Get MORE Visitors To Your eBay Listings for FREE!

SEO is a process by which web designers attempt to improve their rankings on popular search engines such as Google. Since the same principles that apply to regular websites apply to eBay listings, it behooves eBay sellers to stay informed as to SEO practices. Keeping your SEO knowledge in up to date is a crucial step towards improving traffic to your listings; and therefore, improving your sales as well.

Search engines use two kinds of criteria when assigning search rankings: on page factors, and off page factors. An ideal eBay seller should be able to exercise a high level of control over both. First lets examine some “On Page” strategies.

On Page Factors

1.Use keywords in your item's title.
First off, if you haven't already done some keyword research using Google's keyword tool, now is the time. Once you have done this, try to include several of these keywords in your listing title. However, make sure not to overdo it! Your title must also look natural so that it will be appealing to REAL customers. Google might penalize your listing if it is abnormally saturated with keywords.

2. Use keywords in your listing description.
Follow basically the same advice for you listing. Include several keywords, especially your primary keyword, but don't overdo it. Make your keywords stand out without being overbearing.

3. Link your pages together with text links.
It is a great idea to put text links on each of your listings leading to your “About Me” page and “eBay Shop” page. Try to use keywords in these links. This will make it much easier for search engines to catalog each of your pages.

4. Keep flash applications to a minimum.
Flash can greatly improve the aesthetic quality of your listings, but using too much of it can hamper a search engines ability to catalog your listings. For this reason, use it sparingly.

5. Make your description at least 400 words.
I know this can be hassle, especially if you are averse to writing. However, longer product descriptions pay off in the end. Not only will it instill greater confidence in your customers, but it will improve your search engine rankings as well. But make sure that you write your own descriptions!

Copying from someone else's page is illegal and will actually hurt your search placement. If you don't feel confident about your writing skills, why not outsource?

6.Add content to your eBay account regularly.
Try using eBay's blog and review tools. These are easy ways to add fresh keyword rich articles on a regular basis and improve your search engine visibility.

Off Page Factors

Now lets move onto the “Off Page” factors. Search engines no longer evaluate your page purely based on “On Page” factors such as keyword density and page titles. In recent years they have developed more sophisticated methods which take into account dynamic factors such as the number and quality of links to your page from other websites.

In principle, you have no control over who links to your listing, but luckily there is one way around this. There are several websites that allow anyone to post free content. You can use these websites to post articles about your products or about eBay in general which contain links back to your listings or eBay shop.

Here are a few of websites that you might try posting content to: Ezinearticles.com, YouTube.com, Blogger.com, Squidoo.com, and HubPages.com. Make sure that any links you post to your listings contain relevant keywords. This will both attract more potential buyers to your listings AND improve your search engine ranking.

Get More People to Visit your eBay Action Listings

Harnessing the Power of SEO

If you're an eBay seller and you haven't heard of SEO or “Search Engine Optimization” now is the time to get educated. Web-designers have long used the principles of SEO in order to lure visitors to their websites in order to generate profit. But this strategy doesn't just work for websites, it is appropriate for eBay listings as well. The more people you can get to visit your listings, the more money you will make. And what's wrong with making more money?

How does SEO work?

When search engines decide how to display search results, they take a variety of criteria into consideration. Some of these criteria are based on internal aspects of the website in question, and others are functions of external aspects (such as the type and frequency of links to the website). Since the internal qualities are the most easily controllable, these are the type that we will focus on. A search engine will rate the relevance of the content of any website partially based on certain “keywords” which are contained within the page (or in our case, in the listing). If the page is rich with keywords which are relevant to the search being conducted, the page will have a high placement in search listings.

What can you do to make your listing SEO sensitive?
The first step towards making the content of your eBay listing SEO sensitive is to generate a list of keywords which are likely search terms which Internet users will use when they are looking for your type of products. Luckily, Google provides a tool which can assist you in creating this list. It' is simply called “The Keyword Tool” and can be found at the following URL:

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Once you are operating Google's Keyword Tool you should follow the following directions for the best results:

1. Limit your analysis to the country or set of countries in which you do business. This may be just the U.K. or perhaps a larger selection of countries. You will see an on screen option for this consideration.

2. In the “How would you like to generate keyword ideas” field, click on “descriptive words and phrases.”

3. Type the name of the product or class of products which you sell.

4. Select the option labeled “Use Synonyms.”

5. Click on “Get keyword ideas” and Google will automatically populate a list of potential keywords.

At this point you will need to narrow this list of keywords down to about twenty. You can first eliminate any keywords which appear to be obviously irrelevant to your market or product. From the remaining keywords try to select keywords which have either a high search volume or a small competition level. (competition level is measured by the number of listings which appear after conducting a basic Google search on a given keyword. The fewer the results the less vigorous the competition.)

