Don't think video is important for eCommerce? Consider this:
14.6 Billion Videos were watched on YouTube last month.
102 Million Unique visitors on YouTube last month.
According to a US Department of Commerce report earlier this year, a little over a third of the USA DOES NOT regularly access the internet at all. So of those who actually do, more than 90% of them watch online videos.
Steven Nichols, CEO and Founder of OPVinc.com, will discuss how important video can be to even the smallest online seller and how to utilize this tool to the best advantage. Steven will give us the "low down" as well as the "how to" be successful using this eCommerce tool. So, whether you are a small store owner on a big site, have your own website, or own one of the big eCommerce venues, you don't want to miss this show!
Steven Nichols joins MetzyMom on SellerBuzz Radio Thursday, July 1, 2010 to help YOU learn how to use video to grow your business! Not in eCommerce? Doesn't matter! If you are a business owner, you need the information Steven is going to give us FOR FREE!
It all happens live, Thursday Night 7-1-10, at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69668
8:05 pm Eastern Time
7:05 pm Central Time
6:05 pm Mountain Time
5:05 pm Pacific Time
See You There!
Showing posts with label eCommerce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eCommerce. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
SellerBuzz Radio Welcomes Chris Fain for an hour of Antiquing and Collecibles Discussion
Interested in antiques and collectibles? SellerBuzz.com and SellerBuzz Radio Welcome Long Time Collector Chris Fain to the SellerBuzz Radio Podcast June 17, 2010.
Chris Fain, Founder and CEO of OnlineAuction.com, was on the SellerBuzz Radio Podcast a few months ago when he discussed OnlineAuction.com, but this Thursday night, he'll give everyone pointers and helpful hints on Collecting As A Hobby and Collecting As A Business!!! We'll discuss Where to Find Collectibles and Antiques, What to Look For, How to Price Them, How To List Them, and more!!!
Have Questions that you'd like to ask Chris about Collecting and Antiquing? Send them to me at MetzyMom@SellerBuzz.com and I'll see that they get answered!
It all happens this Thursday, June 17th at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69668 .
Times:
5:05 pm Pacific
6:05 pm Mountain
7:05 pm Central
8:05 pm Eastern
Send In Those Questions and Be At The Show To Hear The Answers!!!
Chris Fain, Founder and CEO of OnlineAuction.com, was on the SellerBuzz Radio Podcast a few months ago when he discussed OnlineAuction.com, but this Thursday night, he'll give everyone pointers and helpful hints on Collecting As A Hobby and Collecting As A Business!!! We'll discuss Where to Find Collectibles and Antiques, What to Look For, How to Price Them, How To List Them, and more!!!
Have Questions that you'd like to ask Chris about Collecting and Antiquing? Send them to me at MetzyMom@SellerBuzz.com and I'll see that they get answered!
It all happens this Thursday, June 17th at http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69668 .
Times:
5:05 pm Pacific
6:05 pm Mountain
7:05 pm Central
8:05 pm Eastern
Send In Those Questions and Be At The Show To Hear The Answers!!!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Paul O'Brien Visits SellerBuzz Radio for FUN!
MetzyMom and Paul O'Brien square off tonight as they discuss, dissect, and debate what's going on in eCommerce! One of the subjects on the table tonight? FaceBook Privacy Issues and how it pertains to eCommerce!
This should be a fun show!
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69668
5:05 Pacific
6:05 Mountain
7:05 Central
8:05 Eastern
See You There!
This should be a fun show!
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69668
5:05 Pacific
6:05 Mountain
7:05 Central
8:05 Eastern
See You There!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Usher Lieberman of TheFind.com on SellerBuzz Radio Tonight!
Are you selling your items for less than any other site and still not selling it? Tonight's SellerBuzz Radio show is for YOU!!!
Usher Lieberman of TheFind.com will discuss how YOU can compete head to head with eCommerce sellers on other venues!!!
Don't miss tonight's show!!!
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69668
5:05 pm Pacific Time
6:05 pm Mountain Time
7:05 pm Central Time
8:05 pm Eastern Time
See You There!!!
Usher Lieberman of TheFind.com will discuss how YOU can compete head to head with eCommerce sellers on other venues!!!
