How to Set Google Chrome as Your Default Browser in Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista - Important for eBay Pages

This post, which shows you how to change your default browser to Google Chrome in Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista, may not initially appear to fall under the marketing category... however, I'll explain further in a minute. It's important for eBay sellers, too, not just marketers in general.

Google Chrome is the new browser from the folks at Google. If you're looking for reviews of the browser, check here: Awesome Google Chrome Review, Summary of Google Chrome Reviews at UK Telegraph (includes TechCrunch, Walt Mossberg, CNET, Gizmodo reviews and more), andGoogle Chrome Review from PC World.

So, Google Chrome is pretty cool and very fast when compared to other browsers like FireFox and Internet Explorer. I like it, and I wanted to set it as my default browser on a couple of the machines here. 

Here's the correct process for doing this manually on Windows XP, 2000 and Vista (thanks to Mozilla):

Setting default browser manually

You can set the default browser in Windows 2000 (SP3+) Windows XP (SP1+) and Windows Vista using the "Set Program Access and Defaults" feature (renamed "Set Program Access and Computer Defaults" in Windows Vista). [2]

• Windows 2000: "Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Set Program Access and Defaults"
• Windows XP: "Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs -> Set Program Access and Defaults -> Custom"
• Windows Vista: "Start -> Default Programs -> Set Program Access and Computer Defaults -> Custom" [3]

(Windows XP/Vista: Click the icon to the right of "Custom", to expand the category.)

You will see Internet Explorer and other installed browsers listed under "Choose a default Web browser" . Select "Mozilla" (Suite), "SeaMonkey" or "Mozilla Firefox" (in some cases, "Mozilla Firefox" may not be listed; to add it back, reinstall Firefox [4]).

If the above doesn't work or if the "Set Program Access and Defaults" feature isn't available in your Windows version, you can manually set the default browser by selecting it as the the default program for individual file types and protocols as follows:

• Windows XP and earlier: Open the Control Panel from the Windows Start menu.
  • In Windows 2000 and earlier, or if Windows XP is using the Control Panel "Classic View": Click on "Folder Options -> File Types".
  • In Windows XP, if using the Control Panel "Category View": Click on "Performance and Maintenance". Then, click on "File Types" in the left column under the heading "See Also".
• Windows Vista: Click the Start button, open "Default Programs" and then click "Associate a file type or protocol with a program". [5]

Assign the following protocols and file types to the browser you wish to set as default:

• URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol
• URL:HyperText Transfer Protocol with Privacy
• URL:File Transfer Protocol
• HTML File
• HTM File (optional)

Note that you may find the URL protocols listed above under extension "N/A" or "(NONE)".

The reason I think it's important for marketers to install and use this new browser are many:

1. You need to know how your Web pages and eBay listings look in this new browser - If you don't have consistency across all four major browsers (Safari included.. perhaps Opera deserves a mention, too), you're not communicating consistently.
2. If anything doesn't render correctly you need to fix it ASAP. I surfed to JCrew's site yesterday, and a lot of their images don't render in Chrome, while they do quite nicely in the other browsers.
3. Users are hopping on the new Chrome browers in huge numbers. They're installing it like mad because of Google's exposure. Again, if your sites don't look good on Google Chrome, you may have a problem on your hands. This applies to things beyond just generic looks, as well... like shopping carts, Java script, widgets, sign up forms, AJAX and so forth. 

Take a look and make sure you're good on Google Chrome.

eBay Sourcing Resource - How to Reliably, Quickly Find Good Products

Online auctions are still a great way to make money online, but you have to be very careful about your pricing and you need to have reliable, genuine sources. One of the toughest challenges is finding a steady supply of high-quality, genuine goods at a cost low enough for you to turn a decent profit (after you subtract all your expenses and fees). While many sites claim to offer listings of wholesalers for eBay sellers, in reality, most of the information you will find is either out of date or untested.

It helps to have a community of peers and expert power sellers to sort through all the supplier information out there, so you can get feedback about what suppliers are reliable and who will work with small home based businesses and individual auction sellers. While you can find wholesalers in every part of the world, even just by looking in the phone book, most of them probably won't fit the bill for your average eBayer.

