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Archive for the ‘Advertising’ Category
Hey everyone, I wanted to express how important titles are today. I recently had someone ask me if I could check their Amazon auctions to see if they were up to par. They were great auctions but the title was blah and plain. They were titles that could even be overlooked or even forgettable. This individual had things like “knife for sale” or “coffee pot”.
The problem was; the coffee pot was a kettle and was very old. It was probably worth some money since it was made in the early 1900’s. The knife was a prop survival knife from Rambo the movie(another great item poorly explained in the title). He didn’t know why the items were not selling. He could have easily sold the kettle if he said something like “1902 antique kettle in great condition”. Thankfully, I helped him out and sold his items next time around with a great title. You have to tell as much as you can in the title.
The title is what gets your customer to your auction or item page. Even on a website, make your item titles catchy and detailed. This is the only sure way to bring targeted traffic to your items. For instance, someone looking for a coffee pot would never click on an auction title like; “1902 antique kettle in great condition”. But an antique collector would be interested. And the other way around; the antique collector would probably not click onto a title like “coffee pot”.
You have to think of how you would search for something if you were looking for something specific. After all, the words in your title are the keywords that the search engine would find. Try to put words in your title that you know someone looking for that item would specifically search for in the search engine.
Putting item specific keywords in your title is the key to having the most targeted people visit your item/auction page. This alone isn’t good enough though. You have to be witty and think of a unique, eye catching title. Try and be original and don’t copy anyone. People seem to click on to catchy titles they haven’t seen before.
It’s almost like the “been there, done that attitude”. If they have seen one, they have seen them all. Make your titles something new that nobody has ever seen. Find a formula that works and stick with your originality. Originality can make you stand out among the rest as a seller. Even if you are a new seller; nobody will ever know if you can come up with some keen and descriptive auction/item titles.
I have seen so many new sellers steal another seller’s idea for a title. The problem is; the title they stole was boring and not very descriptive. Boring titles will not sell a thing. It’s a rarity when a new seller comes along with “the same old’ same old’ ” and goes on to succeed. Be your own person and think of everything you do own your own.
It’s okay to see what others are doing. Everyone likes to see what the competition is doing. It’s a very important part of your business to see what your competition is doing. This way you can get a step up on them. Do everything you can to out-wit your competition. But, stay within the realm of originality.
Think about it, you don’t see newspapers always using the same headings or titles. You may see an advertisement phrase for a while but something new always comes a long. They try not to use the same titles because the customers would get bored. They would think they were reading the same stuff all the time.
That’s like your auction titles if they were the same. The customers wouldn’t click on them because they would think they were going to see the same old stuff. Do something to draw them there. Get them to believe they are going to see something new and fresh if they click onto your auction/item. Titles are your advertisements.
Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone, I hope everything is going good for you. I recently had someone ask me; How long does it take to see a traffic increase and start making sales on your website? This is a great question and I am happy to answer it for you Nick! In order to see noticeable results like this on your website it will take lots of hard work.
If you work hard, you will see very noticeable results within 3-6 months time. By working hard, I mean; “everyday”. Not a few times a week. Not when you have time. Make time for yourself if you want to have a money making website. Put aside 1-3 hours a day to advertise your website.
You can learn how to advertise your website or product right here. You can use various other ways to ensure you get website traffic. But it all comes down to time and dedication.
The more time and dedication you put into advertising your website, the better your results will be in the long run. You can’t just build a website and submit it to search engines or website directories. You have to reach thousands of people everyday in order to get real results. And that won’t happen if you only do one or two things to advertise. It’s collective advertising that works best. Combine many advertising techniques into your advertising plan.
You could ask another website to advertise for you. You could submit a press release article and submit it to press release and new business websites. PRweb.com is a great place to start. It’s important to get your name out there by telling everyone you offer a new service. Hopefully you offer an original service people will be attracted to visit.
Set up a feed on feed websites like feedburner and myyahoo. Then people can bookmark your website and keep track of new updates. It’s also important to blog about your business regularly. Tell the world all about your business and websites. Or you could blog to help others with free information about the subject matter on your website.
Submit your website’s blog to blog directories. You can place your blog right into the category your business is all about. Keep advertising and always search for new ways to bring traffic. As times change there will always be new methods and tricks coming out. For example, you can stay updated by visiting my blog. I do my best to bring you all the newest tricks and tips to better your home business.
Thanks for reading my blog everyone. See you tomorrow!
Hi all, I hope everything is going great for you today. I recently had someone ask me if they should buy a program that gives them a better web page rank on Google. Getting a better web page rank is very difficult. It takes lots of dedication, time, and creativeness.
I can promise you that, there has never been an effective software that will give you a better web page rank or more traffic. The only way to get a better page rank is to have back links, thousands of them. Stay away from these scams.
You can create back links a number of ways. Organic advertising and marketing are the best ways to get back links. You can learn how to create back links in this blog post I wrote. But, it will take some very hard work on your part. You can also pay someone to market and advertise your website. But this can cost you thousands of dollars.
You have to be creative and write constantly about your website. Tell your friends, family, whoever will listen. Nobody will advertise your website until you get some street cred online. Another words, nobody will promote your website until you earn it. So get out there and tell everyone.
Join all the forums, social networks, article directories, and website directories as you can. Make some friends and tell everyone about what you have to offer. But, don’t fall for anyone claiming to know all the inside tips on how Google or any other search engine is run. Nobody really knows. They just know what works.