Don't miss tonight's show!!!
http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/69668
5:05 pm Pacific Time
6:05 pm Mountain Time
7:05 pm Central Time
8:05 pm Eastern Time
See You There!!!
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Have You Become Complacent When Listing?
This wonderful post is courtesy of www.fleapiratesplunder.blogspot.com
Have you been selling online for a while? Perhaps you started out on eBay, like I did. Oh boy, was that fun and easy! Five to ten years ago, all you had to do was put up a photograph and a description on eBay, (almost any item), and the odds were good that someone out there would see it and buy it. The economy was in a better place and people were spending. eBay's user base grew. Sellers were happy.
As the eCommerce world has evolved, and our economy has taken a turn for the worse, sellers are finding themselves with few options... change strategies or be left out in the cold. eBay isn't quite the selling venue it used to be, since they implemented regulations that cater to buyers whims, define what you sell, how you ship, what payment methods you accept, and add higher costs for the priviledge of selling there. Many sellers felt pressed to break out on their own, or join alternative auction sites, and let me tell you, old habits really are hard to break!
The habit I would like to discuss today is complacency. The definition of complacency is: contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions. Are you complacent in how you handle your online selling? Are you sticking to what you know, instead of reaching out to learn new ways to be successful? This article is intended to motivate you into finding new ways to enhance your online business. We're going to talk about The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza, but rest assured, these tips apply to any venue and any website.
The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza was developed with two goals in mind:
1.) To promote a sustained advertising campaign for OnlineAuction.com.
2.) To share search engine optimization tips between sellers.
I follow an interesting lady on Twitter. Her ID is TrumpAllCanada. She is a marketing representative for the Trump Network. (Not a bad job, eh?) Her posts are always motivational and/or inspirational, and I have enjoyed following her tremendously. This week, she quoted J Paul Getty, one of the first billionaires. I would rather have 1% of 100 peoples efforts than 100% of my own efforts. Take a moment to really let that sink in... is that not the absolute definition of teamwork? The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza is meant to be exactly that... a team effort!
To participate in the Extravaganza, you do not have to be a current user of social networking sites, like Twitter or Facebook. The members who are using those services will promote all the items in the Event, and you will see an increase in the amount of views your auctions are receiving. Both sites I mentioned are free, and while joining their community is entirely up to you, the Event offers you the opportunity to give them a try while there are other members available to mentor you, to join you, to support you, and to applaud your efforts.
The guidelines established for the Extravaganza are fairly simple. Adhering to each guideline also improves your chances for winning a great prize! There has been some confusion over why certain guidelines / tips have been included, so here is a brief explanation of what some of the more important guidelines will do for you. Remember, these tips can be used at any site.
1.) Use a keyword rich title, limiting yourself to 72 characters.
2.) Use the subtitle space, with a maximum of 50 characters, and be sure it contains keywords from your title.
3.) Use your title as the first wording in your description.
How is this important? Take a look at the graphics below. These are two examples of search engine results. Pay particular attention to what words are included in the results.
This example shows you how keywords in your title can improve the way in which people find your auction listing. The title of the auction is in blue, and is one of the ways search engines locate our items for buyers. The words below the title are directly taken from the description area. Having a title and subtitle with popular keywords is essential to helping buyers find you. Using your title and subtitle to start your description allows the search engine spiders to further determine relevancy and rank... it like getting a double bang for your buck!
In the next example, you should know that the subtitle was used to include keywords only. The subtitle was not sentence-based, nor was it included in the description. Subtitles are used primarily for the benefit of the search engine spiders, and because the subtitle corresponded to the keywords in the title and description, an optimal rank was achieved.
Both of the above examples are acceptable! It is the keywords, the title and the character count that matter. Thinking in terms of character counts, imagine if this seller had used a bunch of meaningless words in the title, (like LOOK! and WOW! and AMAZING!), taking it in upwards of 72 characters. Would the search engines have categorized the product correctly? Perhaps not, and to make matters worse, as a buyer, you would not get the full impact of what was being sold, so would you click through? Absolutely not.
