A couple of Craigslist ads

About 99.9% of all the lawn care ads I've seen on Craigslist are just plain, boring text. I made up these 2 graphics and I wanted your opinions. Thx!

Attached Images

	lawn_biz_cl.jpg (85.6 KB, 105 views)
	lawn_biz_cl_2.jpg (149.8 KB, 90 views)

[temeculagrassgators]

How to get lawn care customers - Vol 2

They look nice. Better then the other ones out there. Where did you make it?

Thanks. I created them with Photoshop CS3.

[Steve]

Great designs! You should consider putting up some without text so others can experiment with them too!

When you use these do you have any advice on what works best? Should you put text in the ad too? Would this help search engines find it or does the graphics alone stand out so much that it doesn't need additional text?

What's your advice?

Thanks Steve. I'll take your advice and remove all the text, good idea!

As far as text in the ad, it is a MUST! Just in case someone doesn't know, if you put an image in your Craigslist ad and someone does a search, your ad will not show up in the search results. Why? Because CL search looks at text and it cannot read an image (jpg, gif). So what I suggest is underneath the ad putting keywords like: lawn care, lawncare, [city], [zip code], [service area], landscaping, mow, etc.

[Steve]

Travor,

That is fantastic! Thank you so much!

What is your view on discounts or any type of special offers when using craigslist? Is it important or no?

Do you experiment much with trying to find which kind of ad brings in the most calls?

Originally Posted by Steve

Travor,

That is fantastic! Thank you so much!

What is your view on discounts or any type of special offers when using craigslist? Is it important or no?

Do you experiment much with trying to find which kind of ad brings in the most calls?

Thank you, Steve. Discounts on CL are a good idea, especially if you have more than 1 ad running. You can "test" which ad is working by offering the same discount but different discount codes. 10% off 1st service isn't much off the bill but it looks like a lot to a potential client. Plus, consider the fact that he/she may become a long-term client then it is well worth a small upfront discount.

My best advice: don't try to re-invent the wheel! Look at the BIG players and copy what they're doing! After all, they put A LOT of R&D into their marketing, etc. One example off the top of my head is pricing everything at $xx.99. So $30 becomes $29.99. Also, stores are really good about offering 5 for $10 so what do people do? They buy 5 of [product]! Why don't they just buy 3 @ $2 each? It's the same price but subconsciously they're buying MORE!

[Steve]

My best advice: don't try to re-invent the wheel! Look at the BIG players and copy what they're doing!

This brings up a very good point. Are any of the major lawn care businesses using craigslist? Do you ever see the bigger companies in your area on there? If not, why not? Where else are they advertising and should those other marketing avenues be utilized?

Originally Posted by Steve

This brings up a very good point. Are any of the major lawn care businesses using craigslist? Do you ever see the bigger companies in your area on there? If not, why not? Where else are they advertising and should those other marketing avenues be utilized?

Good question. I don't know the answer to that. I was speaking in general terms of marketing and not so much specifically at big LCO's.

[Steve]

--> Well I guess, have you ever seen any ads in craigslist that really caught your attention? That you thought to yourself WOW this company really has their act together? If so what made them stand out?