a classified on Wordpress you need to have a domain name and hosting. You website needs to be situated on a server space where your files are stored.

The good thing about building websites is that you get to choose a domain name and host the website at a host company.

ClassiPress plug-in is a classified advertisement script that works nicely with Wordpress. The major costs of building a classified website is the amount spent on buying a domain name and a hosting plan.

Bluehost will allow you select a free domain name and you only pay for hosting.  Other things you need are a banging design, cool template and a marketing budget.

Advantages of Owning a Classified Website

A classified website generates huge traffic and by creating a free classified section on your website attracts huge traffic. Classified websites are verified Automated Machine Dispensers and the money keeps coming.

Owning a classified websites also helps you build a mailing list. If you have a paid classified website, advertiser will consistently use your website.

You classified can be targeted to a specific industry or local area, town or region. Classified websites have low stat up capital and can generate income from various sources.

Do you know that you can buy a ready made Classified Advertisement Website? There are many web designers that build ready made classified websites and offer them for sale. The websites are fully functional and ready to use.

There are a few considerations that determine your success and failure in the classified advertisement business. Let’s look at a few advantages and challenges when running a classified website

The Good Part

Easy to build

You can build your classified on Wordpress and there are thousands of templates and plugin to make the process easy. Many templates are SEO enabled with beautiful designs and functionality.

You can get your classified up and running at low cost in no time.

Multiple Sources of Revenue

A popular classified website has multiple revenue sources. They have paid advertisement and special placement options. You can sell banner advertisement space or use CPC or CPM. Another source of income is providing bulk advertisement space for purchase.

User Generated Content

Write original content on your blog using your long tail keywords. The major advantage of classified websites is user generated traffic. Anytime someone visits your website to look at advertisements or post an advertisement they generate traffic.

The traffic generated by classified advertisement website is similar to traffic generated by forums. The more traffic you get the higher your ranking on search engines. 

Like any website you need to build lots of online juice, inbound marketing initiatives and a respected brand name.

Offer Discounts

Offer great deals and discounts and watch your profit rise. People love freebies and bargain deals so use it to your advantage. People are also creatures of habit once they have posted an advertisement on your website there is a high likelihood they will be back.

Difficulties

The major difficulty is convincing people to place advertisements on your website. The best way to get the ball rolling is by inviting advertisements from family and friends.

 If your website is a niche website you stand a better chance in the early days.

Marketing

Classified websites need lots of marketing to get running. Marketing your website can get expensive so you need to be extra careful. Your income slowly builds up but by a year you will start smiling to the bank.

Steps to Start Your Successful Classified Website

Building a classified website is the same as building a regular website. You need to get a good theme and a plug-in like ClassiPress or apply a PHP script.

The next step is to install them and you are done. The best way to create a top notch website is to build a directory website for targeted visitors.

It is critical that you select a reliable host company for fast loading and reliable functionality. They should also provide reliable SEO experience. The Wordpress theme you choose should come with SEO potions for search engine optimization and social networking.

The Niche

Step 1

Select an untapped niche to boost your chances at targeted audience. The internet is highly competitive so building a general based website will struggle against the giants. You can build a targeted website around a long tail key word or by location or vocation.

If you use this technique you are assured of less competition and targeted audience.

Install your Theme, Script or Plugin

Step 2

You have chosen a less competitive niche then install your chosen theme, script or plugin. There are many classified Wordpress themes you can choose from and many are free.

The themes are already built with all the features you need to successfully run your classified website. The themes have different settings to effectively customize your website.

Once your website is built you need to test the settings such as featured advertisement functions, submit adverts and PayPal settings.

Populate Your Website

Step 3

Once you have finished building your money spinning website don’t forget to populate it with content. A good theme to use that provides blogging section is WP theme.

The content you add to your website should be original and related to your niche. The first advertisements are critical because they automatically bring new audience and advertisement.

Traffic-traffic

Step 4

If you want your website to become the monster you need lots of traffic to your website. Generating traffic in the early days of a classified website like other websites isn’t easy.  To fast track your campaigns use Google Adwords, Facebook advertisement and guest blogging on popular blogs.

