50 States Classifieds

Selling your house? Free FSBO ads and free listings for Realtors!

Are you trying to sell your home without a realtor and looking for low cost ways to advertise?  Or perhaps you’re a realtor who is looking for innovative ways to advertise your clients’ houses without breaking the bank?

Whether your home is For Sale By Owner (FSBO) or listed with a real estate agency, chances are good that you could use some free advertising to draw more attention to your listing.

In these difficult economic times, many homeowners are making the decision to go the “For Sale By Owner” route.  Property prices have plummeted, and many people are reluctant to pay a huge commission to a real estate agent on top of their already significant property value loss.

On the other hand, in many places, if you don’t list your home with a real estate agent or real estate agency, then you may have a harder time attracting the attention of buyers.

Whichever route you go, and whether you are a home owner trying to sell your own home or a real estate agent looking for additional places to promote your listings, our free real estate classified ads are a great value!

When you place a free real estate classified ad on our site, you can include a picture of the house with your ad.  If you want to add additional pictures, you may do so for a very reasonable fee.

You can also upgrade your ad with such features as bold or highlighted listings, category featured listings to make your ad show up at the top of your category, and more!

Register for an account at www.50statesclassifieds.com to get started!

Have you thought about what comes after the merchant account?

Chances are, you need to find an effective way to market your retail or online business. We have just the place for you to start! Place a business classified ad and get some attention for your business, product, or services.

50 States Classifieds offers affordable online classified advertising services to United States users.

You have a merchant account – what now?

Chances are, you need to find an effective way to market your retail or online business. We have just the place for you to start! Place a business classified ad and get some attention for your business, product, or services.

50 States Classifieds offers affordable online classified advertising services to United States users.

Zip Code Search added to 50 States Classifieds

Dear 50 States Classifieds users:

We are excited to announce a new feature that we are sure sellers will want to take advantage of!

We have added zip code search functionality to our website. If you would like your product to come up for a specific zip code when users search the site, then this feature is for you!

To update your existing ads:

Go to www.50StatesClassifieds.com and log into your account.

On the right side under “My Classified Ads”, click on “Edit existing ads”.

Underneath each ad you have posted is a list of options for that ad.

Click on “Edit This Ad” below the ad you wish to edit.

Enter the City, State, and Zip code and save your changes.

Your ad will show up in search results for the city, state, and zip code that you entered.

If you have any questions about the new search features, please contact us.

We have also added several new categories in each state, based on user feedback. Stop by and check them out when you get a chance!

We would also like to remind you that you can create a free user profile. Tell people about your returns policy, shipping policies, and more. If you don’t have a website, you could even purchase a domain name and forward it to your storefront URL! To create your profile, log into your account, and click on “Edit my profile” on the right side of the page under “My Public Profile”.

What other features would you like to see in the future? Let us know!

50 States Classifieds is a Green Web Design company.

Great new updates to 50 States Classifieds!

We have added some great new features to the members area of 50 States Classifieds!  We offer a great, cost effective way to advertise your products or services!  We also offer affordable upgrdades to make your ad really stand out.  Our website receives over 115,000 page views per month from over 40,000 unique visitors.  Check out our online classifieds today and see what we can do to help you promote your business!

Lots of new updates!

I have been updating 50 States Classifieds tonight and have added some great new features!

In addition to our Online Classifieds services, now members can also create a public profile.  A public profile is a great way to list your shipping terms, your physical store location if you have one, or other pertinent information about your business, services, or products.

Register for an account and post an ad today!

Beware of Liberty Names of America, Inc Invoices

It’s that time of the year again… time to renew some of my domain names. I own several hundred domains, between myself and my clients, so it’s a never ending task. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is the deception that some companies go through to try and get you to switch to their services.  Today, I would like to warn you about one such company.

As usual, I got an invoice from Liberty Names of America, Inc. asking me to renew my domain name.  Why is this dishonest, you might ask?  Because I *own* a domain name registration company of my own, and have *never* done business with Liberty Names of America, Inc.  Not once, ever.  And yet several times a year, they send me an official looking invoice asking me to renew one or more of my domains with them.

I am not alone.  Millions of people get these deceptive letters, from the company above, as well as several others.  They do what is known as a “whois” on a domain name, get the contact information of the owner, and then send out an invoice, hoping to trick you into switching registrars.  My mom’s boss always gets these, and I would have to explain to him that no, I didn’t sell the company to them or anything else – and that he should just throw it away.

The invoice they sent me states:

Dear Green Web Design,

As a courtesy we would like to remind you that it is time to renew your odmain name which is expiring soon.   Failure to renew your domain name will result in losing exclusive rights to it on the web and losing access to your online presence.  By moving your domain name to Liberty Names of America you can take advantage of the savings we have to offer.  Your renewal will start from the day your domain name expires, even though you are signing up months earlier.

They then offer me a 1 year renewal for $29.99, or a 2 year renewal for $49, or a 5 year renewal for $94.

These prices are rediculous – at TheyreAllTaken.com, which is *my* domain name registration company, I pay the same price I charge my customers -  1 year for $7.99, 2 years for $15.95, 5 years for $39.95, or 10 years for $79.90.  What a huge difference in pricing!