One option to find product sources is SaleHoo. SaleHoo describes itself as a global product sourcing community. Its updated directory has over 5,000 wholsalers and dropshippers for almost every type of goods. More than just a simple supplier list, SaleHoo has some advanced functionality. It gives you the information you want and it never makes you jump through any hoops to get the details, unlike other directories. You can organize and save favorites, and you can instantly search the SaleHoo forum database for community entries about a particular supplier. The supplier page also allows you to go straight to the whois database for more information, and it also allows you to register a complaint or leave feedback.

SaleHoo's forums are very active (over 40,000 registered members) and there is a lot of good information that is shared and posted by experienced sellers. The forums focus heavily on auction selling, so if you're just looking to get products for your own online store or shopping cart - there's not quite as much value. But overall, SaleHoo is probably worth checking out, particularly for people new to eBay selling.

Conversational Writing and eBay Descriptions - Marketing Mojo

We talk a lot about conversational voice and tone in these pages. Conversational style engages and persuades people. That's the gist of it.

A lot of businesses still shy away from this type of writing in their Web sites, eBay listings and marketing collateral.

I came across validation for the conversational approach in another book (which is great, by the way). It's called Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas On Presentation Design and Delivery.

Here's a quote from the book (p. 83):

"When you are in a conversation with someone you are naturally more engaged because you have an obligation to participate. You are involved. Formal speech and formal writing devoid of any emotion whatsoever is extremely difficult to stay with for more than a few minutes. Your conscious mind has to remind you to "stay away, this is important!" But someone who speaks in a natural, human, conversational style is far easier to stay engaged with."

I urge you, as always, to write with conversational tone and style. That means speaking as if in a one-on-one conversation, adding emotion, using imagery, and communicating as you would with a friend.

Me Blogging About RSS Photo Feeds -- Are You Blogging about Your Products?

If you’re interested in technology trends, I wrote an article for D-Link about RSS photo feeds. This kind of application is simple, like ring tones – hence the title of the article. Yet it’s so much more clever and elaborate.

I write blog posts for D-Link from time to time, and this is the latest one. Which reminds me… are you blogging about your products and services? It’s a great way to communicate with consumers, explore new ideas and uses for your products, and learn from your user/consumer community.

Downright Fascinating Social Media and Web Commerce Trends

The following is important fodder for eBay sellers, ecommerce sites, and general Web commerce audiences. It’s even fascinating to the lay person. That said,…

Marianne Kolbasuk McGee wrote a great article on Web trends in the November 26, 2007 issue of InformationWeek. There is so much going on in this market.. the mind reels. Here’s a taste from the lead:

“The old days of companies tightly controlling a marketing message are gone…The interactive forces of the Internet - including social networking sites, online discussion boards, and blogs - are arming consumers with tools that can quickly and exponentially spread the word to other would-be customers if a product stinks or a company blunders... Companies such as Charles Schwab and OnStar are creating Internet platforms to literally read the minds of consumers, seeking out insights that directly drive their new product strategies.” [my emphasis]

This reminded me of AdWords, of course. AdWords is great for driving business or clicks to your site via general advertising techniques. However, what a lot of people don’t realize is that AdWords is a great tool for testing promos, floating new ideas, and reading the minds of consumers. And it’s cheap!.. given the right niched-out keywords.

The article details various ways companies like FedEx, eBay, Schwab and others are using the social connectivity of Web 2.0 (I hate saying Web 2.0, but I did, shame) to their advantage. FedEx’s CIO Rob Carter says, (paraphrased from the article) “The explosive growth of this connectivity has been ‘completely underestimated’ in how it will affect society and markets.” I concur.

The article also talks about some fascinating new trends, like having your Second Life avatar or character purchase things for you or book reservations for you online. I know, that sounds crazy. But think about it. Why the heck not? If you build the right character, with all your tastes, desires, wish lists and so forth, why not set him free on a shopping spree? I’ve never played Second Life, but I assume there are vendors in there, like Amazon.com. (If you know how this works, please comment below and enlighten us.) FedEx’s Carter comments in the article, “Second Life has enough momentum to make us wonder: What if this identity I’ve built could spill over into my daily life and get things done for me?” Your avatar would be like an information robot – tuned to all your preferences and guided by “business rules” that determine decisions.

