How Logos Establish Trust - eBay Marketing Excerpt

Excerpt from "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing."

A compelling logo that suits your business is a major brand strategy asset. A solid logo lends credibility and prestige to all other marketing efforts you put forth in your eBay business. You’ll be able to use it on every eBay listing; in your eBay Store; on all of your invoices, business cards, e-mail communications, and packaging; and just about anywhere else your customer looks. A logo helps reinforce your brand message every time you interface with customers.

Why are logos so important? Psychologically speaking, images stick much better in people’s minds than just words. A good logo makes an impact on customers, and it conveys the message of your brand. It sets your business apart from the crowd and makes it more memorable. It also gives your eBay business a more professional air, lending a sense of establishment and longevity. Customers are more likely to trust an eBay seller who has cultivated this sense of permanence with a solid logo, and they are more likely to remember eBay Stores with logo brands and return to shop on a repeat basis.

Your logo needs to be compatible with your brand image, and it should represent the personality of your business. It should be simple and visually easy for your customers to understand.

Note: A poorly designed and unprofessional looking logo is actually a detriment to your image. If you feel that you lack the creativity or skill to design your own logo, hiring a professional is a wise investment.

With a solid idea of what you’d like your logo to be, you can easily communicate your wishes to a designer. For the budget-conscious eBay seller, we’ll show you some secrets to creating your own simple, yet professional-looking, logo.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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Care and Feeding of Customers

"Be it furniture, clothes, or health care, many industries today are marketing nothing more than commodities -- no more, no less. What will make the difference in the long run is the care and feeding of customers."

-- Micheal Mescon

This is true on eBay as well as in the brick and mortar marketing world. Customers need attention, sustained dialogue, service and respect.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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*Writing/Editing Checklist (10 good ones)*

1. Establish the audience right away and keep focused on them
2. Forgo 'style copy' and use 'selling copy'
3. Break complex sentences into shorter, clearer sentences
4. Arouse the curiosity of the reader (rather than satisfy it)
5. Provide readers smooth transitions so they don't look up and get distracted from the piece
6. Write compelling benefits into heads and subheads
7. Support ideas with vivid examples
8. Use real facts and numbers (i.e. '57 satisfied customers' vs. 'dozens of satisfied customers')
9. Go back and weed out excessive adjectives
10. Provide a compelling call to action at the end of every piece (or prominently in an ad)

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What Does Harry S. Truman Know About eBay?

"Advertising has induced progress in the use by manufacturers of new materials, new tools, and new processes of manufacture by calling their attention to economies which could be achieved and to the new uses to which they could be put. Without such advertising, information of this kind would take years to reach all of those who might benefit by it and progress would be delayed." --- Harry S. Truman

If only Truman could see eBay!

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Peter Drucker Wisdom and eBay

The quote for the day...

"The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself."

Peter F. Drucker

When you sell on eBay, you eventually learn that this is where the game is. This is where the big boys make the dough. This is about sourcing, product descriptions, customer service, visual presentation.. everything.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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Four Strategies That Reduce Buyer Risk

Today’s post comes from a great newsletter I receive, The Copywriter’s Roundtable. It’s John (Jack) Forde’s creation, and it’s superb. You can sign up here if you’re interested -- http://www.jackforde.com/.

The post I pulled from is about reducing the risk a buyer perceives. It’s from a piece called “How to Sell When You Don’t Have the Lowest Price” by Dave Kahle. The tips are great for eBay sellers and everyone else. I’ve inserted eBay-specific comments.

4 Risk Reducing Selling Strategies:

1. Build solid, deep relationships with the key decision-makers. Relationships mitigate risk. The greater the relationship, the lower the perceived risk. That's why the salesman with the longer relationship almost always has the benefit of the doubt in a competitive situation. Its not the price - its the risk. [On eBay, this is about building customer relationships via newsletters, gracious correspondence, attention to detail, and great customer service.]

2. Make ample use of third party recommendations, customer lists, case studies and testimonials. All of these say to the customer that someone else, or lots of someone elses, have used the product or service. That means its less risk for your customer to buy it.

