Hello OC Friends,
Here we are again with a useful Wednesday blog post. Today we are going to have a look at current trends in classifieds websites. Like every product and service, also classifieds websites develop themselves. The top classifieds website are continuously trying to improve by offering better service to its visitors. A big part of that is of course the website. Having an attractive website, which is easy to navigate through and accessible from different platforms is essential these days. In this article we will discuss some of these trends and look at practical examples of classifieds websites using these new ideas.
Less is More
One of the major trends in website building is “less is more”. Keep it simple and don’t display too much on your homepage. Visitors do not want to be overwhelmed with information once they arrive on your site. Use icons and images instead of text to let people browse your website. Lets have a look at Segundamano, the biggest classifieds website in Spain with approximately 11 million users each month.
Their homepage basically exists of a simple top menu, a simple search form with one search field, the categories are displayed with icons instead of text and search by location is offered by using an interactive image. Once the visitor decided how it wants to search, for example by clicking on one of the icons, more detailed information becomes available on the next page. There people further filter the outcomes of the search that they did. If you want to customize your site with Segundamano’s look and feel contact us here.
Segundamano, the most popular classifieds website in Spain.
Geo Location
Another trend in website building is that the user doesn’t have to provide his locations himself anymore. The website detects the user location based on the IP address. This makes it possible for classifieds websites to make a preselection of the offered products, already before the visitor has specified anything. A great example of a classifieds website using GeoLocation is Wallapop. This second hand website detects the location of the user and shows products found within a kilometer distance. On the top of the page the user can specify what it is looking for and on the left side of the screen several filters are displayed.
Wallapop, a classifieds website focusing on hyper local classifieds.
For everyone who is interested in how Wallapop is raising funds and trying to become the market leader, we found this very interesting article: http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/19/wallapop-is-poised-to-disrupt-classifieds-as-accel-insight-fidelity-pack-its-war-chest/
You can become the next Wallapop, cloning or getting their look and feel here .
Responsive Web Design
Now the computer is not the only platform used for visiting websites, but also tablets and mobile phones, having a responsive website is a big plus. Responsive webdesign aims to craft sites to such a size that an optimal viewing experiences is offered. Meaning that you don’t have to zoom in anymore on a website, when you are visiting it from your smartphone. A website build with responsive design adapts the layout based on the used device. So browsing to the exact same website on your phone will display something else than when you visit it on your laptop. Gumtree, the most popular classifieds website in both the UK and Australia has such a responsive design.
As you can see on the below two pictures, the website has a different layout when using a computer or a phone for going to Gumtree. The good thing of this is that the website is still very user friendly. Also a trend in building websites; making your website user friendly. But lets have a look at the differences. The menu for the web version is displayed as a “hamburger menu” on the phone version. This saves a lot of space, but still makes is easy for the user to navigate. Furthermore less images are used on the mobile version. The categories are displayed with simple icons and text in a clear menu.
It might not be necessary to say; but in a world where almost everyone has a phone or tablet, responsive website becoming increasingly important. People don’t want to sit behind their computer anymore after a hard day of work, but rather hang on the couch and use a tablet. If your site doesn’t offer a good user experience for this platform, that would be a big disadvantage compared to your competitors who have a responsive website.
Gumtree website viewed on a computer.
Gumtree website viewed on a smartphone.
You can get a responsive design of your classifieds site just purchasing one of our lovely themes here.
Easy Registration or Social Login
Last but not least about registering for a website. This always has been a hassle for many people. Having to fill out an endless long form with all your personal details often is a reason for people not to register at all. Therefore their user experience won’t be optimal or they would even decide to go somewhere else. Many websites noticed that this needed to be different and changed their way of registration drastically. Forms with only the most necessary fields, like email address and password are getting more popular. You will be surprised how many more users will register at your website if you offer a simple form.
Next to that social login is a very popular way of authentication. This makes it possible to register without filling out any form. Using for example your Facebook or Google+ account makes it possible to register with only two mouse clicks. No need to fill out a form. It might be obvious that integrating this in your website is a great service to potential customers and a fantastic way to make your classifieds website more profitable.
Implement Social Authentication with Open Classifieds just following easy steps.
No Banners, more Friendly
Displaying banners on your website is outdated. However banners have created a lot of revenue over the past 20 years for many websites, this earning model is not very popular anymore. A few reasons: banners can’t be shared. In a world where we share almost everything with our friends and families, using popular social networks, banners are not usable anymore.
Furthermore we got trained to avoid looking at them. There are many scientific studies that have proven that people naturally avoid looking at these kind of ads. Next to that many users have installed ad-blockers on their browser. Maybe the most important reason of why banners are dying is that click-through rates are falling rapidly. In the beginning rates of 50% were possible, which is incredibly high these days, when you have to be happy with a lousy 0.1%.
Therefore websites need to look for other sources of income. Popular ones for classifieds websites are:
1.- featured ads
2.- ‘move ads to top’.
With the former one the ad will be highlighted, so it stands out from the other advertisements. ‘Move ads to top’ lets position ads on the top of a list. These of course attract more attention as people don’t have to scroll down first to see them. Also ‘pay to post’, affiliate links and premium membership options are good ways to monetize your classifieds website.
Native apps
In the mobile era there is a shift from the use of the ‘traditional’ website to native apps for your mobile device. This gives users a more natural feeling of how to use the platform as it is using a native look. Besides that many users who install an app, will use it more regularly than a website that they have to surf to. It also gives good possibilities for in-app purchases, another earning model which is very successful for a lot of companies.
Open Classifieds can help you in case you have a classifieds website made with us. We are working hard in our API where we will implement it in native APPs in order to let and extra value to our users, If you are interested in getting your own APP, please follow this link.
Your classified app could be look like the app from for example Atengo or the app developed by Tradyo. Even wallapop look and feel one of the friendly classifieds apps worldwide.
GO mobile with Open Classifieds!!!
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