Years of working 9 to 5 has unfortunately left you tired and flustrated. You are hoping for a way to make money from home and run your own live for once. But it’s not as simple as it may seem. So just how does one aquire the skills to building a home business any way? Let’s take a closer look at this.
Most people begin by typing into the search engines for home based businesses and you will see hundreds of millions of results. Whose’s to know what is best? Most likely they are all just rip offs. Most of these types of websites are filled with a lot of overhype and overused instruction just revised as new. What you should look for is something that actually teaches you something. Learning how to will enable you to create the website that best fits your style and comfort level.
Start with something you are familiar with. I’m sure that you have a ton of information about a niche that people would be very appreciative to hear. Maybe you have a wonderful marriage and you want to build a site to help couples. Or you worked in a certain business for decades and you would like to divulge your talents to others. I bet others who are just beginning would like to learn from you to get ahead. Start jotting down your content and see how many pages you can generate.
As you are finishing up you will see that you have tons of useful content that could be of some benefit to someone. All that is left to do now is learn how to package it and promote it to the masses. This is when you need to find that product that can teach you how to do just that. It is possible to build a downloadable ebook and promote it that way. Or you could start a membership site and have people pay you every month for your input. Maybe their is already a good product out there that you can promote with the help of your knowledge. Whichever you choose you will need to find away to make a living from it all.
So if you are interested in learning just how to create your own website that has the best chance to succeed then go to our niche business page. To learn all the aspects of creating a promoting a website then go to our make money online page. To make your website move up the search engine results check out one way links site for free tools and systems to use.
QUESTION:
I recently launched a website for my sporting goods business. Do I need to do anything special to attract customers to my website? I know nothing about search engines and marketing as such. Please tell me where to begin. — Sean M.
ANSWER:
Sean, that is a question that has been asked by every business person who has ever launched a website. If I build it, will they come? Of course they will — if you’ve built a website that appeals to dead baseball players.
For those of you who didn’t get the “Field of Dreams” reference, let me put it this way: No, Sean, if you build it they will not come, at least not without some effort on your part.
Assuming that a website will automatically attract customers is the single biggest mistake that many business owners make. It is this mistake that eventually leads them to dismiss their website as a failure and abandon their online sales efforts.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a client say, “Well, I threw up a website, but nobody ever came to it and I didn’t sell a single thing from it! Dang thing was a waste of time, if you ask me …”
Forgive me, but “threw up” is the operative term there. These short-sighted entrepreneurs (God love them) mistakenly think that all they have to do is throw up a website and that their business will automatically double overnight. And when nothing happens they blame it on the infallibility of the Internet, on El Nino, on the Bosa Nova, on their customers… everything but their own lack of marketing efforts.
If you build it, will they come? That, Sean, depends totally on you.
When it comes to attracting customers, opening an online business (or an online branch of an existing business) is no different from opening a traditional brick and mortar shop. Without a little fanfare and a well-devised marketing plan, chances are your website will become just another spot of roadkill on the Information Superhighway.
The first step in devising your marketing plan is to ask yourself this question: Who is my customer? Who is it that I want to attract to my website? Believe it or not, this is a question many entrepreneurs fail to ask. The identity of your customer is incredibly important because if you don’t know who your customer is, how can you expect to market to them?
The next question concerns the locality of your customer. Do you want to attract a local or global clientele to your website? If the answer is local, then you will gear your marketing efforts toward customers in your own backyard, which means incorporating your website launch with your offline marketing efforts.
If the website is the online branch of a brick and mortar business, include the website URL in all your print materials and advertising campaigns. Consider running ads in the local paper, on radio or TV announcing the launch of your site. Use direct mail or in-store posters to announce the site launch to your existing customer base. In short, keep doing what you’re doing to attract customers to your physical store, just add your website address to the mix.
Just remember, it’s important to consider your website a branch of your brick and mortar business because that’s exactly what it is. A good business website will help you sell more products, widen your range of clientele, and increase your revenue without adding overhead. Don’t sell your website short. Make it work for you.
If you are seeking a global audience, your marketing efforts will be quite different. Attracting customers from around the world is a more difficult task than attracting customers from around the block. Fortunately, the task is not impossible. The Internet has leveled the playing field in many ways. Now every business, no matter how large or small, has the ability to do business internationally.
In the most basic sense, an online marketing campaign to attract global customers should include the following efforts.