Listen to the people that have lots of traffic and have a high webpage rank. There is lots of free advice on how to drive traffic and get a higher webpage rank. Don’t buy any programs that claim you the world. Although there are some really great e-books and programs to teach you how to drive traffic and webpage rank. Those programs take lots of time to see results but they usually work great. Don’t buy in to the ones that claim you don’t have to do anything and you’ll be rich also.
The problem is; people don’t want to work. They want things for free with little to no work involved. They want something that they can sit back and do nothing and collect money at the same time. There is no such program. Stop living in a fairy tale and wake up. The only way you make a lot of money is to work really hard. Unless; You just won the lottery or large inheritance.
So please take my advice. Don’t buy any of those software programs that promise you a higher webpage rank or more traffic. You may see a short spurt of results. But, it will hurt your webpage rank more than help. Do it yourself if you want it done right.
Thanks for reading everyone!
Hi everyone, I hope your doing great. It’s that time again. I am having another contest to let me teach you how to work at home and be successful. The last contest only lasted 24 hours and it was a surprise to most of you. Some of you missed out or entered a few hours late.
Hopefully 2 days is enough to give most of you a chance to enter this contest. I don’t want to advertise the contest ahead of time because my regular readers will miss out on their chances to win. The contest details are listed below. Goodluck everyone!!
Details: This contest will last for 48 hours. It will end on May 6th at 12:00pm(noon) eastern time.
To enter the contest; comment on this blog post.
I will pick a winner the old fashioned way. All names will go in to a hat and I will have a friend (not involved with contest) pull the lucky winner. I will Congratulate the winner on May 6th in a blog post.
The winner of the contest will get the following:
Winner receives-
Both of my e-guides. The Home Drop Ship Guide and The Auction Power Guide
**3 Months of Tutoring From Me!**
My help will include research that you can’t do on your own. (Finding Wholesalers/Drop shippers/Hot items/Explaining the tricks and tips/anything you need)
Any questions you have will be answered so you head in the right direction.
Special Note: The subject matter doesn’t have to apply to my e-books. I can teach you how to buy wholesale, drop ship, market and advertise, affiliate marketing, build/host your own website, make money by writing your own e-books, blogging, anything that has to do with home business online.
No e-book can tell you everything you need to know. That’s why my e-books are sold with tutoring along the way. I can back up what I say. I don’t just sell you an e-book. I help you, until you are ready to do things on your own.
Thanks for entering the contest everyone! Good luck!
Note: Don’t be alarmed if you don’t see your comment right away. I have to approve it. Don’t worry, all comments to enter the contest will be approved.
If you have any questions, email me LP@thehomedropshipguide.com
Hi everyone, I hope your weekend is going great. Today I am going to post a great success story from someone who bought one of my E-Guides a few months back. He told me about his success, so I asked him to write about it for my blog. His name is Bobby Tulley and I hope you enjoy it.
My name is Bob Tulley.I live in Tampa Florida.I am 42 years old.
All I can say is Thank you Lisa.4 Months ago I bought your ebook.
I wasnt expecting much cause the price was under 50 dollars.
When you said you would teach me for 3 months if I bought your book
I was very skeptical.I bought ebooks in the past for a hundred dollars
or more & ended up with nonsense & garbage.You helped me more in 3
months than any ebook I bought.4 months since I
bought your ebook and I have a website with really good traffic.My
website didnt get 20 hits a day.
Now my website gets over 500 hits a day
thanks to you. I finally get a steady flow of sales.
I usually get 3-10 affiliate sales each week.The results keep getting
better as time goes by.Business consulation companies
charge 10X’s more than you & do half the work.I know cause I
been down that route before.
What a huge difference from the methods I used before to make money.I went
from making about 30 dollars a day to over 400 hundred dollars a day.
You not only taught me how to buy & sell wholesale.You also
taught me how to bring traffic to my website.You taught me how to make
money from affiliate marketing with my website.My website gets steady business
everyday.I also make really good money on the marketplaces you showed me.
You answered everyone one of my
questions right away & helped me understand things I didnt know about.
You even found some great wholesale guys for me.
Your are sooo right about needing to ask questions.Like you say no ebook can tell
you everything you need to know.Having you as a cushion to help me
along was all I needed.Im not too sure about retiring early yet.
But I can see a great future for
my business & my family.Thank you soooo much lisa!I can only
say great things about your ebook & what you are doing.To think where
I would be if I found you a
long time ago.I make more money
online now than I ever have.Your ebooks are too
underpriced!
Congratulations Bobby, I knew you could do it!
Thanks for reading everyone. See you tomorrow.
Hi everyone, I hope everything is going well for you. Have you ever had an idea for a great product that you could make yourself? Lots of people have ideas like this. The problem is; most people don’t know how to distribute the product they make. This can be a huge problem. After you read this post, you will know everything you need to successfully promote your product.
It’s easier to make your own product than most people might think. Just think of things you are good at doing. When you make your own product you have an advantage. You set the standards for prices you can sell your product. You will have little to no competition. Your product will most likely be original and rare. Originality sells anything on the market. Consumers love to try new things. If you can come up with a product that people need, you could end up being a millionaire.