In addition, today's sellers must understand that searching is entirely relative to the person who is making the search. In the first example above, one buyer may use the words Disney In The Picture Frame Mickey, where they would find that particular listing number 1 out of 119,000 results. Others might use Disney Frame Mickey Minnie, where this listing would be found in the second spot out of 58,000 results. Less specific buyers may only use the words Disney Picture Frame Mickey, where this listing would appear on page 6 out of 252,000 results. Those results change quite rapidly, too, as people are creating new pages with those same keywords and older, irrelevant pages are falling in rank. Your best bet is to write good content, include the keywords that will best match your item, and create backlinks, to show support for the item.
What is a backlink?
Backlinks are in-bound links, created when an outside website hosts a link pointing back to a particular item. For example, when you post an item to Twitter, the link you provide is a backlink. Think of each backlink as a popularity vote for your item. The more popular items get better search engine visibility, so place links everywhere you can! Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are a great way to develop backlinks.
Getting back to the Extravaganza guidelines...
4.) Use your exact title at the very end of your description.
Why? Because, at OLA, for example, the entire description box you find in the Sell Your Item form is considered as your description to the search engine spiders. Many sellers use this area to place wording about Shipping, Payment Options and Terms. You should place your title in the last paragraph because search engine spiders gather the most information from your first paragraph, (about 25 words), and your last paragraph, (also about 25 words). The middle, where you are doing the majority of your selling, and clarifying your terms, is skimmed over for keywords, but is not indexed as closely as the other two paragraphs... it's fluff. Putting that title back in at the end is a reaffirmation of your original wording, and stands to add relevancy to your keywords.
5.) In your description, be sure to include a link back to your store.
Another backlink? You bet! Only this time it links to your store, (or to your list of items, if you don't have a storefront). Once you get an interested buyer, placing a link to your other items makes it easy for them to continue shopping with you! For OLA members, that link looks like this, with your user-name in place of mine:
http://www.onlineauction.com/store/fleapirates
Lastly, 6.) Name your photos!
How? Basically, rename them once they are stored on your hard drive, and before you upload them to a hosting site, like Photobucket or OLA itself. For more information about how naming images can benefit you, please read this article, from one of my favorite SEO resources, Site-Reference.com.
All of the guidelines above have been tested by me and other sellers contributing to the Extravaganza. As stated earlier, these techniques are universal. Testing, for me, is a long process in which I create two similar listings, with differing attributes, and I monitor which one gets better search engine placement, traffic and a quicker sale. I highly suggest that you employ similar tactics to locate positive results of your own!
Use one or use them all... break that old complacency habit and start taking control of your search engine placement and traffic. There are certainly more tips to be found in the world of SEO, so please share with us if you have found a winner!
Don't forget to shop The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza, starting January 31st, 2010!
This wonderfully written post came from FleaPirates at FleaPiratesPlunder.blogspot.com
Have you been selling online for a while? Perhaps you started out on eBay, like I did. Oh boy, was that fun and easy! Five to ten years ago, all you had to do was put up a photograph and a description on eBay, (almost any item), and the odds were good that someone out there would see it and buy it. The economy was in a better place and people were spending. eBay's user base grew. Sellers were happy.As the eCommerce world has evolved, and our economy has taken a turn for the worse, sellers are finding themselves with few options... change strategies or be left out in the cold. eBay isn't quite the selling venue it used to be, since they implemented regulations that cater to buyers whims, define what you sell, how you ship, what payment methods you accept, and add higher costs for the priviledge of selling there. Many sellers felt pressed to break out on their own, or join alternative auction sites, and let me tell you, old habits really are hard to break!
The habit I would like to discuss today is complacency. The definition of complacency is: contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions. Are you complacent in how you handle your online selling? Are you sticking to what you know, instead of reaching out to learn new ways to be successful? This article is intended to motivate you into finding new ways to enhance your online business. We're going to talk about The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza, but rest assured, these tips apply to any venue and any website.
The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza was developed with two goals in mind:
1.) To promote a sustained advertising campaign for OnlineAuction.com.
2.) To share search engine optimization tips between sellers.
I follow an interesting lady on Twitter. Her ID is TrumpAllCanada. She is a marketing representative for the Trump Network. (Not a bad job, eh?) Her posts are always motivational and/or inspirational, and I have enjoyed following her tremendously. This week, she quoted J Paul Getty, one of the first billionaires. I would rather have 1% of 100 peoples efforts than 100% of my own efforts. Take a moment to really let that sink in... is that not the absolute definition of teamwork? The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza is meant to be exactly that... a team effort!
