WordPress Classified Ads Sites by ClassiPress
April 22, 2010 Posted by Michael KwanThe following is a paid review for TylerCruz.com written and reviewed by Michael Kwan. It is completely of Michael Kwan’s opinion and is not influenced by being paid. If you’re interested in having your site or product reviewed, please view my advertising page.
WordPress is an incredible versatile content management system. Most people seem to assume that WordPress is only good for running a blog, but it can be used for so much more than that. All you need is the right set of customizations, plugins, and themes to get the job done.
If you’ve ever wanted to run a premium buy-sell website but you have no idea how to go about coding one, you’re in luck. All you need is ClassiPress, the "first and only professional classified ads theme for WordPress”.
The newest iteration of the theme, version 3.0, was just released and it comes with a series of updates and new features. Let’s take a look at what it has to offer.
Converting WordPress to Classifieds
The great thing about ClassiPress is that you don’t need to have any coding knowledge yourself, nor do you have to go through an incredible complex installation process. If you know how to change the theme on a WordPress blog, then you’ll know how to use this classified ads theme.
Here is a sample screenshot of what a ClassiPress-customized website would look like. The color scheme being used right now is red. If you go through the admin demo, however, you’ll find that you can change the color scheme quickly and easily via a drop-down menu. In addition to red, you can have aqua, blue, green, or teal, each of which is also available with a black header instead.
The ClassiPress theme is designed to be used with a premium buy-sell website, meaning that you can charge people for posting their ads. These prices can be the same across the site or you can set different prices for the different categories. For additional monetization options, you’ll see the pre-defined space for a 468×60 ad banner in the header, among options for advertising in several other places around the site.
Navigation for site visitors is reasonably straight forward. The main page shows the different categories and subcategories, making it easy to browse through the various sections. A search box is also implemented in the sidebar if they are looking for something specific. Check out the live demo to see how a live ClassiPress site looks and feels.
Categories and Subcategories
As mentioned, the ClassiPress system is preconfigured to have several different categories and subcategories. This only makes sense, since it is being used as a classified ads site.
Interestingly, posts in the subcategories do not necessarily appear to the primary category pages. This way, you can charge an extra premium for the latter if you’d like. You can browse through the subcategories from the main category pages, however.
Each set of listings gives the site visitor a fairly large look at the thumbnail image, post title, asking price, and an excerpt from the body of the ad itself. Each classified ad is akin to a blog post, so any customizations you can do for the latter can be done to the former. For instance, the demo site is set up with social media sharing options.
The size of the individual postings on the category listing pages is a little too large for my tastes. This won’t be an issue for a smaller site, but as you gain more volume, the ads can get overwhelming very quickly. Contrast this to the incredibly minimalist approach of a site like Craigslist.
Mapping the Sellers
One of the more interesting features for individual ads is the embedded map of the seller’s location.
This can be very helpful, since potential buyers don’t have to go to a separate page to see if the seller is near them or not. In order to use this, the seller will, of course, need to reveal his or her address.
One question that I do have about these classified ads is how a buyer can go about contacting a seller. There is no built-in messaging system, like how you would find with forum software, and the contact form is to reach the site administrator.
You could create custom forms and fields in WordPress to accommodate this, but it would be nice if there was built-in email address masking, as is the case with places with Craigslist and Kijiji.
Posting Your Own Classified Ad
When someone wants to post a classified ad on a ClassiPress-powered site, they must first register for an account. After that, the form is relatively straightforward.
One small issue that I encountered with testing the demo site was that it forced me to select a state, even though I wasn’t choosing the United States as my country. This can be easily rectified by not defining the state as a required field.
After all the pertinent information is entered, including product images, the seller is then directed to the payment page. From here, you can accept posting fees via PayPal, among other services.
User Dashboard and Control Panel
The "back end" of ClassiPress is comprised of several option pages within the WordPress dashboard. Using this easy-to-understand interface, you can customize your classifieds site as you see fit.
The general settings page, for instance, lets you control the home page layout, Feedburner URL, Google Maps key, maximum images per ad, new ad message, header ad, single ad, and so forth.
The other options pages are: Pricing, Ad Packs, Gateways, Form Layouts, Custom Fields, Transactions, and System Info. As you can imagine, you can spend a great deal of time customizing the installation to best suit your preferences and needs.