Register With Search Engines
There’s not enough room in this newspaper for a thorough discussion of search engines and their effectiveness (or lack thereof) in driving traffic to a website. Suffice it to say that 95% of search engine traffic comes from Google and Yahoo, so start there. It’s also important to realize that just registering with search engines does not guarantee you traffic, but it certainly can’t hurt.
Unfortunately, the free search engine lunch ran out a couple of years ago when search engines figured out that people would actually pay for listings and higher placement. Since that time the only way to guarantee a high (or at least higher than others) ranking is to pay for it. The two most popular pay-for-placement programs are Yahoo’s “Yahoo Express” and Google’s “Adwords.” Visit their respective websites for details on these programs. Be prepared to spend several hundred dollars at a minimum to get your site listed.
Exchange Links With Similar Sites
One free – and potentially effective – way to drive customers to your website is through link exchanges with sites of similar interest. Locate sites that make a good match to your own and contact the owner to ask if they will link to your site in exchange for you linking to theirs. If you sell golf balls on your website, set up a link exchange with another website that sells golf clubs. You post a link to them and they post a link to you. It’s called digital back scratching, and if done properly, can work well to drive traffic your way.
Go To Where The Customers Are
If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, then Mohammed must go to the mountain. One little known way to attract customers to your website is to market your products on a mega-site like eBay. There are thousands and thousands of people on eBay at any given time and each one is potentially your customer, so it’s a great place to drum up business. Your goal is not to make a living selling on eBay, but to use eBay as a marketing tool to drive traffic back to your website. Go to where the customers are, then bring them back home with you.
Let’s use our golf ball example. Post a few auctions on eBay selling your golf balls at a ridiculously low price so your auction attracts plenty of attention. When customers make a purchase, add them to your client list and send them an email inviting them to visit your website for more great products. eBay also lets you create your own “About Me” page that you can use to advertise your business.
We have just scratched the surface, but hopefully this is enough to get you started. I wish I could tell you that attracting customers to your website is easy, but the truth is, it’s anything but. It takes hard work, creativity and above all, perseverance.
Distributed by:
Burn The Fat Review
Burn The Fat Reviews
Find out important info about Weight Loss – study quoted publication.
How To Attract Wealth – The 4 Myths About Money That Prevents Financial Growth
As a person you have a number of ways you can draw wealth to you but this will only be possible if you do not have negative beliefs about yourself and in particular about wealth. There are many factors that animpede a person’s progress in their quest for financial success. However, what really get’s in the way of most people’s financial success and ability to attract wealth easily is the misconceptions they hold about money and wealth. In this article you will find out 4 myths that get in the way of people’s progress.
Myth # 1 – Money is the root of all evil
Are you one of those who deny yourself the opportunity to have more money in your life because you hold the idea that too much money will corrupt you? Do you hold the belief that money brings out the worst in people or that it’s the root of all negativity? If you do then you should realise that there arewealthy people who are good and equally bad and there are poor people who are also good and bad as well. The point I’m trying to make here is that money is not the source of all evil. If it were then where ever you see money you will see bad things happening. But that’s not the case and therefore we can conclude that it’s humans that are the root of evil not money. We control our actions and therefore what we do with our money.
Myth # 2 – The More money you have the more problems you get
If you hang on to the idea that the more money a person has the more problems they will encounter then you have to re-think this idea because both poor and rich people have problems. You should not have to avoid the opportunity to have more money because of this limiting belief. After all, both poor and rich people have problems they face in their life. The only difference between the two is the type of problems they both face. So should you be offered a chance to make more money in your life, do not waste any time. Grab it.
Myth # 3 – You have to work hard to make money
The belief that is generally held by the majority of people is that you have to work hard to make money and yet we are all aware of people who do not have to work hard for the money they make. However, we still maintain this negative idea. Most of us think putting effort into doing something is equivalent to working hard for it. However, there is a big difference between hard work and putting effort into something. If you love what you do then you are not working hard. You are just putting effort into doing something you enjoy. When you are doing something you do not enjoy it is hardwork.
Myth # 4 – Money can’t buy happiness
Are you one of those who hold the idea that money can’t buy happiness? Well, poverty doesn’t either and yet you do not hear people saying poverty can’t buy happiness. Money may not buy happiness but it does buy the comforts that help to making us feel happy. Try going without having any money and you will soon get over the idea that money can’t buy happiness. Money is very necessary in the world we live in right now so holding on to the limiting idea that money can’t buy happiness will just stunt your financial growth.
