Building eCommerce

By Brian McGregor

If there’s one thing that dismays me, it’s that so many sellers on eBay are simply throwing their listing fees away!

First off, can we agree that there’s little point in listing your item unless buyers are going to view your auction? Yes?

In which case, why do so many eBay sellers create auctions which are NEVER going to get viewed? There are millions of eBay sellers who do this.

What many sellers don’t realise when they create their auction is that they’ve wasted their listing fee before they even get to filling in the auction description page.

They make a fundamental error earlier on in their auction creation. And that is in their auction title.

The reality is, if your auction title is not effective, it really doesn’t matter how good your description page is - your auction won’t get seen.

Here are some facts.

If you sell on eBay, learn them well!

1. To find items they want to bid on, 70% of buyers use eBay’s search box first

2. Words keyed into the search box are compared ONLY with auction titles

3. Words keyed into the search box are NOT compared with auction descriptions

4. Words keyed into the search box are NOT compared with auction sub-titles

Which all means that your auction title must contain the keyed-in search words used by buyers, or your auction won’t get brought back in search return lists.

And if it isn’t in the search return list, it can’t be clicked on by a potential buyer.

And if it isn’t clicked on, how can the item get sold?

The harsh truth is that unless your item appears in search return lists, it isn’t going to sell! And that’s what will happen if your auction title is not effective.

How do you get your auctions in search return lists more often?

It’s simple. You just make sure you put keywords in your auction titles which you believe eBayers will search on.

To decide on the keywords to use, you have to think like a buyer. What words would be used by a person interested in searching for an item like yours?

At this stage, just list them. Don’t put the words into a sentence yet. Spend as long as you like on this exercise. The more effective you are with this, the less likely you are to have one of those sleepy auctions that rarely gets a visitor.

Having listed as many keywords as you can think of, you have to decide which are the strongest. Remember, you only have 55 precious characters for your auction title.

Taking your best keywords, you now create your auction title. It’s not an English exam, so it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t scan like a sentence.

You can add a power word or two if you’ve space. By this I mean words like stunning, limited edition, unique, rare, new, one-off, exclusive, distinctive, dramatic etc. These are words which can influence buyers to click through to your auction description. They aren’t keywords searched on by buyers, so use them sparingly. For the same reason, I don’t advocate the use of “clever” words like l@@k or w0w!

Finally, do the words in your title convey what the item is? If so, that’s it. You’ve created a powerful, compelling and keyword rich auction title. And your auction will appear more often in search return lists.

And, that’s the key!

Now you know how fundamental keywords are to your auction, why not review your current auction titles today? Get those keywords into your auction title and take it from me you’ll get your fair share of the 79 million eBay daily searchers.

About The Author

Brian McGregor is an internet entrepreneur specializing in eBay. He publishes the eBay Auction Newsletter - Subscribe free. Get traffic to your site - ‘The eBay Traffic Funnel’

By Jason Johns

One reason many people get into Internet Marketing is so that they can have more free time. However, many people find themselves sinking more and more time into their online business before they realise that they have exchanged one job chained to a desk for another, chained to a computer.

Is it really possible that you can get more free time through Internet Marketing? All the big names tell us it is possible, but how can it happen?

Well firstly, you can pay someone else to do the web designing, search engine optimization and so on. However, for some of us, that may not be practical. Oftentimes people start an Internet business because they don’t have a lot of money and need a cheap and effective way to get their business up and running.

It is entirely possible to earn money whilst doing nothing with Internet marketing. Firstly, if you have automated your website and it is ranking high in the directories then it will run on auto-pilot.

However, you may not be high in the search engines yet and need other ways to put your business on auto-pilot.

One of the best methods I know of is to set up an affiliate program. This allows other people to promote your product and be paid a commission for each sale. If they don’t make any sales, they don’t get any commission. Obviously, you need to pay them enough commission to make it worth their while. A few dollars as the commission level is not going to motivate anyone for anything, so you may need to offer 40%, 50% of even higher depending on your business and product strategy.

This kind of percentage will get your potential affiliates much more excited about selling your product. Be wary though of raising the price of your product in order to make up the affiliate payment. You may end up pricing yourself out of the market and making no sales!

There are many different options for running an affiliate program. You can host the software on your web server and run if from there, or you can pay a monthly fee for someone else to host it for you. You could also join a program such as Paydotcom or Clickbank that handle everything for you, and all you need to do is sit back and enjoy the profits.

In fact, for many marketers, Clickbank is a real favourite because it truly allows you to automate your business! They handle everything for you – taking payment, paying the affiliate and paying you, allowing you to really put your business on auto-pilot and achieve the elusive dream of making money whilst you sleep.

Affiliates do equal more free time and more money. They will promote your product for you, earn you money, with minimal effort on your behalf. Investigate today how you can run your own affiliate program and benefit from this fantastic leverage on your time and resources.

About The Author

Jason E Johns is a successful Internet Marketer & personal coach dedicated to your success. Learn more about affiliate marketing , at http://www.successforaffiliatemanagers.com