To participate in the Extravaganza, you do not have to be a current user of social networking sites, like Twitter or Facebook. The members who are using those services will promote all the items in the Event, and you will see an increase in the amount of views your auctions are receiving. Both sites I mentioned are free, and while joining their community is entirely up to you, the Event offers you the opportunity to give them a try while there are other members available to mentor you, to join you, to support you, and to applaud your efforts.
The guidelines established for the Extravaganza are fairly simple. Adhering to each guideline also improves your chances for winning a great prize! There has been some confusion over why certain guidelines / tips have been included, so here is a brief explanation of what some of the more important guidelines will do for you. Remember, these tips can be used at any site.
1.) Use a keyword rich title, limiting yourself to 72 characters.
2.) Use the subtitle space, with a maximum of 50 characters, and be sure it contains keywords from your title.
3.) Use your title as the first wording in your description.
How is this important? Take a look at the graphics below. These are two examples of search engine results. Pay particular attention to what words are included in the results.
This example shows you how keywords in your title can improve the way in which people find your auction listing. The title of the auction is in blue, and is one of the ways search engines locate our items for buyers. The words below the title are directly taken from the description area. Having a title and subtitle with popular keywords is essential to helping buyers find you. Using your title and subtitle to start your description allows the search engine spiders to further determine relevancy and rank... it like getting a double bang for your buck!
In the next example, you should know that the subtitle was used to include keywords only. The subtitle was not sentence-based, nor was it included in the description. Subtitles are used primarily for the benefit of the search engine spiders, and because the subtitle corresponded to the keywords in the title and description, an optimal rank was achieved.
Both of the above examples are acceptable! It is the keywords, the title and the character count that matter. Thinking in terms of character counts, imagine if this seller had used a bunch of meaningless words in the title, (like LOOK! and WOW! and AMAZING!), taking it in upwards of 72 characters. Would the search engines have categorized the product correctly? Perhaps not, and to make matters worse, as a buyer, you would not get the full impact of what was being sold, so would you click through? Absolutely not.
In addition, today's sellers must understand that searching is entirely relative to the person who is making the search. In the first example above, one buyer may use the words Disney In The Picture Frame Mickey, where they would find that particular listing number 1 out of 119,000 results. Others might use Disney Frame Mickey Minnie, where this listing would be found in the second spot out of 58,000 results. Less specific buyers may only use the words Disney Picture Frame Mickey, where this listing would appear on page 6 out of 252,000 results. Those results change quite rapidly, too, as people are creating new pages with those same keywords and older, irrelevant pages are falling in rank. Your best bet is to write good content, include the keywords that will best match your item, and create backlinks, to show support for the item.
What is a backlink?
Backlinks are in-bound links, created when an outside website hosts a link pointing back to a particular item. For example, when you post an item to Twitter, the link you provide is a backlink. Think of each backlink as a popularity vote for your item. The more popular items get better search engine visibility, so place links everywhere you can! Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and blogs are a great way to develop backlinks.
Getting back to the Extravaganza guidelines...
4.) Use your exact title at the very end of your description.
Why? Because, at OLA, for example, the entire description box you find in the Sell Your Item form is considered as your description to the search engine spiders. Many sellers use this area to place wording about Shipping, Payment Options and Terms. You should place your title in the last paragraph because search engine spiders gather the most information from your first paragraph, (about 25 words), and your last paragraph, (also about 25 words). The middle, where you are doing the majority of your selling, and clarifying your terms, is skimmed over for keywords, but is not indexed as closely as the other two paragraphs... it's fluff. Putting that title back in at the end is a reaffirmation of your original wording, and stands to add relevancy to your keywords.
5.) In your description, be sure to include a link back to your store.
Another backlink? You bet! Only this time it links to your store, (or to your list of items, if you don't have a storefront). Once you get an interested buyer, placing a link to your other items makes it easy for them to continue shopping with you! For OLA members, that link looks like this, with your user-name in place of mine:
http://www.onlineauction.com/store/fleapirates
Lastly, 6.) Name your photos!