Carter extends the concepts further, saying, “The greatest opportunities lie in socially networking corporations together – horizontally, across business processes, which don’t necessarily live within your four walls anymore.” Great example = Gaming like Second Life supporting commerce like FedEx and Amazon.com.

The article describes how some companies like OnStar use Nielsen BuzzMetrics to analyze how they’re performing in “consumer-generated media.” This is another hot topic, worthy of another post, probably.

There’s a cool story about Dell’s celebrity advertising campaigns, too. I’ll blog more on that later, too.

In the mean time, read the article. It’s a mind bender.

Online Advertising Trends Toward Social Media

Andrew Chen remarks on increasing CPMs for online advertising. Traffic and advertising is moving toward User Generated Content (UGC) sites like Facebook, MySpace and Flickr this year. Costs are low, and targeting is very granular. Are you advertising in social media? Comment to share your experiences.

clipped from andrewchen.typepad.com The quick summary in terms of the pros and cons for CPMs increasing: Pro: Technology and optimization is improving Pro: More ad dollars are moving online Con: The amount of available inventory is increasing My quick take: the problem is not just that the amount of available inventory is increasing - more importantly, this inventory is concentrated in social media, UGC, and all that fun stuff.

Product Reviews, Social Media and New Online Buying Trends

The following comes from the Online Marketer Blog:

“Not only are 1 in 4 internet users consulting reviews before purchasing offline, but they are willing to pay more if the service is ranked as excellent. It seem that after the year of exuberance that was all about Facebook and twitter, business is finally getting around to answering the question of how social media effects ROI.

“..Users that [sic] sort the list of products by customer ratings spend 41% more than users who search with other methods like popularity or price… Emails that feature customer review content receive 50% higher clickthrough rates.”

Here’s the main article, titled Good For Consumers (And Businesses): Social Media Gets A Glimpse Of Measurable ROI.

So.. for online marketers, it’s now more critical than ever to be building review/social functions into your Web sites and product pages. Customer service performance counts bigtime, too, of course.

And, as consumers, we have to make sure we maintain clear, critical thinking when checking product reviews. I’d like to see some some numbers about the veracity and integrity of online reviews. How much of it is “bro” reviews? How much of it is genuine? Are really nasty reviews the result of competitor campaigns? That would be interesting, yet difficult to quantify.

Driving eBay Traffic with Link Tagging and Urchin Tracker Scripts in Google Analytics

This is an advanced tip that concerns Google Analytics and link tracking. If you don't know what those are, I'd suggest taking some time exploring Mark McLaren's site, McBuzz.com (you can ask him questions, too, of course). McBuzz has a good mix of resources concerning SEO, SEM and Google Analytics. He offers video tutorials, articles and so on.

Ok - so link tracking.. or more specifically, Urchin Tracker scripts for Google Analytics. First the why: As an eBay seller, you want to figure out exactly where your traffic is coming from and which links on your pages are getting clicked. You can do these kinds of things with regular Web pages and Google Analytics. This is especially useful in situations where you educate customers and prospects about your particular products and industry on a "normal"/outside-eBay Web site and then drive them to your listings in eBay.

There are several ways analyze traffic. This post covers just a couple (and links to an article that shows you exactly how). Google Analytics is very robust and does more than what's covered here. With GA, you can set up goal pages, track conversion success, and figure out exactly what's working on your sites.

Let's say you want to figure out who's clicking on what links in your site. Google Analytics works if you set up pages within your site as conversion goals/targets. However, if the links are external, you can't place the Urchin Tracker code into someone else's page. If that's something you'd like to track (which is often the case with eBay listings), then take a look at the following link for the solution. This is from Sulli's Google Analytics Tips and Tricks by SkiSulli. He shows you the right script to place into your pages and recommends some ways to set it up. As you'll see, he also shows you how to make this work for email or "mailto:" links. If you want to figure out how many people are clicking on your email address link (and when, how fast, etc), then this is a great solution.

You can then track all of this activity automatically from within Google Analytics. As you get a better sense for what's driving traffic to your listings, you can then tweak your pages to get better conversion rates and more business to your eBay listings and stores.

