Craigslist ads

[DK lawn care]

What do you guys think about them? I posted one tonight. Do they get some responses?

[ACE_Lawn_Care_NJ]

I'd say you've got nothing to lose since it's free! I am just starting up and I have bought and sold stuff locally in the NJ and Philadelphia area using craigslist for years. I bought my 36" Ferris there, as well as all my rack stuff (guy was going out of biz) and numerous other things. It's saved me a ton, and none of the bidding nonsense like ebay, which is important when you need to get out and cut!

[ACE_Lawn_Care_NJ]

Oh yeah- I forgot! I bought my 18' 10000# enclosed trailer on craigslist too. It was a steal at $3400. Whatcha sellin? :-)

[DK lawn care]

I posted a ad to advertise my work.

[Eakern & Dog]

I've used it before and got nothing but cheap asses. It's good for buying and selling stuff but all my calls for work were from people who wanted to either pay me hourly or wanted a $20.00 cut every two weeks.

[ALC-GregH]

I posted a ad on Craigslist. I'd be happy to get 1 customer at this point.

[Marek13]

My experience with Craigslist was not so good -lot of people looking for freebies. One thing that worked for me was placing fliers with business cards or one of those fliers with you phone number where people can tear if out one by one -I put them in supermarkets, parks(most of out parks here have community post board) (not sure if your supermarkets have something like that) also had some kids had out fliers in front of New York sports club(fitness center) (tremendous response) just make sure that they give them out to leaving customers - otherwise people will start throwing them out and you will get call from management

[DK lawn care]

marek, how many customers did u get from that? Ive done that to.

[woodbutcher44]

I use craigs list.I usualy get clean up calls, but this past friday I got 3 seperate accounts for regular mows all with in 6 blocks of one another and only 8 miles from home.

[DK lawn care]

Thats awesome. Hopefully i have the same luck as you do.

[woodbutcher44]

I post twice a week .change your wording abit and check the email at least once a day .some folks dont call from work only email then for get .respond with an evening # and you'll get some business.

[DK lawn care]

How do you think i should change my wording around?

[MulchMan88]

ive gotten a lot of calls from craigs list, but like someone said, a bunch have been the cheapos. ive only had one successful job from a craigs list call. others have been like, "can you cut my lawn once" or "just cut my front" and a couple of the "i'll just call you when i want it done." i end up charging them way more than i should because its not worth it for me to drive all the way out to a place and spend 20 minutes there to cut around a mailbox.

[ACE_Lawn_Care_NJ]

From moving around and shopping in different regions, one thing I've seen about craigslist is that in some areas it's really caught on (especially in communities with a lot younger, technology-oriented professionals) and in others that are more rural and spread out it's not so useful. The problem with it here in New Jersey is that they have our state split up so strangely it's very hard to post to and be sure you are getting your target market since they overlap and technically craigslist doesn't allow you to post the same ad to different areas. Like another poster said, I just change my headline and re-order the ad so that it doesn't get recognized as a duplicate between areas. By the way I got an estimate request today from my craigslist ad, we'll see how that works out. Small property, but the houses are tight and not a lot of people go to that town so I'm hoping to get a cluster going.

[Marek13]

Dk,
I got about 20 calls this spring and got 5 seasonal accts(I try not to lowball-and you will get a lot of them) did few one-timers (spring clean ups)
I always ask (not up front but..) how did they get my info -most will let you know so you can key on that area.
Trick is that when you post something on the board -check it every other day and you will see that your Add is gone (wind, rain, kids, your fellow lowboller who will post his instead)
Last year I and my brother stood in front of out local supermarket for half day and just handed out small postcard looking fliers -got about 30 one time project ranging from mulch to cleanup to lawn renovation (tilling + topsoil + seed) but again be careful-we went to store manager and asked for permission to hand them out as putting fliers on car windshields is illegal in NJ-we promised to pick up trash(people who just throw them out) after we were done-we thank him in person and he said any time.
Since I am solo + my father I don’t try to get every acct but I always try to work for decent wage

[woodbutcher44]

On the upper right of the ad post the area you work or use map quest and do a radius map and state now accepting clients in this area .
It sounds dumb but put a different ad up each day and when the phone starts ringing you found what the people in your area are interested in.

[H&H Lawn Service]

What headings do you put your listings under on Craigslist? I've tried a couple different ones and haven't had any luck yet. However mine have only been up for a couple of days.

[freshprince94]

I like it, LCOs think it is too sleazy but homeowners actually look there. Plus, it shows up on Google.

