Craigslist is the largest free classifieds website on the web which pulls in millions of visitors every day.
Although it’s got a bad wrap over the years from designers, freelancers and other online business professionals, Craigslist can still be a goldmine for finding new clients for your freelance work.
It may be a bit tricky but if you use the following tips, you’ll be able to weed out unwanted clients and find the ones that will make your freelance business a success.
Craigslist local vs. national
Craigslist was originally intended to be a great hub for local classifieds but people realize there are even more opportunity when you begin to search other cities.
This wide search does bring up a debate: which is better, local or national classifieds?
Here’s my opinion on both:
- The PROS of local classifieds. Going local is great because you have a better opportunity to networking with local clients. If you can land a face-to-face meeting, you lower your chances of being burned on your freelance projects. Additionally, working with your clients close by will help build a relationship which may lead to ongoing work and local business opportunities.
- The CONS of local classifieds. One drawback of local classifieds are the limited scope of work available to you – don’t live in a high tech city? Doesn’t look like there are many opportunities for your skills. Also, sometimes a face-to-face can cause trouble if a deal goes sour; do you want to run into these people when you go out for coffee?
- The PROS of national classifies. Local is great but you can’t beat the availability of jobs on the national level. You may live in a small town which doesn’t have many listings; it’s very tempting to look into large metropolitan cities to find a wider range of work and pay. Additionally, you can build great online communication skills by being restricted from the face-to-face.
- The CONS of national classifieds. Competition can break you especially on the national level. Your skills may be sharp but when you are up against others that search for jobs on the national level, you may second guess yourself. That’s not to deter you from trying but do realize that listings in metro’s often come with an extensive skill-set required to get the job done.
With the pros and cons in mind, consider what’s best for your freelance business.
If you prefer to be local, by all means do so; you’ll be surprised at how many opportunities are mere miles from your doorstep.
If you’re ready to pick up your game, start seeking jobs on the national level. It’s going to be tough but the wide variety and pay will be great for your freelance business.
Finding the right clients and avoiding the spammers
The most difficult part about using Craigslist to find clients is the sheer amount of spam, cheap and scammy listings that may be shown in your area.
Let’s face it: people want to pay you zip for your services.
This lack of professionalism from business owners is the main reason why Craigslist gains such a bad wrap however not all listings are like this.
With Craigslist, you have two ways to find clients:
- Search the listings
- Advertise your services
Let’s explore both of these further in detail.
Finding clients on Craigslist listings
When searching for clients on Craiglist, as mentioned before, there will be many people trying to take you for a ride but there are certainly those which offer a great offer.
If you’re ready to start finding clients on Craigslist, use some of these tips:
- Look in multiple locations. Not everyone places ads in the correct category and by only searching within a few of these, you could be missing out on great freelance jobs.
- Go for jobs that are backed by proof. If you see an ad that seems too good to be true, it just may be. Look for ads that include actual contact information or a website where you can learn more about the company or person you’ll be dealing with.
- Don’t bid for jobs that underpay. Spec work and taking jobs that underpay is both detrimental to your profession and the profession in the whole. When you take jobs that underpay, it distills the idea that your profession can be bought for cheap when, in fact, you should be paid accordingly.
- Read through the dates. Many people spam their ads over and over again. These ads are generally by people that are very desperate for work. This isn’t to say these are bad clients but from my experience these people want to low ball you.
- Avoid “disgruntled” clients. You know these type; the clients that had to “fire” their old designer, writer, whatever because it didn’t work out. From my experience, again, these clients are often very difficult to work with and continually nickel and dime you for your services.
- Keep safe. Because Craigslist is free, there are many weirdos out there. Be sure to read the safety tips and use your own judgement with the people you’ll be dealing with face-to-face or online.
For example, this is a fairly great example of a respectable Craigslist job posting. The main information is there (minus pay) with plenty of contact information:
These tips will help you find great clients when used accordingly. Remember your safety, don’t undersell your skills and services, do your research and you’ll come out on top.
Advertising yourself on Craigslist
Advertising yourself on Craigslist opens a new opportunity to command your own pricing and work terms; you’re given the most freedom and it helps dramatically from being burned from sub par clients.
