Internet Marketing Training

A recent post on the craigslist forum gives an indication of the direction that Craigslist is taking to deal with spam and duplicate ads,  they intend to strip out all html codes except the very basic elements.

 Personally, this will be a big pain in the tuckus for me, as all of my html posts contain <div>   tags, which will be stripped from the code under the proposed changes.

It is not a new phenomenon that Craigslist modifies the code, they have been appending “nofollow” tags to all links posted for some time now.  What is new is the extent to which that Craigslist is taking this, by stripping almost all except bare-bones functionality out of the code.  They are taking an aggressive stance against craigslist software that promises to allow the person using it to post countless copies of a single ad.

One major issue driving Craigslist to filter the html ads is related to what is referred to as html “comment” code.    Because Craigslist spam and duplicate filtering appears to rely heavily on comparison with already posted code.  Craigslist seems to perform scans recent posts, and if they find a pattern in the posting that is similar to another ad,  it will block that ad from being posted.   They can also hypothetically use this method to weed out undesirable posts from their listings.

In order to get around the Craigslist duplicate ad filters,  the auto-posters and spammers use the HTML comment tag to insert large portions of randomized text into the html code of the  the posting.  By inserting text into a hidden comment tag, that cannot be seen by web browsers,  the spammers were able to successfully, albeit temporarily, defeat the methods that Craiglist uses to block duplicate post.  Apparently, this comment tag technique throws a monkey wrench in their duplicate checking system.

Craigslist is taking a direct shot at the spammers, who post thousands of duplicate ads per day using this technique, and others.  Expect this move to make a major impact on craigslist ad content.  In addition, this development will render obsolete an entire cottage industry of craigslist auto-posting software companies.

IS HTML Banned From Craigslist?

No, but it is significantly restricted.  Take a look at the actual proposed changes

Forget, classes, styles, css, div tags, notably all alt text and title tags are stripped,  This is apparently to prevent garbage code from being inserted in these text fields.

I have been using <Div> tags to crate a nice border around my html ads.  Apparently the only border allowed is attached to the <table> tag.

 The Complete Comment On the Craigslist site is below:

HTML in craigslist ad postings   

WE ARE NOT BANNING HTML.

Please click here to read the actual proposal before commenting.

Discussion of the flagging system is off-topic in this forum.

This forum is for feedback regarding the possibility of limiting the HTML allowed in craigslist classified ad postings.

Unfortunately, much of the HTML in postings these days is used by spammers for harmful purposes, such as cloaking spam links, embedding false keywords, and overriding the flagging system.

Given the relatively limited value of complex HTML in the context of a classified ad (many users are annoyed by it even when well-intentioned), we are considering limiting HTML in postings to a few basic tags.

If you’re interested, please have a look and let us know what you think. We’ll review all postings here before making any decisions on implementation.

Thanks!

One line I thought was interesting is how they declare:  “many users are annoyed by it even when well-intentioned”

I wonder who are these many users that are annoyed by well intentioned HTML content ads?

I’ll be spending the next several days converting all the <div> tags in my ads to tables.  Does anyone know of an easy way to do this?

Another Valuable Lesson In Craigslist Advertising. Enjoy!
Chris
http://epicycledigital.com/my-freebie-page.php

By Tom Jacobson

Are you looking for a quality, free source of advertising to explode your online or conventional business? Look no further than Craigslist . This advertising medium was started in 1995 by Craig Newmark. The business has grown and now employs 24 people.

Most of the advertising is free, except for job ads that are paid for in selected cities in the US. The classified ads placed on this nearly free medium range from goods and services, to forums, community announcements, and even personal ads.

The Craigslist website isn’t flashy, but it sure does work for the people advertising there. The one thing you need to know about Craigslist.org is that they have software in place to keep you from over posting your ad. There are hundreds of clever marketers who have beat the system and post hundreds or maybe more ads per day. From information that I have read, your ad can just disappear from its classification unless you use stealth techniques.

One stealth technique that the mass marketers use is to get some “Hide my IP” software. You see, each computer has its’ own unique IP and Craigslist software uses this to track your computers IP address for over posting. There is however, “hide my IP” software available for a reasonable price on the internet to do the job. Good “hide my IP” software can be programmed to change at intervals that you choose.

Another thing that the Craigslist software does is monitor your email address when posting. Post over 2 to 3 ads from the same address and your ad may not appear. The Craigslist advertisers in the know, will get up to 100 free email addresses from Gmail.com, then rotate these addresses when posting. After using the email addresses for a week or two, they cancel their email accounts and get different ones.

I hope that you visit Craigslist.org to find out what it is all about. I know you will be very surprised to find that a free advertising medium like this exists.

Here is an Informative Craigslist Advertising Article That Is Worth Sharing.
Chris
http://epicycledigital.com/my-freebie-page.php
By Ian Hollander

It’s never a huge surprise that when a new and innovative way comes around to make money online, eventually there will be a glut of unscrupulous people abusing the privilege. Essentially, this is what has happened on Craigslist, where having offered the vehicle by which people like you and I could advertise our offers to HUGE numbers of eyeballs for free…a huge influx of spammers has ruined the proverbial party by posting so often their fingers are probably bleeding from the effort.

And of course, to combat this, Craigslist has come up with a somewhat unique and annoyingly inconsistent way of reigning in the rotten apples. It is called “ghosting”, and is the process by which your ad appears to have been accepted by the system, looks “live” within your admin account..yet, is nowhere to be found in the real time results. Can be a very frustrating experience without any question, and has led many craigslist posting fanatics to jump ship and find greener pastures to pick.

Here is a very easy way for you to avoid the “ghost” if you are getting it..:-) Now, I’ve written extensively about this in other places, and do only have limited space here, but the simplest thing you can do if your ads are being ghosted is this: Simply host your images somewhere that you see lots of other ads using for theirs. Not your own domain obviously…a public image repository is good for example. Link your CL ad to that image rather than pointing to your own domain. Then..using your image editing software, simply overlay your URL text into the image itself, thus negating the need for a live link, one of the prime triggers for Casper and friends to come by and say Boo!

Then…and this is a very well tested strategy by both myself and others, simply use a dial up connection when making your posts. One very well accepted cause of ghosting is multiple posts from the same IP – and simply logging in with a dial up modem, off and then on again for each set of new posts is a very simple, and effective way of negating that issue for me, and many others as well.

Of course there is more – but if you do the above, you WILL see your ghosting rates dropping fast, meaning more live ads, and more commissions for you! Good luck..:-)