My First Advertisement - Craigslist and Beyond

[Hedgemaster]

I thought I'd post up what I came up with for my first piece of real advertising. (Aside from business cards and hand-out flyers) I'm not 100% thrilled with the layout, but I need to get something posted quickly. The grass is starting to grow here, but the weather has been cold, rainy, and even snowy, so next week when the temps return to normal and people start to wander outside, they will see that it's time to get some things taken care of! I want to be ready for that. I'm glad I posted this here before listing my ad on Craigslist, because the image is being displayed much smaller than it should be. It should be 792 pixels wide (11"). Perhaps the resolution is where I screwed up? (It's 72 ppi) Not exactly sure... I'm not experienced with converting things to web viewable images. The original Photoshop jpg looks fine on my monitor, but the same file uploaded to Photobucket is displaying at a much smaller size. Any thoughts? I'd like to get this listed soon. My plan is to have the graphic listed in my Craigslist ad, then below it, I may add a little more info, followed by a bunch of keywords. My hope is that by doing it this way (and not typing my phone & email address in the ad copy), I can avoid the notorious SPAM that is associated with posting on Craigslist, as the bots won't "see" my email. Lemme know if you see any typos!

Attached Images

Big-Craigslist-Spring-2011.jpg (886.3 KB, 976 views)

[SpokaneSRC]

Lawn care business tips

Sorry charlie, i don't know about the resolution, didn't find any typos, and that is a great looking ad. Good luck with it, should definitely set you apart from others.

[Hedgemaster]

Originally Posted by SpokaneSRC

Sorry charlie, i don't know about the resolution, didn't find any typos, and that is a great looking ad.
Good luck with it, should definitely set you apart from others.

Thank you, sir.

I looked, and only a few places locally include an "image" as their Craigslist ad, so yes, it will certainly set me apart from the pack.

Part of me worries that it will prevent some of the people from calling for fear that my services will be priced "higher" than someone with a "I mow grass" text ad.
That said, it may also weed out the people who don't give a crap about quality, and are only looking for the cheapest price to have their lawn mowed.

Who knows.

I found a website with instructions on how to insert an image like this and make it "clickable" to link to a website. I'm not finished with my website yet, so I'll hold off on that.

[Hedgemaster]

Let's try again with use.com image hosting...






Sigh...


I don't know why it won't display at full size.
If I click on the image, it takes me to my "Use" page, where I can click on it to see it at full size, but why won't it display HERE?

I don't want to list my ad on Craigslist like that - you can't even read it at that size.

[cruzgardening]

Originally Posted by Hedgemaster

Let's try again with use.com image hosting...






Sigh...


I don't know why it won't display at full size.
If I click on the image, it takes me to my "Use" page, where I can click on it to see it at full size, but why won't it display HERE?

I don't want to list my ad on Craigslist like that - you can't even read it at that size.

i can solve one of your problems lets say you want to send people who click on your link to your website, you should look at the code and take away the first Web Address and replace it with the address you want people to see when they click on now about the size it might be the settings steve has on this site let me try it on craigslist brb

[cruzgardening]

Originally Posted by cruzgardening

i can solve one of your problems lets say you want to send people who click on your link to your website, you should look at the code and take away the first Web Address and replace it with the address you want people to see when they click on now about the size it might be the settings steve has on this site let me try it on craigslist brb

sorry i forgot clik on that one

[Hedgemaster]

Originally Posted by cruzgardening

sorry i forgot clik on that one

Whatever that links to (your website?), I can't view it - I get an error message.
Some crap about "Flash"... I don't think I can upgrade to the current version.


Maybe you can explain what I'm supposed to be seeing.

I DO know what you mean about linking to my website, but as I stated, my site isn't ready, so I don't want to do that yet - I just want to post that image on Craigslist (to be viewed at it's original size).

Maybe I'll try it tomorrow (on CL) and just see what happens. Too tired to mess with it now.

[CHEESE2009]

When you upload a file to Photobucket, it reduces the quality and size of the image. You have to become a paying member to avoid that nonsense.


Your ad is beautiful, I shall take it's hand in marriage and have many babies.

As for Craigslist spam, no matter if I block my email address... Showing it in a picture - I still get spam sent to me. I think real people actually go through the postings and take note of the email in the picture.










Wix.com is a flash based web hosting service. If you have flash disabled on you're computer, you won't see the site.
You're computer should automatically prompt you to download the most recent version of flash if you do not have it.

[jymie]

I host my images on IMAGECOAST and it allows me to save the pics in what ever size I need. Your picture ad is showing 206 x 450 pxls. If you can save it at 412 x 900 that would double your size.

[bruces]

thats a very nice add .nuff said.