How? Basically, rename them once they are stored on your hard drive, and before you upload them to a hosting site, like Photobucket or OLA itself. For more information about how naming images can benefit you, please read this article, from one of my favorite SEO resources, Site-Reference.com.
All of the guidelines above have been tested by me and other sellers contributing to the Extravaganza. As stated earlier, these techniques are universal. Testing, for me, is a long process in which I create two similar listings, with differing attributes, and I monitor which one gets better search engine placement, traffic and a quicker sale. I highly suggest that you employ similar tactics to locate positive results of your own!
Use one or use them all... break that old complacency habit and start taking control of your search engine placement and traffic. There are certainly more tips to be found in the world of SEO, so please share with us if you have found a winner!
Don't forget to shop The OLA Six Week Stimulus Extravaganza, starting January 31st, 2010!
This wonderfully written post came from FleaPirates at FleaPiratesPlunder.blogspot.com
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Have You Heard About SellerBuzz.com?
Have you heard about SellerBuzz.com? It debuts the week of November 12, 2009, but you can get a sneak peak right now!!! Looking to start a homebased eCommerce business? Looking to become more than a casual seller? Looking to take your current eCommerce business to the next level? SellerBuzz may be for you!
Click here to visit SELLERBUZZ!
I invite all sellers, regardless of what site you sell on, to visit SellerBuzz and be with us from the beginning!
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Click here to visit SELLERBUZZ!
I invite all sellers, regardless of what site you sell on, to visit SellerBuzz and be with us from the beginning!
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Saturday, August 22, 2009
More about the New Canonical Tag system
Making Use Of The New Canonical Tag Within eCommerce SEO
By Craig Smith
Earlier this year, search engine representatives across all three main search engines, released a statement to announce a uniform method for reducing duplicate content. All three (Google, Bing, Yahoo) announced that they would embrace a "canonical" tag that would assist search engines in understanding primary URL's within a domain.
In ecommerce environments, where navigation paths can lead to as many as 15 URL's for a given product page, this development is a major step to better structure your site for optimal search engine optimization.
Essentially, this “canonical” tag, is included inside the HEAD of any HTML document. When properly leveraged, the tag is now the most effective way to reduce the negative impact that can happen when the same page is indexed multiple times under a variety of URL’s.
This tag is basically conveying to a search crawler, “Googlebot, this URL you are on isn’t the preferred page for this content, href=http://mysite.com/page1.html is.”
In talking to representatives within the engines as well as retailers alike, duplicate content is a paramount issue and this tag will definitely kickstart actions on both sides to improve website indexing.
Here's a real life example. You can have the following example variations for a fictional website:
www.mysite.com
mysite.com
www.mysite.com/
www.mysite.com/index.htm
mysite.com/index.htm
www.mysite.com/home.aspx
So which is the primary page? All of these pages can be indexed, but which version should an engine render?
You can try using 301 redirects to fix, but sometimes these are tough to generate depending on the sophistication of your CMS or eCommerce platform.
You could eliminate URL parameters such as session ID’s and tracking codes, but then you are losing data to help you gauge the impact of your marketing and do not really leverage your analytics optimally. In this situation, use the canonical tag!
How does this impact your SEO efforts? Unlike a 301 which redirects all web traffic, the canonical tag is an indicator for only engines which allows you to keep your existing url.
It will help engines in concentrating link equity into one primary URL, for a specific piece of content, as well as essentially tell them which page you want to have as the “authority” page...while at the same time, not affecting your visitors and their experience in any way.
Want some facts right from Google? Here are answers that they published in their webmaster central blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/canonical-link-element-presentation.html
From: Practical eCommerce: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/blogs/post/587-Making-use-of-the-new-Canonical-tag-within-eCommerce-SEO
By Craig Smith
Earlier this year, search engine representatives across all three main search engines, released a statement to announce a uniform method for reducing duplicate content. All three (Google, Bing, Yahoo) announced that they would embrace a "canonical" tag that would assist search engines in understanding primary URL's within a domain.
In ecommerce environments, where navigation paths can lead to as many as 15 URL's for a given product page, this development is a major step to better structure your site for optimal search engine optimization.
Essentially, this “canonical” tag, is included inside the HEAD of any HTML document. When properly leveraged, the tag is now the most effective way to reduce the negative impact that can happen when the same page is indexed multiple times under a variety of URL’s.
