Traffic to the largest classified advertising websites has grown by almost 70% in the last year, according to new research. Research says 57.4 million US users visited the top consumer-to-consumer ad sites in August, a rise of 57% over the same month in 2007. Craigslist was the most popular, doubling its unique visitors to almost 16 million during the month. Trader Publishing , the leader in July 2007, ranked second with 17.2 million visitors (up 25%), while AutoTrader ranked third with 8.4 million visitors (up 24%)." While online classifieds are not new, it appears that internet users are really beginning to catch on to this phenomenon.With nearly 60 percent growth in the past year, online classifieds are growing at a rate that surpasses most other categories. As the category leader, Craigslist has clearly impacted the way in which new and traditional media companies approach the classifieds business. Research said a higher than expected proportion of visitors came from among younger professionals. People between the ages of 25 and 35, and those in households making at least US $90,000 annually, were each 27% more likely than average to visit classified sites. Classified advertising is a truly great business building tool you can use to generate dozens and dozens of leads for your service business. Whether your target market(s) is based locally or further away there are publications, trade magazines, newsletters, and newspapers that will be read by your prospects. Placing small ads in the classified advertising section of these publications will generate leads for you. The great news is that classified advertising even with large publications is relatively inexpensive. But of course it's not how much it costs that's important. What's important is how much profit you generate from using classified advertising. Norbert Lukacsi http://www.astrofonix.com
