How To Pick Out The Best Free Classifieds Script For Your Website

How to choose the best free classifieds script available in the market for your business, without being a programmer? It is pretty easy with lots of good classifieds scripts available in the market for FREE and for a low price. Firstly you need to clarify your requirements are, and then search for a script that suits your needs. Be sure you don’t change your requirements based on the scripts you find. Because you’re going to set up a classifieds script that’s going to assist a community, make certain you know what the community members are searching for or what they want.

Make sure you don’t produce unnecessary services that aim to spam and don’t be a copycat. You could do this by conducting a search both online and offline. Your classifieds script should be capable to meet the individual requirements of your business. The best free classifieds scripts on the market should offer the flexibility of: functions, settings and the capacity to adjust to business changes.

Building an internet site is in several ways an organic process, the same goes for software development. This means that upgrades to the script are called for and features need adding/ removing as deemed necessary. The script should be decently supported, maintained continually and updated at regular intervals and, above all, be able to suit your business needs as they grow and change. The main features to look for are as follows:

Flexibility

All online businesses are unique and require a certain level of flexibility from the best free classifieds script. You’re going to need to be able to do changes to the code when needed. It is extremely unlikely that you will find a single classifieds script fitted to meet all of your demands. This is because out-of-the-box versions are constructed to centre on meeting broad requirements, popular in the market at a certain point. As market needs shift, so does the script functionality that is available by default.

Ability to Meet Central Business Needs

Try to identify which processes and/or services your classifieds site will be involved with on a regular basis. Create a list of the most crucial things you’ll need. Prioritise these key factors into around four to five points most needed to start your business. Take a good look at some of the offers for sale on the market here and now to help you consider the options. Think about which changes you may need to make on a day by day basis.

Customizations

Crucial key features which you may have included could be, for instance, ad presentation format, having control over the custom field searches, a search function or a postal code database for a specific country. If you’ve a 3rd party postal code database, you’ll need to make certain it is compatible with the classifieds script you are about to choose. As well, many of them are costly and therefore they are likely to stretch your budget. Once you’ve a shortlist of possible scripts, check to see which of those allow for customizations. Customizable factors are there to make your life simpler in the end.

This kind of set up enables you to adapt, as your business grows and shifts time. Problems can rise up when the code is fully encrypted. In this case, you’ve minimal control over the functions done by the developers of the best free classifieds script. The adjustments that need to be carried out will have to be made through them – at an additional cost. Open source code provides much heavier flexibility. Changes are easily made in accordance with your business needs either by the developers, you or a freelancer you may hire for this job.

Support and Upgrades Support

Product support is also an important consideration. Support doesn’t have to be available day-and-night. Because when it comes to Level 1 support (often outsourced and because of this, available 24/7), in many cases their only gift seems to be to read you a part of the user manual. A well-run technical support department founded on ticketing/forum/email system is the support that your company needs at a minimal to compete in today’s worldwide market.

When your business grows bigger, you should consider employing an in-house tech support. Not only should the in-house support dept. be educated to address a variety of different basic technical issues. Internal support should as well be able to fix minor bugs, propose useful advice regarding your customers use of the website, aid with template or code alterations, aid in relaying information to software manufacturer’s support dept. on more global requests/requirements. In addition, the in-house technical support team should be able to solve and reconcile any problems that are caused by individual users or third parties.

When they are not able to do so, classifieds script developers’ support should be involved as well. A well-run support will have their own resolutions procedure for dealing with certain concerns that you may not be able to address. The best way for your support team in dealing with the classified software manufacturer support is to provide them with as much info as imaginable. This enables them to serve you effectively and efficiently.

Therefore, support procedures should be logical, easy to follow, and a documentation trail should be available (forums, tickets, online chats capturing your contacts with support and keeping them for further reference). When you are deciding which classifieds script to invest in for your business; check to see if it is supported by a team of professionals. They will ensure the smooth running of your operation.

Upgrades

Lastly, (but by no means least) you need to consider how much commitment the developer has invested in the best free classifieds script. Quite a few scripts on the market today are no longer in the development stage, which means no new versions. These should be avoided as the developers have obviously given up on their products. Those who are looking for a high performance classifieds script therefore do not consider these to be viable options.

Ideally, the development cycle should be approximately three to six months between releases. If they’re auctioned too frequently, they become harder to track, update, and generally signify developers’ attempts to fix multiple bugs by issuing “new releases”. 3 to six months is a fair interval between updates necessary for keeping the classifieds software updated effectively. Releases which are too far apart show neglect and inefficiency. Check for a properly-documented change log before committing to buy.

The script should not break apart even during peak hours, when thousands of visitors are using the website. The script should offer an option to accept payments from your clients.

You should also get the full source code of the script. This will be valuable when you need to add new features or customizations to the original script. The best free classifieds script should be written in a popular scripting language – preferably PHP. This is crucial because a popular language have more number of developers. You can get low cost developer services to make changes to you script. 

The price of your classified script should not be too high. You need to fit in everything in your budget like advertising, hosting etc. A few companies may offer free or low cost web hosting for customers who buy their script.

You may not find all the features in one classified script. A script which offers less customization features may offer stronger security. You need to make a trade off between security and customization.

The classified script should offer a demo of their script. The demo should be tested – and you should test it yourself – to know if they meet your standards.

Online classifieds, whether they’re local or national, and in whatever niche – automobiles, real estate or computers – continue to be a great business opportunity available for business owners. Classifieds websites tend to draw more consumers, so that merchants are lining up to advertise on your space. Even during hard economic times, and advertising budgets are tightened, online classifieds will flourish and will provide for you a great source of income and for the users an excellent advertising value.