Well, I did it...posted on CL... - Our DJ Talk

MMM · 02-07-2010, 04:50 PM

Yup, I gave it some thought after looking at the ads on there and figured "you know, what the heck, I'll give it a whirl" so the wife and I drew up a nicely worded ad and posted it.

The only damn thing I've gotten for responses is spam and SEO baloney...LOL.

Oh well, like GI Joe says, "knowing is half the battle" and now I know!

Steve LeBlanc · 02-07-2010, 05:23 PM

can we see the ad?

MMM · 02-07-2010, 06:36 PM

Steve, it follows below. I'm not a CL fan and find most of the whole thing just garbage, but like I mentioned, I figured "give it a go" and see what happens. It's not worth looking thru all the spam again....once the ad runs out, I don't plan on placing it again.

Quote:

If you’re looking for the least expensive DJ on CL, I’m not it.
But, I’m far from the most expensive.

I don’t have 100,000 pirated songs…I do have 8000 legal ones that I own though.

No gimmicks; no hype; just honest service and affordable pricing.

We even have a website with “real” email addresses.

Please have a look and see if we can be of service to your event.

Visit our website at www.MissMollyMusic.com

Or, email us: DanceJockey@MissMollyMusic.com

beemer · 02-07-2010, 10:00 PM

Nice website MMM, I had a look and liked what I saw.

About C/L:

C/L is bottom-feeder central, however I have gotten work from there. I run a simple ad in which I disable the C/L email and provide a link to my site if they should choose to go there.

Link:

http://worcester.craigslist.org/evs/1579878616.html

By just pointing at the website, it cuts down the spammers tremendously.

SEO folks that ping the list seem to think they will get paid to optimize nationally what is a local business. I have strong words in reply to these folks, usually one email reply from me is enough to run them off.

I get far more work from direct referral, however you may be surprised at C/L. Last year I booked 8 events from there....at my price. Not bad for the bottom feeder site.

Best,

Paul

MMM · 02-08-2010, 05:08 AM

Paul, thanks for the kind words and the words of wisdom concerning CL...I may give it another thought after reading your post.

Sounds To Go · 02-08-2010, 05:27 AM

One tip/trick re cutting back spam is to not use their reply to email. Select "hide" email address and just have a link in your ad and have all links click to your site as well. No spam emails, and you are guaranteed to get an inquiry on the form on your site which - if you have it formatted correctly - can give you all the info you need to give a quote.

But yes ... use their reply email or publish one in the body of the ad, and you're going to be spammed into oblivion.

JoeChartreuse · 02-08-2010, 07:54 AM

Nothing wrong with using ANY site- for TWO reasons:

1) The more sites you list on, the more you show up in searches

2) Craigslist, Last Minute DJs, etc...- Hey, you can always turn down cheap offers. On the other hand, I've gotten some nicely paying events from CL, PLUS exposure that has gotten me hired at two venues...

Here's my ad:

Having a party or event? Make it Memorable and FUN with JOE CHARTREUSE KARAOKE & ENTERTAINMENT!

Your guests will have a great time releasing their Inner Star! Everyone wants to do it!

I am a working professional Club & Event Karaoke Host. I specialize in making the shy comfortable enough to sing ( and LOVE it! ), the outgoing really let loose, AND entertaining the non-singers as well.

* Professional Sound System combined with Music and Vocal Mixing Skills make ALL sound Terrific

* Over 18,000 Karaoke Songs on Full Sound LICENSED Manufacturers' CDs - NO tinny or badly made MP3s. We can even play YOUR Favorite Discs!

* We offer a selection of DJ Music for those who just like to listen and dance as well! Something for everyone!

I truly enjoy what I do, and you will too!

Your guests will thank you, and your event will be remembered as a favorite!

I look forward to hearing from you! - Joe Chartreuse

Doug · 02-08-2010, 02:54 PM

I have got 6 jobs from Craigs list since last June when I started putting different ads on there.
That is 6 jobs I would not have had, and every one of them paid CASH.
Six jobs that only cost me a little time to post the ad.

Some real people go there and look for things.