The first place you can distribute your product is auction or social marketplaces. This takes a lot of time but you will reach millions of customer right away. This can be the money that keeps you going until you are developed better. Ebay is a great place to start; but I would recommend staying away from ebay for now. Ebay can cost a lot of money to make only a little if you are unexperienced. You can find some great auction places that won’t cost you as much as ebay in my top 15 list of 2007-2008.
If you already have a website, put your product on your website. Get a good template or build a professional looking website. Now that you have a website, you have to do the most important thing. ADVERTISE AND MARKET your website and product. So many people make the mistake of just having a website without telling anyone about it. They think being in search engines are good enough.
Promote your product and website to social networks. Especially the ones that let you distribute articles about your product to your friends list. Facebook, technorati, digg, delicious, myspace, are some great places to make some friends. Try and make friends with people that have the same interests as you. Chances are they will be interested in your product as well.
Write some articles about your product and website. Submit articles to major article websites. These websites get millions of hits everyday. All of these people come to read original articles. Keep your articles original and catchy. Hopefully your product is catchy enough. You can write articles at various places around the internet for free. I wrote a post about some good article websites you can use here.
Make some friends in forums. Forums can bring you tons of traffic. There are millions of members to various forums out there. Don’t underestimate the power of a good forum. Make sure the forums you sign up for are related to your product/business. Don’t spam the forums with posts either. That will only get you kicked off or suspended. You want to actually make some friends there. Talk about various topics in the forum. Make sure the forum gives you the option to have a signature. The signature is how you will get people to your website/product. Put your website in the signature. Now, every time you leave a response or start a topic in the forum, people will see your website link and visit your website. Because the forum is related to the topic of your business/product, more people will buy your product. Don’t join forums if they don’t let you have a signature.
Submit your website to as many website directories as possible. Most website directories will let you submit your website for free. This can be a great way to bring in traffic but can take time to see results. Try and set up the keywords on your website. Put as many keywords as you can that relate to what your product is about. This way search engines will find content related to your business/product. This can be very effective if you get good at it.
Keep the content one your website updated. Update your website at least once a day. Only the newest content makes it to search engine front pages. If the content on your website is over a month old, you don’t stand a chance to make it on the front page of Google. The old style of search engines would have let you slide. But new updated search engines are optimized to find the new stuff first. Google is probably the most popular search engine out there. They don’t want their readers to find old content on the front page and in the number 1 position. Think about it.
Most of these techniques take time to see results. The results are too overwhelming to ignore. These techniques are very effective if you have time and dedication on your side. Any marketing firm charging you thousands of dollars will advertise the same way if you are lucky. Now you know how to advertise and market your product. Get to work!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me or leave a comment. Thanks for reading everyone!
Hi everyone, I hope your week is going well. Yesterday, I told you an update way to post pictures in your ebay auctions. Today, I will be telling you about ways to make your pictures sell your items better. This may be old news to some of you. Having effective and clear photographs can sell your items better, especially on ebay. Most of the tips I give you will help you take better pictures with more sales.
First off, no auction should be without a gallery picture. A gallery picture is the little picture next to the title on the category screen. The customer can see your product before they even click onto the auction. A gallery photo attracts more people to click on your auction. I am not just saying that either. Through the years I have tested this and a gallery picture brings more than twice the traffic to your items, than an auction without a gallery picture.
Try and use a white or clean background for your picture. A white background is best. I have seen hardwood and clean countertops work well also. The clean or white background can really bring the best picture possible. A white or clean background for your picture makes it look more professional. It also avoids showing people your messy house, lol.
As I mentioned yesterday; host the picture yourself and use and HTML code to put unlimited pictures in your auctions. Adjust the size of each picture accordingly to fit your auction template. Try and place each picture in the text where it belongs. For instance, if you were selling a car and talking about the interior, post a picture of the interior where you are talking about it. It’s a little trick to keep people interested.
Make sure your pictures are the highest in quality. Even if your digital camera card is only 32mb. Crank up the graphics to the highest. If your camera has extra quality options, set them to max. Use that 32mb card to take pictures of each item you have. I used to get 16 pictures with a 32mb card full graphics. It may be different now.
Focus is another important factor that people seem to take in to account. Unless you have a top of the line digital camera, I suggest using manual focus. If the picture is out of focus or blurry the customer will be less likely to buy your item, compared to someone who has the same item with a clear picture. This is especially true for used items.
Unless you are drop shipping, always use your own picture. Don’t use pictures you find on the internet or manufacturer pictures. Some of them are copyrighted and you can get in to trouble.
Try and take the picture from a slight angle to show and control depth perception. Angled depth is more attractive to the eye than a straight on picture. Use 2 or 3 light sources or angles. Two lights from left and right seem to work best for me. Sunlight is a bad light source unless you are outside.
People like to know you have the item in hand. A good way to prove you have the item is to take a Picture with item and your ebay ID in front of it. I like to take a white piece of paper and write my auction ID on it. Then I stick the paper with my ebay ID in front of the item I am selling. This shows that I have the item in my possession. This is a new security measure I picked up a couple of years back. It kind of reassures the customer I really have the item. It came in handy when I had some Playstation 3’s last year.
Use these tips to make your pictures better. I guarantee that you will increase your sales if you aren’t already using these tips. Let me know if you have any questions.
Hi everyone, I hope your weekend went well. Today I am going to tell you about Vzaar. Vzaar is a free program that lets you add video of the product you are selling. This is great if you have to prove something is in working condition. It seems video has become a big part of our lives online. Having video footage of the product you are selling can skyrocket your sales.
