Photo by Franco

A few days ago a reader asked how to link to his website from a Craigslist post. This is an excellent idea and I’ll show you how in this article step-by-step. Not only will this show you how to create a link from your Craigslist ad to your website, you will be able to use this technique to link from multiple other platforms like eBay, bulletin boards, your Facebook corporate page and elsewhere on the web.

First off, it’s a great idea to get into the practice of linking back to your website from all over the web. While making Craigslist or similar type ads can be a cheap and effective way to advertise your business the problem is that they are short-lived. Once the ad expires, so does your advertisement. However, if you can get a prospect to click over to your website, a whole world of possibilities opens up!

Linking to your website from Craigslist or elsewhere on the web gives you multiple opportunities. Here’s a few:

1. Bring qualified leads to you.
2. Capture their contact information.
3. Cross promote your other services and products.
4. Give prospective clients a place to bookmark and come back to.
5. Also, more links to your website can help you move up in search engine rankings like Google.

How to link to my website in my Craigslist post?

In short, you need to make a hyperlink tag to your website.This is similar to the process I wrote about when describing how to put an image in your Craigslist post.

Start with the following code:

<a src="http://www.CharlotteWebDevelopment.com/SomeLinkHere">The text you want to be linked</a>

Step 1: Identify the link destination.

Copy the address of the place you want to link to. In, this example I am pretending to link to the page here: http://www.CharlotteWebDevelopment.com/SomeLinkHere

For the rest of this lesson I am going to refer to the page you are linking to as the URL.

Step 2: Put the link destination as the source.

Just replace the part I have in quotes after src= with the address of your contact page and the link will go to that page. Be sure to keep the quotes on either side of the URL!

Step 3: Write the text you want to be linked.

You can change the wording that appears linked by editing the part in the middle. In the example I have above this is the part that says The text you want to be linked.

In the website design business this is called anchor text. Anchor text can be very useful to you in a few ways. For one it drives action for people to do something you want. In the case of linking to your site from Craigslist, you are asking viewers to leave the site they are on – a site they know well – and go an unknown site, yours. To accomplish this mission, you probably want to write something compelling.

The other way this link can be advantageous to you is in Search Engine results. Some search engines rate your site higher depending not only one the number and quality of the links you provide, but also for what words you use in the anchor text. For example, if you use the terms Barbie in your anchor text, it will count as a point in the Search Engine algorithms for the page you are linking to for Barbie. If you would like to rank higher for the terms for your business, you should include those words in your anchor text.

Step 4: Paste the whole Code into the Craigslist ad.

This part is simple. Just take the work you have done in steps 1-3 and paste it into your Craigslist ad, bulletin board forum, or where ever.

Presto! You have a link back to your website!

Now remember, Craigslist only lets you post html in certain categories and certain circumstances. If you’d like to learn more about that – and tips and tricks the pros use to make sure that their ads get clicked and sales get made, check out this comprehensive how-to guide.

Let me know if this technique works for you. If you have any questions, just write a comment below and I’ll do my best to get back to you with some help. All the best with your business!