=========================================
Auction Strategists Newsletter
Brought to you by Jenni Hunt
www.jennihunt.com
In this newsletter:
=========================================
1. Using Small Reports In Your eBay Business
2. Heads Up:
– Listing Tips from Seller Sourcebook
– MyToyGuide – First time I’m doing this
3. How to subscribe or Change your subscription status
=========================================
=====================================
MONDAY MADNESS is TODAY!
Secrets To Profitable Auctions
for only $5 TODAY here…
I’m only offering a limited number
at this price – it is regularly $19.99
Learn more here:
http://jennihunt.com/blog/?p=20
=====================================
=====================================
1. Using Small Reports In Your eBay Business
=====================================
Lately we have been talking about driving traffic to your auctions (or website) through blogging… but, let’s take a step back and look at the big picture for a minute.
I’m going to make an assumption that the goal of eBay sellers is to bring in a profit (I know, it’s a stretch ;-). There are two types of sellers – those who are hobby sellers and those who are building a business. I’m going to focus on those who are interested in growing their business.
Okay – this might sound really simple… but, stay with me – sometimes it is good to realize how simple strategies really are.
How do you bring in money from selling on eBay?
There are a couple things you need…
First of all, you need to have a product to sell. You can sell your own product or someone elses… but, it is a must that you have ‘something’ to sell.
Secondly… to have a successful sale on eBay, you have to have a customer. Where does this customer come from? They come from the traffic or visitors that come to your auction listing… either through eBay or another link that directly goes to your listing. Every visitor to your site is a potential customer.
Thirdly… to grow your business outside of eBay (which I highly recommend – nothing like having all your eggs in one basket!), you must be growing a list of customers and/or potential customers.
All of the above are essential to growing your online business. Without a product, you can’t sell… and without traffic, you won’t have any visitors who might buy your product. And, how can you sell additional products (or follow-up on the product of the page visitors are looking at should they decide NOT to buy it) if you don’t get your website visitors to join a list? Or, what if something happened to eBay (or you wanted to walk away from eBay and move on to something else)? If you have a list you have been building, you won’t be as dependent on eBay.
The key to growing a list is to capture the email addresses and names of those visiting your auctions or website… but, people are very careful about who they give their email address to – and won’t offer it to you unless you have something of value to give them in exchange.
This is where the small reports come in…
You can use a small report that is about a topic your audience is interested in to entice people to join your mailing list and bid on your listings. It’s a win-win. They get great information and you are growing your business. See, when you have a list of visitors or customers that you are regularly communicating with, you are building relationships. And, once a relationship is built, there is trust. This means that when you promote a product or service, the people on your list will trust your opinion on it and likely make a purchase.
Let’s break this down a bit more… step-by-step…
STEP 1:
Create a small report that relates to products you are selling… something your audience would be interested in learning about. You don’t have to write this yourself… you can hire someone to write it for you… or you can pull a series of articles from somewhere like www.ezinearticles.com or www.ladypens.com and put them into your own report. Be sure to read the terms and conditions of these websites for doing such a thing. The report doesn’t have to be long… 5-7 pages is fine for something you are giving away.
EXAMPLE:
Let’s put together a quick report on pet care… let’s be more specific than that – dog care.
You could go to www.ezinearticles.com and click on ‘pets’ and then ‘dogs’. At the time of this writing there are 12075 articles under the ‘dogs’ category.
Right off the bat, there are 30 articles on the first page… I’m just going to pick 5 from that page since I don’t have a lot of time to browse.
I’m going to go with a ‘training’ theme… and here are the articles I would choose:
1. Tips to Stop Your Dog From Barking Incessantly by Janhavee Sahasrabuddhe
2. How to Potty Train a Dog – Potty Training Techniques That Work With Dogs of Any Age by Richard Cross Terris
3. Why Knowing Your Dog’s Body Language Can Help With Your Dog’s Training by Richard Cross Terris
4. Why It Is Always Better For the Owner to Self Train Their Own Dog by Baby Banik
5. How to Stop Dog From Biting – Simple Steps to Stopping Biting Once and For All by Richard Cross Terris
STEP 2:
Now that I have chosen the articles I’m going to use in my report – I just copy and paste them into a word document. Be sure to follow the rules of the site that you get the article from. Most require that you include an author ‘resource box’ at the end of each article to give each author appropriate recognition.