When advertising on Craigslist, follow these fundamental guidelines:
- Setup a separate email for Craigslist. People love to spam and trick others into signing up for affiliate offers. Avoid this by keeping a separate email to handle any Craigslist business related.
- Drive visitors to a landing page. Your landing page is where you can sell your entire message. Within the limited scope of Craigslist, you may not be able to give all of the information you want which is why driving these visitors to your own landing page is key. On your landing page, explain who you are, what you do and give options to contact you for work.
- Find the right area. As mentioned in the previous section, you may want to advertise on national or local searches. Ideally, advertising your services locally will allow you to meet these people if needed – helping you to avoid being scared by clients that use the net to avoid payment.
- Run your ad often. Due to the high volume of ads being place on Craigslist, you may want to add your advertisement again every few days or weeks depending on the volume. Adding your ad frequently will keep you in recent results, improving your chances to find clients.
- Fill in the vital details. When creating your ad, be sure to include your important details such as the work you provide, price, time frame, benefits and contact information. I know it sounds basic but many people skimp out, rushing to throw an ad up quickly just to get it out there then being disappointed when they lack results.
Listing on Craigslist isn’t rocket science but it does take a few minutes of work but keeping a template and resources handy will help you get your ad up and running in no time.
In fact, there are many websites which help you create visually appealing ads to place on Craigslist, such as:
Slozzle
Use.com
Once your ad is up, don’t be afraid to then continue using Craigslist to proactively find clients – sitting back, waiting for clients to come to you will be a dime in a dozen some weeks, take the charge with it!
Tools to improve your Craigslist search
Because Craigslist was meant to be local based, the website doesn’t have many options to search on a wider scale.
For our benefit, many programmers have stepped up and have created really great tools to search on the national level using various options not available through the main site.
My favorite of these is Craigspal which is it’s own program to do a wide range of searches based on various criteria.
When you’re looking for jobs on a national level, Craigspal comes highly recommended as you can search based on location, price and keywords.
Additional resources for finding clients and freelance work
Before you go jumping into finding clients, I wanted to give you a few additional resources and reads.
If you’ve never contacted a client on Craigslist you may not know what exactly to email them. Here is a template to help you understand (adapt it to your own services and listing):
Hello XX,
My name is your name and I recently saw your job posting on Craigslist about X (insert CL link).
I am very interested in the X job. I’m very eager to work with you on this project and would like to know additional information.
My skills related to X are:
- List item #1
- List item #2
- List item #3
Much of my work is also available online through my website www.yourwebsite.com.
I believe I have the right attitude and skills required to finish this job on time and look forward to the possibility to working with you.
Please let me know if you’d prefer any additional information,
Your Name
www.yoursite.com
Now, of course, you’ll want to craft this email to relate to the job listing you’re applying for. Remember to personalize both the message to the person and to show your own. Continually test your emails to see the response you can receive; eventually you’ll create a general idea of how to properly contact clients related to your freelance skills.
<h3>Additional reads I would recommend</h3>
I touched on many points about finding freelance clients through Craigslist but there are plenty of other opinions and great information on the web, here are but a few:
- Spotting A Good Freelance Job On Craigslist
- How to Get Freelance and Telecommuting Jobs on Craigslist
- How to Find a Job on Craigslist: Advice From Kevin Donlin
- Finding Jobs Through Craigslist
- 51 Funny Craigslist Job Titles and Listings (just for fun)
Now it’s your turn
Throughout the post, I talked about finding clients, tools, resources and creating your own ad. This arsenal with help you get started using Craigslist to find new freelance work and potentially long-term clients.
But now it’s your turn:
- What have been your experiences with Craigslist when finding freelance jobs?
- Do you have any tips you could share?
- What are your thoughts for using Craigslist to find freelance jobs?
Hi Murray,
I am enjoying this series very much because each piece is written on a very basic level and with technology being such a growing animal, your posts help tame the fear with dealing with such a creature.
Here is my answers to your questions.
* What have been your experiences with Craigslist when finding freelance jobs?
Very discouraging. I have only look at the local level to find gigs that seemed out of my league. I never thought to look nationally. Like duh.
* Do you have any tips you could share?
Yes. Hitting your computer monitor with a baseball ball after seeing how sparingly the jobs are at the local level is not a good thing.
* What are your thoughts for using Craigslist to find freelance jobs?
