There is an amazing amount of new auction information and tools that come to our training facility everyday. We have one person that purchases products and evaluates their worthiness as to if we should get licensed and give to our students.

Sometimes we all get so involved with the latest and greatest traffic tool or product source I forget that some folks need to remember some of the basic tools and systems that were new once and are still good. Here’s a couple of standby free tools that everyone should have if they have a website.

The following is a basic toolbar, when you enter a web address a number will come up on the toolbar (that number is not always accurate but it is the number that the site is on the search engine directory). The smaller the number, the better. When you click that number you can do many things. Some I’ll talk about in the next article, but primarily you can check the traffic of that site. Our product evaluater uses that first before buying a new tool or service (if someone is selling you traffic and they have none, it’s a good idea to stay away from them).

Download the Alexa toolbar here
http://download.alexa.com

The next thing to help with your SEO (search engine optimization/ranking) is to check and see if your web designer (we do this constantly with the websites we build for our students) has got your META tags entered properly. There are lots of variables here and the robots change their perameters all the time. You can go to this site and it will run a free analysis. Then it will also let you regenerate the way it should be.
http://websitesubmit.hypermart.net/metataganalysis.htm

I’ll be posting regularly on our sites.Why am I writing about websites when we are an auction training company? Good question. We feel your website is your business hub. The auction sites like eBay, Yahoo and Overstock are income generators, but your site is the headquarters. You can also make income off Clickbank products, affiliate programs, newsletters, auctions and your own web site.

A quick tip. Whenever purchasing an item from eBay, fill out the feedback form and make sure you include your site URL. This is one more little thing that will drive somebody to your site.

First, its about margins. Then, its about traffic.
Well, one more thing. We all know about link exchanges (they help with getting you traffic and most importantaly they help your search engine ranking). There are many free systems you can install on your site. The one we use for our students is http://www.cplinks.com/cpdynalinks. We like it because it’s automated and your link partners can set up their link without you spending a lot of time.

Next, you need link partners. This site lets you select the categories you are looking for link partners in and it sends a request to all members inviting them to link with you. It’s a super tool and again, its free. Go to http://value-exchange.sitesell.com/

Hope that helps you out.

If you have questions or having any problems, we offer a no cost 15 minute consultation. Just call 800-827-0282.

Kirk Meyer
Auction trainer

www.freeauctioncourses.com

Kirk Meyer,head of auction education at http://www.freeauctioncourses.com, speaker at top internet summits.

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Ya know, I sort of giggle when I look at an ad on eBay that’s just a black and white description of the item or product that’s up for bid. It wasn’t long ago at all that I would have done the exact same thing, but once I understood some traditional marketing techniques, not just been exposed to them; everything looked totally different.

It’s been a few years now and I can’t imagine how I got by in a “sales” career beforehand. I had been a fairly successful salesman in the mortgage business, or the term the public uses; Mortgage Broker. A commission only job with no promised monthly salary. My income was totally based upon my sales success or “lack of”, each month. How was I able to eat without knowing how to write ad copy or how to use the “hook”, or how to effectively use a “take away” move..?

Simple answer: Born for it.

If you’re like me, in that you enjoy selling something that you, yourself are sold on, then eBay is where you need to be and learning traditional marketing techniques is the way to have any type of success. There is no other way for, us po folk(not millionaires), to reach such a huge amount of potential buyers for ANY type of item at all. One hundred twenty five million users! Whoa. At this point, they have daily new user sign ups in excess of one hundred thousand people…100,000 each day!

THE PRODUCT IS NOT WHAT YOU ARE SELLING!!!

Things are much more technical than that. Here’s a short list of the different focuses:

1. Gallery picture is to grab attention only. It’s not about looking nice and neat or pretty or professional; it’s about human instinct, the power of basic colors, and their contrast with each other. It’s about getting noticed on a page of 25 items in a list! We all just browse lists…there is no reading lists word for word! Of course I know that there are exceptions, but the majority are predictable.

2. The title is not for describing the item! Don’t think for a minute that you will get noticed by enough people to make real money if they don’t see you when they search. The bottom line is that most purchases are the result of a search at the top of the ebay page. Knowing this, you’d think that the search would be checking the entire ad text for matches, …not! There is a specific checkbox to choose this option right next to the search area, but most don’t “check” it, so normally the search is only checking the title. Think about that. Now do you understand why some of those auction titles sounded so stupid..? You got it! They are the smart ones. There’s a real art to creating a title that sounds somewhat normal while being keyword rich.

