Advertising

[RachieT]

So I am looking for ideas to make my ad stick out from the ho-hum ads I see around here (my town not this site) I want to portray a fun, safe, peace of mind kind of daycare. Any suggestions? Most people just put taking kids: bring em here and pay me lots of $$

[Lucy]

I put things like:

"State Licensed"
"Infant CPR and 1st Aid certified"
"17 years experience"
"Fenced play yard"
"convenient location off X Hwy (or main road)"
"Loving environment"
"references available"
"clean home on quiet street"
"healthy snacks and meals included"

etc. Include buzz words that make your home sound inviting. Maybe "lots of toys and activities" -- whatever makes you stand out. If you are a no tv or no screen time home, put that in.

[Mandy_Jane]

Use HTML!!!! : ) When I advertise on Craigslist I am lost in a sea of hundreds of posts a day. So the only way I can stand out, is to use HTML. When someone clicks on my ad, it looks like a webpage with pictures included. I'd say 99% of posts on there do not use HTML and they look like a bunch of jumbled up black text. Hard to read and not appealing to look at at all. If you look professional from the get go, then parents are more likely to call you to set up an interview.

[jen2651]

Use HTML!!!! : ) When I advertise on Craigslist I am lost in a sea of hundreds of posts a day. So the only way I can stand out, is to use HTML. When someone clicks on my ad, it looks like a webpage with pictures included. I'd say 99% of posts on there do not use HTML and they look like a bunch of jumbled up black text. Hard to read and not appealing to look at at all. If you look professional from the get go, then parents are more likely to call you to set up an interview.

stupid person (html wise)...how would we learn/go about/attempt to do this?

[Mandy_Jane]

For starters, just to stand out and look a bit different here are a few easy HTML tags for you


<center> whatever you want centered put here </center>
<br> is how you enter down one time to a new line
<b>bolded words go here</b>
<i>italicized words here</i>

Those are just the real basics. You can also change font color and size. It seems like I did run in to some issues with font size and the code I was using. I am going to have to look at an old ad to see how I did that.

[kidkair]

Wow, thanks for the idea Mandy Jane. I never knew you could do that on Craigslist.

[Abigail]

For starters, just to stand out and look a bit different here are a few easy HTML tags for you


<center> whatever you want centered put here </center>
<br> is how you enter down one time to a new line
<b>bolded words go here</b>
<i>italicized words here</i>

Those are just the real basics. You can also change font color and size. It seems like I did run in to some issues with font size and the code I was using. I am going to have to look at an old ad to see how I did that.

Can you PM me anymore cheats for html? I'm just learning and used it to create my table on weebly. I think using it on CL would be a wonderful way to stand out! Do you know how to do color backgrounds or inserting images into the html?

[Mandy_Jane]

I sure will Abigail. I'll try to get it over to you tomorrow when I can look up my last Craigslist ad and get the exact code. My husband helped me figure it out. He's the real pro, not me! I don't know if you can change the background color on CL though. I don't think I ever tried! I guess I should try that out and see if it works. With pictures, you have to have a place to upload them to like Photobucket, and then you can use the link they provide you to put the picture in your listing. I have my own website, so I use the server space on there to upload my pictures to.

[sahm1225]

Mandy_jane - Thank you so much for posting this!
I went and updated my ad on CL with this, so good luck to us all in filling our spots!

[ninosqueridos]

I also recommend using vflyer.com for cl ads - basically you enter in the information you want, and they create the html code for you that you copy and paste into cl and poof it's done. oh and it's free