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Online Classifieds Keep On Rolling
from the it's-all-there-in-black-and-white dept
A new stat says that in March, visits to online classified ads represented almost 3 percent of web traffic, up 84 percent than the year-earlier figure. More than half of that growth occurred between January and March, and the company that tracked the stat credits people turning to the sites to sell their stuff to scrape together some cash for the growth. So if the growth of classified sites is booming, shouldn't that be good news for newspapers? It would be if they hadn't lost a lot of the online classified market to sites like Craigslist, whose simplicity, effectiveness and business model have attracted users in droves. So while newspaper execs lay the blame for their business' demise on Google, Craigslist might be a more worthy target. Except, of course, for the fact that Craigslist's success has been built on filling a space that the earlier leaders in classifieds -- the newspapers -- couldn't or wouldn't fill online.
Carlo Longino is an expert at the Insight Community. To get insight and analysis from Carlo Longino and other experts on challenges your company faces, click here.
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An exceptional example
It is worth pointing out that there is an example of a news company that figured it out soon enough and played smart. In Utah there is a news corporation called KSL that runs an online classifieds at least as popular as Craigslist, if not more so. I don't know details, but I do know the design and functionality of the site is superior to Craigslist, as is the moderation. All of that likely has enabled their success.
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yes tristin
I live in Utah and visit ksl.com daily. It is the highest visited site in Utah. Their classified section is HUGE and grows everyday!
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local classified
Iwanna, the free local classified publication in the rural Carolinas for the past 30 years, outdraws Craigslist 3-1 in local online listings at iwanna.com
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Blame Craigslist!
Here in Seattle I attended a panel discussion on the future of news media. One of the old-school journalists on the panel, the managing editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (since laid off), named Craigslist as the #1 reason his paper was struggling.
In short, plenty of newspaper writers blame Craigslist for "stealing" 40% of their revenue. The intense focus on Google seems to be a recent phenomenon, and might be more prevalent among people who are farther removed from the operational costs of a local newspaper.
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Step Aside Craigslist
A new site that's just come out and is sure to give craigslist a run for their money is Profitthumb.com. Unlike craigslist, Profitthumb makes it mandatory to include a photo of what it is you're selling so that you're not wasting your time reading descriptions of items that don't fit the look you're after. Aside from this, it also gives you the option to see what people providing services look like before utilizing their services. Let's face it, looks matter and Profitthumb.com now allows you to see what and who you are paying for. Keep your eyes on this website. It will be a household name sooner than later.
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