by Joseph Matthews
You can’t deny it – online dating is a great way to meet women, and everyone knows it. Sites like eHarmony and Match.com are advertising everywhere in the mainstream.
However, if you’re already sold on paying a monthly fee to be a part of these sites, you’re totally missing out on the single best dating site around – and more importantly, it’s free!
The site I’m referring to is none other than Craig’s List!
Craig’s List was started by Craig Newmark in 1995 to better help people connect through events around San Francisco. Since that time, this simple site has exploded into a national community.
Craig’s List is fundamentally a classified ad site. It offers a variety of services, everything from finding people places to live, to finding them jobs, buying and selling stuff, and even finding dates – exactly like the classified section in your local newspaper.
Anyone who’s ever visited Craig’s List may be skeptical about finding quality women on such a “low rent” looking website. But if you’re judging a book by its cover, you’re really missing out.
Here are the advantages to using Craig’s List for dating purposes:
1. Large Userbase
Craig’s List gets millions and millions of pageviews a day. This means that your chances of meeting a fantastic woman on this site is exponentially increased.
2. Local Targeting
Craig’s List is made up of different sections for local areas. This gives you the ability to meet local single women quite easily.
3. It’s Free!
Other dating websites require a paid subscription for using their services, but not Craig’s List. Craig’s List is free, and that means lots of women are going to use it rather than paying for a typical dating website. This translates to more chances for you to meet the perfect girl!
4. Dedicated Community
Craig’s List is more than a simple classified website. It is a big online community with daily regular visitors. It has regular activity on its message boards, which means the site is updated constantly. They also have members who moderate the website to ensure quality. All this contributes to a vibrant community that you can become a part of – something most dating sites lack.
So now that you know why Craig’s List is a great site to meet women on, let’s talk about how you can go about using Craig’s List to find dates.
Step 1: Create a new email address
An important step you want to be sure to do before using Craig’s List to find a girl is to set up a secondary email address. This is to prevent you from getting spammed from immoral marketers who harvest people’s email address from Craig’s List to spam them. Because of this, it’s a smart idea to have a “disposable” email address that you use just for Craig’s List.
Step 2: Create an account on Craig’s List
Creating an account is quick, easy, and you don’t have to pay for it. Just use the new email account you created to sign up. This will let you repost your ads very easily, which you’ll want to do later on.
Step 3: Write An Ad
Now, you’ll want to write an ad to post on Craig’s List, illustrating what type of girl you’re in the market for.
Step 4: Create Up To 5-10 Ad Variations
Craig’s List has strict guidelines on posting duplicate content. They don’t want their site spammed by ads, so you’ll want to re-write your ad at least 5-10 times, so you are able to post it often.
Step 5: Post Your Ads
Once you have all your ad variations ready to go, post your ad. You’re going to want to post your ad at least twice a day, once around noon, and once around 5 or 6 o’clock. This will increase the likelihood of your ad being seen.
Step 6: Repost Your Ads
Every 3 days, you’ll be allowed to repost the same ad you posted before. Just log into your account and look at all your posts, then select the ones you’d like to repost.
Step 7: Keep Reposting Your Ad
You will want to repost your ad often, since this is the key to success with having women on Craig’s List respond to you.
Step 8: Browse Ads From Women
In addition to posting an ad for yourself, you’ll want to look through ads that girls have posted on Craig’s List as well.
Step 9: Email Women you’re Interested In
Once you find an ad you’re interested in, be sure to email her. Use the Craig’s List email address you created though, don’t use your personal email.
Now that you understand the general over-all process of meeting women on the Craig’s List website, let’s talk about two other very important factors – where to post your ad, and how to craft a great ad that will get you responses.
First off, you have two choices of categories to post in on Craig’s List. The first is “Men Seeking Women,” and the next is “Causal Encounters.”
The “Men Seeking Women” section is where women browse looking for guys that seem interesting. This is a section for finding dates. The “Casual Encounters” section is for more physical interactions, such as casual sex, one night stands, etc.
Figure out which section is more for you, and post there. You can of course post in both sections if you like, but I’ve found it’s best to focus your efforts on one section only.
Now let’s talk about crafting a winning ad.
The biggest, and most important step, is writing a great headline. Your headline is the primary factor in getting people to read the rest of your ad. The secret here is to display some type of benefit in the headline that will entice women to check you out.
For instance, a headline like “Looking For A Great Girl I Can Wine, Dine, And Romance” showcases a big benefit to the girl. Every girl likes to be romanced, so why shouldn’t they check out your ad?
Another fantastic tip for increasing response to your ad is to include a picture. Ads with pictures will get clicked on a great deal more than ads without pictures. Don’t worry if you’re wary about putting a picture of yourself on Craig’s List. It works just as well to find a generic picture of a romantic restaurant or something like that to include in your ad. Any picture will do, the purpose here is to make sure Craig’s List can advertise your ad has an image in it in the results listing.
The best ads are always funny in some way, so be sure to use humor in your ad when appropriate. Writing with a fun and funny attitude will make your ad stand out from the crowd and get you more responses. It’s always a good idea to communicate a fun and interesting personality to girls, especially online.
Talk about yourself in the ad. Don’t just give details like hair color, body size, height, etc. Also include things you’re passionate about, things you like doing, and your idea of what a great date will be.
Then, talk about the type of girl you’re looking for. Be specific! The more specific you are, the more chance you have of getting a girl you like!
Always be sure to request that girls who respond to your ad include a picture of themselves in an email, or at the very least a link to a MySpace or Facebook page so you can see what she looks like. Don’t simply assume girls will send a picture automatically. Let them know you’re happy to share a picture of you in return. Most girls will respond well to this. If a girl emails you asking for a picture, give her one of you, but always ask for one in return.
Longer ads actually tend to do better than shorter ones. Long ads stand out, and girls will take time to read the ad if its interesting. So don’t worry if your ad seems long.
Use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, and spacing. The nicer your ad looks, the easier it is to read, and the more responses it will get!
When you combine regular ad posting with emailing women directly on Craig’s List, you’ll start to see lots of women contacting you.
But just a few words of warning…
Warning 1: There are lots of SPAMMERS posing as women and posting fake personal ads on Craig’s List. They do this as a way of harvesting email addresses to spam to. If you get responses with generic emails saying things like “hey, thanks for emailing me,” be wary, since it’s typically some spammer trying to get you to sign up for some type of pay site.
Warning 2: Women can be suspicious of guys online, so always be up-front and honest with them. Women have safety issues most guys don’t, so do what it takes to make a woman feel good about contacting you.
Warning 3: Don’t email back and forth too much. Be sure to try to get the girl’s number so you can call or text her as soon as you can. Too much emailing might actually keep you from actually getting together, and have you stuck as an “online fantasy.”
Warning 4: There are unstable women on Craig’s List, so practice caution if you’re going to meet them and get together at a neutral place, like a coffee shop. Never have them come over to your place directly. This is because you want to be sure to screen them first to see if they’re stable and sane before inviting them into your home.
Warning 5: Don’t quit too soon or give up! Too many men simply post one ad on Craig’s List and then stop. If you want to be successful meeting women on Craig’s List, you have to post as often as you can, and keep emailing women until you find one you like.
When you follow all these tips, you’ll get amazing success with meeting women on Craig’s List.
About the Author:
Joseph Matthews has been teaching men
how to meet women since 2004, and has helped numerous men discover
how to meet women on Craigs List. If you would like to download Joseph’s new book “The Ultimate Guide On How To Meet, Date, & Seduce Women,” you can do so for free when you visit his website here: http://www.artofapproaching.com.