Recently I have found myself surfing Kijiji within a variety of different categories ranging from automobiles to housing to jobs and a few others. Anyways, some of you may not know what Kijiji is, well let me give a brief overview first before I continue.

Kijiji is an online classifieds service focused providing the ability to post and view free local classifieds. This allows users of Kijiji to have a super easy way to share, sell and trade with others in their community.

Some may wonder why I am posting “guidelines” for posting classifieds on Kijij. The reason I am doing this is simply because I am shocked my the number of people and businesses who post their classifieds on Kijiji thinking they will receive serious and multiple inquiries regarding the classified listing with their horrible post. Here I will share both what is recommended and what is not. Throughout this article I will use postings from the “apartments for rent” category under housing as an examples.

The Title of your posting

So let’s start with the “title” of your classified posting. Throughout hundreds of classified ad posting that I have viewed in the past week there must have been over three quarters of them with absolutely horrible titles and that I refused to look at. Wondering why? Well let’s take a quick look.

Many will wonder what is so wrong with the examples provided above. Well let me tell you.

• Uninformative. The title is a very poor representation of both the provider and the item that he or she is trying to sell to the seeker. There is absolutely no critical information available within these titles that will assist in getting a seeker to actually view the entire classified ad posting.
• Unprofessional. The titles of the the two examples above look like a child and or early adolescent had posted them. The reason I say this is because it looks very unprofessional to use multiple exclamation marks and or special characters for a title of something. And guess what! Professionals do not do this for their contracts, invoices, information brochures, etc. etc.

For a classified ad title, we want to make sure that we are informative and professional all within the 64 character limit. Keep in mind, that this is not a local newspaper listing so we do not have to pay per character that we enter. Here are a few guidelines for constructing a great Kijiji classified posting title.

• Be Informative. When a user views a category he or she will read the title of your posting. Keeping in mind that we have a 64 character limit and we want to assure that the user is informed appropriately of what this listing is about. An example of a condominium listing title for an apartment to rent could be:
  

  Four Bedroom Luxury Condo in north east Sherwood available May 1

  But what if someone is seeking a condominium in Sherwood? Well here is a similar example but for one who is seeking:
  

  Seeking a great condo for family in north east Sherwood

  Also, keep in mind that we do not want to include the cost within the title as it will use additional characters that could be saved by simply using the “price” field within the posting form.

• Be Professional. Constructing a classified listing title is not an art, it is simply common sense. Assure that the title is constructed in a professional form, spelling and grammar within it is correct, use abbreviations only if absolutely necessary, and do not use special characters to make it look “pretty” because it really doesn’t.
• Character Limit. Kijiji has placed a 64 character limit on listing titles. This does not mean use them all but it also means that your must construct the title in an informative, professional and short manner.

The Description is Key

The biggest problem that I see with listings posted on Kijiji is that the description is horrible and usually in more then one way. A description of what is being offered and or seeking is the first impression. Typically people say that “first” impressions are made within the first few seconds of meeting someone for the first time; this is the exactly the same. Here a couple of extremely horrible descriptions of listings posted on Kijiji recently:

all inclusive and available now.

mailto:clover_man12345@xxxxxxx.com

226-xxx-xxx

This was taken from the Kijiji classified listing here.

Hurry Hurry…..All inclusive, parking, internet, cable
WALK TO CAMPUS, 2 BUS TO FANSHAW
BUS STOP AT FRONT DOOR
CLOSE TO PRIME RICHMOND ST AREA & MALL
A BRIGHT ROOM IN THE 3 BEDROOM HOUSE
SUITABLE TO QUITE & FRIENDLY PEOPLE

This was taken from the Kijiji classified listing here.

So what is exactly wrong with these examples?

