How to Successfully Post on Craigslist

Craigslist has become one of the biggest lead generators in the automotive industry.  Its very popular in the United States and can brings a lot of leads to your website.  As you may already know its also free!  So why is it so difficult to post an ad on their site?  If you have ever tried to post an ad and keep it live, then you know what I am talking about.  There are two things that can happen.  Your ad may go live and everything is good but then for some reason it gets flagged, now your ad is gone.  The ad may be flagged just because someone doesn’t like it.  The second scenario goes like this.  Everything is going well, you submitted your ad, now you go and try to find it but its nowhere to be found.  It even shows that the ad is live on your account page but in reality its not.  This is because your ad was ghosted.

Craigslist is constantly updating their ghosting protocol.  If your ad is similar to other ads or if you post too often then your ads may become ghosted.  This becomes very frustrating.  To find a successful formula for posting can take a lot of time.  Craigslist likes unique ads, but to create a unique ad for the same vehicle will also take time.  This is exactly why we created a solution for this problem.  Our solution allows you to successfully post your vehicles within craigslist terms of use.

Our new module allows you to post your vehicles directly from the DMS to craigslist.  There are also new features like Custom Random Text.

This feature stores a list of random phrases that you provide and then uses them randomly in the body of your ads.  This way your ads will always be different.

The random title phrases feature makes your titles different for each ad.  It stores phrases that you added and uses them randomly.  This will help make sure that your ads are always unique.

These are just a few of the features that are offered with this module.  You can fully customize your entire template.  This includes the title, body, different colors, different layouts, gallery and much more.  Our goal is to help you take advantage of craigslist’s massive traffic.  Just because its not easy to make your ads stay on craigslist doesn’t mean you cant do it.  Call AutoXloo today and get your ads to stay.

Effective Online Vehicle Listings

In the last several years, most dealerships have transitioned from advertising their vehicles offline (classified ads and television) to online (dealer websites, online listing sites, craigslist).  An important lesson from this transition is that vehicle listings online can be VERY effective as a cost effective lead generation system. To further amplify the effectiveness of this lead generation machine, AutoXloo offers several tools to “turbocharge” your listing effort. 

ETCH A WORD - text annotation on pictures.  Great merchandising opportunities!  Check out the details at the AutoXloo website.

CANNED IMAGES – are standard pictures that can promote the dealership, the salesperson, or services offered by your dealership. In addition to vehicle pictures that showcase a specific vehicle, canned images included in each vehicle listing allow you to increase your customer’s trust and confidence.

Independent Dealer Solutions by AutoXloo

AutoXloo participated in the FIADA conference in Orlando last week. Certainly, dealerships are adapting as the playing field has changed pretty dramatically this year.

With changes in the U.S. economy, and automotive manufacturers struggling to shift their production and design away from their recent emphasis on SUVs and larger pickup trucks to more fuel efficient vehicles, dealerships are having to change to meet the changing needs of consumers. Certainly the financial situation in the US is affecting everyone – customers, manufacturers and dealerships. Credit is tighter, budgets are tighter, are people are buying fewer cars. Those are just the facts.

But independent dealers are in a unique situation in that they are able to more quickly adapt to the changing economy much more quickly and effectively than franchise dealerships. Independents can fine tune their inventory selections without the constraints of brand that face the franchise dealerships. I came away from the show with much optimism regarding independent dealers and the market opportunities that exist for them if they leverage the changing economical conditions to their advantage. It may mean doing things differently from what they’ve done in the past, but they can make these changes much more easily and quickly than the franchise dealers can.

According to NIADA, the average Independent Dealers reported an average vehicle sales price of $8,281 in 2007. This is almost 1/2 the average sales price of $16,000 reported by Franchise Dealers for retail used car sales in 2007. In this tight economy, that statistic speaks volumes about the opportunities available to independent dealers.

We are seeing dealerships leverage our Internet software in interesting ways. Some dealers are finding success in using AutoXloo’s international online vehicle listings to sell their vehicles to individuals in other countries. Others are partnering with other local dealers to leverage an online consigned inventory strategy, while others are opting to use our SlingShot to take digital photos of vehicles for their dealership themselves instead of paying for an outside service.

Smart Dealer Decisions

An effective online strategy requires a consistent presence, with vehicles priced to market, and detailed descriptions to build trust among potential customers. You don’t have to be an expert to be effective online. You need to be consistent, and put yourself in your customers’ shoes and understand the information they need to be comfortable in making an online purchase.

I’m often surprised that dealerships do not put more effort into trying different things online. Recognizing that some things will work, and others won’t, the beauty of the Internet is that it greatly lowers the risk of failure. And even if you try something that doesn’t work, the Internet also lowers the cost of any failure. And the flip side is, there are many success stories regarding Internet marketing for dealerships.

Besides having a dealer website, having easy access to a national or international market, allows dealerships to do things on the Internet which would not be successful locally. There are dealerships who have eBay auctions down to an art and leverage other online vehicle listing sites, providing detailed information to buyers so they are comfortable completing the transaction even if they are thousands of miles away. The Internet breaks the boundaries of a traditional dealership being defined by geography. Ignoring this reality can result in your efforts being marginalized locally.