How to make people post on my site

new classifieds site

[blue_eagle]

Hi, I just created a new classifieds site and i am very eager to run it and take care of it very well. Everything is done (cities, categories, etc.) However, the problem is I am afraid that who ever comes to the site will see that there is no post and will leave the site. I was wondering how I can encourage people to post their ads on my site. Any suggestions appreciated.

[Quadrille]

You are starting with free ads, of course?

Next get your friends and family to get advertising.

You are right - there's nothing more offputting than an empty site.

If you have made it too big to populate it, maybe take all the cities offline except your own - start small, gradually spread as you get take-up.

Much easier to promote a local site - and make it look busy.

But check out the competition; there are probably thousands of similar sites - You need to carve a unique selling point out of the market.

What makes YOUR site so special? If you don't know, then you still have work to do!

Good Luck! :)

[blue_eagle]

Thanks Quadrille,

I have 50 cities and and over 35 categories in the site. I think thats quiet big. I was also thinking about cutting it to 4-5 cities to make it look busy.

What makes my site special is it is so simple and easy to use and fast. There are not lots of images and fancy design. I think making it simple is the best for the users. When people see lots of complicated stuff and colors they are scared (even me) Also another thing is there is a picture section where people can post their pictures and I am also planning to add a forum in the feature. Other than that nothing special :)) But i will see for sure some stuff will come in to my mind.

[Quadrille]

Sounds like you have the right idea; don't know a lot about classified, but never forget that Google's *revolutionary* clean, uncluttered page was thing that got it talked about in the early days.

The more competitive the area, the more important uniquity is; go for it!