Almost every single website online for free classifieds needs to pay respect and homage to Craigslist. Why is that? It is quite simply because Craigslist classifieds was the first free classifieds website that was really able to come along and take market share away from the newspapers and magazines.

Without Craigslist.com and the subsequent dual branches of Craigslist Canada and Craigslist US that were created from the original San Francisco based site, it is questionable as to whether free classifieds would ever have taken off as much as they currently have. With major branches in San Francisco, San Diego, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, not to mention thousands of other American, Canadian and international cities, Craigslist has really become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world in the category of online free classified advertisements.

In terms of design, what you will get from Craigslist is very short and to the point. Both Craigslist Canada and Craigslist US function on the same essential breakdown of advertisements, placing them into major categories such as community, personals, forums, housing, for sale, services, jobs, gigs and resumes. Almost all of these major categories are then divided into subcategories based on what the specific poster is hawking. Housing could be renting, swapping or selling amongst a number of other subcategories, just as an example of a particular category being split down further.

Both the buyer and the seller (or the person giving the item away for free as is the case in the free subcategory under the for sale main category) have the same conceptual breakdown to use. This means that the seller will place the advertisement for free in the category that is closest to what they are selling and the buyer will then look at that category to see all the ads that are available. It is simple and to the point and like many simple ideas it quite simply changed the world.