Format your word document so that it looks like a nice report. Add a title page with YOUR information and maybe a short summary of what is included in this short report.
Be sure to draw attention to YOUR auctions or website by including a link… in fact, you can add it to your footer so that it is on every page.
If you are a part of an affiliate program, you can even place your own ads for different products and services in the report… all while providing valuable content to your readers in the form of the articles that you didn’t have to write! 😉
STEP 3:
It’s time to convert to a pdf. There is a free program called pdf995 (www.pdf995.com) that allows you to convert a word document to a pdf so that others can view the report.
It is important to convert your report to a pdf because it is easier for your reader to read… but it also protects you. Even though the articles aren’t yours – this small report IS… and a pdf keeps anyone from being able to edit and redistribute (or at least makes it more difficult for them).
STEP 4:
It’s time to share!
Remember – the goal is to drive traffic to your listings and to capture email addresses in exchange for this report. The easiest way to do this is with an autoresponder service. I highly recommend aweber (http://www.jennihunt.com/recommends/aweber.htm)… Aweber provides a wizard where you can build a form to copy and paste onto your webpage (or about me page on eBay) that allows your visitors to leave their email address and name… they get added to a mailing list. You set it up so that the first email they receive in your mailing list is the report they are looking to get their hands on. Be sure to mention that they are joining your mailing list and that they should expect to hear from you regularly with tips and resources.
Promote your About Me page on each and every listing you have. You can link to your About Me page from your auction… be sure to take advantage of the traffic your auctions are getting to grow your own list.
Here are some other places to promote your report to help drive traffic to your listings…
– your email signature
– your forum signature for groups you are a part of (be sure to follow rules)
– comments on blogs
– your own blog
– write short 500 word articles that promote the report and submit to articles directories (like www.ezinearticles.com and www.ladypens.com)
– find newsletters or other people in the same niche who might be interested in giving your report away to their lists
– I could go on and on… get creative!
Enjoy!
Jenni Hunt
http://www.jennihunt.com
========================
2. Heads Up
========================
***HEADS**UP***
=================
Seller Sourcebook has provided me with some quick tips for listing auctions successfully… I’ll be running a series of them over the summer. Check out previous tips in the archives at www.jennihunt.com/blog
TIP #3: Mention the Flaws & Condition:
If your item has a flaw you gotta tell the potential buyer – no matter how much it may pain you to do so. I cannot even begin to tell you how many cruddy items I have bought off of eBay that I would have never purchased had I known about the flaws & condition. I have then had to go through the hassle of writing the seller and requesting a refund because the item was not as described.
Like getting negatives in your feedback? Not detailing flaws and misrepresenting the condition of an item is a sure way to get a negative from some buyers. Personally, I don’t give sellers negatives unless they refuse to correct the situation. Other buyers are not so kind and have no problem leaving a big fat negative.
Processing returns is also a hassle. You are out time, money and a lot of the times the shipping cost. Plus you have lost a repeat customer! The person is highly unlikely to purchase from you again; they will assume you always misrepresent your items. So, do yourself a favor and be upfront with your item descriptions.
To learn more about Seller Sourcebook AND get 10% off any service, visit: http://www.jennihunt.com/recommends/ssb.htm
use coupon code to save 10%: 5CCBC
=================
***HEADS**UP***
=================
I know times are tough right now… gas and food prices are through the roof! Well, hopefully this will help things out a bit.
For the first time I am offering a coupon to the public for any My TOy Guide subscription. Through August 15th, you can use the coupon code to save 33%.
Click here for your coupon code: www.mytoyguide.com
[NOTE: If you are considering selling toys this holiday season and think you are going to be interested in my Holiday Toy Guide – I’ll let you in on a little secret. My Toy Guide subscribers get a HUGE discount to the Holiday Toy Guide… I’ll just say that it is worth your while to sign up as a member of My Toy Guide now. ;-)]
=============================
Thank you for subscribing!
=============================
This email newsletter is never sent unsolicited.
The information we have on file from when you subscribed is:
Your name:
Your email:
Note: To change your name or email address please use the link at the very bottom of this email.
Please forward this newsletter in its entirety to your friends. Thanks for subscribing!
=====================
Copyright 2008 Jenni Hunt, www.jennihunt.com
You MAY reprint any of the articles in this newsletter for any purpose as long as no portion of the article is modified without permission.
* Please pass this newsletter on to a friend! *