3. Try to get your customer as physically involved with the product as possible. For example, if you're selling a piece of equipment, try to get the customer to trial the equipment, or at least visit somewhere its being used. The more your customer can see and feel the actual thing, the less risk is it to them. [If possible, eBay sellers might encourage a prospect for a high-ticket item to handle the item in a store to get the feel of it and pick up some of that “gotta be there” vibe.]

4. Finally, work with your company to create offers that reduce the risk. Trial periods, money-back guarantees, delayed billing, warranties, service desks - all of these reduce your customer's perception of risk. [guarantees, flexible return policies, and product support offers apply to eBay]

The winners in the competitive selling arena of the Information Age are those who are the low risk providers, not the low price people.

From -- http://www.jackforde.com/.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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5 Sure-fire eBay Selling Tips

1. Forget about “You” and write to “You.” Huh? Let me rephrase that. Don’t write eBay descriptions that are centered around your company, your products, your achievements. Write them with the customer in mind. Use lots of “you” in the text so the customer or reader is the focus.

2. Make an offer. Presenting a product for sale is often not enough. Offer free shipping for the day. Cross promote another product that complements the one being sold. Give people a reason to click or say yes NOW.

3. Keep your layouts simple. If you’re selling online, don’t use too many bells and whistles from the HTML editor. Go clean and lean. Same goes for print layout.

4. Offer free information. Educate when you can. This will separate you from the competition.

5. Collect testimonials from satisfied customers and put them in your advertising and listings.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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Formatting the Text for Your Terms of Sale

When entering the boilerplate text for your terms of sale in your item descriptions and About Me or eBay Store pages, make sure your terms are easy for your customers to read. Create a sub-heading in larger, boldface typeface that reads “Terms of Sale,” or “Our Policies,” etc.or something similar, and then list your policies below in a numbered or bulleted list.

Use the same font and type size for listing your terms of sale that you use in your item descriptions. Using a smaller type size can creates distrust in readers as it has the appearance of “fine print.” Even if your intentions are simply to save screen space, your customers may suspect that you are using this notorious trick to sneak something past them. Remember your goal of transparency and how it inspires trust.

You should also avoid using larger typeface, red lettering, or all capital letters for your terms of sale. It’s the text equivalent of screaming at your customers, and no one likes to have rules and regulations screamed at them. Even though some eBay buyers simply don’t read stated policies carefully, using such typefaces insults the intelligence of every potential customer who browses your item listings. Insulting potential customers is no way to win friends and influence people – —and certainly no way to run a business.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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How to Compete On eBay - Word Is Spreading

Book Hits 18th on Amazon Last Week

Enthusiastic readers and word of mouth has helped push The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing into the top 20 eBay books on Amazon.com.

Readers are learning:
• How and when to cross-sell and cross-promote specific items
• When to make offers and how to improve the likelihood that they'll be pounced on
• Why it makes sense to ship a freebie in your package (Hint: reciprocation-obligation factor)
• What kinds of customer retention and customer satisfaction strategies are a must
• The best techniques for consistent, clear and compelling visual design
• How to write killer descriptions and form keyword lists that draw in the right audience
• How to build a brand that sticks with customers
• How to drive scarcity
• Why your authority is oftentimes your best selling asset
• How to use FAQs to close
• When and how to develop testimonials
• Storytelling and problem solving strategies
• How to write case studies/success stories that sell
• Up-selling and cross-selling strategies
• How to boost traffic to your Store and auction listings
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques
• Much more

The buzz is spreading with very little "corporate marketing" from the publisher. There's a real grass-roots push going on because of the quality of the product itself.

If you haven't read it yet, pick up a copy.

If you have, please post a review on Amazon and let everyone know which parts you found most valuable.

If you're in the media, please contact me and we'll have the publisher send you a free copy for review.

Thanks for all your support,
Phil, Amy & Janelle

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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3 Things You May Not Know - Marketing Advice from David Ogilvy

• You can judge the vitality of a company by the number of new products it brings to market. 35% of supermarket sales come from products that did not exist 10 years ago.
• Sales are a function of product value and advertising. Promotions cannot produce more than a temporary kink in the sales curve.
• There is no correlation between quality and price (numerous scientific surveys have demonstrated this). The higher you price your product, the more desirable it becomes in the eyes of the consumer.
  

