Best Classified sites?

[philiporchard]

We have the features built on our site for advertising jobs, motors, property, but the features have been broken for a while.

At the same time as fixing I want to improve usability/features etc.

Can anyone recommend any very simple / intuitive sites that include classified, that appear on sites that are similar to ours (i.e not niche, but general - i.e we can't hope to compete with Autotrader).

i.e One thing we need to change is removing 'logging on' before completing the 'selling' forms, as this will be a barrier to users completing the form.

Any ideas will be gratefully received!

 

[philiporchard]

Thanks Sean - yes, aggregating data is certainly one of the ways to go. Certainly thinking of doing this with local deals etc... Will have a look at what the possibilities are with property.

 

[rob]

Lots of cash in classifieds if done properly.

Get custom code, you will spend similar time and effort supporting intergrating etc third party software.

In terms of publishing other peoples feeds eg zoopla , raises the question who are you building the site for.

Would you look at a local site like that?

If its google fodder then its not long term option IMHO.

 

[philiporchard]

I've never built a classified site so I'll have to take your word that you can make money from classified ads. I do agree that ideally you'd like the content to be your own but gaining momentum can be difficult if not impossible and I can't see how you can make money without that momentum.

Some of the questions I would ask are. 1) Will a lack of ads reflect badly on the whole of my site (not just the classifieds section)? 2) Will people pay to advertise? 3) Do I want to start dealing with e-mails from irate visitors who've bought a stolen car from my site?

The positives I see from tie-ups with big names are that. 1) Your visitors and advertisers will see a name they know and trust, which will give your site immediate kudos. 2) If the data is used well and finding what they're looking for is easy then most people won't care that the information isn't yours. 3) You gain lots of expensive content for free.

Being brutally honest, I look at Phil's sites often and my impression rightly or wrongly is that they aren't really taking off. The only reason I come to that conclusion is the lack of traffic on the classifieds section and I think potential advertisers will jump to the same conclusion.

Fair comment. We should have removed these parts from the site, as they don't work at present!

 

[retired_member34]

One thing I just noticed is some local papers integrating Exchange And Mart with their sites. They only display the local ads so it has relevance and avoids the empty restaurant syndrome, and the whole booking and payment system is ready made. Exactly who they offer this to I do not know however. Take a look at the Penarth Times as an example.

If you are going to go with your own system - I would suggest you make it free to gain momentum, you can always then go freemium or paid only later.

 

[Edwin]

On a related theme of "things that signal a lack of traffic" you may want to consider remodelling the reviews since it's painfully clear there aren't many of them nor are they very recent, because your system helpfully displays the top reviewers and most recent reviews on the front page.

If you only had the reviews appear on individual business pages, it would be much harder for a casual visitor to notice the overall scarcity... and then once you've reached a "tipping point" in terms of numbers and new reviews, you can then reinstate the highlighted material on the FP.

 

[craine]

Hi just thought I'd jump on philiporchard's thread as I'm looking to do a local classifieds site too for property, motors, jobs, etc. I'm aware of problems getting the ball rolling in terms of traffic and would probably put a little ad budgetting towards this if I were to start getting serious about developing the site I have in mind.

What I'm really interested to know is if any one has been able to successfully implement classified plugins for Wordpress or Joomla (or perhaps another well used CMS / bought a script / coded it from scratch) and been able to handle the scaling as traffic has increased?

I've already tried a proof of concept modifying a Joomla script for http://www.numberplates.im, but quickly found the script I was using was a bit flaky to start with.

I've got a very limited budget for what would essentially be an experiment for me, so any experience I can get before gaining my own would be very useful at this stage!