Jeff Romard · 02-08-2010, 03:25 PM

Lets take a look at the ad....This isn't a bash just telling you what I see. My comments in Blue

Quote:

If you’re looking for the least expensive DJ on CL, I’m not it.
But, I’m far from the most expensive. So you are somewhere in the middle...Average is this what you want to portray? Preconcieved notions about CL might have made you explain yourself here

I don’t have 100,000 pirated songs…I do have 8000 legal ones that I own though. Who cares? Do you think a client really cares about this? In over 20 years I have never once been asked about the legality of my library. More often than not people just assume downloaded musicand I haven't found one that cares

No gimmicks; no hype; just honest service and affordable pricing. Good line you are relating to the consumer

We even have a website with “real” email addresses. Again who cares? I'll bet 80% of the people you deal with don't really know the difference between a "real" email address and a webmail address

Please have a look and see if we can be of service to your event.

Visit our website at www.MissMollyMusic.com

Or, email us: DanceJockey@MissMollyMusic.com

Very nice website. I would also add a phone number to the ad .

The one thing I notice in most of these ads is they look like they are written for other DJs or to "educate" the client. Read it back out loud and if you wouldn't want to hear it don't print it

VinceP · 02-08-2010, 04:09 PM

Can someone tell me how to embed a direct link in a Craigslist ad. I have included my website in the ad copy, but could not figure out how to embed a link.

As far as the value of the ad itself, I can't complain. I have booked 4 events at regular pricing since last October. Have gotten a couple of phone calls from shoppers looking for cheap, and a few web inquiries from CL that simply wanted pricing, and since I never heard back, you can guess I was too expensive.

But as Doug said, can't complain about a few spam e-mails. I am paying for a couple of sites that have yet to produce a gig, so I can't complain about a free site generating four bookings.

Doug · 02-08-2010, 05:12 PM

If you want a click to get to your website then.. http://www. anysite you want.
and somebody will be able to click on that and go straight to the site.

If you are looking to ad a pic/img you need to have something like photobucket Free will work if you don't try to get to big. Piu your pic on there then click on share and it will give you places to send it but you just need to copy the link and past it on your craigs list ad, top bottom, middle where ever you paste it is where it will be.
if it makes your ad bunch together you need to put a <br> between every line that you hit enter to start a new line.

if you want a space between the lines like I just did you need a
<br>

<br>
Leave a empty line in between.
The bunching of the ad don't happen every time but I have had it happen and had to figure out how to fix it.

MMM · 02-08-2010, 05:18 PM

I wasn't really looking for critique Jeff, but you make some valid points....thank you. I may rework the ad and repost it again. I have a couple of local "free" newspaper ads that I run that get hits once in a while, and should really look at getting one recurring on CL.

Thanks for the info!!

02-07-2010, 04:50 PM	#1
MMM Barry Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: North of Bangor, Maine Posts: 627 Thanks: 2,012 Thanked 1,016 Times in 335 Posts	Well, I did it...posted on CL... Yup, I gave it some thought after looking at the ads on there and figured "you know, what the heck, I'll give it a whirl" so the wife and I drew up a nicely worded ad and posted it. The only damn thing I've gotten for responses is spam and SEO baloney...LOL. Oh well, like GI Joe says, "knowing is half the battle" and now I know! Last edited by MMM; 02-07-2010 at 06:30 PM.

02-07-2010, 05:23 PM	#2
Steve LeBlanc Hobbyist...and Lovin' It !!! Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Fredericton, NB Posts: 4,786 Thanks: 2,103 Thanked 7,194 Times in 2,929 Posts	can we see the ad? __________________ Apathy - "2 : lack of interest or concern : indifference"

02-07-2010, 10:00 PM	#4
beemer Equipment Hound Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 243 Thanks: 1,068 Thanked 620 Times in 191 Posts	Nice website MMM, I had a look and liked what I saw. About C/L: C/L is bottom-feeder central, however I have gotten work from there. I run a simple ad in which I disable the C/L email and provide a link to my site if they should choose to go there. Link: http://worcester.craigslist.org/evs/1579878616.html By just pointing at the website, it cuts down the spammers tremendously. SEO folks that ping the list seem to think they will get paid to optimize nationally what is a local business. I have strong words in reply to these folks, usually one email reply from me is enough to run them off. I get far more work from direct referral, however you may be surprised at C/L. Last year I booked 8 events from there....at my price. Not bad for the bottom feeder site. Best, Paul __________________ www.us-dj.com Last edited by beemer; 02-08-2010 at 01:10 AM. Reason: typos, added more info

