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I was looking at a few different potential categories to post to a few minutes ago for a new affiliate offer, and was checking out some of the ads that were already running for similiar products in that market.  And this sort of coincides with what I've been saying on here forever - what other people who use CL successfully have been saying forever - and what people who aren't making one cold slippery nickel while busting their asses on CL have been missing forever:  It's all about the copy.  No more, no less.  You can make a few bucks on Craigslist on sheer volume, but you'll make MUCH more in far less time by writing good, clear, compelling copy before you ever even get a sniff of planning your posting protocols.  ( cities, frequencies, etc)

I am incredibly distracted online - mostly because I belong to like 12 different dating sites which I obsessively refresh every 3 or 4 minutes to see why no one is writing.  So for this reason, I do the vast majority of my process mapping away from my computer, so I can keep a good positive attitude before beginning a new campaign..:-)

Take a look at this ad - ( not MINE - not anyone's I KNOW - just a random CL ad I pulled from the scrap heap of bad ads) and see if you can figure out what this guy ( or girl) is doing wrong:

 Headline:  I wish I had this book before I started

Actually - this isn't terrible.  It has a curiosity factor element ( which book?) and is sort of a simple, statement of fact approach that can work very well.  Look - I clicked on this ad when checking out competing products, so - if nothing else, I guess you can argue this is an effective headline.  My preference is always to put some emotion into it if possible - you could preface the simple headline with some sort of exclamation and kind of give it a little bit more umppph….but this may be a stylistic thing. ( I might have done a Sh*t!!  I wish I had this book before I started! as I believe this would get a better open rate, and generally does for me in other similar efforts.)

Ad Opening:  This book will save you Months of Work and LOTS of Money!! Email me, I'll send it to you free!!

I like this!  I think it's genuine, simple, believable and enthusiastic.  I made a similar pitch during an IRS audit once.  ( I'm hoping his results are better) There's no hyperbolic grandstanding - ( ie - I make 143,098.87 every week on Autopilot ) and of course, we all want stuff that saves us time and money.  ( Especially network marketers, who are usually broke and don't live as long as normal people.)   Again - it's not going to crush on results, but I think sincerity sells, and I'm intrigued at this point. 

Graphic:  He has one.  Good choice.  Pictures outsell text every day and twice on Sunday - ESPECIALLY on Craigslist.  People are inherently visual creatures, and yes, you may find that odd market where this isn't true - and yes - I've seen "studies" that say differently - but in my own experience, a good graphic is ALWAYS better than not.  He's got a solid one that you would expect to see for this sort of product - not stellar - could be improved - but there.  All good.

Process:  He's asking for an email - which will presumably send the e-book via autoreply.  Or maybe he's manually sending them out after getting the name.  Either way - this is the lowest hanging fruit approach on CL from the standpoint of being flagged.  I rarely do this - as while safe - you are going to get a much lower response rate.  Or maybe he's posting in MANY cities, and has trouble before, so this is the emergency strategy ( I doubt it here).  Either way - he could easily spruce this up by simply buying a URL - and having that on the book - or even better - simply incorporate that book into a larger image that houses the URL.  I do this everyday in areas that my links are flagged - and get a few hundred people a day ( across many cities) manually type in my URL which takes them to an opt in page, an affiliate redirect - or even a real site ( like the one you are reading ) but with affiliate offers, contextual ads and other interactive content related to the niche.

I'm goign to guess this person has not yet elevated their strategy to this point - but hopefully they will as they go. 

Layout:  I'm a terrible designer ( but an excellent dresser) and it is sort of cosmically unfair for me to have an opinion on web aesthetics - but - the layout here could be improved as well from a saleability standpoint - I would center stuff, use some different fonts, etc - but again, not terrible and is not going to be the primary driver between success and failure.

But this is.

Second ( the closing) Sentence:  I was thinking that you will be successful after reading this, So remember where you got it.

What does that even mean? 

" I was thinking that you will be successful after reading this, So remember where you go it"

I'm confused.  A little threatened.  And already gone.

Without even realizing it, this dude (ette) just killed any good will they created in the first half of this process.  The sentence makes no sense - sounds totally disengenous, and a bit like Tony Soprano might have started a second life selling Amway.  It's funny - lots of good copywriters will tell you there is "copy fatigue" - ( although this two sentence compilation shouldn't even have broken a sweat..:-) where people just poop out at the end of a sales letter, or ad copy - or whatever it is.  They simply get tired, want it to be over, and throw in the metaphorical towel with a happy ending cheap close.  

You can't do this on CL - ( or anywhere else for that matter - article marketing is a good example of the same thing in the resource box) you have to finish strong and COMPEL your reader to take that next step. I went to synogogue a few weeks ago for the first time in a few years, and they offer cookies and milk at the end.  It's the same thing.  A snappy close that keeps you in the building till the end with the promise of happy tidings if you stick around and follow through.  ( excellent cookies, by the way)

My guess is these folks got an ok response - maybe 5 or 7 emails on the high side - if you scale this out over 20 cities and use a gmail autoreply - you could make a few bucks ( and they very well may) everyday with pushbutton simplicity.  But this is still an example, in my estimation - of mediocre planning, execution and implementation, and with a few simple tweaks could be made far more profitable.