Vzaar is not needed if you are selling a brand new product still in the package. But it works great for selling everything like cars and computers. I have been noticing a lot of sellers that specialize in selling used cars on ebay have been using Vzaar. I actually found Vzaar when I was car shopping on ebay a short while back.
Vzaar actually came up with a great idea to add video to your about me page. Social marketplaces are really starting to take over. Having a video on your about me page could make your profile seem more professional and trustworthy. They actually claim you will get a good sales increase by inserting video to your auctions and about me page. I can definitely see the advantage.
Think about how big of an advantage you have adding pictures to your auctions; compared to someone who doesn’t use pictures. It’s pretty much the same with video. You will have a huge technology advantage over your competition that isn’t using video.
My big thing through the years is to change with the times. Most businesses fail because they don’t change with technology. Use as much technology as you can. The best way to get the upper hand on your competition is to have more than they offer. Most companies won’t move on with the times and will fade away. Take your chances with any new technology that will make things easier or more customer friendly.
Vzaar is very user friendly. All you do is record the video you want with a camcorder, digital camera, or cell phone. Then you upload the video onto vzaar. Then you tell Vzaar what auction you want to put your video in your ebay account. It’s really that simple.
That big advantage I see having video over just photos is; You can prove that the used item you are selling is in good working order. In most cases the video speaks for itself and you don’t even have to read the description in the auction. You are making it easier for the customer to make a decision about buying from you.
Some people and companies have even taken their ebay charity auctions a step up in the right direction. Instead of typing out a long description of what the winner gets, they make a video and explain/show you what you are going to get if you are the winner of the auction. Videos in your auctions or websites could be a way of the future. I really see so many advantages to putting a video in your ebay auctions.
If you think you are going to use more than 30 videos a month, you will need to upgrade your free account. If the videos are helping you sell big money items, I would suggest upgrading to a premium account. Packages cost $10-$20 per month. This is not needed unless the videos are selling your products though.
You don’t need to use vzaar if you are selling plain, non-moving items. For example, you might not want to waste your video on an autograph picture. But, you might want to use video in your auctions to sell a used television or monitor while it is working. Vzaar is made to capture used items while in working condition. It’s a great idea. Give vzaar a try it’s free to use.
Thanks for reading my blog everyone.
Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. Recently, someone asked me if they should have their own website. They went on to me that they didn’t see the benefits of having a website, since they already have an ebay store. I am not going to tell anyone not to have an ebay store. But never limit yourself to that ebay store. You are at a disadvantage by having a store on some else’s domain.
If you own your own website and domain name you will be under control of everything you can do. There will be no limitations to what you can do on your own website. As long as you stay within your host’s rules, you can do virtually anything with your own website. You are not allowed to advertise or make money with affiliate marketing on your ebay store. But, with your own website you can advertise, use affiliate marketing, ad paid links, anything you want. You can make some great money on your own website, without just selling the merchandise you offer.
If you have your own website, you can choose your domain name. If your business is called Joes donuts; You can see if joesdonuts.com is available. If it’s not available, you have lots of other choices (joedonuts.net, .org, .us, .biz, lots more). Some people even get creative and add a 0 to all the letter o’s. It’s always a good idea to get the same domain name as your business name. This way, if someone wants to find your business; tell them joesdonuts.com & “replace the o’s with zeros”. It’s a new trend that has caught on in the Ebonics era.
You can change the look and feel with your own domain. You can have the freedom to use a website template or build your own website. If you don’t know how to build a website, you can find free website templates all around the internet. Or you can find a good web designer to build you a customer website to fit your business. You don’t have to worry about auction fees. You can list as many items on your website as you want for free. Most hosts charge you by the month. The average monthly fee is $4.99 for bottom end. About $49.99 a month for really good service.
I recommend using godaddy or yahoo for your host. Godaddy is my favorite because they are cheaper. I pay $52.00 for the entire year on each of my websites. You need some ftp uploading experience to use godaddy. I would say you have to be a novice to advanced to go with godaddy as your host. If you have ever uploaded anything you should be okay. Godaddy offers some great customer service if you get stuck. Plus they have some good tutorials if you are unsure about anything. Another thing I like about godaddy is; you can choose a Linux or Windows based host. I have been using godaddy for a while now and couldn’t be happier with them. Believe me; I have tried just about everyone out there.
Another host I recommend is yahoo. Yahoo is $29.00 and up per month for web hosting. Every once and a while you can catch a discounted price. When I used yahoo, they gave me the first 3 months for $19.99 and $39.99 each month after that. They have a beginner based system. You don’t need any web design experience to have a yahoo merchant account. They make it pretty easy to create your own customer website. They even give you a yahoo web builder tool that lets you build websites with Photoshop quality. The customer service was okay. I seemed to get bounced around if I called or emailed them about a question or problem I had. I am a bugger about customer service. And yahoo didn’t impress me much in that department. But, all in all they offer a great service and better than most of the competition out there.
Ebay won’t be around forever. If they aren’t around anymore, you will need an immediate back-up plan. But if you already have a well established website, you won’t need to worry. It can take 6 months to a year in order to receive consistent traffic and sales to your website. If you start building now, you won’t have to worry about rushing in to building a website in a frenzied panic later. Don’t put all your eggs in to one basket. Expand your business all over the net, not just on ebay. The more places you sell, the more sales you will make. Don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise.
