Over 9 Billion Served

One might guess that this post title refers to the number of hamburgers served by the golden arches fast food chain, McDonald's.

But if there is one thing that I strive for with this blog, it's the recognition of that which is less than obvious. And the "over 9 Billion Served" refers not to hamburgers but to Page Views served per month by the website Craigslist.

Those familiar with the site, might be amazed at the fact that Craigslist is the 47th most trafficked site world wide and 9th in the US according to Alexa.com.

But the real inspiring fact comes from Craiglist's humble beginnings. Started in 1995 as an electronic bulletin board for local events in the San Francisco Bay Area, the site morphed into a place where out of work technical folks went to find jobs. Today, Craiglist is arguably one of the largest classified ad networks on the entire web covering jobs, internships, for sale, and community offerings. Craigslist is largely cited as one of the reasons for the dramatic decline in newspaper classified advertising.

You would think that a website that brought the entire newspaper publishing industry to its knees would have some pretty complex, advanced technical advantage. Yet, the entire Craigslist site is void of fancy logos, graphics, and Web 2.0 technology. It is Craigslist's bare bones, basic user interface which may be its ultimate secret weapon. Because the site doesn't employ fancy features, non-technical end users are comfortable using the site.

The take away from Craigslist is simple. You don't need to create a technological masterpiece of mashups and Web 2.0 technologies to be successful on the web. What you do need to do is keep things simple. Thirty (30) million unique monthly Craigslist visitors are hard to argue with.