So, if you get a letter from Liberty Names of America, Inc, don’t be fooled.  They are not your domain name company.  They are just trying to get you to switch to them.  You are likely paying less at your existing registrar.  And if you’re not, take a look at my website and consider switching. 

Marketing Tricks for the Frugal Budget

Marketing Tricks for the Frugal Budget

Small start-up businesses don’t usually have the resources to launch huge advertising blitzes in multiple media formats. In fact, even if you are already in business, chances are you don’t have an extensive cash allocation earmarked for promotion, or you’ve tried many different advertising approaches and vehicles and haven’t hit on a really successful campaign yet. You aren’t alone!

Advertising is extremely expensive. Despite adequate funding, even large national companies often find it difficult to develop successful advertising campaigns. And, with an increasing number of companies advertising through every imaginable communication avenue, it is becoming increasingly hard to attract the attention of consumers.

However, there are non-advertising approaches to promotion. They generally require less money to implement and are often more effective. The only catch is that they require time and creativity to develop.

Coupons
You don’t have to distribute coupons in print advertising or in big direct mail campaigns. You can hand them out on the street corner, at trade shows, or just about anyplace else. You can send a few to your best customers, or you can include “next purchase” coupons in customer orders.

Coupons can be “quick and dirty” to design and print because their selling point is price, not image. To assure your chances of getting an additional sale or establishing an ongoing relationship with your customers, make your coupon offer exceedingly generous.

Contests
People love contests. They even love to see other people win! Just witness the phenomenal success of game shows on television. If you choose to develop a promotional contest, in-fuse it with fun, make it silly, and don’t forget to really talk it up. If your contest is wacky and crazy enough, you should be able to get good media coverage—and remember, this is essentially free advertising!

Gifts
People love to receive something for free, even if they have to pay a premium price for a more expensive item to get the freebie. Don’t ask why! It may not make sense, but it doesn’t have to, as long as you make money. While this technique has been used most successfully in the beauty and cosmetics industry, it can be used in almost any business endeavor. It isn’t unheard of to see deals such as a free computer desktop with the purchase of a higher-priced notebook computer or, even a free subcompact car with the purchase of a full-price luxury sedan!

Frequent buyers
Frequent-buyer programs can be very powerful tools for building loyal clientele for both retail and service businesses. The more common approach is to give customers a card that is marked after each purchase and results in a free or reduced-price product or service offering after a specified number of regular-priced purchases. For example, ten haircuts may net one free haircut. Another approach is to give regular customers a discount on purchases upon presentation of their “Frequent Buyer” discount card.

Some businesses charge a small fee for their frequent-buyer cards. Others tie freebies or discount levels to purchase volume. For example, after spending $100 at a computer store you might receive a free subscription to their newsletter or 5 percent off your next purchase of $25 or more. After spending $250 you might receive a free storage disk or 10 percent off your next purchase of $25 or more.

Frequent buyer programs are also often implemented by independent retailers trying to survive the onslaught of superstores that offer their customers super-low prices.

Exclusive offerings
Offering exclusive purchases or previews of new merchandise to existing customers is a great way to inspire a feeling of excitement and loyalty. To enhance participation, you may wish to offer a discount. If the exclusive offering is in itself extremely attractive, the discount can be small.

Events
Hosting a special event in your business establishment, such as a celebrity appearance or a charity fundraiser, is a terrific way to introduce people to your business or maintain contact with existing customers. It also will create an aura of excitement and goodwill. You may even obtain media coverage!

Cross-promotions
You don’t have to be a movie producer or own an international fast-food chain to cross-promote your product with another business. You might consider offering free tickets to the local theater with each purchase of a particular item or price level. Another great business-to-business cross-promotion might be to offer free tickets to a ball game to any business willing to invest fifteen minutes of time just to listen to your sales pitch.

Trades
Ever notice the ads for car washes on taxi roofs? Car washes don’t pay cash for these advertisements! They get the exposure in exchange for cleaning the taxis periodically. If you are absolutely sold on developing an advertising campaign, remember that smaller media outfits will sometimes accept products in lieu of payment.

Giveaways
You’re probably wondering how you can make money if you give away product! Well, it’s a lot easier and less expensive than advertising. In fact, giveaways have their place in just about any type of business.

Selling business-to-business, you can generate goodwill with the people you choose—your best customers or a select roster of potential clientele—by occasionally giving them a small gift when you call on them. The giveaway should not be so expensive that a feeling of bribery is conveyed, but nice enough that it doesn’t end up trashed the minute you leave.

For consumer service businesses, you may want to offer your product for free trial periods, or offer free estimates if you are in a service-oriented business.

Retail businesses may hand out balloons or other novelty items to build traffic or retain customer interest.

New customer offers
Attracting new customers is one of the most difficult marketing challenges to achieve even with powerful advertising or a dedicated sales force. That’s why different businesses—national greeting card manufacturers to local oil delivery services—offer incentive pricing, freebies, or extra advertising allowances for new customers. Even lawyers customarily offer a free first consultation.