We are all free to choose what we want to believe. If you hold on to negative beliefs you get in your way of creating financial success. The 4 myths discussed in this article is usually
what prevents most people from achieving the financial growth they desire.
To find out more about getting rid of your limiting beliefs so you can attract wealth fast, visit The Money Equation site at:
http://www.themoneyequation.com
Find expert tips for what is forex market – this is your individual guide.
In recent years we’ve seen a HUGE increase in the number of small businesses owned by women. This growth has been so dramatic that millions of people now think of a woman when they visualize who owns the businesses they buy from.
Women everywhere deserve a big pat on the back for this amazing accomplishment. But as is always the case for small business owners, there is still a lot of work to be done.
The one thing your small business MUST have is a web site. Sure, ten years ago having a site was an option many small businesses could do without. But that is no longer the case. Here’s why:
* These days consumers and business leaders are more likely to use search engines than the Yellow Pages. They’ll type the name of your town and your type of business into Google and start their research from there.
* A web site lets you put as MUCH information as you want in a public forum. You no longer have to pay thousands for a big newspaper ad just to let customers know about your prices, new services, or show photos of what you do. Now you can keep all that information available on your web site 24/7 at little or no cost.
* You know as well as I do that most customers are a little shy about asking questions. Often they don’t even want you to know they’re interested until AFTER they have learned more about your product, service, or idea. A web site allows that vast number of potential customers to privately and anonymously read all about your business. Then, when they’re ready to buy, they’ll come forward with their questions and orders. This is a MUCH more efficient way to do business, which leads to my next point.
* Web based business operations can be EXTREMELY EFFICIENT. Customers often prefer convenient email over phone or in-person visits. Email encourages customers to organize their ideas, contacting you when they know what they want and are ready to act. You’ll find your web site generates many more customers and the customers you get are better organized.
Women everywhere deserve a big pat on the back for this amazing accomplishment. But as is always the case for small business owners, there is still a lot of work to be done.
* Finally, women love to buy from women-owned businesses. Women, as a group, tend to be less compulsive shopper than men. While a large segment of men will buy an item on impulse, the vast majority of women prefer to learn about your product or service, getting all the details they can before placing an order. Web sites are perfect for presenting a lot of information at very little cost.
Distributed by:
Fat Loss 4 Idiots
Fat Loss 4 Idiots Review
Fat Loss 4 Idiots Reviews
Regardless of the type of business you conduct, there is a significant risk of being sued in our litigious society. Lawsuits can range from claims of negligence to defective products to disputes with employees. Incorporating is a means of guarding against these potential threats.
Single Incorporation – Protecting Your Personal Assets
Incorporating your business is a method for creating a legal wall between your personal assets and business. Any judgment against your business will not impact your personal assets. While your home, savings, stocks, etc., are protected, what happens to your business? If a judgment is rendered against your business, the business assets are as good as gone. This doesn’t have to be the case.
Double Incorporation Strategy – Protect Your Business Assets
Many businesses can benefit from pursuing a double incorporation strategy. The strategy is designed to address the situation where a business has significant assets that are exposed to litigation risk. If you incorporate your business, it is all well and good that your personal assets are not at risk. But what if your business has a number of high value assets such as manufacturing machinery, office equipment, popular domain name, custom software or other items? Merely incorporating your business will not protect these assets because they are owned by the business entity. Since a successful lawsuit would result in a judgment against the business entity, all assets of the business could be seized as part of the judgment. In short, you lose your machinery, office equipment, intellectual property or any other item of tangible value. The double incorporation strategy prevents this scenario.
As the name suggests, the double incorporation strategy involves the creation of two business entities. The first is your “at risk” business that interacts with your customers or clients. The second entity, a “holding corporation”, is then created to own the valuable assets of your business. This holding corporation then leases the relevant business assets to your “at risk” entity. If the “at risk” entity is sued, the holding company merely recovers its assets and the plaintiff is forced to settle for pennies on the dollar because the “at risk” entity has few assets. In essence, the plaintiff wins the battle, but loses the war.
Lawsuits can range from claims of negligence to defective products to disputes with employees. Incorporating is a means of guarding against these potential threats. The first is your “at risk” business that interacts with your customers or clients.
Most people know that a business entity can be used to create a protective shield for their personal assets. If your business has high value assets, now you can use this double incorporation strategy to protect those assets as well.