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P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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3 Things You May Not Know - Marketing Advice from David Ogilvy

• You can judge the vitality of a company by the number of new products it brings to market. 35% of supermarket sales come from products that did not exist 10 years ago
• Sales are a function of product value and advertising. Promotions cannot produce more than a temporary kink in the sales curve.
• There is no correlation between quality and price (numerous scientific surveys have demonstrated this). The higher you price your product, the more desirable it becomes in the eyes of the consumer.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)ebay, selling, sales, seller, marketing, writing, writer, book, books,advertising, copywriting, journalism, media, news

3 Things You May Not Know - Marketing Advice from David Ogilvy

• You can judge the vitality of a company by the number of new products it brings to market. 35% of supermarket sales come from products that did not exist 10 years ago.
• Sales are a function of product value and advertising. Promotions cannot produce more than a temporary kink in the sales curve.
• There is no correlation between quality and price (numerous scientific surveys have demonstrated this). The higher you price your product, the more desirable it becomes in the eyes of the consumer.

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Size Matters – The Point Size You Choose for Fonts

You may think that font point size is a trivial matter. People can adjust point sizes with their own browser settings or do it manually when they get to a page (I do this sometimes by using CTRL-[scroll wheel]) However, not all Web surfers know how to do this. You can’t assume that they do. And with printed materials, you only have one chance to pick a font.

Choose wisely. Size does matter. In Colin Wheildon’s excellent book on layout and design, Layout & Design: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes, the research data is clear – fonts sized 10pt to 14pt are preferred by most readers. 11pt and 12pt are most preferred out of those. Not surprising, but it’s something to consider when you want people to read what you have to say.

Whether it’s a post card you send in the mail, a flyer you stick in an eBay package, or the description you write on an ecommerce or eBay page, your main objective is to communicate. Why not make it easy on the reader and start off on the right foot? Readabilty and comprehension are key communication foundations. Build on those with compelling, benefit-oriented copy (or “what you stand to lose” copy), clearly worded offers, consistent closing, and transparent policies.

You will sell.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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eBay Product Naming Critical - Research Shows Product Naming Biases

This week, Dr. Robert Cialdini’s Inside Influence Report has some nifty things to say about naming products. Check out the article for a course on why certain crayons and sweaters are named the way they are. Here’s a taste:

“..unexpected descriptive and ambiguous color and flavor names are both likely to engender more positive feelings toward a given product to a greater extent..”

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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eBay Selling Webcast Turns Some Heads (and ears)

If any of the posts on this blog tickle your fancy (surf around for a bit, surely you’ll find something you dig – and stop calling me shirley), you’ll want to check out StartUpNation’s Webcast on eBay marketing.

You can hear me in person and get some quick insights into eBay.

Tune in here.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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eBay Buyers - Be Afraid, Very Afraid

When considering the value of your products, pay special attention to buyers’ fears. Fears also indicate benefits, and, they can be intimately intertwined with dreams. With Tivo, for example, customers fear advertising mind control while dreaming of convenient TV watching. With soap, they fear stinking while dreaming about attractiveness.

When you get right down to it, hundreds of thousands of successful products are associated with fears. Here are some common fears that have spawned countless products:

* “I’m afraid that a robber will break into my house” (home alarm systems)
* “I worry about my health” (health insurance)
* “My car is making funny noises and I’m afraid it will break down on a lonely country road” (auto protection services)

Think about all the information that’s out there today. If your product relates to the health/diet field, you already have a huge repository of scientific (and pseudo-scientific) information to draw on. Go to Yahoo! News and search the Health category by any keyword and behold the fear. Googling can turn up all kinds of fears related virtually to any product.

P.S. Amazon.com and Walmart.com have the lowest prices for "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing" (McGraw-Hill, 2005)

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How to Drive Sales with Post Card Marketing

Bob Leduc has an nice article up on Home Biz Tools that explains why post card marketing is effective for all kinds of businesses (including eBay, and for driving traffic to sites/listing pages/eBay Stores).

I would just add a few points that will help you get your post cards read.

1) If the recipients know you by face, name, or company name include that prominently on the card. People like to see people and know people and hear from people. Leverage that, especially if you're sending cards to people who hear from you on a regular basis (as with email newsletters, regular business communications and so forth).