I recommend having your own website domain over some free website also. If you have a free website, you will be stuck with unwanted advertisements and limitations to what you can do. You may be stuck with a web domain name that has nothing to do with your business name (joeshmoesfreewebsitehosting.joesdonuts.com). Another problem with a free website is the size of your domain name. Chances are your domain will be too big for anyone to remember and re-visit. Free websites bring little to no sales because they look very unprofessional.
The only down side to having a website is; all the time you have to dedicate to bring traffic. Advertising is very important when you have a website. You can find out how to advertise your website on a blog post I made here. Those techniques are the same ways that any marketing company would market your business for money. It’s very time consuming to launch an advertising campaign for your website. It’s really easy, but takes a ton of time out of your life. You could hire someone to market your website. But, that can cost thousands of dollars. I look at it this way; I know what those companies are going to do in order to market my website. So, I use those techniques and save myself thousands of dollars.
If anyone has any questions at all, feel free to email me. Thanks for reading and see you all tomorrow.
Hi everyone, today I will be giving you some useful information to steer away from ebay and their high prices. I have not fully jumped the ebay bandwagon yet, but it’s about that time. I will probably always sell on ebay. Recently, I have been selling on other auction websites for experimental purposes. Because of ebay’s recent strict rule changes and price hikes, some really good auction marketplaces have popped up all over.
I tested all the auctions marketplaces I will tell you about in my top 15 list. They are some really good auction websites that actually have traffic and a really good sales to listing ratio. A few of them bring in more traffic than ebay in certain times of the year. Amazon and overstock have reported record numbers in November and December 2007. Amazon reported more sales in the Christmas season of 2007 than ebay reported. That means people are starting to drift away from ebay more than ever.
Late last year I made a post relating to the auction marketplaces that were hot around that time. You can find that post here. I have to say, “even though those auction places are great”; the list I have for you in my next two posts, are WAY better in quality. In the past 8 months I have been experimenting with over 40 online auction marketplaces. I know, I will have a lot of happy readers after my 2 part post on top 15 auction marketplaces of 2007-08.
The auction places I tell you about in my list, are the very best out there right now. Although, none of them get the consitent traffic that ebay receives; they have a fantastic turn around ratio. And, all of their auction fees are either, free or VERY cheap! Many, actually have a huge chance of surpassing ebay’s warpath on the online auction world. Okay, here is the list that will change the way you do business online from now on.
Here is my list of the top 15 auction marketplaces of 2007-2008. Listed from best to worst. I will be ranking them on a five star scale. Five stars being the best and 1 star being the worst. Don’t worry the worst is still a great place to make money. I don’t want to bore you with a huge post. So this will be a two part series in a 2 day blog post.
1. Ebay (*****) - Ebay.com still belongs in top dog position. Although, I don’t make as much as I used to on ebay; I still make more on ebay than any other one auction marketplace. So Ebay definitely deserves slot number 1 on my list. Keep in mind, if I combine all the other auction marketplaces I use, except ebay, I make double of what I make on ebay. So I could survive if ebay were to leave my life today. The fact is, it doesn’t look too bright for ebay’s future in the online auction marketplace world. Especially, with all the new rule and fee changes. So many sellers like me are leaving if they haven’t left already. Also, all the new auction marketplaces are making an effort to rid ebay forever. Don’t underestimate ebay though. They still hold the crown in my book for top auction marketplace.
2. Overstock (*****) - Well, I give auctions.overstock.com 5 stars like ebay. I gave them 5 stars and number 2 slot because they are a goldmine. There isn’t much competition selling and there are millions of users buying. In a short amount of time, overstock has been making me some really good money. Not as much as ebay. But I am sure, if I put as many items on overstock as ebay; my sales may be more than ebay. Overstock has really impressed me. I have only been using them for about 3 months and the turn around ratio reminds me of the old ebay. I recommend overstock.com as your primary ebay alternative. The fees are very at overstock are very minimal compared to ebay.
3. webidz (*****) - Webidz.com beat out Amazon on my list because they bring in more sales for less money. Webidz is my little hidden treasure. This place also reminds me of the old ebay. And guess what? Webidz is free to list items! That’s another reason it beat out Amazon in my top 15 list. The traffic you get on webidz is great. There isn’t much competition as a seller. And there are more buyers than sellers, so you make good money. I recommend using webidz as your FREE ebay alternative.
4. Amazon (*****) - Amazon really deserves the top 5 in my list of best auction places. In my honest opinion; I think Amazon will eventually take ebay’s place or they will become a lot bigger than ebay someday. Amazon has been ebay’s close competition this past year. In the Christmas season of 2007, Amazon beat out ebay’s reported sales volume. In fact, Amazon destroyed ebay’s sales numbers almost 2-1 during the winter season of 2007! That goes to show how much potential Amazon has to take over the auction marketplace. The money you make there isn’t too shabby either. Give them a try if you are thinking about an ebay alternative.
5. Onlineauction (****) - Onlineauction.com is another great ebay alternative. They get tons of traffic and a majority of the items you list, sell. They even have a deal right now. If you sign up, you will be considered a founding member and you receive a free e-commerce website through them. Hey, it’s free and it’s a great deal. Don’t pass it up. Expand away from ebay. Give onlineauction a try. They have a very small monthly fee and you can list unlimited auctions! Onlineauctions rightfully deserves the top 5 in my top auction marketplaces list. You can make great money there!
