Great insights here! Craigslist truly is an invaluable tool for reaching local buyers, but like you said, it needs to be approached strategically to maximize results.
I completely agree with the importance of text-heavy listings. Treating Craigslist like a search engine is spot-on advice. Buyers often search with long-tail keywords, so having detailed descriptions is essential to showing up in those searches. The difference between being found or overlooked often comes down to these details.
Your points about flagging and ghosting are also crucial. Rotating ads, limiting daily posts, and tweaking templates as needed are great tactics. I've noticed that small changes in wording or formatting can make a big difference in avoiding flags—definitely worth experimenting with.
Tracking VDPs is another underrated aspect. Knowing which ads are driving traffic is key to improving your ROI. For anyone managing this in-house, Google Analytics UTM tags can help track traffic to your site from Craigslist, though it’s always easier with a vendor who handles this for you.
I’m also firmly in the "remove sold vehicles" camp. It’s better for compliance and avoids wasting your sales team’s time. Plus, linking directly to your inventory, trade app, or financing tools is a no-brainer—those features help move customers further down the funnel.
Thanks for sharing this and for the transparency about your Craigslist posting service at Press1toTalk.com. It’s clear you’ve got a lot of expertise in this space!