Distributed by:
Fat Loss 4 Idiots
Fat Loss 4 Idiots Review
Fat Loss 4 Idiots Reviews
I don’t know how many times I’ve flipped through the channels and heard Lou Dobbs talking about “Exporting America.” Now, I know Lou is discussing the political and economic context of American companies outsourcing their jobs overseas. However, this new one-dimensional definition of outsourcing has other implications to some of us in the States.
I am no expert on politics, economics or Lou Dobbs, so I’ll keep my opinions on those subjects to myself. However, what I would like to discuss is the negative connotation that the word “outsourcing” has taken on in this country.
There are thousands upon thousands of small businesses in this country whose sole survival depends on other companies outsourcing their needs. Just think about it for a moment. How many companies in the service industries only exist to support the needs of other businesses?
Imagine if every company had to act as a fully self-sufficient corporation. They must handle all of their own HR issues…no more employment agencies, payroll companies, etc. They must employ a full-fledged IT department to handle all of their own web design, networking, software and database designs. Each enterprise has to have enough administrative assistants, data entry specialists, desktop publishing experts, marketing gurus. The list is endless.
If American companies were to completely eliminate all forms of outsourcing, life as we know it would end!
Now, we all know that this is not what Lou or anybody else who has defined outsourcing as one of the most popular buzz words of the last few years is talking about. I understand that most people know that the business to business outsourcing within America is not a bad thing. Nonetheless, it seems strange to me that one word can take on such a life of its own. It’s really not a new phenomenon, yet it is the first time that I’ve encountered one of these controversial terms in my own ventures.
Let me say that as a business person in a field that is solely based on other businesses looking to my company to meet their needs, I find myself quite often searching for synonyms to outsourcing. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but when I’m advertising, I’m forever brainstorming for words to replace that one that starts with o and ends with source! After all the talk that’s been spinning around Washington and the rest of the country, it seems that it’s turned into a dirty word.
I’ll keep my opinions on those subjects to myself. However, what I would like to discuss is the negative connotation that the word “outsourcing” has taken on in this country.
Obviously, most people understand that there are all types of outsourcing. On the other hand, when you’ve got limited time and space are you going to choose a “hot button” word to describe what you’re selling?
Distributed by:
Fat Loss 4 Idiots
Fat Loss 4 Idiots Review
Fat Loss 4 Idiots Reviews
If you have followed the Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Survival Readiness Pyramid starting from the bottom with water storage and 72 hour emergency kits, and you have progressed through each level making sure your preparation is foolproof, you have made it all the way to storing a ample supply of personal hygiene items. You are now ready to expand your efforts into financial preparedness. This category includes accumulating a three to six month supply of cash flow for living expenses, and should lean more toward the six than the three. But, your objective is to continue advancing from one stage to the next, and three months is certainly not shameful. Consider this fact: most of your fellow Americans are living from paycheck to paycheck, and much pain would ensue by missing just one of these paychecks (economist Howard Ruff points out that as many as 24 out of 25 households in your neighborhood are living in quiet desperation)! Once you have drive on your side, you have won half the fight, and the three months becomes six in short order. Especially if it is done automatically by direct deposit from your paycheck into a savings account.
Having accumulated all of your cash reserves, the final phase of the capstone on the readiness pyramid is gold and silver bullion. Most if not all of this should be either stored yourself or stored safely for you by a company with a good reputation that has been in business for half a century or more. Ask for and write down all of the bars’ serial numbers, and make sure the company is not adverse to allowing you to physically check the bullion whenever you want to.
Economist Marc Faber has made the bold statement: “I am 100 percent sure that the U.S. will go into hyperinflation.” There are others less vocal who share the sentiment, but point out the exponential growth in the money supply, and that inflation is the inevitable result of quantitative easing. They further reason that no civilization’s fiat currency has ever stood the test of time. The former Comptroller General (the nation’s chief accountant) has made comparisons between the fall of Rome and the current path America is on– namely the breakup of the family, the basic unit of society, the overextension and spreading too thinly the military, and the debasement of the currency.
Numerous economists are emphasizing the ballooning deficits and anywhere between $50 to $70 plus trillion in unfunded liabilities (Social Security, Medicare, etc.). Furthermore there is more than $600 trillion in financial derivatives worldwide, the likes of which possibly the greatest investor of all time, Warren Buffet, has referred to as WFD’s (Weapons of Financial Destruction). Ironic is the response of Chinese university students recently to an inquiry posed to Timothy Geithner about Chinese assets to which he answered, “Chinese assets are very safe.” He went on to explain how the U.S. supports a strong dollar. He was scorned by the students in attendance of the event.
