As a former marketing executive for a popular classified commercial website, I was often faced with the query "how do free classified sites make money?" My response to them was always the same, it is summed up in word; Traffic. Free services or products generate traffic & traffic equals money. The more traffic that a site can attract, the more funds advertisers are willing to pay to get a number of the attention that is generated by that site. Craigslist.com for example generates well over 100 million views per month.
Although Craigslist.com doesn't permit commercial advertisers to promote banner ads on their site, they do charge a fee for definite options in definite categories. For example, in 2011 the site made about $96 million in the job recruiter section, $13 million in the actual estate section, & $6 million in the therapeutic massage section. This is not even calculating the money that was being made by them in the Erotic categories that they had in earlier years. Some estimates were conservatively estimated at around $50 million per year before they shut it down.
Isisclassifieds.com is another great example, this website has established profit centers all through out its lay out. The company charges a little fee for use of its personals section which conveniently reduces the amount of spam received in that section. According to them, this enables the visitor to have a more quality experience. They also have an adult section that generates income for the site & I assume will add millions of dollars to their bottom line in the near future (if not already).
Lots of classified sites like Isisclassifieds.com also charge a fee within the automotive, actual estate, & job section. Fundamentally, one time the volume of visitors to a classified site is at a definite level, there is lots of money to be made! Making money for a free classified commercial website is accomplish able but definitely not simple. It can take years of marketing & promoting for these sites to generate the kind of traffic that it takes in order to turn a profit. However, one time established it is simple to generate several profit centers within a classified commercial website due to the multitude of categories & subcategories that exist. they have the choice to pick a popular section within the site, stamp a cost on it & watch the money flow in.
Although Craigslist.com doesn't permit commercial advertisers to promote banner ads on their site, they do charge a fee for definite options in definite categories. For example, in 2011 the site made about $96 million in the job recruiter section, $13 million in the actual estate section, & $6 million in the therapeutic massage section. This is not even calculating the money that was being made by them in the Erotic categories that they had in earlier years. Some estimates were conservatively estimated at around $50 million per year before they shut it down.
Isisclassifieds.com is another great example, this website has established profit centers all through out its lay out. The company charges a little fee for use of its personals section which conveniently reduces the amount of spam received in that section. According to them, this enables the visitor to have a more quality experience. They also have an adult section that generates income for the site & I assume will add millions of dollars to their bottom line in the near future (if not already).
Lots of classified sites like Isisclassifieds.com also charge a fee within the automotive, actual estate, & job section. Fundamentally, one time the volume of visitors to a classified site is at a definite level, there is lots of money to be made! Making money for a free classified commercial website is accomplish able but definitely not simple. It can take years of marketing & promoting for these sites to generate the kind of traffic that it takes in order to turn a profit. However, one time established it is simple to generate several profit centers within a classified commercial website due to the multitude of categories & subcategories that exist. they have the choice to pick a popular section within the site, stamp a cost on it & watch the money flow in.