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Listing strategies for your eBay auctions
Whether your eBay business is a sideline or a major sales channel for your company, a little marketing can go a long way. Because competition is so fierce, merely listing your products isn't enough. You need to do something to make them compelling. HTML coding creates an interesting, attractive, and effective sales tool.
An online auction listing is slightly different from the coding for a web site. In order to sell an item, one must fill in a form. Part of this form is the description area. This is the area where one is allowed to use HTML coding. Although eBay supplies templates for this area, learning a little code can enhance your listing. You can customize the listing to suit your preferred layouts, fonts, styles, colours, images, and backgrounds. There are many resources online or in print on learning HTML. If you want to know more, please contact Judy Silver: jssilver@silverlinginfo.com or or see my "About me" page: http://members.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=buznog01
Since the description is part of a form, it does not start with the "normal" beginning of a web site. Your description starts with the title of the item.
To create this title, one uses the "header" tag. There are six sizes of headers with h1 being the largest and with h6 being the smallest. They look like this:
<h1></h1> <h1>Title</h1>
The second paragraph should be a short concise description of the item. Always ask yourself, "What would you like to know about the item?" It is important to let the buyer know what makes it unique from the hundreds of others that are up for sale. Separate your paragraphs using <p></p> tags for a new paragraph. The "break" <br> tag starts a new line without skipping any space.
Use a bulleted list to highlight specific benefits of your item. For example:
My item is:
<ul>
<li>New</li>
<li>In excellent condition</li>
The rest of the description should include shipping costs and handling costs. Further, advise the buyer what forms of payment you allow. Accepting online payments through PayPal will definitely help you attract more bids.
In conclusion, your descriptions should be appealing, honest, and enlightening. It is also useful to have an "About Me" page, as well. That way, you can communicate further with your buyers by telling them about your business.
Bibliography:
Collier, Marsha. eBay Descriptions that Sell! http://www.coolebaytools.com/descriptions_sell_article.html
eBay (Firm). Learning a little code can add a lot of polish to your listing. http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/html_tips.html
Search Engine Optimization: the key to success
Your web site should be a key component of your marketing activities, reinforcing your brand, driving traffic to your site. A comprehensive, objective search engine optimization audit will ensure that an existing web site attracts your target audience by being "search engine friendly". In today's competitive market, search engine optimization may turn your web site into a powerful site that maximizes the number of searchers, therefore maximizing your business.
When you create a web site, there is a danger of getting too close to the project. If you have a web site, experts agree it's a good idea to have it evaluated by a professional. An search engine optimization audit can be a low-cost effective review of the following 6 key areas about your web site:
5 Easy Steps to Internet Marketing:
If you do not market it, they will not come
Step 1. Get your web site in the search engines
You need to submit your site to all the major search engines and major directories. A nice list of the best 100 search engines is on the Canadian Culture site: http://www.canadianculture.com/top100/index.htmll
Step 2. Include keywords
It is crucial to include keywords in your web site. This is what the search engines look for. Furthermore, you must discover the keywords that your target audience are typing in the search engines. To identify these keywords, use Google to find sites that have similar content to your site. You must also check your keyword demand in web sites such as Overture. Using Overture, you can discover missed keywords. Furthermore, you should read advice on web site promotion. The following online articles are helpful:
Your placement in the search engines is controlled by the use of
meta tags. The most important is your <title>title</title>
tag. For example the title for the index page of this web site is:
<title>Silver Lining Information Solutions: providing Internet Marketing, Research
& Communication</title>.
Since the "title" tag needs to be short, you can use the "keyword" meta tag area to list more keywords. These keywords must match the keywords that your target
audience are using to search for your site. Be sure to prioritize your keyword list and list them in
priority from left to right. It is also important to update your
keywords, as your audience constantly changes the words they use in the search
engines.
For example, the keyword meta tag for this
site is:
<meta name="keywords" content="internet marketing, web design, online auctions, auctions online ebay, internet,
research, web search engines, web site optimization services, internet searching, web sites, marketing">
The crucial meta tag is the "description" meta
tag. This tag is a 25 word description of your web site. For
example the "description" meta tag for this site is
<meta name="description" content="Silver Lining Information Solutions offers Internet consulting that includes web site optimization, eBay
Marketing, Internet research, and Internet communication.">
Step 3: Build a well-designed site
A well-designed content-rich site must include good design fundamentals. The text must have the keywords that match the keywords used in the "keyword" meta tag. Be sure to change your content when you update your keywords.
Step 4: Form relationships
Form relationships with other web sites, so they will link to your site. If a popular or respected site has links to you, your audience's level of trust, in what you say and what you offer, is likely to be higher. Make sure these relationships include your associates, local trade directories, and professional organizations.
Step 5: Provide links on your site
Providing links to other sites on your site adds more value for the reader. Additional, you should publicize your web site online via email signatures and offline via brochures, business cards, letterheads, etc.
What makes for successful web site?
Good design fundamentals and plain language are essential for your website, otherwise you will find that you have to fix mistakes or "redesign on the fly". Because your website reflects the quality of your work, you should adhere to the 6 "C"s to a successful web site: clear, concise, correct, consistent, complete, and clickability.
Net Mechanic: www.netmechanic.com
Site Check: www.siteowner.com/sitecheck.cfm
W3 Validator: validator.w3.org
Your filing system for your computer files does not have to be perfect. It just has to be usable. If you do not want to waste time finding documents, you should try to have regular file maintenance. This does not have to be an onerous task, if you remember a few key steps.
Use the "recycle or trash" bin: You should not try and keep everything. It is all right to throw something out! By continually deleting unwanted files, you will find that you are not cluttering your computer with information that you no longer need.
KISS: Keep it simple for the names of your directories and files. You should make sure that the names are descriptive. Think of name that you first associate with the directory or file. Pick broad categories for the directories and put files that belong into that category.
Saving files: Before saving the file, determine where you are going to save it and the file's name. Remember the above KISS principles.
Backing Up: Make sure you backup your files either to floppy disks or through backup tape drives or on CD-ROM or DVD.
Retention Periods: This might sound like overkill. But, if you can decide how long you want to store information on your hard-drive, you can then decide on when it is time to either destroy the items or to store them elsewhere.
Maintenance Schedules: Determine a set time period for file/directory maintenance and stick to it. This is essential to keeping everything current.
E = Eliminate. What do you want it for? If you do not need it, trash it. Do not forget to empty your trash folder!
M = Mailbox it. If you decide that it is useful, or recent, or difficult to obtain information, transfer it immediately to one of your mailboxes. Name your mailboxes with words that correspond to the purpose of the mailbox, i.e. market research. (Do not just keep it in the Inbox.) Use mailboxes for short-term storage only. For long-term storage see "L".
A = Action. Determine if the message requires any action and then act on it.
I = Initiate referral. You might want to forward the information to someone else rather than keeping it yourself. So forward the message and delete from your own mailbox.
L = Leave in a file folder. For long-term storage, you should save it in a file folder. You should decide how long you would keep it for. You should keep it in folders with appropriate labels, i.e. contacts, to-do, etc.
What kinds of materials do I need to give you so that you can design my site?
If you do all this, creating your site will go smoothly.