6. Ebid (****) - Ebid.net is a HUGE auction marketplace. They are set up just like ebay. They have a different website for almost every country around the world. Just click onto your country and sign up. For instance; ebid’s USA website is us.ebid.net which brings you to only people in the USA. One of the best reasons I put ebid.net in the top 10 right under Amazon; They are free. If you open a store, all your listings will be free also. Plus you get a free T-shirt, lol. It might sound cheesy, but the sales you make on ebid are well worth using a free auction marketplace.
7. ioffer (****) - ioffer.com is another good ebay alternative. You can even transfer your ebay feedback onto your ioffer account. You don’t pay any listing fees. You only pay a small final value fee when your item sells. ioffer gives you a free ecommerce website storefront. ioffer makes it onto the top 15 of my list because the fees are very minimal in comparison with the money you make there. Even though ioffer gets really good traffic, they don’t get as much traffic compared to the first 6 in my list. But there are a lot more buyers than sellers on ioffer. And, as you know, with little selling competition and more buyers, you will sell more items. There is a reason they are in my top 15 list, with 4 out of 5 stars, check them out.
Tomorrow I will continue my list of great ebay alternatives. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Thanks for reading my blog everyone!
Hi all, I hope everything is going well. Most of you might already know how to get free shipping supplies. If any of you don’t know how to get shipping supplies for free, read on. You can get lots of items for free right from the post office. That’s right; the USPS will give you all kinds of shipping supplies for free. Items like; boxes, tape, bubble wrap, and custom address labels with your business name on them, lots more. Note: You have to call them to order the tape and bubble wrap.
If anyone here ships a lot of items, you know the post office is the cheapest way to ship anything. UPS, Fed-Ex, and other shipping companies charge more than the post office. They have a pick-up service, but so does the post office. The old advantage companies like UPS had over the post office, was, a pick-up service. But in recent years, the post office has made a comeback with a great pick-up service. You don’t even need to leave the house.
Companies like UPS still charged their customers for shipping supplies, up until a few years ago. They had to change things; the post office was taking their business away. In the past, You wouldn’t get any free shipping supplies from UPS or Fed-Ex, unless you are a huge corporate giant of a client. Even if you had a business account with UPS, they still charged you for your shipping supplies. All the postal services are in big competition right now. But overall, the post office will give you the best results for the best price every time.
Since I am a huge post office lover, I will give you the information you need for them first. In order to get free shipping supplies through the post office, you need to start shipping priority mail, if you don’t already. Don’t worry, priority is not expensive at all. It’s a couple of dollars more than first class, but the service and guarantee that your item arrives is well worth it. They even have a flat rate priority program that is great. Priority shipping through the post office is still cheaper than UPS or Fed-Ex’s prices. Make it a point to tell your customers you ship USPS priority. Most people know that priority shipping is a very reliable service through the post office. Another bonus about using the USPS; your item will always arrive and it won’t be broken on arrival like other postal services.
First visit the post office store here. Then click on flat rate or priority boxes to order your free shipping supplies. You can do it all online(create an account for “free”) or click the contact us link and order over the phone. Order as many boxes as you need. Get the bubble wrap and tape that you need. You can even have them put your business name and address on the address labels. All absolutely free! No more paying for boxes to ship your ebay items.
You can even set up a time for the post office to pick up your boxes. You can set a schedule up hourly, daily, weekly, whatever your schedule calls for. The post office has become very flexible, as they are in competition with UPS and a few other major postal couriers. I have been getting better service using the post office to ship my supplies than any other company. And I have tried them all. The post office is consistently better. I need to stress this point again. I have never seen a package “broken on arrival” from shipping through the post office. But “broken on arrival” has happened to me countless times using UPS or Fed-Ex to ship my items.
Still, a lot of people, and especially big companies and business use UPS. UPS now offers free shipping supplies to select services. So I will give you the scoop on how to receive free shipping supplies through UPS. You have to ship express or air to get free shipping supplies. I will remind you that; this service cost a lot more than USPS priority shipping service. That’s why I recommend using the post office for your free shipping supplies. It almost seems like UPS is making up for their free supplies in their shipping prices. So you don’t really get anything for free. If you are still interested in shipping through UPS; just visit the UPS store here. Just click on the express links to order your free shipping supplies. You can order right online(create an account) or you can call them. UPS will also put your business name and address on the address labels.
That’s how you get free shipping supplies. Stop paying for them today. Order your free stuff right now and save money. If you have any questions email me.
Thanks for reading my blog everyone!
Happy Monday everyone! Today, I will be answering a question someone asked me over the weekend. They asked me if affiliate programs work. You know, the ones that claim you can make thousands a day. The answer is; yes, these programs work. But, only for some people. People that are experienced at bringing large amounts of targeted traffic to websites usually prosper in this type of work. For every one affiliate that succeeds, one thousand others fail. Affiliate programs are not for everyone.
Although a majority of affiliate programs are legit, most of these programs are very misleading. They claim you can make thousands of dollars a month for doing absolutely nothing. This may be true, if you can place that affiliate program link on a website that gets thousands of hits everyday. If you don’t have a website that gets thousands of hits everyday all ready, then you would have to build one. It could take months or years to drive a marketing campaign and get thousands of visitors a day.
