I always wonder how craigslist made money. Don’t really ever see any ads ever being shown. Craigslist is by far the leader on free online classified ads and has built a solid online presence with more than twelve billion views per month, not to shabby eh? Craigslist was started back in 1995 by Craig Newmark. Craigs list has about twenty five employees. Ok but how does craigslist make money? Well according to their website in their frequently asked questions.
Q: Why doesn’t craigslist focus more on generating revenue?
A: We rely on local communities to suggest ways to make money without compromising craigslist.
Ok craigslist relies on local communities to suggest ways to make money whatever the heck that means. I know they also make money from donations and also from the job ads. That’s it I wouldn’t think by just charging the job ads would make craigslist such a profitable company but it apparently does. Not to many online websites are built like the craigslist model, they have certainly formed a model that works for them and although have the ability to generate massive amounts of revenue from advertising they elect not to at the moment and keep their website advertisement free.
My opinion is craigslist is a lottery ticket just waiting to be cashed, question is whether when or if ever it will be. What do you think, would you still utilize craigslist if it began running advertisement on their site?