Monetize your Website

Step 5

You can monetize your website once you have a steady stream of visitors. Classified websites that are properly built run on auto pilot, they make money while you sleep.

A few monetization options are paid membership, placed advertisement and using advertisement networks.

Some Wordpress plugin and Themes

How to install Osclass

First login to admin panel, install theme to your site, install plug-in, add categories, custom fields for listing, favicon, put third party advertisements including your company logo.

The Osclass is a php script which enables you build a classified website. You can also configure a mail server so users get a validation email.

Features in Classicraft Theme

If you decide to use classicraft Theme instead you will get lots of features. Features like Add posting Invitation button, user login/registration and submit free or paid Ads.

Other features Ad search Feature, Classified Ads Category, spotlight item, inside view of a product page and submit Ad approval mechanism.

Another Way to Start a Classified Website

Yclas is your best bet to create a classified website with zero programming knowledge. You can actually start your classified website on Yclas totally free.

There is no advanced knowledge to start one on Yclas. It takes less than one minute to own your own classified website.

All that is required is the name of your website, your email and click I am ready. Yclas provides you with a full list of features specially configured for classified websites.

You can have any type of classified website from real estate to automobile websites. What you get is a mobile ready and an admin panel with full management options.

Yclas is the smart choice because they have awesome templates, custom fields and provide a wide range of earning options. You also get social login, they allow customer reviews and rating including Advertisement importation.

Yclas has both the free option and paid options. Check out Yclas here and get your classified website running in one minute.

How to Generate Income with a Classified Advertisement Websites

Classified advertisement websites when properly integrated are a good money source for the administrator. There are a number of ways classified advertisement websites generate income.

Advertisers are attracted to classified website because of the targeted traffic it attracts. People searching for a specific product or service are more likely to use classified websites.

Featured Advertisements

A high traffic Advertisement website will attract lots of interest from the general public and companies.  Since advertisement websites are generally crowd sourced with lots of individual advertisements it is a good place for featured Ads.

Featured advertisement is big money for the webmaster because they pay premium price for the feature Ads. The benefit to such advertisers is a wider reach and better conversions.

There are a few plug-in available for webmasters such as Feature Ads sidebar, Slide plug-ins.

Membership Advertisements

The Classified website can generate income through membership subscription. Membership subscription only works when advertiser post recurrent advertisement.

By offering such advertisers a membership package you can reduce the amount they spend on adverts. The classified website is at liberty to offer specific slots and placement for such advertisers.

Other benefits of such membership are discounts, preferential treatment, quick moderation and speedy post of adverts.

 Pay per Advertisement

The classified websites advertisement packages should include pay per advertisement, free classified, membership and features adverts.

Bump Advertisement

Bump advertisement allows users better exposure because the advertisements are show according to most recent to older posts. Classified websites using this method creates a level playing field for pay per advert or free classified adverts.

Bump advertisements limit the number of advertisements shown per page. This affords the website better arrangement and handling of influx of adverts.

Special Placement

Special placement is a smart way to increase income generated by Advertisers. You offer advertisers special placement at the top for a fee. Other more visible locations on the website can be offered to advertisers.

Banners

Banners are a good money spinner for classified websites. Banner advertisements are usually located at the top of a webpage.

It is one of the most visible locations and highly contested placement. Classified website administrators have a choice of using featured slots, Google adsense, and other advertisement networks.

Make your Website a Free Classified

Free classified websites attract lots of interest and traffic from advertisers. A well moderated free classified website will rate highly on search engines.

Although you don’t make money from free advertisers you can add featured advertisements and membership slots.

Affiliate Links

Niche websites that target certain products and services are good market places for eCommerce. Classified websites can use affiliate partners to earn income.

Affiliate marketing is performance based and affiliate marketers only get paid if an action is taken after someone uses the link and either buys or subscribes.

Webmasters handle a large number of affiliate partner’s networks. Some notable websites with affiliate programs are ClickBank, LinkShare, Google Affiliate Network, Commission Junction, and Amazon Associate.

These programs work on Pay per conversion and commission bases.

Premium Membership

Premium members of your classified website are offered monthly fee subscription. For there patronage you can include discounts for members, newsletters, promotions and insider news, top place feature, speedy moderation and other benefits.