Once you have narrowed your list down to twenty keywords, you will have the basis for an SEO sensitive listing which will drawn in customers like moths to a flame.

The First Foolproof eBay Business in a Box!

Many eBay sellers spend years teetering on the edge of success but a few common problems keep them from pushing their business beyond break even. Luckily YOUR business does NOT have to stay this way.

If you want to push your business into the realm of success, first you need to identify the key problems that are holding you back, and then you need to work towards a solution. First lets talk about the five most salient problems that affect eBay sellers and then we'll talk about solutions.

1. You Don't Know What to Sell
A simple problem, but a chronically prevalent one. Many sellers find it impossible to think beyond the most obvious product choices (DVDs, designer clothes, etc.). And yet, there are so many untapped niche markets that they could be profiting off of. The problem is that it can take years to figure out which markets are going to work and which are not.

2. You Don't Have a Compelling Brand
Your company brand name sets you apart from the wash of indiscriminate eBay amateurs. If you don't have a compelling one, you are going to have no choice but to frantically compete for a seat at the bottom level of the price ladder in your market. This is absolutely NOT the way to go. A compelling brand takes insight, which makes it difficult to come up with. However, it is no less important as a result. You need hot graphics, bold style, and a successful USP (that is, Unique Selling Proposition).

3. Your Listings are Formated Poorly
Your listings MUST look professional and spotless in their design. The size of the headlines, the length of your paragraphs, the color scheme: all these things and more must be calculated for the effect they will have on the customer. If this is not done properly, the customer might not stay on your listing long enough to make a purchase.

4. You Haven't Written Down a Long Term Plan
Once again, this may not be your strong point, but it is essential. If you only focus on details but never look ahead to where your business is going, you won't get anywhere. You'll be stuck trying to compete for a couple quid when you should be making hundreds.

5. You Haven't Learn to Stick with a Single Market
If you move around too much, and follow every new idea that comes into your head, you may never work long enough on a single niche to make a profit. I've learned from personal experience that this just doesn't work. It may be difficult, but you have to learn to stick with a product or group of related products (at least at first) or else you will be too scattered to really stake out a claim.

Okay, now that we've identified some of the most common problems, let's talk solutions. Everyone experiences at least a few of the above issues, but not everyone conquers them. And there are really only two solutions. The first is that you can learn on your own how to fix the problems, and the second is that you can save a lot of time and money by consulting an expert.

The fact that I've had to go through the first solution (and gruelingly) has led me to help others implement the second. Now that I am at a point in my career where I have been able to work these problems out of my business with a level of relative success, I would like to share my expertise with you directly. This is where the “eBay Business in a Box” comes in. It's a program that I call 60DayBlueprint.com. Here's what it comes with:

• Personal training from me, an eBay Powerseller

• Help setting up a successful logo and brand

• A professional looking listing template created by my designer

• Help with creating a long term plan

• Help staying on track

There is really very little reason to continue struggling and wasting time when you could be pushing your eBay business to new levels, profiting from the experiences of a seasoned veteran!

How To Increase your eBay Sales by 20%

What You're Not Doing but Should Be!

If you've been making money on eBay for any length of time, you are probably already familiar with some of the more effective marketing tools that you can use to reach new customers. However, are you aware of the fact that you may be missing out by ignoring the customers that you already have?

Before we get into the details of this problem, and how to solve it, we need to define a couple of terms.

LTV or Life Time Value

The amount of profitability of any one of your customers. If you were to sell only a single product to a customer and then they never buy from you again, they would have a very low LTV.

On the other hand, if you have a customer that comes to your eBay store once or twice every month and buys a product each time, then that customer would have a very high LTV. The overall profit that you have gained from this customer is very high. Maintaining a high LTV for all of your customers is a great way to create a consistent profit stream. Once your customers become used to shopping with you, they will come back over and over, and you won't need to spend as much time on marketing.

Sticky Markets

These are product categories that result in high LTVs for your customers. Products that customers will buy frequently, such as pet food, makeup, batteries, etc. are all great examples of Sticky Markets. These products are much likelier to result in repeat sales than products such as plasma screen TVs or coffee makers. After all, how many coffee makers can a single person need? Probably only one. Hence: no repeat sales. (Learn more in the Easy Auction Business video course).

Now that you know which types of products result in a high incidence of repeat sales, I'll outline some advanced tactics that you can use to ensure that you can keep the LTV of your customers as high as possible.

