My new craigslist ad

[NewLeafca]

I have been trying to get some clients from craigslist but so far have only gotten spam. So I took the time and made a better ad and will see how it goes. Is this to much? Tell me what you think honestly? I need to find a way to get more clients so your honest help would be great. Here is the ad http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/fgs/1813738845.html

[Steve]

Lawn care business tips

Oh that is very interesting! Is there anyway you can attach a screen cap of it so we can talk a bit about it?

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[lukus223]

Originally Posted by NewLeafca

I have been trying to get some clients from craigslist but so far have only gotten spam. So I took the time and made a better ad and will see how it goes. Is this to much? Tell me what you think honestly? I need to find a way to get more clients so your honest help would be great. Here is the ad http://inlandempire.craigslist.org/fgs/1813738845.html

I really like this. How did you get your CL ad to look like this? Can you share the code? I promise I won't pouch any of your accounts (I'm in Oregon)

[NewLeafca]

Originally Posted by lukus223

I really like this. How did you get your CL ad to look like this? Can you share the code? I promise I won't pouch any of your accounts (I'm in Oregon)

I tried to send it to you in a pm but the text is to long. Send me a pm with your email address and I will send you a file with it. CL has limited html that you can use to make ads but if you work at it you can come up with some decent ones.

Originally Posted by Steve

Oh that is very interesting! Is there anyway you can attach a screen cap of it so we can talk a bit about it?

I'm not sure if this is what you wanted or not. Couldn't get the whole ad on one screen and had to shrink it down a bit. I am also working on a flyer along the same lines as this ad.

[JP Landscaping]

It looks good. Better than anything in my area. How do you create an ad like that? I always just place my ads with simple writing.

Also, are you offering to do weekly cuts for $40 per month?

How are you making any money on that?? It's on average $10 per lawn per week.

[NewLeafca]

Originally Posted by JP Landscaping

It looks good. Better than anything in my area. How do you create an ad like that? I always just place my ads with simple writing.

Also, are you offering to do weekly cuts for $40 per month?

How are you making any money on that?? It's on average $10 per lawn per week.

I used to do ads in just plain text but then found out CL lets you use some HTML so I did. The small lawns take me about 20 min to do. Yes it is cheap but here in Southern CA the competition is tough with all the illegals. Most of them will do a lawn for $10-$20. I did my books for the this month the other day and this is the first month I have made money, now that I have more clients. Right now I am only make about $300 a month so it is not much.
However, I am in a good position to do this. I own my house so the only payments I have for it are property taxes. My truck is paid for so just have gas and upkeep to pay for. I get a pension check which I live on for now and I have an annuity for backup. So I can afford to be a little cheaper for now to get my business up and going. What has helped me out is that I am licensed and insured and can do extra work others won't or can't do. Because of the quality of work I do I have clients asking me to do extras for them. Last month I installed 2 fences, a sprinkler system, a patio and a porch. These are the things that help me make money and what I want to get more of. I have 3 more estimates to do today (all from client referrals).

[Steve]

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[Steve]

I wanted to see if the code could be pasted into a post and it worked! Cool!

Ok I love the ad. The first thing I was thinking of that might grab their attention is maybe have a guy on a mower or working in a yard totally blacked out. So you can see that there was someone there but not there any more. Would that visual work better in catching the viewers eye?

In fact I like this so much I think you could use the concept as a flyer and door hanger.

[NewLeafca]

Originally Posted by Steve

I wanted to see if the code could be pasted into a post and it worked! Cool!

Ok I love the ad. The first thing I was thinking of that might grab their attention is maybe have a guy on a mower or working in a yard totally blacked out. So you can see that there was someone there but not there any more. Would that visual work better in catching the viewers eye?

In fact I like this so much I think you could use the concept as a flyer and door hanger.

I am making a flyer like this up. I got the idea from my clients pretty much. I would say that 75% of the clients I have, at one time or another, have said that they had someone doing their work but they just stopped showing up. When they call they get no answer or no call back. They were also dissatisfied with the services saying they came in and out so quickly that they didn't do a good job. So I thought there must be others out there like that. Especially here where there are a lot of trunk slammers in the biz.

I like the idea of the blacked out guy also. I remembered the old milk cartons used to always have pics of missing kids on them so thought it would be humorous. I don't know if they even do that anymore so it may be to old fashion.

[NewLeafca]

So I posted the ad yesterday. I got 20 emails this morning out of those emails 4 of them were legitimate. Went to 2 today and have one new monthly client and maybe putting in a new lawn for the other one then on a monthly basis. Will go see the other 2 tomorrow. So guess the ad is working need to hurry up and make the flyer and see how that goes.