[DK lawn care]

What headings do you put your listings under on Craigslist? I've tried a couple different ones and haven't had any luck yet. However mine have only been up for a couple of days.

I put it under the skilled labor.

If LCO's think its sleezy then who cares. As long as it gets u jobs. Thats what counts.

[Scagmower48]

I posted an ad and got 1 call. The guy lived 2 towns over from where I service, and he flat out told me he needs some REAL CHEAP MOWING. So I think craigslist is a big waste of time.

[deere615]

I post a few ads each with different wording. I have gotten a good amount of responses. I have got some really nice accounts, but there are some cheapos. I got a call on friday afternoon for an aeration, tell the guy I will be there monday, get there today... he already had it done I was so mad at the guy. But you can't go wrong its free advertising

[Liendeni]

I've gotten a few accounts from there but to be honest....I don't want those types of accounts anymore. If you were looking for a lawn care professional...would "you" honestly go to Craigslist to look for it? No? Well either would most people. Notice I said, "most" and not "all" because there is a small sector of people out there that do go to craigslist for lawn service and those people are referred to as "cheap asses." I am pretty sure most of them "assume" that if you are marketing on craigslist....you are new to the business and desperate for business. Both are more than likely correct in 99% of the cases and they know this....therefore looking to take advantage of you....and they try.

If you do get business from Craigslist....start off firm and let them know you are not so desperate for business that you will do anything for nearly nothing. Just my advice. I've just learned the hard way.

P.S. Notice how many people are on their almost begging for work - why would they pick you when they can get someone begging? At least that is how the ads read down here in this area. I agree with the above....great for buying and selling but terrible for quality jobs.

[Atlantic Lawn]

Bottom Feeders and Tire kickers.

[LawnSharks]

We've had our share of cheapo's but over the past couple of years have picked up about 10 solid good-paying annual accounts. We mainly advertise for specialty stuff like aerations, spring clean-ups, leaf removal, gutter cleaning, fert. etc. These services lead into other offerings such as mowing.

As far as CL for equipment.....I've bought a ton of "almost new" equipment at prices way below what I could ever pick up on this site or from our local dealers. Last year with the drought a lot of guys went under and had to sell off equipment. We bought walkbehinds, riders, blowers, spreaders, trimmers etc. and saved a ton.
I guess you get what you "pay" for. I have two or three people monitor CL all day. We usually see stuff posted and are the first to respond and we get lucky alot of the time.

[F3Nelson]

I've used it before and got nothing but cheap asses. It's good for buying and selling stuff but all my calls for work were from people who wanted to either pay me hourly or wanted a $20.00 cut every two weeks.


I have had ZERO luck, but it was free!

[kevinlane]

30% of my accounts came from Craigslist. Also 2 sod jobs from 1 ad, I guess sometimes it works.

[N.H.BOY]

I got two that they lived in another state in the winter and wanted someone to mow the summer house and did not have a local phone book . They called me in the winter and just gave them a price once some snow melted. Good for summer people.

[deere615]

I got two that they lived in another state in the winter and wanted someone to mow the summer house and did not have a local phone book . They called me in the winter and just gave them a price once some snow melted. Good for summer people.

I just got an account like that yesterday, they are nice to have

[DK lawn care]

I got an email from a person that wants mulch and his beds edged. I told him $20-$25 an hour. Then I continued to say that this price depends on how much mulch, how big the yard is and how many beds you have. He emailed me on thurs and i emailed him back an hour after he sent it. Havent heard back. So i am guessin that the guy wanted it done for CHEAP.

[elite lawns]

I post and ad last night for help working today it turn good he work really hard

[Chilehead]

There was a little thing going on recently in Atlanta's Craigslist site that had me in an uproar. (and probably others too). Some dude was posting ads for estimates for lawns to be cut/landscaped and left a phone number. When you called the number, it was to someones property that had no connection whatsoever to Craigslist. If I emailed him, he would send you a bogus address. You have to be careful, and report trouble-makers like these ASAP.

[Eakern & Dog]

Speaking of cheap asses. Check out this CL ad.

http://http://atlanta.craigslist.org/wan/659330538.html

Here is a cut & paste of the ad:

We're looking for a dependable person to water our plants and cut our lawn during the summer from May 19 to Aug. 5. The lawn is smaller than usual, $15 for cutting the lawn (three times this summer), plant watering $10 each time about every week. ($145 all together) Please bring your own mower.


Location: Grant Park - Atlanta
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

[hackitdown]

I just got a call from Craigslist tonight. I going tomorrow to give pricing. We'll see how it goes.