Keeping Track of your Customers through Aweber.com

Creating a list of your customers that includes details about their shopping habits is an essential component to increasing repeat sales. To save time, you can have this done automatically through Aweber.com. This tool will automatically upload your customers to a compiled list every time they buy something from you. In addition you can program it to send out promotional emails to all of your past customers automatically!

Send Out INSTANT Follow up Emails!

Use “Selling Manager Pro” to send emails to your customers automatically during the final stages of the buying process (i.e. after auction completion, after payment, etc.). You can (and should) include a preset message in this email encouraging the customer to purchase additional items in the same order. If you offer a shipping discount, this will help the customer to save money, and will increase your profit at the same time.

Use Discount Cards

A lot of eBay sellers send special offers to their customers inside their packaged orders. This is a good idea, but if you only send a paper flier the customer might just throw it away. Instead, you should send out a discount card. This looks a lot more professional and creates an impression of real value.

For this reason, the customer is more likely to put the card in his or her wallet than throw it out. Print your logo on the card as well as the customer's full name (if possible) to give it a personal flair. This way they will remember your company, and if they don't use the card today, they are sure to use it eventually.

Make a Fortune Selling Info Products on eBay!

What is one of the most consistent problems facing eBay sellers today?

In a phrase:
Many of them have no idea what to sell.

If you are one of these people, it's time to take advantage of the proven methods that eBayers like myself and others have been making money off of for years. This article will tell you about INFO products and why they are an easy and efficient way to make a quick profit on eBay. It's true that eBay no longer allows for info products to be delivered electronically. However, you can still make a considerable amount be selling info products on eBay if you package them on CD or DVD!

What's so Great about Selling
Info Products on eBay?

I can give you four undeniable answers to this question:

1. No Need for Inventory.
Information products are intangible and therefore do not need to be stored up in large masses. All you have to do when you make a sale is burn a copy of the eBook or instructional video that you are selling and ship it off! You can even get a third party company to take care of all the production and shipping for you if you'd like for a small fee.

2. Start-Up Costs are Negligible.
It is no exaggeration to say that you can start an info product business on eBay for as little as fifty quid or less. You will create the product yourself and so you won't need to worry about dealing with a wholesaler.

3. You Don't Need to Be a Writer.
Believe me, you DON'T need to be a professional writer to create an eBook. All you need is an idea and you can pay a freelance writer to put it into words. This will cost relatively little in comparison to usual startup costs.

4. Sell it Over and Over Again!
Once you've made your product you can keep selling it again and again. You could even continue making a profit off of a single product for years!

Getting Started.

Sounds good right? But you're probably wondering just what you need to do in order to create a successful info product. The following tips will tell you all you need to know about how to start selling info products on eBay:

Choose a Topic that People Can Relate To.
If you can give people information about something that REALLY interests them, they won't think twice about paying money for it. It just has to be practical and relevant. For example: titles such as An Idiot's Guide to Weight Loss or Turn a Hobby into Cash: Photography for Money are in the in type of format that you want to emulate.

Use Quality, Original Content
Your content must offer something unique; this is what makes it a valuable asset to the customer. If you are having trouble coming up with ideas you should find it fairly easy to hire a freelance writer for a small fee. As long as your content addresses a common problem or issue, you are likely to succeed.

Use Video
It cannot be denied. We live in a video saturated culture. Using video as a medium to convey your message will grab people's attention more quickly.

Use a Flashy Cover Design
Don't mail a bland looking CD-R. Use a 3D cover design to make your product more professional.

Don't Overcharge
Generally speaking, between 4.95 and 14.95 GBP is a fair price for an info product. But whatever you charge, make sure that you deliver on content. The more content you deliver the more likely that the customer will feel that they are getting a good deal.

Listing Description
When you list your product, concentrate on benefits rather than features. This will produce a more immediate effect in the customer's mind.

100% Guarantee
Provide a money back guarantee and you will not be disappointed by the increase in sales. This instills confidence in the customer and makes them feel assured that you are offering them a quality product.

Now that you have been empowered by the INFO in this article, its time to get started with your INFO business. You will realize quickly how easy and profitable selling info products on eBay can be!

Fall 08 and Beyond: Learn How to Survive on eBay after September 25th

Change is inevitable, but failure is not!

eBay is planning on making some significant changes to its format on several levels beginning on September 25th. As eBay sellers there is really nothing we can do to prevent these changes. However, if we stay alert and adapt there's no reason why we can't benefit from the new structure!

