Make your on-line ads STAND OUT

[TodorYordanov]

This is a great tip I got from my buddy Ed Renkema, Ontario REIN memeber and computer wiz in denial .



If you want to have the option to change fonts and colors in your Kijiji ads.



Use FireFox browser. I've been using Chrome and was wondering how other people do it, short from using HTML editors which is not for everyone.

FireFox is a free browsers and can be downloaded here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

 

[Emil1753]

GOLDEN INFO!



Thank you.



Emil.

 

[JoeRagona]

Really Todor??



I used IE and was doing this all last year - maybe it's a small flaw in the newer version.

 

[TodorYordanov]

Joe, you are absolutely right. Fact is I don't use IE, but only Chrome and it is not available in Chrome. So, yes, IE8 has it as well.

 

[Emil1753]

I've downloaded firefox and played around a little bit.

Can't figure out how to do it with the headline.



Can you walk me through it Todor?

 

[JoeRagona]

When you are posting your ad, you will see (A) which is the font color, highlight the text you want to change color , select the A and then the color you want. The same goes for font size which has a drop down menu below the formatting icons. Select text, then the size you want.



Any other help you need, let us know.

 

[TodorYordanov]

I don't think you can modify the headline.

 

[Emil1753]

ahhh,



I misunderstood. I thought we can change the headlines and make them funky.

Yes, i've been using different styles/colours in my ads as well.

My mistake. I misunderstood. It'd be amazing if it was the headline we can change up.



Thanks for the help gents.



Emil.

 

[JoeRagona]

It would Emil, but think about it...everyone would catch on and start doing that. When the page opens it would have so much color sporadically placed it would be like Walt Disney threw up.



(sorry for the visual, but it's the best way I could describe it )

 

[LondonHomes]

Any thoughts on how to do this in craigslist?

 

[JimWhitelaw]

[quote user=TodorYordanov]If you want to have the option to change fonts and colors in your Kijiji ads. If I saw an ad committing this kind of font abuse, I'd assume it was done by a 12 year old who had mistakenly wandered off of Myspace. Some high quality staged photos are about 1000% more likely to make an ad stand out in a positive way, plus they are visible in the search results list which is where an ad really needs to distinguish itself.

 

[TodorYordanov]

Jim, I was just trying to illustrate what I meant for changing fonts in the body of the ad. Not advocating for people to start "committing font abuse"

Since posting the original message I learned that this function was also available in IE. I had no idea. I've used Google Chrome for the past 2 years exclusively and ANY font modification is not available in the browser and was just curious of how people do it. It turned out to be a lot less complicated that what I was thinking.

You are totaly right about the pictures and the quality of the copy.

 

[kfort]

I approached this in my last kijiji rental ad by simply bolding and / or underlining the key words like "free" and "bright" etc. It did take some fiddling but ended up looking ok.



I also agree that some good-great photos do wonders. And make sure the first one you upload (the one that shows up in the search) is the best one of all. It can't be too detailed or they won't see anything useful in the thumbnail. I used the main front photo which shows a good contrast of the white trim/railings with grey siding on my latest purchase. I got many responses saying how "cute" it was etc. That main picture has to be one that has impact at thumbnail size or the rest may just not matter (no clicky!!).

 

[JimWhitelaw]

[quote user=kfort] It did take some fiddling but ended up looking ok. This is one of my pet peeves. I'm sure it's just because I'm an old fart who's been using the Internet since before Microsoft invented it, BUT: The value in written communication is in the content, not the formatting.



It drives me nuts to think about how much valuable time has been wasted by highly paid knowledge workers spending hours upon hours fiddling with fonts and powerpoint slide transitions and wandering through google image search looking for a funny cat picture for their document instead of just focusing on the message.



I think the Mad Men generation had it right. We'll probably never know how much efficiency we lost when we put computers onto the desks of managers and asked them to be their own secretaries.



Also: Get off my lawn.



/rant

 

[JoeRagona]

Hi Jim, I'm probably an old fart with you and agree with your thoughts with a little bit of insight:



We have to look at how people (specifically our tenants) communicate these days, and that is through the internet and texting etc., email believe it or not is passe' to most of the young generation, it's not immediate.



When you drill down to how they ACTUALLY use and READ the internet or more importantly our online ads, it's not actually reading....people skim to get to the meat and potatoes of information.



Key words bolded and underlined, Katch Fhrases and "quotes" will grab attention if it's done tastefully. At the same time, pictures tell the story - whether it's blogging or on your rental advertisement. You already know the value of having your place staged and then use those pictures to draw in a better selection of tenants - it's the same for words telling your story and then eye candy to keep them interested.

 

[bizaro86]

[quote user=JoeRagona]We have to look at how people (specifically our tenants) communicate these days, and that is through the internet and texting etc., email believe it or not is passe' to most of the young generation, it's not immediate.



When you drill down to how they ACTUALLY use and READ the internet or more importantly our online ads, it's not actually reading....people skim to get to the meat and potatoes of information.



Key words bolded and underlined, Katch Fhrases and "quotes" will grab attention if it's done tastefully. At the same time, pictures tell the story - whether it's blogging or on your rental advertisement. You already know the value of having your place staged and then use those pictures to draw in a better selection of tenants - it's the same for words telling your story and then eye candy to keep them interested.




Interesting theory. I'd be interested to know if anyone has rigorously tested this and determined which actually worked better. My instinct (and personal preference, having had a hard time reading your previous post) is to use more classical formatting techniques (proper paragraphs, use of white space, etc). I'm certainly of an age where I'd be considered a "digital native," as well. More than my personal preference though, I'd be interested in concrete numbers from someone who has tried it both ways. Anyone have anything from this, or maybe from other online endeavors/direct mail type experience?



Regards,



Michael

 

[JimWhitelaw]

[quote user=bizaro86]Interesting theory. I'd be interested to know if anyone has rigorously tested this and determined which actually worked better. The behaviour of people reading on the web has been well known for over a decade. Reference Jakob Nielsen's usability research from 1997:



http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html

 

[bizaro86]

[quote user=JimWhitelaw]The behaviour of people reading on the web has been well known for over a decade. Reference Jakob Nielsen's usability research from 1997:



http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html







Thanks! Will add this to my toolbox.

 

[JoeRagona]

Thanks for the link Jim,



Funny how the article uses a lot of LARGE fonts, bold and links (underlines)

 

[Alvaro Sanchez]

I have been using vflyer (free one) as it generates html/javascript that it compatible with craiglist (copy/paste)



http://www.vflyer.com/



sample property.

http://www.vflyer.com/home/home/flyer/2213338