[jbpo]

I've used Craigslist for about two years now. I have landed some good annual accounts, but you have to weed through the cheapskates. Advertise exactly what you offer and the area that you are offering it in. This will help get rid of unwanted business. Also, make sure to re-post often so it keeps you close to the top. It is free and you can change your ad throughout the year. I will continue to use it.

[IMAGE]

I got a couple snow plowing customers from it that have been good to me.

But I have yet to get a lawn care customer.

[iMOW LAWNCARE]

I'm just starting out. I've been having good luck with Craigs List. It seems for some reasong I get the most calls on Mondays, from Craigs List. Had 3 calls today, two of them were one time mows. I'll do one time mows if its in route. I took one of them and let the other go, I'l bid the 3rd tomorrow. Craigs List is working for me, guess its hit and miss. Its free though, so it won't hurt.

[deere615]

I'm just starting out. I've been having good luck with Craigs List. It seems for some reasong I get the most calls on Mondays, from Craigs List. Had 3 calls today, two of them were one time mows. I'll do one time mows if its in route. I took one of them and let the other go, I'l bid the 3rd tomorrow. Craigs List is working for me, guess its hit and miss. Its free though, so it won't hurt.

I agree I got like 5 calls yesterday

[hef37087]

I answered an add last week for someone who had a pond leak. They posted an add requesting some advice on what and how to find and fix a pond leak. I responded back with a few questions and advice and after about 2 e-mails back and forth, he called me and I am to go do it next week. It is in a very well off area in my area. I said I could come look at it for $50. They said that they would prefer someone who would come and stay till it was done. I told him that ponds are funny and it could be a 5 min. fix, but it could take 5 hrs. to find it. There was no way to estimate a leaky pond. He said he didn't mind paying what it took to fix it. I told him $25/ hr. and he said that was fair.

[hef37087]

I also bought a trailer from an ad on CL and as I mentioned I would be using it for landscaping, they asked me about re-doing the entire front landscaping on their house. I will probably be doing that in about 3 or 4 weeks from now. I have thought about placing an ad there, but most of the ones who post ads for landscape services on CL appear to be idiots. Their ads are cheesy and as said before seem to be newbies who can't find work elsewhere. Case in point...I saw an ad for a guy I know looking for work and when I ran into him last week he said he was real slow and was looking for more and was having no luck. He and I do this part-time. I have 15 yrs experience and am covered up for the next month at least and am getting about 3 calls a week from word of mouth. I was thinking about making business cards, but I can barely keep up now, let alone actually advertise. He decided to buy a mower last year and is begging for work. Go figure....

[aaronm]

CL brought me nothing but people trying to get work done for 15 bucks

[FLAhaulboy]

I use Craigslist regularly and get new customers often, Plus I get alot of free scrape metal also.

[NOOB]

Show what you Craigslist ads look like?
see if they kinda sound cheezy or not

[topsites]

Good luck with CL if it works for you then by all means I would use it.

[YardKeeper08]

I posted a simple ad on Craigslist about a month ago and have gotten about 4 inquires for estimates. Not to bad for free.

[JMiller08]

I posted an add a month ago for spring cleanups and just got the first response today. I guess it depends on your area.

[TexasFire221]

I posted to craigs list about 2 weeks ago and have got two leads from it. One was out of my area and the other signed a 6 month contract paid up front. I say try it.

[deere615]

I use Craigslist regularly and get new customers often, Plus I get alot of free scrape metal also.

I did some scraping in the winter, most of it I got off my uncle, I might try posting some ads when I am slow, or next winter, I really like to scrap, the only bad thing is I seem to scratch my truck up alot!

[hef37087]

Here is a good example of an idiot who used craigslist today trying to lowball. This is one of our richer communities.

Grass to tall? Let me mow it.. - $25 (Hendersonville)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to: sale-664225740@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-05-01, 8:08PM CDT


Most lawns are 25.00




Location: Hendersonville
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 664225740

[hef37087]

Here is another good one. It may be the same person. The ads may not be a bad thing, if they are done in a professional way. I personally feel that a pro does not have to go into detail about every type of service that they do. I see some ads in papers that state that they do lawn care as mowing, leaf removal, driveways blown and the list goes on and on. These kinds of ads just don't seem professional to me and are a joke.


*******************// MOWING (HENDERSONVILLE)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply to:
Date: 2008-04-30, 1:13PM CDT


Most yards are priced at 25.00 if you have a heavily landscaped yard my price may be a little more.

We will mow and trim your yard, Edge your driveway and walkways and blow off your driveway and walkway.

Like I said most yards I charge 25.00 and I am avalible 7 days a week.