02-08-2010, 05:27 AM	#6
Sounds To Go Your OTHER Sacramento DJ Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 2,061 Thanks: 9,236 Thanked 3,905 Times in 1,585 Posts	One tip/trick re cutting back spam is to not use their reply to email. Select "hide" email address and just have a link in your ad and have all links click to your site as well. No spam emails, and you are guaranteed to get an inquiry on the form on your site which - if you have it formatted correctly - can give you all the info you need to give a quote. But yes ... use their reply email or publish one in the body of the ad, and you're going to be spammed into oblivion. __________________ Sounds To Go - Sacramento DJ Sounds2Go Twitter Facebook

02-08-2010, 07:54 AM	#7
JoeChartreuse Karaoke Sinestra Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Bergen County, NJ Posts: 5,046 Thanks: 7,863 Thanked 6,816 Times in 3,068 Posts	Nothing wrong with using ANY site- for TWO reasons: 1) The more sites you list on, the more you show up in searches 2) Craigslist, Last Minute DJs, etc...- Hey, you can always turn down cheap offers. On the other hand, I've gotten some nicely paying events from CL, PLUS exposure that has gotten me hired at two venues... Here's my ad: Having a party or event? Make it Memorable and FUN with JOE CHARTREUSE KARAOKE & ENTERTAINMENT! Your guests will have a great time releasing their Inner Star! Everyone wants to do it! I am a working professional Club & Event Karaoke Host. I specialize in making the shy comfortable enough to sing ( and LOVE it! ), the outgoing really let loose, AND entertaining the non-singers as well. * Professional Sound System combined with Music and Vocal Mixing Skills make ALL sound Terrific * Over 18,000 Karaoke Songs on Full Sound LICENSED Manufacturers' CDs - NO tinny or badly made MP3s. We can even play YOUR Favorite Discs! * We offer a selection of DJ Music for those who just like to listen and dance as well! Something for everyone! I truly enjoy what I do, and you will too! Your guests will thank you, and your event will be remembered as a favorite! I look forward to hearing from you! - Joe Chartreuse __________________ "No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!" " Disc-Based And Loving It! " Last edited by JoeChartreuse; 02-08-2010 at 07:57 AM.

02-08-2010, 05:08 AM	#5
MMM Barry Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: North of Bangor, Maine Posts: 627 Thanks: 2,012 Thanked 1,016 Times in 335 Posts	Paul, thanks for the kind words and the words of wisdom concerning CL...I may give it another thought after reading your post.

02-08-2010, 02:54 PM	#8
Doug Almost the Old Guy Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: S.W. Michigan Posts: 271 Thanks: 248 Thanked 514 Times in 207 Posts	I have got 6 jobs from Craigs list since last June when I started putting different ads on there. That is 6 jobs I would not have had, and every one of them paid CASH. Six jobs that only cost me a little time to post the ad. Some real people go there and look for things.

02-08-2010, 04:09 PM	#10
VinceP Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Suburban Detroit Posts: 11 Thanks: 28 Thanked 31 Times in 9 Posts	Can someone tell me how to embed a direct link in a Craigslist ad. I have included my website in the ad copy, but could not figure out how to embed a link. As far as the value of the ad itself, I can't complain. I have booked 4 events at regular pricing since last October. Have gotten a couple of phone calls from shoppers looking for cheap, and a few web inquiries from CL that simply wanted pricing, and since I never heard back, you can guess I was too expensive. But as Doug said, can't complain about a few spam e-mails. I am paying for a couple of sites that have yet to produce a gig, so I can't complain about a free site generating four bookings.

02-08-2010, 05:12 PM	#11
Doug Almost the Old Guy Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: S.W. Michigan Posts: 271 Thanks: 248 Thanked 514 Times in 207 Posts	If you want a click to get to your website then.. http://www. anysite you want. and somebody will be able to click on that and go straight to the site. If you are looking to ad a pic/img you need to have something like photobucket Free will work if you don't try to get to big. Piu your pic on there then click on share and it will give you places to send it but you just need to copy the link and past it on your craigs list ad, top bottom, middle where ever you paste it is where it will be. if it makes your ad bunch together you need to put a <br> between every line that you hit enter to start a new line. if you want a space between the lines like I just did you need a <br> <br> Leave a empty line in between. The bunching of the ad don't happen every time but I have had it happen and had to figure out how to fix it.

02-08-2010, 05:18 PM	#12
MMM Barry Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: North of Bangor, Maine Posts: 627 Thanks: 2,012 Thanked 1,016 Times in 335 Posts	I wasn't really looking for critique Jeff, but you make some valid points....thank you. I may rework the ad and repost it again. I have a couple of local "free" newspaper ads that I run that get hits once in a while, and should really look at getting one recurring on CL. Thanks for the info!!