The core installation process is no different than the process you’d use any other WordPress theme. You can upload the ZIP file from within the WordPress dashboard or you can upload manually via FTP and activate the theme from within the WP dashboard.
Can You Make Money from a Premium Classifieds Site?
As is the case with so many other online ventures, the ability to make money with a premium classifieds site largely lies in your own hands. Some people find great success while others do not. With ClassiPress, at least you don’t have to worry about the hard coding for the site.
Looking at the features page, the different editions of ClassiPress are largely the same. The most critical difference is the number of installations you are allowed with each license. Pricing starts at $69 for the Personal Edition (one concurrent site) and goes up to $199 for the Ultimate Edition (unlimited sites, plus WordPress MU).
All in all, ClassiPress looks like it could be a very powerful tool and it’s an easy way to get into the classified ads business. You’ll need to spend some time to customize the installation, but all the groundwork has been done for you.
I’m used to code my website myself but the hard part is making them popular, I’m talking about the SEO thing.
even highschool can make a website.
Your saying things that aren’t related to the post.
Yeah, don’t know why he’s bringing up SEO here.. it’s a post about a classifieds ads product..
It looks like spam to me.
Indeed. Been seeing a lot of it around lately, whether it’s language barriers or just bots running amock, it’s hard to tell. 🙁
Till then,
Jean
These day there are more and more blog commenting services which helps people to build backlinks. So it’s not weird to see comment like this and I deleted a lot comments like this in my blog too.
Great script, tons of plugins for ever you want.
I recently added ClassiPress on my blog…I ‘POSTER’ tab on the side bar doesn’t offer much information about the advertiser, especially their contact details. This feature needs to provide detailed information besides the username which is the only visible detail displayed. The registration page also needs to be improved, just giving email and username is not enough, when most of the details can only be viewed by the ‘advertiser’ on the ‘my dashboard’ feature. what is the purpose of capturing all the social media links when they’re not visible to prospective buyers?
That’s pretty cool.Looks like it could make you a lot of money.Wordpress is becoming really famous of all the stuff they can do.Great post Micheal 🙂
woa , great post . with this way wp will make any things on internet
I was actually looking for something similar for my site..
Thanks
Yet another great review post by Michael Kwan.
I love seeing how wordpress can be transformed into something new…
We use this as our back end for our new and used Video Game Classifieds at http://www.GameExchangers.com and it works really well.
Looks pretty decent, however with this kind of stuff it’s all about distribution and getting people to your site. How can someone possibly compete with something like Craigslist or Kajiji?
You’d need a pretty strong USP to compete with the giants.
Hello Tyler,
indeed the ClassiPress its a vertent to possible monetizing website ….it is a good investment…
I think I am with Paul on this one, it’s cool, but seems to have limited applications.
Hi guys,
This is much better then craiglist. I would use this the next time I need to place an classified ad. Thanks for sharing.
Kind regards,
Sam
X
This is a plugin not an actual site. Yes it LOOKS better than CraigsList, but looks are not the most important in a site like this. Having a billion people looking at the site is what’s most important, and that’s what CraigsList has.
It’s not about looks, it’s about distribution/eye-balls.
-Paul
And You dont think that having a site that looks great will increase your chances of getting people to visit it ?
Great review. You really go in depth with your reviews.
Also an alternative here http://www.sitemile.com/p/classifiedTheme
For this stuff you dont compete at all with Craigslist but you can set up niche markets with this stuff
I like the fact that I don’t need to know a lot of technical stuff to use ClassiPress. I hope WordPress can enhance its contact option in future versions.
Wow, this looks pretty cool 🙂 I suppose I’ll try this in the near future, however, I think its pretty hard to be profitable from something like this…
David.
Hi David,
May I kindly ask why you think it won’t be that profitable?
Thanks.
Hey Julius,
I didn’t say that it won’t be that profitable, but merely that it would be hard to profit from it. The reason is that it’s pretty hard to sell these classified advertisements, unless you have a whole lot of visitors to your website who are searching for advertisements.
That’s merely my opinion anyway 🙂
David.
Thanks for your response David 🙂
Interesting use. Oh WordPress, how useful you are. Interested to see the other uses for WP that people are developing.
Bryan
Also an alternative here http://www.sitemile.com/p/classifiedTheme
For this stuff you dont compete at all with Craigslist but you can set up niche markets with this stuff
I like the fact that I don’t need to know a lot of technical stuff to use ClassiPress. I hope WordPress can enhance its contact option in future versions.