2) Write a headline for the card that speaks to or is about the recipient (not about you or your company or your product). Grab their attention, but make the recipient the focus. For example, "How Often Do You See Limited Edition Widgets for Less than $100?" speaks to the recipient. And, "The Top 10 Causes of Dry Skin" makes the recipient's problem or need the focus.

3) Put news in the title: "New Orthopedic Neck Brace Helps You Sleep More Soundly"

4) Make an offer in the headline. "Summer Sale Starts This Friday -- Free Shipping for Valued Customers Like You."

There are plenty of other strategies. I'll cover more of these in future posts. Remember, you can mix these up, too, and create layered messages. That includes mixing the photo concept with the headline.

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Should eBay Sellers Incorporate?

AuctionBytes has posted a very concise, clear and uncomplicated article on incorporation. The author, Barbara Weltman, "is an attorney and nationally-recognized expert on tax and small business who is sought out for her insights into helping small businesses grow and thrive."

It's called Should You Incorporate Your eBay Business?

Check it out, and while you're there, check out the articles on eBay Marketing. They're based on our research for the book, The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing.

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Promote Your Business – Publish Articles on the Web

As the Web, Tivo, Google AdWords/Adsense and subscription radio throw the advertising world into a funk, there's a tried and true method for promotion that's cheap, relatively easy and still highly effective when compared to "traditional" advertising... Some call it PR. Some call it editorial promotion. Most serious businesses deem it a critical component to their overall marketing plan. As an eBay seller, you should be utilizing editorial promotion to position yourself as an expert and position your products within the marketplace.

The basic idea is to get articles about your business, products or services published...anywhere. You can spend a lot of time and money dancing with print newspaper, magazine and trade publishers, however it's much easier to publish on the Web. Not only is it easier, but media trends show that people are consuming news differently on the Web, and they're going to the Web more often for news and product information. People look for targeted information on the Web. You don't need to be all over the nightly news for people to find you. What you're interested in are the people who are searching for exactly what you offer and are writing/editorializing about.

So, how do you do this? How do you publish articles about your products, services and business on the Web? Fortunately, Brett Krkosska, managing editor of Home Biz Tools, has written an excellent article on the subject. This article shows you how to syndicate your work so that multiple outlets will pick it up. This is basically free advertising for you and your eBay business. What's more, you have the opportunity to truly educate prospects when you publish journalistic articles about your business. That's important, because the more people know about your business, how it works and how it can benefit themselves or others, the better positioned your company becomes. This probably falls under that old adage, "The more you tell, the more you sell."

Take a little time to develop some story ideas about your business. Then, return to this blog tomorrow (or this afternoon - this subject has my fingers dancing on the keyboard). I'll post an article about the fundamentals of "attention-grabbing" topics and journalistically sound leads.

My book, The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing, has lots of info on how to craft stories, develop problem/solution studies (known as case studies or success stories), and market your business better. It also shows you how to write attention-grabbing headlines. All these pointers apply to both journalistic articles and your eBay listings. The strategy and positioning are a little different, but the fundamentals are the same. Also, check out the previous post on post card tips. It's got some good pointers on headline writing and other valuable information.

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eBay Scarcity in Action

I ran out of books (for sale) this weekend at the Learning Annex presentations – the book being The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing. Poor preparation on my part but perhaps a lesson in scarcity. Some people ended up paying more than the sticker price because I had so few of them.

Portions of the advanced marketing chapter (Chapter 5 of the book) deal with scarcity and how to develop scarceness around your auctions and listings. Check it out.

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The Ideal eBay Shipping Solution?

I taught a course for the Learning Annex this weekend. It covered some marketing basics for eBay. Turnout was great in both San Diego and Los Angeles (Sat/Sun respectively).

At the Los Angeles event, there was a lot of interest in shipping issues. Do you have any tips about the best methods/services for shipping?

I know that a lot of people like Stamps.com for the convenience, ease of use, and Outlook integration. But it does come at a price. USPS.com offers postage and label printing. Paypal is integrated with eBay and allows you to print labels within the system.