Since I am armed with this new fresh info, I look forward to bring back so good reports (even not so good) to share so we all can benefit.
Keep up the great work!
Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions Griffin. It’s a good thing they make computer monitors so rugged, I know I would have broken a few over the last few years haha.
I am not a big fan of Craigslist. They have horriable support and if you have to have a phone number to post a service post.It can’t be a prepaid or VOIP number or it won’t work. Once the number is used it can NEVER be used on another account again even if you know longer use the old account again.
But I have found several jobs, hired contractors, and gotten a few freelance gigs from them. Its not a bad way to go if you if you have time to sort through the scams and losers on there.
.-= element321´s last blog ..Quick Tip: How to Turn Off Auto ReTweets in Hootsuite =-.
Hit and miss but I’m glad you made out well on the end. That’s the one thing I do hate about CL – way too many spammers and trashy listings but nonetheless, you can find some gems
Murray – Great information. I hadn’t thought of creating a landing page for my Craigslist ads, and yes, a Craigslist e-mail is also a good idea. I will check out these other resources you provided as well. Thanks!
Griffin – your confidence will grow with your experience. Still, taking the time to respond to ads on Craigslist, even those that seem out of your league, will help you develop the query voice necessary to land a job. Keep a file with your query letters and note which ones get a bite so you can learn how to improve your technique.
Two tips for landing writing jobs from online ads:
1. Echo the ad in your response. If the ad says “need help with online marketing maximization,” don’t say “I am an SEO expert” expecting that will show the person how much you know. Say something like “I would love to work with you to maximize your online marketing using proven search engine optimization strategies.”
2. Visit the website provided or if you can figure it out from the email address. You are way ahead of anyone who gave a form response when you demonstrate your familiarity with a company and its website. I had an interview yesterday in which I could hear the interviewer light up when she realized that I truly was familiar with her site and had researched her company.
Craigslist is a mixed bag. You have to be very careful, but the upside is that many writers have found great jobs there.
Write on!
.-= Tammi Kibler @ Write More. Write Fast. Write Now.´s last blog ..Proven Freelance Writer Marketing Tools =-.
Great advice Tammi!
You’re definitely on point about taking the time to do a little research – it goes a long way. Especially so when you can craft your emails specifically to the listing you’re applying to.
If you’ve ever listed a job or item on CL, I’m sure you’ve seen how many canned responses you’ll receive which really drives you away but every once in a while, you will get that person that wants to truly work with you to your benefit – of course, this goes both ways.
Thanks for sharing!
Craigslist, not one of my favourites, main problem with it though is that there is nothing for austrlia.
Not to keen on work that extends further than local, sorting out the scammers is to much work.
.-= Peter J´s last blog ..Pulling yourself out of the blogging bell curve =-.
Thanks for your input Peter – was wondering, what other places does Australia have in terms of finding jobs online? (besides monster.com and other major boards)
Way to go comprehensive!
For readers who are still wary about using Craigslist: A lot of the freelancing sites and blogs that have job boards aggregate Craigslist ads to “pad” their listings. So chances are you’ve probably seen a bunch of Craigslist jobs already without realizing it.
.-= Jillian´s last blog ..“4 Hour Sleep Week” Book Review =-.
Good information to know Jillian, it will certainly save people some money from subscriptions since they’re already listed for free.
This is a helpful article. I’ve used CL for years to find my clients. And I found some great ones. Often a client will recommend you. So you don’t need hundreds of clients to start creating buzz.
Craigspal looks interesting, I will look into to it and hopefully land a few more jobs. Thanks Murlu
.-= Anwar´s last blog ..5 truly legitimate home based business ideas =-.
Glad to hear how well it’s worked for you Anwar. Recommendations are priceless – get clients without having to hunt them down? That’s always ace in my book!
If you try out craigspal, lemme know what you think about it
Craigslist is a must use tool. Well once you have a good ad template it is. For my small business I use craigslist a lot but I didn’t get much business. I looked to get a template for my ads so it looks better and it actually worked. I used cremplates, you can probably google search them, but it works. Great Article.
Hey James, thanks for stopping by – great to hear your success with Craigslist.
If you don’t mind sharing: what sort of tips could you give when posting ads?
Thanks!