Driving eBay Sales with Google AdWords Tactics - Post #1

If you've ever tested Google AdWords campaigns to any extent, you've probably noticed some interesting things. One of them is that ad titles that include the keywords that were searched for typically outperform all other ads when it comes to CTR (click-through rates). WARNING: Remember, CTR is not your goal – conversion is. However, increasing CTR is one way to boost conversions… if the complete AdWords strategy and content approach is correct.

Ok – so let’s say you’d like to increase CTR. There’s a way to automatically insert the keywords searched for into your AdWords ad title. It’s generally referred to as Dynamic Keyword Insertion. The recipe follows.

First you need to group your AdWords keywords into appropriate ad groups. If you sell music CDs, for example, you might group by classical, pop, country, mod, punk and so forth. Once those groups are set up, you’re ready to design your Dynamic headline.

Use the right and left squiggly brackets on your keyboard {} to do this. It’s shift-bracket on most keyboards. The headline you type in for classical CDs should look like so:

{KeyWord: Classical CDs}

In this case, “Classical CDs” is considered alternate text. If one of your AdWords keywords is “Beethoven CDs”, the searcher will see the title “Beethoven CDs” come up as the title of your ad. Classical CDs is alternate text, because if the person searches for a classical CD phrase that’s longer than 25 characters (the Google limit), then they get the generic alternate text. For everything that’s under 25, however, they get titles that mimic exactly what they searched for.

WARNING #2: Don’t make your keywords that are inserted highly popular or “hot topics.” You can rack up a huge AdWords bill this way.

For some types of selling, this strategy isn't necessarily a good thing. If you have a long sales cycle that depends on some information exchange or a phone consultation, for example, your approach would be different. But for many B2C and B2B goods that are sold on eBay, it’s a great idea, because you don’t have to make unique titles and ads for every possible combination of keyword you’re bidding on.

Use Interesting Information to Improve Your eBay Item Descriptions

Information is interesting. People who are shopping have an almost insatiable appetite for it, too. Think about it. Whenever you buy something, you also pick up some information that you pass along to friends. I recently bought a car which was previously a church van. The salesman told me about it, and it made the car a little more attractive (they just shuttled church-goers around and never towed anything with the vehicle). I tell people that Jesus now rides shotgun with me.

When you buy Snapple you get a little extra information under the cap -- those "facts." They don't really relate to the tea, but they're fun, and they reinforce the fun aspect of the Snapple brand.

There's all kinds of interesting information about the products you sell on eBay. All you need to do is do a little creative Googling. Or, perhaps you already know some interesting things about your products. Make sure that information is in your descriptions. Also, add more value to your products and entertain your customers with relevant information. When people buy things, especially expensive things, they want a rich experience (and that includes complementary information). Think about wine -- this product category has a huge contextual information element. Year, location, country, producer, history, grape variety, process, esoteric descriptions, fruit descriptions, etc.

You may be asking, "What if I sell something like toner or RAM? What kind of interesting information can I build into my auctions?" This is where you have to get creative. You can package your shipments with famous quotes or inspiring messages (kind of like Snapple). You can just put them on the packing slip template, too. You can include practical information and tips that help people get more life out of their toner cartridges or improve their memory performance. There are lots of possibilities. The main point is, you're adding more value and engaging the customer in something interesting that they will associate with your store/product.

Speaking of interesting facts, here are some nifty ones that came through my email this morning. Enjoy:

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW --- BUT PROBABLY DON 'T

1. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.

2. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.

3. The dot over the letter I is called a "tittle."

4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

5. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.

6. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

7. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

8. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor, who had red eyes. He was albino.

9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents, daily.

10. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.

11. Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system; a few ounces will kill a small sized dog.

12. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

13. Most lipstick contains fish scales (eeww).

14. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
15. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

16. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case
that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.

17. Leonardo DaVinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time. (Hence, multitasking was invented.)

18. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood

19. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

20. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan; there was never a recorded Wendy before!

21. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, Purple, and silver!

22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

23. A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

24. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was a Captain Kirk's mask painted white.

25. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19, you also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar (good to know).

26. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand (and you thought this list was completely useless).

27. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

28. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

29. Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples!

30. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!

31. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

32. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

33. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages it.

34. George Carlin said it best about Martha Stewart. "Boy, I feel a lot safer now that she's behind bars. O. J. Simpson and Kobe Bryant are still walking around; Osama Bin Laden too, but they take the ONE woman
in America willing to cook, clean, and work in the yard, and they haul her off to jail."

Darple, eBay and Bidding Without Fear - Good Model for eBay Sellers

Darple is an eBay-like Web site that allows bidding on multiple items.. without buying multiple items. When you win an item, your other bids for similar items are automatically withdrawn. It's pretty cool. My local paper wrote an article about it this morning. eBay should be doing this. They'd get a lot more activity, and pricing would reach realistic levels quickly because serious buyers would be able to rapidly place bids without worrying about ordering multiple items. As a buyer, you wouldn't have to spend so much time surfing eBay itself and mulling over choices. You'd just search, bid and wait for everything to shake out.

Do you think a feature like this would boost or erode pricing levels on eBay? That's the most interesting question, I think.

Please comment below and let me know what you think. Thanks.

AdWords and eBay Tips for Higher Click-Through Rates (CTR)

Google AdWords works a bit like eBay. When you bid for keywords, you pay once cent more than the bidder below you -- rather than your maximum bid.

So, when you set a maximum bid, you usually never pay that price. Instead, you almost always pay less.

Why is that important? If you pick the right keyword combinations and achieve decent click through rates (CTR), then you'll find your AdWords costs coming down. You'll gravitate to word combinations that are popular, and you'll pay that one cent more than the next guy -- thus putting you in a good position at a low cost.

The key, though, is nailing that CTR. With a low CTR, you'll be lumped in with ads that are paying lower prices. With high CTR, the popularity of your ads guarantees lower prices. That's how Google AdWords is set up. They want your ads to be clicked on frequently, and you're rewarded for that with lower prices. That's how you can get to the point where you're one cent higher than the next guy.. but at a fairly low rate in the first place.

I know this sounds a little confusing. My advice is to experiment and play with it. Make sure you focus on CTR. Re-write your ads and measure the CTR success of each ad variation. Find out what produces high CTR, and put your money there. You'll end up paying lower prices for your AdWords.

Trust, Marketing, eBay and Site Optimization

I read an interesting article this morning about how trust is really what you're after when marketing on the Web.

We talk about this quite a bit in the eBay Marketing book. Everything is moving in this direction. Google and social networking sites are getting smarter. It will be more and more difficult to game them in the future.

Check Your eBay Description Copy and Outshine the Competition - Fast & Easy Writing Quality Checklist

Whether you like it or not, selling on eBay requires writing. Some of us are better at this than others. One thing is clear, though. Those who use persuasive, clear communication get more $$$ in their PayPal account. That's the bottom line.

The following is a checklist I use to polish finished descriptions, flyers, direct email, direct mail, and all other kinds of customer-directed marketing copy. Whether your description is one paragraph or 20, this list will help you sell more, faster, and at a higher profit margin.

Post-Writing Quality Control Checklist

* Set the thing aside and let it sit for least an hour
* Read it again and flag stumbling spots
* Break up paragraphs to increase pace (variety is the spice of life). Go with short graphs first, then vary the amount of lines from 3-5. Sprinkle in some one line paragraphs, if possible.
* Break long sentences into two simple, shorter ones
* Eliminate extra words
* Eliminate “thats"
* Eliminate words with “tion” “sion” “ance” “ate” “able” “ment”
* Eliminate excessive adjectives
* Eliminate passive voice (this includes “is” “are” “can” etc.)
* Eliminate cliches
* Make cannot and is not into contractions for conversational tone
* Pay particular attention to commas, making sure they’re right (right for the particular customer, too)
* Make sure bullet lists start with either a “How to” phrase or a number or a powerful verb or…
* Write rhetorical questions into your copy that can be answered in the affirmative (YES!)
* Make sure you have some numbers for impact (specific numbers are better than generalized ones). Keep the % and the numbers themselves. Don’t spell out.
* Proof read on paper and mark it up
* Read it aloud

How 'Keeping It Real' Improves eBay Sales

When writing for the Web, for eBay, or for brochures and advertising copy, there are traps you can fall into. For example, your copy can begin to feel and sound *salesy.* This can be bad, because most of us - as consumers - have a built in aversion to overt sales-sounding pitches, attitudes and smarm.