Well for the first example what the heck is “all inclusive” suppose to mean? All that tells a user is that the price for the item includes something? But what does it included? The users who are viewing a listing will not always know what that means. Aside from that, when writing a description for your listing ask yourself this question “If I was spending over 1 million dollars for something to be done, developed, etc. how much detail would I like within the contract or agreement so that I am not getting screwed over when all said and done or so that I know what to expect?” Well guess what people, the users browsing for items on Kijiji want similar detail as that. (However, I know someone is probably thinking I just want the same description as “all inclusive” on that agreement. Well, all I have to say to you is that you have a lot to learn.)

Now, for the second example… WHY ARE YELLING? WELL I DON’T KNOW “JIM” BUT I THINK PEOPLE WILL BE MORE CURIOUS! Guess what? You are wrong! Users will feel like they are being yelled at and no one in their right mind likes to be yelled at. Secondly, grammar and miss spelling is the second biggest problem. (Hint: Fanshawe has an e on the end). You need to remember that the first two guidelines for constructing a proper listing title also when you are writing a description for what is being listed; Be Informative and Be Professional.

So how does one be professional and informative within the listing they are about to post. Well, simply make sure that you include as much possible information about the item that you are trying to sell, trade, and or buy. Being informative will quickly let the user viewing your listing know that the item you have listed is what he or she wanted and or if he or she has that too offer. Also, before you post the listing assure that you are using proper grammar and spelling throughout your Kijiji listing. I recently read a listing’s description that I thought would be a great item. Though I liked what was being offered, I simply refused to contact the provider simply because he or she had no idea how to spell and it appeared to be similar to a conversation between young teenagers on an Instant Messaging client using shortcuts and abbreviation such as “BTW” (between), “U” (you), “4″ (for). So how does one fix this? Well, simply use open suites like Microsoft Office or even Open Office which the word processors available within these suites have Grammar and Spell Check.

Address Correctness

As I had said above, this article and five key points to a successful Kijiji listing is mainly focused around posting an classified listing on Kijiji within the Housing category. But what does the address have to do with all of this? For anyone who has been around in the World Wide Web for long enough, the majority of users know that there are services such as Google Maps and Street View which provide us the ability to map the address to a “real” location and even possibly have a view of it from the street.

It is recommended and most appreciated (by the users) when you are posting a listing for available housing whether it is a house for sale, apartments for rent or even a room for rent that the address that you enter during the posting process is correct and accurate. The reason for this is that the users can now map the location within seconds of reading the listing. Listings that simply use a generic address like London Ontario is simply just too broad and idiotic because it does not provide sufficient data to the user that the appropriate actions can be made from. However, when you are seeking available housing – it is suggested to use a broad address like London Ontario. The reason for this is simply so that the users who believe they have what you are looking for know that you are looking in London Ontario or whichever community you may be looking within.

“A picture is worth a thousand words”

A popular phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” is true. Many listings on Kijiji do not provide photos of what is being offered? My real question is why? Is it because you do not have a camera? Go to local corner store and purchase a ten dollar disposable camera and have Walmart’s photo department put the pictures into a digital format.

Placing photos with your classified listing is one of the most important things that should be done. By doing this, you are able to provide the users viewing your listing with a real sense of what your description is telling them. Not only can you “sell” someone the item with words, but you are also available to provide them with visual confirmation.

Getting in Contact

The World Wide Web is a very large place today where many people like to roam. Within your classified listing you should not be providing direct contact information such as your email address and or telephone number simply because Kijiji’s service provides you with the ability to provide people a secure way to get in contact with you via email without having to directly provide your personal information. Some may wonder why this is? Well for those out there in the World Wide Web who like to harvest data – phone numbers and email addresses are typically the top things to harvest and re-sell.

I strongly recommend for the sake of security and knowing that you could get spammed with either phone calls and or emails, NOT to share this information with in the description and simply allow the viewers who are interested to contact you using the email contact form.

In closing, I hope that the guidelines above will help you in sharing, selling and or trading items with others within your community on Kijiji. Remember, when posting a classified ad posting on Kijiji you agree to to the Kijiji’s terms of use, privacy policy, site policies. Best of luck with your adventures on Kijiji.