What are the some of the drawbacks and advantages that you’ve encountered with these various solutions?

Any other ideas?

Thanks.

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4 Ways to Present on eBay - Dale Carnegie's Prescient Advice

"There are four ways, and only four ways, in which we have contact with the world. We are evaluated and classified by these four contacts: what we do, how we look, what we say, and how we say it."

- Dale Carnegie

Though Carnegie was actively presenting his self-help courses and books in the early half of the 20th century, you can certainly apply this little bit of wisdom to modern day eBay listings.

What we do: Are your eBay customer service policies, follow through, and shipping practices consistent and helpful? Do you keep the marketing and sales promises you make?

How we look: What do your pages look like? Are they typographically legible? Do they use sound layout and design strategies? Do the photos look good and represent the products accurately?

What we say: Is your copy connecting with the needs and desires of customers? Is it simple, conversational and free of hyperventilating exaggeration?

How we say it: What is the tone of your description copy? Does it fit your audience? Are you closing throughout the copy?

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I Know What´s Hot on eBay -- Part 2

I Know What´s Hot on eBay – Part 2
by Jen Cano, eBay Certified Consultant

Sort by Auction with Sales on the Keywords Tab
Why would I begin my search by looking at the keywords tab? The Keywords tab shows statistics about every word in every auction included in the research. Since most people include the brand name in the title, this is a great place to begin an initial comparison of brands.

I began by clicking on the Auctions with Sales column heading. This sorts the words in the titles according to the number of auctions that sold. As I scanned the list, two brands popped out at me: Gap and Elefanten. They each showed nearly 80 successful auctions, with an average success rate of over 80%. Average sales prices looked good, too. These statistics told me that it was worth my time to find out more about the two most promising brands.

Comparison Research
To fully compare the two brands, I requested two more reports. For the first one, I entered the keyword Gap, in addition to the category information. For the second one, I entered the keyword Elefanten, in addition to the category information. Not surprisingly, the information on the Keywords tab from my more generic report gave accurate clues to what I found when I ran the more specific reports. Here´s what I found:

Brand-----# of Auctions---ASP (average sales price)-----Success Rate
Elefanten---132-----------$25.00------------------------82.
Gap--------157------------$17.0-------------------------82.8

As you can see, other than sales price, the auctions are pretty neck-and-neck. I´d have to do some research to find out how much I can get the two types of boots for. That will help me make a decision about which brand will give me the highest profits.

Make Your Auction Even Hotter
Once you´ve identified that hot-selling item, you can take your research one step further to find out how to boost your chances of selling and your profits to an even higher level. For example, the Reports tab on my Elefanten girls boots research shows that Buy It Now (fixed price) auctions had an average success rate of 89.87% with an ASP (average sales price) of $26.23.

Use the Reports tab to find out other ways to boost your success, such as the best auction features, starting day, ending day, and ending time. For more complete information about how you can increase your auction success using DeepAnalysis, see the Getting Started section of our Sellers Guide, found at http://www.hammertap.com/support/sellersguide.pdf.

About the Author
Jennifer Cano is a certified eBay consultant and Senior Editor for Bright Builders, the makers of HammerTap. She is also an editor for eBay Radio.

© Bright Builders, 2006.

I Know What´s Hot on eBay -- Part 1

I have another 2-part article for you from eBay consultant Jen Cano. I’ll post part 2 this afternoon. Enjoy.

I Know What´s Hot on eBay
by Jen Cano, eBay Certified Consultant
Some would have you believe that there´s a simple answer to what’s hot on eBay. Well, I´d agree—to a point. That simple answer is a starting point. But, to find out what works on a practical level, you have to delve a little deeper to find the answer for specific product offerings.

Last week, I promised you an article that would tell you how to use eBay´s list of super-hot items, together with DeepAnalysis, to discover new hot-selling items.

eBay´s Hot Categories List
We´ll start with the Hot Categories report eBay publishes. You can find the report at http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf. eBay keeps this report up to date and organizes their findings into categories.

The report shows the "hotness rating for categories all the way down to level 4 categories. They´re rated Super Hot, Very Hot, or Hot. I, of course, looked for a Super Hot level four category, and found it in Clothing > Girls > Shoes > Boots. I chose this category because, as a mom, I have some interest in children´s clothing.

