Top 6 Ways to Boost eBay Traffic on ‘The Streets’

Excerpt from The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing

Real-World Ways to Boost Traffic
The brick-and-mortar world is the one with the dirt on the sidewalks and the clammy-palmed handshakes. It’s not a show on MTV or the glass monitor, e-mail introduction world of eBay. The real world is a great place to promote your eBay Store.Top 6 Ways to Boost Traffic on ‘The Streets’

• Make sure your eBay Store URL is printed on your business cards, let­terhead, stationery, thank you notes, invoices, car bumper sticker, hol­iday cards, and promotional post cards. Recall our discussion of the eBay Stores referral credit from Chapter 2? Any outside links from these sources will result in a 75 percent credit off your Final Value Fees for store inventory purchased.

• Talk up your business with anyone who is willing to listen. Uncles, grandparents, delivery people, Rotary Club poo-bahs, and parole offi­cers should all hear about your enterprising business. Give them busi­ness cards, get their addresses (real-world and cyber), and invite them to attend your talks on digital photography (or whatever niche it is you’ve developed to sell goods).

• Send prospects and former customers already on your mailing list pro­motional items that bear your URL and store logo/name. The usual promo items include pens, t-shirts, sticky notes, and coffee cups. You can get creative and offer more intriguing items, though, such as toys, fans, fly-swatters, CD holders, and other items.

• Offer gift certificates. Every restaurant and many retail stores do this, so why shouldn’t you? It allows customers that like what you offer to foist your wares onto their unsuspecting friends and relatives. Certificates can be created in both real-world and cyber forms.• Conduct seminars and informal talks about your area of expertise. If you can get press coverage, you’ll expand your reach even farther.

• Write articles for trade magazines and local papers, and submit press releases to any media outlet that might cover your type of business and customer/product profile. Don’t be afraid to think big. You’d be sur­prised at how many newspapers, radio stations, and even TV programs are interested in fresh, interesting angles on commercial enterprises and the people who buy from them.

P.S. Amazon.com knocked 32% off the cover price of "The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing"(McGraw-Hill, 2005). Walmart.com sells if for 36% off!

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