None of this bodes well for the future, but it doesn’t have to be ghastly for the preparedness-minded individual. Your insurance against a financial meltdown, greater than anything that has happened thus far is bullion. It follows that the smallest market in bullion with only approximately 330 million oz. for trading will be the best protection/most profitable as well. This metal is both industrial and monetary in nature. When inflation causes gold bullion to accelerate and appreciate, silver outperforms by a wide margin (percentage wise) in the long run. Besides, it is the poor man’s gold, making it more affordable per unit. But, gold bullion may be the choice of some, as you get less of it for your money, thus creating less of a need for large storage space should you choose to store it on your own. Others may want some gold and some silver in various amounts of combination. This is understandable, as gold has ingrained itself in the psyche of the public, and silver is seen as a close second. Not many have studied and know that above ground there is less verifiable silver than gold. Yes, silver is rarer than gold (above earth)! Whichever of these two metals you decide upon, get started! Remember the new GM has nothing to do with general or motors, rather Gold Money. Here is one free gram of gold to help you begin. And congratulations for having come this far in your emergency preparedness efforts!
If you work for a publicly traded company, there are simple yet effective steps you and your investor relations director can take now to dramatically increase your company’s exposure and attractiveness to investors thus bolstering share value and shareholder support. These are simple, yet proven strategies for gaining and maintaining a loyal and ever-increasing investor following. Read ‘em and reap.
[1] Stay One Step Ahead of your Investors – Provide accurate and timely information about your Company
How do most investors tell a good stock from a bad one? They don’t…it tells them. It tells them by its trading activity, volume, chart history, etc. But most importantly, it tells them at the click of a button: “View Latest Headlines”.
In fact, do that right now. Go online (where most investors conduct their due diligence and make their trading decisions) and view your company’s last five press releases just as an average investor would. Based on what you see, is your company’s stock a buy?
If you recently repainted the building; that’s great! Brag about it at the next office party. But if your company just signed a multi-million dollar global distribution deal— spend the few hundred dollars on the press release. Better yet…try dividing that one big PR into three or four smaller PR’s. When it comes to substantive positive news, quantity is better than quality, also known as the Shotgun Effect. When the news is not particularly flattering or general housekeeping stuff, the reverse is true; keep those announcements few and far between if possible.
Also keep your company’s website current. Be sure all recent press releases are reflected on your company’s website and the information is updated quarterly. If your company is not growing or changing enough quarter by quarter, somebody is not doing their job. (For help with your website IR section or shareholder awareness campaigns, try contacting the people at www.EvergreenMarketingInc.com.
[2] The Whispers of Happy Shareholders can be Deafening
Word of mouth is still the best advertising there is. If you get the chance to speak directly to any of your shareholders try asking them how they first heard about your company. The answer will most likely be, “from a fellow investor”. There are people out there right now who know enough about your company to recommend it to everyone they know….or not. They’re called shareholders. The key is keeping that army of voices well supplied with a steady stream of good news to spread.
Remember, your shareholders can promote and discuss your company and its investment potential in ways and places that you legally cannot. In this Internet / information age, you, as an executive of a publicly traded company, are one of the few who do not have total freedom of speech. Those shareholders are your not-so-silent majority out there for (or against) you on the World Wide Web, 24/7 in places you probably don’t even know exist.
If you really want shareholders to get excited enough about your company to tell everyone they know about it, try getting one of them on the phone sometime or sending a personal email; even if it’s just to say hello and thank them for their support. Speaking directly to the CEO of a company they own stock in is like talking to the Governor to some investors. I’ve seen it. More importantly, I’ve heard about it.
[3] The Hungry Cat Makes the Best Hunter
If a tree falls in the woods and there’s no one there to hear it, does it still make a sound? Who cares! But if your company releases positive news and there’s no one there to hear it, someone will care; your shareholders.
Nothing discourages current shareholders (as well as potential future ones) more than seeing a stock end the session with little or no increase in share price or volume on a day when positive news is released. Sure, the wire services are global, but more than likely, it will only be your existing shareholders who will be watching for and (hopefully) reading your company’s press releases.