They make it sound very easy. You place the affiliate link onto your website. Someone visits your website and clicks onto the affiliate link. If they buy something, you get an affiliate commission for each sale. No inventory, no overhead, no boss, no storage space needed. It sounds very easy. And it is very easy. Only if you know how to market and advertise your affiliate website with the affiliate links. Or, if you have a website that already gets thousands of hits everyday.
Some programs even say you don’t need any customer service. WHAT? No matter what you do in the business world folks; you will always need customer service. Most programs go out of their way to hook you in to the program with big dollar amounts and fancy slogans. I tend to stay clear from these types of programs, as they are usually bad news.
Stay away from all the sketchy or questionable programs. If you feel uneasy about the program, don’t sign up for it. There are thousands of others out there that are very good programs. Try and sign up for major name affiliate programs. People tend to trust these programs more for obvious reasons. Try and find affiliate programs that you know will pay you well. You are not doing this for free. Lots or programs out there reward you with a very reasonable commission. Don’t be forced into small affiliate commission pay outs.
Make sure the program is suitable for your customers. Does the affiliate program offer them a good deal for a reasonable price? Remember, they clicked onto the affiliate program from your website. So you can be held accountable in your customer’s eyes. They may never return to your website if they get ripped off. Have you ever tried the product or program? Would you buy it? Scams are everywhere. Although something may seem legit, try and do extensive research on each of your affiliate programs you advertise. You don’t want to give your website a bad name by advertising scams to your customers.
Try not to combine other ad programs and affiliate advertisements on one website. Blending other ad programs onto an affiliate website never seems to blend in right. It usually makes the website look jumbled together with advertisements. I am still learning how to make a website look pretty with advertisements. All in all, it makes a great trial and error experiment. From my experiences, you get a very poor turn around rate if you combine other advertisement programs with affiliate programs on one webpage.
If you know how to drive traffic or have a website that already gets lots of traffic, you can be a big affiliate success. If you don’t know how to advertise or market, here is a post I made to bring targeted traffic to your website. Check it out here.
Having lots and lots of traffic coming to your affiliate webpages is very important. You won’t succeed in the affiliate world without lots of traffic. This is the heart of the operation when you are an affiliate marketer. Some people go to college for years to learn how to market or advertise. Other people have picked up on how to advertise and market right out of their homes. There are many different ways to market and advertise. My suggestion to you is; change with the times. Find out what is new and working right now. Because, what worked 5 years ago to market and advertise wouldn’t work as well today.
Related content is another important factor on your affiliate website. Make sure the content on your website is somehow related to the affiliate programs you offer. If your website is about home business, you shouldn’t offer recipe or cooking affiliate programs. If your website is about home business, offer legit programs that help people make money. Offer some good e-book affiliate programs. Whatever the case may be; don’t steer away from the related content on your website.
Make your affiliate links blend in as much as you can. You want your affiliate program advertisements right in your customers face. But don’t over-do it. Sometimes less is more. You can put a picture link affiliate advertisement on your website. Or you can place just text link advertisement on the website. Sometimes text links have a better turn around.
If you are still interested in affiliate marketing, do your homework. Do lots of research. There are lots of programs out there. Take them for a test drive and see what works for you and your website. Everyone is different. Don’t expect to get the same results as the guy making thousands of dollars a month from affiliate marketing. But it is very possible if you keep working hard at it. Or you can ask me any questions you might have.
Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
Hi everyone, I hope things are going well for you. Have you tried expanding your business to Craigslist yet? I know this may be old news to most of you. Not everyone knows the advantages of craigslist yet. I have been experimenting with craigslist for a couple of years. I used to sell something here and there. The past year, Craigslist has become so popular, sales have shot through the roof. Now, I sell almost every item I post on craigslist.
The best advantage of Craigslist is; IT IS TOTALLY FREE. You don’t get charged any fees to list something. There are not final value fees cutting into your profit. You don’t have to worry about paying fees if your item doesn’t sell. Craigslist gets about the same traffic as myspace and yahoo. So sales are very good. Prices stay about as low as ebay prices.
You can find some really good deals on Craigslist also. If you want to buy on Craigslist to resell somewhere, you could make some really good money. Just to give you an example; not too long ago, I bought a used Dell XPS laptop for four hundred dollars on Craigslist and resold it on ebay for over eight hundred dollars.
Another thing I love about craigslist is: most of your customers are local. I use this to my advantage and sell my large items on Craigslist. I save big-time on shipping costs and so do my customers. Since you are local, it makes selling something in the same day you posted it a regular occurrence. Most items sell within the first hour or two of you posting it. If you are willing to ship the item, you can expand around craigslist and post in other city and state listings.
One more advantage that Craigslist holds above every marketplaces head is; Craigslist is usually first come first serve. That means, when you see something you like you can email that person to tell them you want it now. Most times, the seller(like my self) will leave their phone number. Just call the number and make arrangements to meet up and make the transaction. Or in a rare occasion the buyer will want you to ship the item. No more being outbid on a good deal.
For the most part, I definitely recommend Craigslist to sell your items. It has really turned around for the better in the past year or so. If you are thinking about expanding your business without the worry of spending money, then Craigslist is the place. Give it a try, it’s totally free.
