Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the purpose of the ClassifiedPages.co.nz website?
To provide a cost effective alternative to traditional classified advertising.
To provide tradespeople and professional service providers with their own unique webpage for advertising their services.
To be the destination of choice for advertisers and customers of Trades & Services, locally or nationwide within NZ and Australia.

2. What are the advantages of using the ClassifiedPages.co.nz website?
As a Customer:
The ClassifiedPages site is very easy to navigate and understand. For customers who are already in the habit of making purchasing decisions online, having the classified advertising resource online means they can access it from wherever they are so long as they have a device that connects to the internet. Customers will be able to make a more informed decision as each ad contains more information than a normal classified newspaper ad, including photos, logos, and more comprehensive text, etc. Making contact with potential tradespeople and service providers is also simple as each ad has an email link as well as a link to the advertisers’ official website (if they have one).

As an Advertiser:
Simply put, you get ‘more bang for your buck’. Each advertiser gets their own professionally designed webpage FREE of charge, in full glorious colour. So, it’s more than just a few lines of type, yet the monthly fee payable is about the same cost as 2 classified placements in the newspaper with only 3 or 4 lines of text. What’s more, the ad is accessible 24/7/365 and it will never end up as a soggy mess in someone’s letterbox if it just happened to rain that day.

3. How can I be sure that this is not just another directory that will never catch on or get off the ground?
The success of TradeMe and Facebook far surpassed the expectations of their creators. They both started off small at first but they eventually grew as people recognised their value and the advantages that each of them offered. They were good ideas that were well executed. They filled a specific need at just the right time for a fair price.

Although ClassifiedPages.co.nz does not attempt to compare itself with these 2 icons of the modern world, there a 3 important factors to think about:

1. The concept of Classified advertising has been around for centuries and will continue to be in demand as tradespeople will always require an inexpensive place to tout for business.
2. Print advertising and readership is in decline. According to a recent Google survey 43% of all media is now being consumed online and yet only 15% of advertising revenue is being spent there. ClassifiedPages is committed to addressing this reluctance to change by providing a familiar but viable alternative to traditional paper advertising, helping those with that mindset to make the transition.
3. The ClassifiedPages system represents such good value for money, serious Trades & Service providers no matter how small will see the benefits of getting involved.

4. How will people find me on the ClassifiedPages.co.nz website?

There are a number of ways to be found on the ClassifiedPages site.

i. Because each advertiser has their own exclusive page on the site, each page will have it’s own unique title tag, description and key words so that Google can find you based on search queries that are unique to your service (see Q10 below to try a simple test). Even if a search query doesn’t find you directly but finds one of the other advertisers, they will have found the ClassifiedPages site. If they stay and browse the site and they’re in the market for the services you offer then they’ll most likely find you.

ii. All subscribers to the ClassifiedPages site will be encouraged to add their ClassifiedPages web address to any other advertising or promotions they may do, whether online (eg. online directories, facebook pages and blogs) or in print (including business cards, invoices, vehicle signage, etc). Again any potential customers who find the website that way will likely stay and browse other advertisers’ ads. If they’re in the market for the services you offer then they’ll most likely find you.

iii. There are a number of other strategic marketing and promotion initiatives planned by ClassifiedPages.co.nz. In addition to this, as more advertisers join the site we believe it will become the preferred destination for both advertisers and customers of Trades&Services Classifieds. Of course, this will happen gradually at first.
Our Google Analytics data has revealed that 70% of all visitors to the site have arrived there as a result of a Google search and that 50% of all visitors have visited the site more than once. While we have done very little to promote the site so far, there has been more than 1,000 unique visitors to the site in the last 12 months.

5. There are plenty of other ‘classified’ advertising websites on the internet — some are even Free. Why should I use this one?
The ClassifiedPages.co.nz website is solely focussed on Trades & Services. The site is easy to use and it’s immediately obvious what its purpose is. It is free of all the ‘clutter’ which is so common on other ‘classified’ sites. which are often difficult to navigate and often only offer a few lines of text. As discussed above, each advertiser gets their own unique page which is professionally designed and can be optimised for Google. It is already achieving very encouraging results with 90% of current advertisers achieving a page 1 Google ranking for search phrases that are relevant to their business.

6. What is the story behind the ClassifiedPages.co.nz website?
ClassifedPages.co.nz founder Dave McGregor is a web designer with a background in graphics, printing, publishing, marketing and advertising. He has been self employed for over 25 years, and has helped many of his clients and friends who are tradespeople or professionals with branding, marketing and advertising for their businesses.

As a result of the continuing GFC (Global Financial Crisis) self employed tradespeople and professionals alike are experiencing the continued downturn in business, yet the cost of living continues to rise. McGregor observed that many of his colleagues and friends were discontinuing with traditional forms of advertising and marketing because it was simply too expensive or ineffective.

McGregor was determined to find a solution because he knew if he could, he could also fill a niche that was opening up in the online advertising market. He also observed how many traditional businesses were struggling as the internet was becoming more a part of peoples lives. Online buying and selling as well as research for medium-high value purchases is putting more power in the hands of buyers and sellers who are choosing to go online.

Interestingly, traditional classified newspaper advertising for Trades & Services is still popular because there has been no real viable alternative — until now.

7. I don’t know anything about computers or the internet. How can this work for me?

The good thing is, you don’t need to know anything about computers for this to work for you. Everything is done for you. All you need to know is that your ad is there and able be seen by your potential customers. Chances are your average customer uses a computer. If so, then you need to have information about your service in a place where they will find it.
Ask yourself: Is my average customer older or younger than me? If you answered ‘younger’ you need to be on the internet. If you answered ‘older’ then chances are, you’re already on there.

8. I don’t have an email address or a website. Does that matter?

No, not really. However an email address would be an advantage as it is a very convenient way for people to communicate with you if they find you on the internet. But don’t worry, people still use phones.

9. Is the ClassifiedPages.co.nz website designed to replace classified advertising in the newspaper?
Not necessarily. Even after the huge success of TradeMe there is still a small ‘For Sale’ section in the Newspaper, but today it is only a shadow of its former self. TradeMe has revolutionised the way people buy and sell things because they came up with a better way to do it. The few traders who still use the newspaper probably do so because they recognise that some people are still computer illiterate and prefer to read a newspaper. That is true. However, their numbers are declining as successive generations are becoming more internet savvy. There is a growing expectation today that people should be able to find whatever they’re looking for on the internet — and that includes you and your business.

10. How easily will my page be found on Google?
Try this simple test to see how some of our existing advertisers are doing. Pretend you're a potential customer. Type in any of the following phrases into Google's search query field: handyman north shore; diesel mechanic north shore; wallpaper hanging north shore; gardencare north shore; affordable web design north shore; logo designer north shore; brick layer north shore; quality painters north shore; curtain cleaning christchurch; window cleaning christchurch; stone laying christchurch ...and see what happens.
If you get the same results we did, you'll see that one of our advertisers comes up somewhere on page 1 of Google's search results (just look for the "classifiedpages.co.nz" URL).