Canadian Classifieds, Kijiji?

Where's Alannis and Kung Fu? I thought they would have something to say.

LOL Indeed, I do.

I had luck advertising website development in the Computer Services area, but no luck whatsoever with SEO. If you post a resume in the jobs area for SEO or design services, you quickly get lost in a sea of other devs and so-called SEO experts.

You can sometimes find people needing SEO through a province or country-wide search on Kijiji, but it's about as easy to close those deals as it is through contacting CL ads.

I quickly gave up on Kijiji. I haven't found it to be worth the time at all.

Also... Kijiji will automatically remove listings you try and post outside of your area. Somehow they got me, even when using HMA proxies. They will also notice if your local ad is similar to an ad you may place in another city. You'll have to space them out over a matter of days. You should also avoid posting the same images. Kjiji knows when you use the same images and will flag your post as a duplicate.

Again... not worth the time LOL

However...

I used to post replies to business ads on Kijiji. I would find any business advertising there and shoot them a quick, "Don't suppose you'd be interested in talking about getting your business on Google? I'm local to XYZ. Can we speak sometime?" Got some clients that way

You just have to be careful to view the posters other ads and be careful not to send them the identical reply to 5 of their ads. Companies tend to post multiple ads, so you're not making a good impression when you send the identical reply to all their ads.

I hope that helps.

I tried Kijiji, but was having trouble with the duplicate ads thingy. I tried different headlines, different pics, different copy, etc. The only thing that was the same was my phone number.

And I didn't like how quick they disappear of the first page either.

What did work for me with kijiji was like Kung Fu said, I would find companies that had their own ads up and contact them and make an offer.

What I would do is ask them if they were having the same trouble as me, and then ask them if they were would they be interested in a better way to advertise their business?

I also tried this on craigslist where I would send a business an email asking them how their craigslist advertising was working and did they feel they were getting lost in the clutter of all the others on there. and if they felt like that, would they like to find out about a better way?

I no longer do this as most of my business comes from referrals so feel free to try it out.

@Kung Fu- Of the clients you obtained by contacting businesses off of their ad, were any worthwhile. In other words, did any agree to a $500+ month fee, or were they mainly low-ballers. Thanks for your input.

Great question. I have guessed that most people advertise there because they're cheap. So the best SEO client I got from there was a $200 / month house cleaner. She was a great lady, though. She paid on time and in full and was very happy once I got her enough clients.

I would say it's an extremely inefficient use of time if you're looking for big bucks. I did it when I was first starting out, now I wouldn't dream of spending my time that way. I feel more confident now, so I think I would have an easier time with cold calling.

Don't put too much weight in what I'm saying, though... I don't prospect for local businesses anymore. I much prefer what I do now.

For the hoops you have to jump through and the extra effort/paid add-ons, kijiji is not worth it for the quality of customers that are found on the site. I actually find a lot more business from craigslist still for most IM services in Canada.

I think there are better things that can be utilized instead of kijiji that have a much better ROI and response rate....

Craigslist does get more traffic than Kijiji in Canada.