To create a winning auction, though, I really need to know which brand, which style, and maybe even which size will give me the most successful sales rate and the highest price. For that, I turn to DeepAnalysis.

Getting Specific with DeepAnalysis
For my initial research, I entered just the category (57976), selected 1000 auctions, and hit the Start button. The research came back with all 1000 auctions, averaging a 62% success rate and an average sales price of $15.90 for the last thirty days.

62% is fine, but I was on a hunt for a hot-selling item. I needed to find out what kinds of boots were selling most often and for the best price. To begin finding this out, I went to the Keywords tab.

About the Author
Jennifer Cano is a certified eBay consultant and Senior Editor for Bright Builders, the makers of HammerTap. She is also an editor for eBay Radio.

© Bright Builders, 2006.

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How to Annoy Customers

The Associated Press published a story this morning about annoying quotes from sales clerks. Somebody took a poll, and they came up with the most annoying ones. You can probably guess some of them: “That’s not my department.” “The computer’s down..” etc.

These questions come at the most opportune of times – when customers are looking for information that will help them buy something. On eBay and ecommerce sites, these kinds of questions show up, too, but in different forms. People may email asking for a specific product that you don’t carry. They might ask about a size you don’t carry or a particular model that hasn’t been made for some time.

Don’t treat them like those annoying sales clerks do. Provide information, be helpful, and make sure you’re offering accurate information. If you don’t know, that’s ok. Just tell them in a polite way and direct them to a site that can lead them in the right direction (preferably not Google). You’ve got a lot more resources at your disposal since your customers are on the Web. You can be very helpful when called upon.

These small un-annoying gestures tend to pile up and turn into a good reputation. Word of mouth spreads, and you’re soon known as an expert in your field and a provider of top-quality goods. That’s who you want to be.

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It Takes More than Just Huevos to Sell on eBay

Yesterday I put up a quote about believing in your product and having the “guts” to make your marketing plan work. There’s another side to that coin, of course. It’s about committing to customers, understanding their motivations, meeting their expectations and really wanting to make them happy. Hence today’s quote:

“You must have – in your heart – a commitment to customer service that goes beyond good sense and the desire for profits. It must be deep, and it must be strong, and it must endure.”

-- Michael Masterson of Early to Rise

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About.com Recommended this Blog and Plugged the 7 Steps eBay Book

About.com has a lot of great resources for business people. I've been there dozens of times for specific small business information pertaining to marketing, legal, advertising and operational advice.

They plugged this blog and the 7 Steps eBay book recently, and it's been great for book sales and site traffic. I just want to publicly thank the article's author, Mr. Scott Allen, for checking out the blog and rating it so highly. He even rated some of my posts to give readers some indication of what he thought was valuable.

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It Takes Huevos to Sell on eBay

"If you don't believe in your product, of if you're not consistent and regular in the way you promote it, the odds of succeeding go way down. The primary function of the marketing plan is to ensure that you have the resources and the wherewithal to do what it takes to make your product work."

-- Jay Levinson, Author of Guerrilla Marketing

Chapter 1 of The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing covers this in-depth, and it points out the unique areas you need to tend to as an eBay seller.

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SEO and eBay -- What to Believe?

Half the battle with eBay is exposure. You need listings that rise to the top of the search returns. That takes careful keyword selection, the correct timing for listings (for your audience), and pages that are SEO (search engine optimized).

When considering SEO, there’s trade-off you need to consider…. conversion rates. Which listings are creating sales rates that are favorable (considering how many visitors have checked out the listings)? Good copywriting that includes compelling headlines and lead-in hooks, strong offers, and consistent closing language can boost conversion rates. However sometimes good copywriting doesn’t include enough keywords for the best SEO.

A conundrum.

Check out the comments in the following article by Bob Bly (Why I Don’t Believe in SEO Copywriting). There are some good tips and perspectives.

I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Where you write compelling copy first, then examine it to see where you can insert key words without upsetting the flow and flavor of the writing. It’s a little tricky but worth the effort.

ebay, selling, sales, seller, marketing, writing, writer, book, books,
advertising, copywriting, journalism, media, news