Show HN: Craigsforms for better craigslist ads | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Craigsforms for better craigslist ads

craigsforms.com

16 pointsvishaldpatel23 comments

The template output lacks any eye-candy.

This is what I use for my website ( http://autolicio.us ):

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ctd/2114911822.html

I did a bunch of testing and this page had the highest conversion rate by a far stretch.

There are a lot of other services that do this. Postlets is the big one. Most of them go beyond the copy/paste model. They will actually post for you, track your ads, repost when expired, track conversion, etc.

That ad doesn't look like it actually has a car for sale. Doesn't craigslist consider that spam?

One of the flagging guidelines for craigslist is if something seems "too commercial". I would flag this post, because there really doesn't seem to be a car for sale. Also, in my own experience I have grown to distrust these templates and prefer to buy from/reply to those which use plain text. The spam rate just seems to be lower when avoiding posts with nonsense pictures or templates.

I never look at dealer ads on CL for exactly this reason.

Great idea. Would be nice to have a link to a sample ad at the top of the page, so that I know what I'll get in return for filling out this long form.

Three people just said this. This is a good idea, thanks. Rendered example coming soon.

Neat, but... holy yellow. Maybe you could tone that yellow down to a softer color? Perhaps #ecca0e?

It is a good suggestion. In my defense, it was raining here in the Bay Area and all I could think of was, "I need a yellow umbrella..".

Many people have complained it is too long and complicated the user doesn't have to fill everything out. I think it is great but just make it obvious that they fill out what they need and ignore as much or as little as they like.

Ah good point. I'll mention it in the intro text for the form. Thanks! =)

Very nice. Like postlets, but not for real estate. One gripe: Can we see an example of the finished product?

There should be something similar for other categories. (And when you're done, move onto eBay auctions!)

Craigslist is usually hostile to startups or projects that offer tools to its users.

I'd at least expect them to come after you for the name if you get any traction - best to have a backup one ready.

Alright, thanks for all the comments everyone. I added an example of a rendered ad, instructed the users to fill the form out as best as possible (implying that the whole thing is optional... I hope), and and stuck with the yellow - until it stops raining. Cheers!

I don't meant to be critical in any way (I just want to offer a genuine perspective) -- I really didn't like it. Not sure if it was because of the bright yellow color or because I just took a long survey before checking out the site (which was another long form).

I'll take what seems to be a contrarian opinion: it's too complicated. Meaning, there are too many textareas, checkboxes, and radio buttons. The genius of Craigslist is its simplicity. Title, ad text, submit, done.

I'm not sure if craigslist is going to like craigsforms.

Very smart. CL has needed something like this for awhile. Is there a reason, aside from your small "need a coder" link, that it's being offered for free?

Yes - craigslist is free for the most part. I'd like to figure out a way to keep this as free as possible.

Maybe offer an eBook for sale (or plug one from an affiliate program) detailing ways to create effective ads with easy tips, wording suggestions, other research, etc.

Funny, looks like there's already some competition out there... http://www.kijijiforms.com

This is cool. I recommend letting the user auto-post it to CL like airbnb.com does. Then the user doesn't have to look at the html.

Very nice -- are you building other ones (this one just does cars)

neat idea. one way to monetize is to try selling it to CL directly. i don't imagine they'd offer a ton but money is money.

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