Here's a quick rundown of the significant changes:

1.eBay Shop Fees are Going Up.
Fee increases, like taxes, are seldom popular. However in this case, the fee increase comes with added benefits. Namely, if you have a high level eBay shop such as a Featured Shop or and Anchor Shop your insertion fees will now be heavily discounted!

2.Insertion Fees are Going Down.
eBay wouldn't just increase our fees and leave us hanging. In order to compensate for the increased shop fees, insertion fees will now be lower than ever. And the higher the level of your shop plan the lower your insertion fees will be. For Anchor shops, insertion fees will now be only 1p per listing! Basically, this means that the more you sell the more you can save on listing fees.

3.No More Gallery Picture Fee!
This is a small change, but one that you should definitely take advantage of. Now that gallery images are free you really have no excuse not to use them. They never fail to increase your traffic levels and thereby your sales margin as well.

4.The New Search Results Schema.
This may be the single most important change facing eBay sellers in 2008 and beyond. You are unlikely to survive on eBay after September 25th if you don't understand this change. For the longest time search results on eBay have been organized solely by virtue of their ending time, that is, the listings ending soonest have been shown first.

Not any more! Starting on the 25th eBay is going to implement a newer, smarter system that is more results oriented. This means that listings will be sorted in search results mainly by factors of RELEVANCE. The new system is called the “Best Match” algorithm and is based on factors as diverse as listing title, shipping cost, conversion rates (that is, the percentage of people visiting your listing that actually buy your products), and more.

How to Deal with the Changes

The general trend of these changes is a move towards making eBay more friendly for both buyers and sellers who have large volume and professional looking listings. Now that the “Best Match” algorithm is being put into place you will need to have professional looking listings and superior customer service in order to stay competitive. This means that you will need to pay more attention than ever to the way you conduct your self as an eBay seller.

But heres the good news: many sellers are still unaware of the overall impact of these changes and will not be prepared for the implications of the new system. Hence, if you prepare yourself in advance you will have a significant advantage over the competition and will have no problem surviving on eBay after September 25th.

How to Import Products from China: Part II

In a previous post I showed you five tips on how to import products from China for resale on eBay. In this article you will learn five additional tips to further improve your shrewdness as a wholesale shopper. If you want to know how to import products from China and successfully resell them on eBay for profit, this is an essential skill.

Study these five precepts carefully:

6.Examine contact emails closely.
If a Chinese wholesaler’s contact email ends with “@yahoo.com” or “@hotmail.com” they are probably a scammer. Most legitimate suppliers will host their email directly from their own website. If their website is www.chinawholesale.com then their contact email address should read something like “contact@chinawholesale.com.”

7.Use WhoIs.net to screen wholesale websites.
WhoIs.net is a free tool that you can use to gain information about any domain name on the web. When you enter in the domain name of the wholesaler that you plan to do business with, WhoIs.net will give you back two essential items of information.

Firstly, they will tell you how long the domain name has been registered. The older the domain name the better. If the company has been around for a long time it is less likely to be a scam.

Second, they will give you the name of the person or company that owns the domain name. If this matches the information provided on the wholesale website, this is also a good sign.

8.Examine the pricing.
Do your research before hand, and know how much the product you intend to buy should be worth. If the wholesaler is selling these products for prices that are far too high (or far too low) this is a very bad sign. If you also notice other strange pricing issues such as whole pages of dissimilar products with the same price, don’t waste your time. This is almost certainly a scam operation.

9.Search for your wholesaler on Google.
Now that you have been learning how to import products from China for a while, this tip may seem a little too obvious. Still, it’s best not to skip this step. Go ahead and do the search. If their website doesn’t come up or is difficult to find, beware! Sites that are used with frequency should be easy to find on Google.

10.Last but not least: Just use common sense!
This is the last tip that you need to learn and you will know how to import products from China successfully. If a wholesaler’s products or prices look too good to be true, that’s because THEY ARE! It’s tempting to just get exited and buy when you see a good deal. However, you will only be successful in your attempts to import and resell on eBay if you expose every wholesaler to the utmost scrutiny before conducting business with them.

One last point before I bring this article to a close: Following these ten steps is really only the beginning. Now that you are able to subject your wholesaler to a strict process of evaluation it’s time to actually test them out. Try sending messages to their contact email and see how long it takes to get a response.

Before you place a large order, try placing a small one. Do anything that you can do to establish confidence before actually putting your money on the line. Believe me, if you follow this advice, the chances that you will get scammed will be greatly reduced. And not only that, you’ll also be on your way to exploding your eBay business beyond what you’ve ever dreamed!