[RossP]

I just got a commercial account at a grocery store in my area. That was my ONLY response from craigslist so far.

[Team-Green L&L]

In the beginning of the season I was assaulting CL with many animated ads and titles with spammy symbols and clickable links (all the bells and whistle). I also had a tracker on the ads and saw that in a 30 day period that I did this campaign I received over 1300 hits on my ads. Yes, I said 1300 and I can prove it. I had over 680 hits on the tracker when I reset it because I thought it would be bad for networking and I've had over 700 more since then.

Here's the bad news. I only sold 3 jobs from that campaign and they weren't the best customers I've seen in my day. My consensus...it's not worth the effort.

[Team-Green L&L]

Here's one of the ads. Notice the tracker in the bottom left. That is grouped for all the ads, so that one ad did not get all those hits. It was with hours of posting and creating ads to get those hits. I'd say I spent 1 hour each day for 30 days on this campaign.

[MowHouston]

Here's one of the ads. Notice the tracker in the bottom left. That is grouped for all the ads, so that one ad did not get all those hits. It was with hours of posting and creating ads to get those hits. I'd say I spent 1 hour each day for 30 days on this campaign.

They're all landscaping ads. Thats the problem. You cant compare that directly to lawn maintenance.

My theory is based off of people calling me or emailing me and saying "I need landscaping work" I get back with them and say, we dont do landscaping, we just maintain lawns. And they go "Oh. Thats what I meant, I thought it was the same thing."

These people are clicking on your ad, thinking they're gonna get a BBQ grill for free if they let you mow their lawn.

I get a few customers a week from craigslist, so it doesn't make sense to me.

I really think you have confused people that don't know the difference between the terms.

[Chilehead]

I use Craigslist very infrequently. The people who have called me up in the past have generally been tire kickers, and I even had one person who played a prank on me(was not a valid prospect). Use a commercial lead service if you want real clients: retaining walls, irrigation, patios, and ponds. The monthly fees are more than worth it

[ACE_Lawn_Care_NJ]

6 new accounts so far this year from craigslist, and although I have had some cheapos asking for side jobs that have been a waste of time, those 6 customers are good lawn accounts and I'm not cheap. My minimum cut is $35 on a weekly basis, and I charge much more for biweekly customers. That's been my biggest problem, people who just want a cut every two weeks. It looks like crap but I offer them a weekly rate and if they insist on biweekly I add $15 and these people take it. So for one customer I said $35 weekly or $50 biweekly, and sure enough she took it. Another I offered at $45/week or $60/biweekly, and they took the biweekly anyway. Seems crazy to me since the lawn looks like it needs cut after about 5 days, but I can't argue with the money. I just wish they took as much pride in their lawns as I would like to.

As far as craigslist, it's working for me and I can't afford anything else yet. I've learned that for a side job like a one-time hedge trimming or cleanup to get an idea of what they say they've paid in the past to know whether or not it's a good lead before wasting time and money even giving an estimate.

[TPendagast]

Yeah Ive been getting alot of that bi weekly cut nonsense too. But whatever, instead of having a mowing list of 30 customers just have one with 60 customers. First 30 week A and second 30 week B. Same difference.

Usually, if a weekly cut is $35, I charge $60 for the bi weekly. thats $120 a month for biweekly or $140 per month for weekly. They usually take the weekly because they are only saving $20 a month (which is why I price it that way) and most of the time (90%)I skip lawns if I think I can get away without mowing it (ID rather do other things than mow to be honset with ya). But then again , mowing isnt my main revenue stream, Irrigation, water features and patios are.

[elite lawns]

i posted a ad on there for here worst help I've ever had he cost me $110 he mess my mower bad plus pay

[Lil'MowinMan93]

They're great! I posted a lawnboy on tuesday at 8 a.m. guy picked it up 8.30

[MowHouston]

i posted a ad on there for here worst help I've ever had he cost me $110 he mess my mower bad plus pay

I hired a guy part time yesterday, a total newbie, he wasnt bad, but not awesome. Said he was all up for work the next day.

By the time I got home, he had left a message and said his second job wanted him to stay late and he wouldnt get enough sleep for the next day and couldnt work.

20 lawns behind schedule and I was flipping out. It was 9pm. lol

Threw an ad on craigslist saying "If you want to work tomorrow call me TONIGHT". Had a call within 30 minutes at about 10pm-ish. Got lucky. Guy has experience. He did great today and I'm taking him out with me again on Monday.

I only hope he sticks around, but I doubt it for anything long term.

[kleankutslawn]

i have had pretty good luck with craigslist this year