For the budget-conscious Internet marketer, learning how to use free classifieds is a worthwhile move that doesn’t require a lot of time.

For traffic generation and sales promotion it is risk free and at no cost. The following tips will help you make the best use of this option.

First, find and explore more than one free classified ads site. This gives you a different reach and a more diverse target audience.

Don’t just trust a classified ad site

Try to build a stable of around 6 or 7 sites to help maximize your success rate. With them, post new ads regularly and refresh existing ads that have shown responses.

You may need to explore more than a dozen or more to find ad sites that suit your products and services. Spent

Search on Google and the keyword “your niche + free classifieds” or just Google “free online classifieds” or a similar phrase.

Browse through the group you’ve bookmarked. Familiarize yourself with them and sign up, preferably using a public email address like Hotmail or Yahoo.

You should also have a URL shortener installed at this point, such as bit.ly/ or goo.gl/, as you’ll need to use these if you want to hide an affiliate code in a URL. It’s also a quick way to see if your ads are being affected, since they all keep statistics.

Compelling but believable ad titles

These are called magnetic titles. They capture the curiosity of some, but are still believable. Most will NOT believe headlines like “Make $5000 Every Day”.

Look at the ads you see in the classifieds and on Google and get an idea if you’re stuck for good writing. The goal is to grab someone’s attention. Look at the ads and see what catches your eye. These ones that stand out are a good guide for you to emulate.

Also take note of the ones that keep showing up (eg in the right hand column of Google): Advertisers may not keep ads that don’t work.

Use strong calls to action, for example (Sign up today, buy now, pay less, save now, etc.)

Examples of strong words are new, guaranteed, tested, safe, free, etc.

Keywords

Using a tool like the Google AdWords tool is a source for finding popular keywords – use them creatively in your ad headline.

In the body of your ad, be precise, emphasize the benefits, and use ‘call to action’ phrases like “Click now to take advantage of the limited time discount.”

Find out some popular keywords that people use to search for your niche using Google. The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is a great tool for keyword research. Pick a dozen related keywords and try to use them creatively in your ad headline.

Simply enter your niche keyword or a key phrase and the tool displays average monthly search counts for both the keyword you entered and a host of related keyword phrases.

Next step

Make about half a dozen (or more) variations of the same ad and run about 20 ads on each site.

You said six free ad sites; therefore, posting all 6 variations will give you 36 ad posts. Save the rest for the next post.

Monitor the responses you get from ads. Those who get responses (views) are worth doing more for.

Summary

Use a strong title

Show the benefits, be specific

Include a call to action with a sense of urgency.