by Leon Brickey

As web marketers we all have more than likely ran many, many classifieds. Classifieds are tough to say the least. Many classified sites just don't get enough traffic to send you or anyone else very many hits….not the case with Yahoo. Yahoo gets millions and millions and millions of hits! Yahoo can send you hundreds of hits per week if you work them consistently. Yahoo has without a doubt the busiest classified site on the internet. If you own an online business or are just starting an online business Yahoo can definitely by one of your best advertising avenues! And best of all it's free! At least for now.

Here's what you do:

First go to http://www.yahoo.com. Click on the classified link. The classified link will be seen on the first screen to appear in your browser. If you aren't a registered Yahoo user you will need to register at this time. You must be registered to place classifieds.

Once you are registered return to the classified main page.

1. Click "submit ads." If you have any ads in Yahoo delete them all before starting to place your new ad.
   
2. Choose your category. This is important. If you choose a wrong category your ad may not be placed. If your ad relates to a business opportunity go ahead and go into "business opportunities." This is a broad category so check it out first.
   
3. As you start to place your ad you will be given two sets of subcategories. The first is the most important.

Let's address the first category. 
     
Do not SPAM these subcategories, but see how many you can work your offer into. You can submit a maximum of 10 ads at one time.

You may need to reword your headline and ad a little bit, to qualify your ad for 10 of the 12 categories. Usually with online marketing business opportunities you can qualify for 10 of the 12 subcategories. If however you don't qualify for 10 only use as many as apply to your offer. If you abuse this service by placing ads in non-applicable categories a) your ad won't get placed and you may get banned from Yahoo classifieds, b) Yahoo will make it harder for everyone or worse yet Yahoo will discontinue the free classifieds altogether….it is a free service you know!

Now the second set of subcategories. These should be chosen wisely. Simply choose the one that MOST applies to your ad. These are subcategories for the FIRST set of subcategories. This isn't difficult. Once you've been through these categories a couple times you'll be fine.

Yahoo has recently upgraded their free classified service to post ads within 24 hours of the time they are submitted. With the traffic Yahoo gets your ads pull best during the 24 to 48 hour window after you place you ads. It doesn't get posted for about 24 hours then it is highly visible till the next day; which is about 48 hours after you placed your ads. So, you MUST go back to Yahoo every 2 days, delete ALL your ads and place ten new ads exactly as you did two days ago. I can do this in 30 minutes or less and it's well worth my time I assure you!

You may need to perfect your headline and ad copy as you go along to improve response. Not being cold, but if your ads in Yahoo don't pull some response…….it's your ad!

One of the main keys to classifieds is to post consistently. You must repost often!