3. Feedback must remain clean, if not perfect! It’s an opinion and mine will not sway. There’s an inherent communication problem on the internet already. Why would you do anything at all to place more doubt in a prospective buyer’s head..? Well, one bad comment can ruin the whole record for, at least 10 more sales because they’re structured like this blog, backwards! The bad comment will be there until you fill the page again with positive comments! Just keep it perfect at all costs or don’t get upset when they bypass your item for someone else’s.
4. Pricing. Again, more of a marketing or psychological factor than most think it is. Information products are even more suited to this because their value is based, partly, on perception or what people think it should cost. That literally means that a new product can sell more units priced higher than comperable products just because it’s more expensive! Now, what I just said was not that they sell for more so they make more. I said “units”. It’s possible to sell 10 for one price and 10 for a higher price, quicker. If the whole dynamic, or feel of the ad, gives the item a higher perceived value, rather than a “ripp off”, they may even move faster because of being more expensive. I’m beating this horse because most people are trained the opposite of this, that cheaper is better… Pricing is a tool, just a really important one to get right.
5. Traditional ad copy is usually a sales letter that is absolutley focused on purchasing your interest with well placed, and sometimes viosually appealling, words. Just as the title was only to get you to click the ad, the headline or first words in the desciption should be focused on getting you to read it and go to the next line. That’s where the hand off takes place and now it’s the second area or headline’s job to kepp you and send you to the next. Just that methodical. The only way I can see to do this effectively is being obsessive about it. Invest some time in this because it directly effects your income, period. Sometimes I like to write most of the ad, right off the top of my head, then go over it with a fine tooth comb, making adjustments, over and over and over and over… Till it works and flows properly. Every great marketer has seemingly strict opinions as to which words to use or not and which colors to use or not. The funny thing is that a huge part of a marketer’s job is to test new things and question there skills to hone them. I’m caught up in this circle all the time…
6. Your “store” policies. The only way to really get the idea of why you need to be particular about things such as this is to look around at the other auctions. You will definately run into some cheesy ones and some really well done policies. Now pick which seller you feel more comfortable paying money to “up front” for a purchase… Get my point..? Be a pro at all times, trust me; everyone is watching. Make your store policies more fair than most and make them easy to read and understand. Don’t write them exactly the way you want to see them, smarter people than you will read them AND dumber people than you will read them. You need to make each of us feel good about you here.

Once you grasp these as the truth that they are, you’ll see the potential of eBay just because you will simply be in the minority! These are the first steps of becoming an extremely over paid telecommuter or PJExec.

I’ve sold almost a half million dollars worth of products this year, from my bedroom, without employees, and in my PAJAMAS! Not one of my sales were drop shipped and almost every one of them was an Information Product.

I’m a High Level Powerseller on eBay, AND, I’m a Certified eBay Education Specialist, trained by eBay. When I took the acceptance exam to be an Education Specialist, in September 2004, my exam ranking was number 1! There were 582 other trainers at that point.

I have gross eBay sales of more than $300,000 this year.

I also have gross website sales of more than $140,000 this year.

I have 100% Positive Customer Feedback!!!!

I have Zero Employees.

I work, at home, in my PAJAMAS!

http://www.PajamaExecutive.com

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Big ticket items are increasingly popular on eBay, and cars are probably one of the best examples of this.

In fact, eBay is the largest dealer of used cars in the USA. And eBay’s car sales in the UK is also growing significantly. Every 16 seconds, a car is sold on eBay!

If you’re an eBay seller, here’s an idea you might like to consider to make extra cash.

The vast majority of car dealers don’t use eBay. They advertise in the press, usually locally, and their customers likewise usually live within reach of the car dealer.

What eBay Motors has successfully proved is that people will bid on cars from owners hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

Why not take your eBay selling expertise, and offer your services to car dealers in your area?

You know how to create auctions, take and upload photos, and manage auctions. The dealers have vehicles which are getting a tiny fraction of the exposure which eBay could offer.

You might decide to offer this to dealers on a no-cost basis. In other words, you bear the cost of eBay’s listing and selling fees. The benefit here is that there is no reason why the dealer shouldn’t give you the go-ahead. They could get a sale without cost to them and no extra effort on their behalf. That’s what I call a no-brainer!

Alternatively, you could pass on the fees to the dealer on the basis that they would be spending money anyway on press advertising.

The other commercial arrangements are simple. You could work on a commission, where you get a percentage of the sale price. Or you could agree a price which the dealer will accept for the sale of the car, and anything you can get above that price is your profit. This would work particularly well if the dealer has had a vehicle for some time, and is losing interest in it!

The best types of cars to sell on eBay are those that are unusual for one reason or another. It might be vintage or classic vehicles, sports cars or high value models. You’re best to avoid what might be termed “normal” cars.

One of the major potential problems is easily handled. You can’t expect the dealer to cease trying to sell a vehicle which you have on eBay auction. In every auction you run for a car, you state that the vehicle is also on sale in other ways, and that you reserve the right to withdraw it before the end of the auction period. You will see such statements on many eBay car auctions.

Incidentally, this idea doesn’t have to be limited to cars. There are big ticket item opportunities in several categories. You’re looking for retail outlets which tend to concentrate on local advertising and local trade. Examples of this would be jewelers, antique traders and real estate operations.

With big ticket items, just one or two sales per week could make a significant difference to you.

Worth thinking about!

Brian McGregor is an eBay and internet entrepreneur. He recently created the ‘eBay Master Class’ for eBay sellers. For your free copy, please go to http://www.workwinners.com/ebm-request.htm

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