Ads Ghosted on Backpage, Craigslist, Kijiji? Here are 6 Things You Can Do to Stop It

If you market affiliate products and services (or your own) on the free classified ads site backpage, you may discover sometimes that your ads are not showing up. Sometimes it may be due to overposting, or marketing something that’s not allowed by the site, or a technical glitch.

But other times it’s more sinister. As in, a competitor may be ghosting your ads on backpage.

Backpage Ghosting Ads: What Does This Mean

Ads getting ghosted simply means your ads are taken down and/or don't go live on the classified ads site you're using (in this case, backpage). I had troubles with this recently, as in, someone who perceived themselves as my competitor was ghosting my ads on backpage.

Until this happened to me, I hadn't experienced this before to a large degree. Sure, a few of my ads here and there weren’t “sticking.” But, I didn't attribute it to ghosting; I thought maybe I'd overposted or there was a technical problem.

If you find that your ads are being ghosted on backpage (or any other free classified ads site), following are six courses of action you can take.

i) Use other free classified ad sites. Craigslist is by far the most popular, but there are so many free classified ad sites that you can do 20 a day on each and still get good coverage.

ii) Use other forms of marketing. My sales have been pretty consistent and I attribute it to article marketing, of which I do a lot. It keeps my online sales steady, in spite of sabotage.

iii) Piggyback your posts. What do I mean by this? Promote something else, then stick a link to the other product you want to promote in there.

iv) Report the culprit. Some people are just unscrupulous; although the vast majority are honest and hardworking. So if you feel that someone is ghosting your ads, report them to backpage (or the free classified ads site you're using).

v) Promote another product: I promote several products - my own and those of others. This way, if one product you're promoting is not bringing in sales - for whatever reason -- your income doesn't dry up.

 vi) Out the culprit: If you know who's ghosting your ads, then out the person on your website/blog (I did this). At the very least, it gives them something else to focus on, for they'll have to respond to your actions.

Sometimes, this will stop altogether, and it may cause others who may be promoting the same product to take action as well (eg, contacting the guilty party’s host company, domain name registration provider, sites they’re advertising on, etc.).

Be careful going this route though. Some people are unbalanced. I had to actually ge the authorities involved in my case.

There is a lot of money to be made marketing on free classified ad sites like backpage. I can attest to this personally. One day, I made $900 in affiliate sales just by placing free classified ads on backpage, and have made tens of thousands of dollars in sales since I started doing it in January of 2009.

So if your ads are being ghosted on backapge, don’t let it stop you. Figure out a solution and keep on keeping on.