Let me clarify something here. I don't think that there's anything wrong with "sales." This is one of the time-honored traditions in our culture that just so happens to make a lot of people wealthy. Look around you, and you'll see that the best doctors, lawyers, landscapers, babysitters, hair dressers and.. yes.. automobile purveyors are the best salespeople. It's about communication, relationships, confidence and competence, really.

It's also about being genuine. For small businesses, genuine-ness is fairly easy to capture because just a few people are running the show. Goals, strategies and capabilities are fairly clear. It's a little tougher for bigger organizations, where departments and "too-many-cooks" scenarios drive marketing communications.

Pushy, sales nuance -- the kind that we cringe at as consumers -- creeps into copy for a variety of reasons. As sellers (on eBay or anywhere else), we read all kinds of articles and blogs on how to be persuasive and infuse copy with energy and passion. Somewhere along the line the passion train goes off the tracks, though. Preposterous adjectives creep in, outrageous claims invade the pitch, and customers start to imagine diamond pinky rings on used car salesmen and the buddy-buddy demeanor of the time-share "service representative."

What's the trick to avoiding this scenario? Get real. Eliminate excessive adjectives from your copy (some copywriters say eliminate them all!). Find your genuine voice. Picture the prospect in front of you and be totally honest. Sometimes writing allows us to hide behind the words and say things we wouldn't typically. Treat your description as a casual conversation, and imagine a critical consumer in front of you who's just about to say "B.S" to your next claim. Then start writing your pitch/description/title/headline. The more real and factual you are, the more you will sell. That is a fact. And you'll avoid all the negative back-end karma that comes with over-promising and under-delivering.

Warning: Don't write less just because you have to keep it real. Remember, "the more you tell, the more you sell." Just don't over-hype things. If 100 people come to your listing or product page, several will be live, enthusiastic, closable prospects. These people don't want short descriptions and half-assed information. They get pumped up by all the details... so provide them. You'll do a disservice to your product if you don't.

eBay Design and Listing Comprehension - Another Marketing and Layout Tip

When you sell on eBay, the text should be designed to communicate.

Pretty obvious, right?

Well, some people make choices that work in the opposite direction. They choose fonts, colors and layout designs that hinder rather than enhance communication.

I'm going to touch on just a few tips here relating to background colors and font color. There have been a number of studies that back up the information that follows. If you’d like more detailed background info, I highly recommend reading “Type & Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes” by Colin Wheildon.

1) Black text set on shades of grey makes for difficult reading.
2) Dark text on color tints makes for difficult reading.
3) Brightly colored text on light color tints is “the enemy of comprehension.”
4) Don’t use reverse – white or light text on a black or dark background. Especially with bigger chunks of text. People just can’t comprehend and retain the information very well.
5) Contrary to some “old school” assertions about black text on white background, it’s ok to put black text on light color tints. The light color can attract attention, in fact. Just don’t let the tint get too heavy. The darker the tint gets, the more reader comprehension suffers.

From “Type & Layout”:

“It is impossible to avoid the fact that comprehensibility of colored text increases as the color gets closer to black.”

eBay Radio Interview: Sell Mo Better by Cultivating Loyal, Enthusiastic, Super-Satisfied Customers

eBay Radio had me on last week to discuss customer satisfaction and retention topics. Here's the link to the interview with Griff.

That Friday, myself and Janelle Elms held an eBay Community Workshop on the same topic, but we covered much more than was allowed on the 8 minute eBay Radio Segment. It's called eBay Customer Satisfaction and Retention (brilliant!). There's tons of new info and insight.


Thanks & Enjoy!
Phil

50 eBay Seller Tips - Advice, Pointers, Insights

I stumbled across some useful tips while surfing the eBay community discussion boards today. Some are obvious, but there are quite a few that are intriguing. Good reinforcement and review, plus some I haven't thought about. Check out the comments, too. People added some tips (and some junk, too).