Could be really big. The ease of use factor is huge. WordPress really rocks.
Wow, this looks pretty cool
Very Nice Classifieds Site! I think I am going to have to get that theme, despite the obvious things that you have mentioned about the contact system, everything else looks pretty nice!
Thanks for the good review.
ClassiPress looks really good and what I like most is that it’s for WordPress. This makes sure that it will be easy to use and manage. I hope that it will be available for other languages too.
Looks pretty decent, however with this kind of stuff it’s all about distribution and getting people to your site.
i have been looking for something like this for a while
What a great plug and play website. My brother in law has been trying to set up an online store and I think this would be a great way for him to jump in. I didn’t realize that you could build this kind of site threw Word Press. I love how easy Word Press makes things.
ClassiPress has indeed simplify a lot of stuff. I will definitely give it a try if I am starting a classified ads site.
Never heard of ClassiPress before. Def going to have to check out this plugin. I had an idea for an automotive classified site that I never could before but it looks like this plugin might be the answer.
I love wordpress..
Here is another alternative http://www.sitemile.com/p/classifiedTheme v5.0 just updated, supports wp 3.0
It looks good, but I have found that some themes such as this can have glitches and not look quite right when trying to customise.
Can you add paypal to it easily ?
if so ill give it a try
That’s what I need for some of my wordpress powered sites. It can help cut some of the hassles…
Really nice information here.
Am I missing something??
I dont understand the mention of “not having the ability to contact the seller”… You can contact the seller, using the “Contact” tab (look at the screenshot showing the Google Map”…
Unless we’re talking about something else..?
Yep overpriced and overrated. Much better work elsewhere, for cheaper prices.
I’ve used classipress and other classifieds WP themes for a coyple of years now. I’ve had to stop using Classipress of late though as the newer versions aren’t compatible with some of my most-needed plug-ins.
Looks pretty decent, however with this kind of stuff it’s all about distribution and getting people to your site. 😉
I am using the same script for my site and it is ok not great
I also really like this classified ad site
I recently purchased one my self and its working perfectly.
however only thing wrong is there is limited payment option
only paypal and bank transfer
you can check my free auction site from here
zapobuy.net
I have no regret choosing classipress to build my classified site. There are so many widget that make things really easy for me to manage.
Worth buying as it is cheaper then you get others to develop.
this looks perfect for my needs (classipress
) but I’m trying to build a community based swaps site, so i’m after something freeware, is there something similar, i dont expect it to be as good but if it works then we could upgrade later
Great post, I may try it someday if the price stay low but I agree that you have to have a popular website or have a niche before you can start making money from this.
I just bought classipress yesterday and it works perfect for my classified ads site.
Hi Michael,
Very informative post. Can you also explain if Classipress theme may be used as a job board and how?
Thanks in advance.
Sankus.
As I can realize, that your script was made back in the year 2010 and now 2012 is around the corner. The wordpress platform has completely changes since then. do you have an updated version of the script. We don’t want to look like an outdated classifieds site. appreciate your feedback. Thx, Sam
Anybody here owns Classipress? The script “looks” good but is it true that it is a buggy piece of junk with some basic features that don’t even work properly? Some say it is good but you have to be a programmer to do some “tweaking”. Some say the owners are script kiddies with poor programming experience doing a money grab.
I bought classipress a couple months back. And with no prior knowledge its been doing quite well. I have hit a bit of a slump in my page views though.
Please check out http://www.travelistclassifieds.com and let me know what you think. Comments/feedback are greatly appreciated 🙂
Hi,
any one has a copy of classiPress? Send to me a copy i want check the difference from one i have.(Email: info@alfredweb.co.tz)
Find a demo of classipress at: http://www.apthemes.com
Don’t share illegal files, it prevents great support.
C-ya!
Note: http://www.appthemes.com NOT apthemes.com my mistake.
I am using Classipress on Adsnity.com but there occurred a problem. The blog posts are showing as a full posts instead of excerpts. Please help me if you could, thanks.
I am selling my Classipress theme for anyone interested, I am asking only $75 for Classipress Theme, plus 6 plugins purchased on the appthemes market.
If you are interested in know more information about the plugins included with the purchase, please email me: briangjester@yahoo.com
Brian
The purchases are not just plugins, they’re child-themes too! 6 total themes / plugins.
I also have the Vantage Business Theme which I am also interested in selling for $75.
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