I’ve received a lot of inquries to explain how to create a particular layout for a Craigslist ads. People send me examples they found on Craigslist. it’s too much of them to answer individually. So I start a set of articles “Good Craigslist ads and how to do it – examples and code”.

You may post classified ads for services if you post them under the title “services offered.” There is no charge for doing this. You are not, however, allowed to place commercial posts in other categories, and if you do they are likely to be removed. There are subtle ways of getting around these rules, as discussed previously. If you want to send people to your site where they can review a comprehensive list of your services, you can structure your ad in a way that does not directly market your services and encourages visitors to contact you for a link to your site or more information.

Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free classified advertisements (with jobs, internships, housing, personals, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs, resume, and pets categories) and forums on various topics.

The service was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area. Having observed people helping one another in a friendly, social and trusting community way on the Internet, the WELL, and Usenet, and feeling isolated as a relative newcomer to San Francisco, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark decided to create something similar for local events.

As of today Craigslist.org –

* is the 9th most visited website in the United States.
* is in 450 cities worldwide.
* receives over 7 billion page views per month… which translates into more than 20 million visitors a month.

With over thirty million new classified advertisements each month, Craigslist is the leading classifieds service in any medium. The site receives over two million new job listings each month, making it one of the top job boards in the world.