As we discussed earlier, the best way to attract future shareholders is by utilizing current shareholders to help do the “hunting”. Think about this; if every one of your shareholders fully understood and believed that if there were twice as many of them, the share price might be twice the price it is now. You must keep your army of shareholders constantly growing if for no other reason than the fact that all of your current shareholders will eventually sell your stock and move on…it’s only a question of when.
[4] Get Organized. Get Ready. Get Going!
All eyes in the room are on you. “Okay Boss, what’s the plan?” And then you answer….
Your corporate plan to increase shareholder support and awareness is like a roadmap that details the fastest and shortest route to your destination. Planning the trip is the easy part. Getting everyone else on board for the ride may take some work. That “work” starts with everyone knowing what their specific duties are and the most effective way of carrying them out.
This leads us to; “Get Going!” Activity creates productivity and productivity creates new shareholders, as well as helps keep existing ones. You should put together a 30 to 60 day calendar that outlines your shareholder awareness program. You should be able to identify specific developments that should take place during each week.
In the beginning, be sure to avoid the getting ready to get ready trap. Once you have the bulk of your operation and team in place, get them started. Don’t get too discouraged if your early results are less than hoped for. This type of undertaking is more like running a marathon than a sprint. It may take a few small steps at first to get your operation up and running for the long haul.
[5] You Cannot Expect What You Are Not Willing to Inspect
Delegation does not equal leadership. You need to stay updated from those actually implementing your shareholder awareness and support programs. What they do right and what they do wrong will determine the success of your program. Your management (and inspection) of the program and those implementing it are key factors in achieving your goals.
I’m sorry to say the bulk of investor relations duties are often viewed as a necessary evil. However, if you want your stock to reflect a strong market capitalization you need to be willing to go the extra mile. On behalf of your shareholders, take charge of your investor relations program then let everyone involved know exactly what is expected of them.
These simple yet effective steps will have a huge impact on how current shareholders as well as future investors view your efforts to gain their support by first supporting them. Leadership is easy….if you’re willing to assume it.
Distributed by:
Burn The Fat Review
Burn The Fat Reviews
Grab timely points of view for what is online forex trading – this is your own knowledge pack.
6 Ideas for Viral Marketing
Here are six ideas to help you start your viral marketing campaign:
1. Purchase the branding rights to a viral E-book. Allow people to give away your free E-book to their visitors. Then, their visitors will also give it away. This will just continue to spread your ad all over the Internet.
2. If you have the ability to set up a forum or other bulletin board, you really have a great tool. Allow people to use your online discussion board for their own website. Some people don’t have one. Just include your banner ad at the top of the board.
3. Do you have a knack for web design? Create some templates, graphics, etc. and upload them to your site. Then, allow people to give away your free web design graphics, fonts, templates, etc. Just include your ad on them or require people to link directly to your web site. Make sure that you include a link back to your site in the copyright notice and require them to keep your copyright notice in tact.
4. Write an E-book. Allow people to place an advertisement in your free E-book if, in exchange, they give away the E-book to their web visitors or E-zine subscribers.
5. Write articles that pertain to your product or service. Allow people to reprint your articles on their website, in their E-zine, newsletter, magazine or E-books. Include your resource box and the option for article reprints at the bottom of each article.
6. You can easily find products on the Internet that will sell you a license allowing you to distribute the product free of charge to other people. Look for those products that provide “branding rights”. That is where you can include your own name, website, and contact information.
For more information visit Start business or Start business
One of the lessons that eBay has learned in recent years is that content is king. To be honest, until recently even eBay themselves admitted that the site lacked content. In other words, the site did not have much in the way of useful information; it was purely a place to buy products or services.
Some of the most recent developments to encourage user-provided content were: eBay Wiki, eBay Reviews and Guides and eBay Blogs. By eBay’s own admission the aim of these sections is to build valuable content that will encourage users to come back to the site more frequently, as well as to influence the search engines in a positive way to increase the visibility of the site overall.
These features have been largely ignored by most eBay users, but they present a powerful opportunity for the switched on seller (that’s you). How so? In return for providing content to these sections of the site, eBay promises a nice payback. It’s a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’ kind of arrangement.
The opportunity that exists in eBay Reviews and Guides is great because it’s a flexible and open format.
According to eBay’s own definition, Reviews and Guides (which are actually independent sections of the site in their own right) were provided as a way for users to research suitable products and benefit from the wisdom of eBay members that have experience in a particular product category, either as a seller or as a user. ‘Reviews’ contains comments and ratings about all kinds of commonly sold items on eBay.
