You bought the local newspaper a couple of days previously, like you always do, but where is it now? You thought you'd thrown it underneath the stack of magazines and papers on the table in the corner of the room. No, not there. You search some more but the it's nowhere to be found.

What to do now? The Yellow Pages - of course! Obvious. Thumb through it until you find the section 'Newspapers and Periodicals' and then carefully go through the list. There's the number. Grab a pen, note down the number and dial.

Seconds later, a friendly female voice asks what department you want. "Advertising", you reply. Hey, almost there now. Patience. Seconds later another friendly voice asks how she may help you, and you explain you want to place an add in the 'For Sale' section in this week's edition.

"You want to place an ad in next week's edition", she says, abruptly. She hasn't understood. "No, in this week's edition", I repeat. "Sorry sir, can't do it. If you'd only called half an hour ago. You've just missed this week's advertising deadline, which is always midday on a Tuesday, no exceptions. Do you want to place an ad in next week's edition?"

Keep calm. Don't get annoyed. Think. The paper comes out at the end of the week but my ad should have gone in half an hour ago. This IS Tuesday. What's the matter with you people? Never heard of give-and-take? Local newspapers suck. You can keep them. No choice, hang up the phone before I blow a fuse or say something I might later regret.

But wait a second. This is the age of the Internet, instant communication, web sites, email! No need to panic. After all, you've seen many a classified ad site on your web travels, right? You've never given them a second thought. Maybe now you should.

Open up the browser, go to Google and enter 'classified ads'. Easy, a ton of classified ad sites show up in the search results. So many to choose from.

Right, the scenario above may be little more than a story but it does underline a serious point. In fact, it illustrates one of many good reasons why you should consider using freeads sites. You guessed it - instant advertising.

Cost is yet another exceptionally good reason. Local newspapers usually dent the budget. Classified ad sites cost nothing. Nothing to sign up and nothing to post ads either. And you can post as many freeads as you want. That's a real bonus.

Reason number three - there are LOTS of classified ad sites out there. Literally hundreds to choose from. Probably thousands. Sign up for as many as you want. And signing up is usually quick and easy, too, requiring only a valid email address, nothing more.

Good reason number four is reach. Remember the newspaper scenario above? Typically, local newspapers may have a circulation of around 10,000 or so, maybe even a few tens of thousands, all confined to the area you live in. Not so with a classified ads site. Because it is web-based, it can literally reach across the world. So someone, somewhere will probably want to buy what you want to sell. Guaranteed!

If a picture is better than a thousand words, we come to the fifth good reason for using freeads sites - the ability to add a picture of the item you are looking to sell. Most classified ads sites allow you to upload at least one picture to go along with your ad, at no cost, a service which your local newspaper is unlikely to offer.