Craigslist has given me something to do in my spare time. I find myself and friends taking short trips around town selling items from customers on Craigslist. I have 5 corner stores and 3 police precincts where I live and they make great meeting places. Being in the city has it’s advantages. Craigslist isn’t for everyone. Most people may be scarred to go and meet up with people they don’t know. Just try and be smart about it. Always meet in a public place where people are around.
If anyone has questions about Craigslist let me know. Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
Okay, now that you know what I mean about writing articles we can move on. Now, you are probably thinking, how do I combine clickbank and writing articles? Here is how you do it. Clickbank lets you promote any product they offer as long as you are a clickbank member. Just a reminder, it is absolutely free to become a clickbank member and promote clickbank products to get paid. All it costs is your time promoting the products.
Go to Clickbank marketplace and choose the products you would like to promote. Assuming you have signed up(free) for clickbank already, make sure you are signed in. Notice next to each product in the marketplace, you can see your designated affiliate link to promote the product with. Copy the link and save it somewhere. I will tell you why later.
Okay, now the writing part. Now go to one of the products homepages that you want to promote. Read about the product and get to know it. You are about to write an interesting article about this product. Do you think you can do it? It’s really easy once you start, believe me. Writing an article about someone else’s product is very easy. Just take information they give and tell everyone about it in your article. If you have tried the product, that is even better. You can be like me and only promote good products and services you have tried and recommend. If you can spice up your article without misrepresenting the product, then go for it(but you don’t need to). Simple is always better.
Now, remember that affiliate link you got on the Clickbank marketplace? You want to place the affiliate link at the bottom of your article. Now, post that article in as many places that will let you post your articles. The three places I told you about (ezine, goarticles, and idealmarketers)should be sufficient enough. They all get tons of traffic. But don’t let me stop you from posting it anywhere else.
The more places you post this article the more sales you will make. Clickbank gives you a commission for each product you sell for them. Try and sell the products that offer a 50% or higher commission per sale. Since most products sell for $50-$100 you should make some decent money.
Now, combine what I have told you and use it. Write articles for as many clickbank products as you can. Then post all your articles in every article submission website you want. If you advertise your articles you will make even more money. Advertise them everyday and you will be a professional affiliate in no time. It’s very possible and very easy to do. Working at home doesn’t feel so far away right now does it?
You can even send articles through social networks in an all out advertising campaign. You can find out how to advertise and market your articles in this blog post I made. http://thehomedropshipguide.com/blog/advertising-your-business-is-the-important-part/
Just remember, I tried to make this a brief post. If I didn’t explain something thoroughly enough, don’t be afraid to ask me. I have been doing very well with clickbank lately. I wouldn’t recommend it if it wasn’t working. And I don’t mind helping any of you. I know how tough it is to make extra money these days.
Thanks for reading my blog everyone. See you tomorrow.
Hi everyone, I hope you had a good weekend. Today, I am going to tell you how to make money with clickbank. Unless you have been asleep, I am sure you have heard of clickbank. Clickbank is a place where publishers can sell their books. It is also a place that you can make money from being an affiliate to promote ebooks of your choice. As you know, affiliate products are great to bring extra money into your website.
Clickbank.com is the worlds leading marketplace for digital products. Almost every ebook sold online has been sold through clickbank. It you have ever written an ebook, you could sell it on clickbank. I have 2 ebooks I have written, both which I sell through clickbank. All you do is sign up at clickbank.com and become a publisher. List your ebook landing page and thank you pages on clickbank. Every time someone purchases your ebook, they are brought to clickbanks checkout page. From there you can choose to pay by credit card, paypal, or echeck. Clickbank is a great way for anyone who likes to write ebooks to make money.
Publishers list all kinds of ebooks for sale on clickbank. All kinds of ebooks, from cooking books to how to make money ebooks. Clickbank is a great place to learn the ropes of being your own publisher and boss. Clickbank’s marketplace of ebooks has been known to help people retire and make a living at home. Everyone buys ebooks at one time or another. Information is like gold online. Especially if it is helping someone make money.
That’s fine, if you don’t like to write ebooks. You can make money on clickbank by becoming an affiliate to promote ebooks. You can actually sell the ebooks on on your own website for commission. Most sales on clickbank ebooks offer a 75% commission from each sale! Not bad for just being the middleman for a sale. Clickbank affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money on the web.
All you do is browse through clickbanks marketplace to find ebooks you would like to sell on your website. When you find the ebooks you want to sell, you list them on your website. Just put your affiliate link from the clickbank products onto your webpage. Then, when someone clicks the affiliate link on your website and purchases the ebook, you get a commission. Most ebooks on clickbank sell for $50-$100. At a seventy five percent commission on each book sold, you can see how much money there is to be made.
Clickbank is probably the best kept secret in the affiliate marketing world. Lots of affiliates know about clickbank. But, not many regular Joe’s know about clickbank. Clickbank is probably the best way to make money with your website by referring traffic. What can be better than making money from being a middleman and doing nothing except collecting checks? Signing up to be a clickbank affiliate is absolutely free. But, if you want to become a clickbank publisher also, you have to pay a one-time publisher fee of $49.95.
I have been using clickbank for about 5 months. They are a great service to sell your ebooks. And they are an even better service to make money from affiliate marketing. Give them a try if you are thinking about affiliate marketing on your website/s.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Thanks for reading. See you all tomorrow.