Note that eBay limits reviews to specific types of products that they list. ‘Guides’ are short articles or reports that contain information and opinions about almost any topic you can think of.
There are two key ways to benefit from these sections of eBay:
1.Use the free information as a research resource for creating your own information products.
2.Write informative and useful information about the niche that you sell in, and then promote your own products.
The first point should be self-evident. Reviews and Guides is a rapidly growing information resource that’s available for free, so it’s a great tool for research when creating information based products.
The second area is a little more complex, but don’t be put off, because it represents an outstanding way to generate interest in your eBay listings, for free. Here are some of the ways you can use Reviews and Guides:
1. Have a friend or relative post an objective review of your product. Make sure it’s realistic and credible, and be sure to include details of what makes your product superior to the competition.
2. Write a Top 10 products review for your industry (guess which is No.1?)
3.Write a ‘white paper’ report about a product that you sell.
4. Write a guide that explains how to use your product.
5. Write a guide that explains unusual uses for your product.
6. Write a guide that explains the pitfalls to look out for in hiring a service you offer.
7. Write a guide that gives tips and advice within some aspect of the niche that you sell in.
8. Write a guide that explains how to replace or repair a product.
Be as creative as you like, and remember that you can include pictures, photos, illustrations, basic formatting, and eBay links to specific products or eBay searches. If you do use any kind of photo or drawing, make sure it closely relates to the content and that it enhances rather than detracts from the text (that’s a common mistake).
Also, in preparing your writing, ask yourself what people would be most interested in reading about. After all, you want to attract as many readers as possible. As with any copywriting, the headline (and title) that you select are the most important aspects to consider in drawing readers in.
Obviously, don’t stop after producing your first one, aim to produce a steady stream of reviews and guides to increase your presence and influence on eBay (and the search engines that love this type of solid content). Set a goal of producing at least one review and one guide each week. If you can do more, even better.
Both reviews and guides can be voted on by readers, so make sure you keep an eye on that, as you want to maintain a favorable impression.
Please read and re-read the following information so that you fully grasp it. The two most important aspects of writing an eBay Guide are the links and the tags. Links are clickable text that will redirect the user automatically to another page within eBay. There are two types of links available to you – links to specific product pages, and links to eBay searches. I recommend that you use the latter because product pages will change from time to time, whereas searches will always be valid.
When you create a guide, eBay will help you create a search link by prompting you to enter relevant words to search for. This is much easier to do than it sounds.
For example, if you are in a niche selling guitar accessories, you would include words like guitar pedal, guitar stand, guitar amp, guitar strings, and so on. In identifying the most suitable words and phrases (tags), ask yourself, “If I was to search for this type of article, what search words would I enter?”Now, this is the clever part. If you give this some thought, it’s possible to create a search term that’s so specific that it only brings up your items in the results page!
For example, going back to the example of selling guitar accessories, if your store name was ‘ABC Guitar Accessories’ and your listings had the word ‘ABC’ in them, your search terms would be ABC guitar pedal, ABC guitar stand, ABC guitar amp and so on. Again, the aim is to create search terms that are so specific that your listings are the only ones that match, so they are the ones that are displayed.
This is a very powerful tool because you are now able to influence readers of your guides to visit your listings, and yours alone. Since you’ve just provided them with useful information in your guide, it makes sense that you are starting to build a rapport with them, and they are far more likely to buy from you than another seller as a result. It’s simple human nature at work.
Tags
The other element of an eBay Guide to give attention to are the tags.
The word ‘tags’ is simply ‘eBay speak’ for keywords. Keywords are words or phrases that eBay prompts you to enter when you create your guide, to help others locate the guide in the future. It’s the search terms that will cause your guide to be found, so you can see how important they are.
As an example, if your guide was ‘Tips for Planning the Perfect Hawaii Vacation’, your keywords would likely include:
Hawaiivacation
Maui
Ohau
Kaui
There’s a balance to be had in how specific your keywords are because you are only allowed to submit a maximum of four. For example, if you used the keyword expression ‘Hawaii surfing vacation’ you would lose out on a lot of other more general searches.
Finally, as you might imagine, it’s easy to spend hours in these areas of the site, so be careful not to fall into that trap. Use these features as tools to increase your presence on eBay, but don’t get bogged down with them.
Distributed by:
Burn The Fat Review
Burn The Fat Reviews
Access important knowledge about ppc classroom 2.0 guide – read this publication.
RSS FEED