This tag is basically conveying to a search crawler, “Googlebot, this URL you are on isn’t the preferred page for this content, href=http://mysite.com/page1.html is.”
In talking to representatives within the engines as well as retailers alike, duplicate content is a paramount issue and this tag will definitely kickstart actions on both sides to improve website indexing.
Here's a real life example. You can have the following example variations for a fictional website:
www.mysite.com
mysite.com
www.mysite.com/
www.mysite.com/index.htm
mysite.com/index.htm
www.mysite.com/home.aspx
So which is the primary page? All of these pages can be indexed, but which version should an engine render?
You can try using 301 redirects to fix, but sometimes these are tough to generate depending on the sophistication of your CMS or eCommerce platform.
You could eliminate URL parameters such as session ID’s and tracking codes, but then you are losing data to help you gauge the impact of your marketing and do not really leverage your analytics optimally. In this situation, use the canonical tag!
How does this impact your SEO efforts? Unlike a 301 which redirects all web traffic, the canonical tag is an indicator for only engines which allows you to keep your existing url.
It will help engines in concentrating link equity into one primary URL, for a specific piece of content, as well as essentially tell them which page you want to have as the “authority” page...while at the same time, not affecting your visitors and their experience in any way.
Want some facts right from Google? Here are answers that they published in their webmaster central blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/02/canonical-link-element-presentation.html
From: Practical eCommerce: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/blogs/post/587-Making-use-of-the-new-Canonical-tag-within-eCommerce-SEO
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Awesome Discussion Going On At OnlineSellersUnited
As most of you know, I am a member of the discussion forum OnlineSellersUnited (no toxic drama or backbiting allowed). There is a very cool discussion (IMHO) about eCommerce business going on and I thought folks here might be interested in checking it out. To give you an idea of the discussion, here is what I just posted in response to another member:
One line really sticks out in your post: "This is my product - am I investing the proper amount of time in it's full potential for marketing it?"
I would add the word Business... not just Product. I think that people still think they should be able to list it and sell it. It doesn't work that way as a rule... at least not any more. With the economy, the competition, and savvy buyers (to name a few blocks the eCommerce business owner today has to contend with), sellers have to become savvy enough not just to list, they have to become savvy enough to stay ahead... it's more than just 'product'. It's 'business'.
I agree with you that the days are over of finding it at the thrift store or garage sale for a quarter and then selling it for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. It still happens, but rarely. It's a shame too... lol...
As customers become more savvy today, business owners have to stay ahead of them. I think each business owner has to:
1. Figure out their business. What product are you going to sell or produce. Believe in your product or service. I find that the more I believe in the product, the easier it is to sell.
2. Research that product or service so that they know it inside and out. When I first sold on eBay, I sold used audio books. I knew nothing about them other than I enjoyed them. I did alright, but I didn't do all that well. Later, I sold hats. When my family inherited about 2000 hats, I knew very little about hats other than I enjoyed wearing them. I couldn't sell them at eBay to save my life... at first... I did some researching and little by little I became a bit of an expert. The more I learned, the better my listings were. The better my listings were, the more I sold. Even though I seldom sell hats now, and never at eBay, one of the guides I wrote is still one of the most popular guides at eBay (Purchasing and Caring for Just About Any Hat). It's a cheesy little piece, but the info is correct, easy to understand, and effective because I did my research.
3. Know your target audience. This is a part of a business plan that many skip over. The fact is that you have to know who your customers are. You also have to follow trends that affect your average customers, like them being able to shop using their PDA's and Cell Phones... lol... For instance, I sell homemade Goat's Milk Soap. My average customer is between the ages of 25 and 55. They're working class. They've got a 'green' streak and are concious of the earth. The try to use organic and/or natural products but cost and convenience is a problem in most cases. My average customer is educated, but not overly so. OK... that sounds about right... BUT here is a bit more about my average customer: my average customer can order from a cellular device. My average customer uses text messaging. My average customer doesn't use an apostrophe when searching for Goat's Milk Soap... instead, because they use text messaging (on their cellular device, as well as in chat rooms, when tweeting, etc.), they search for goats milk soap. There's more, but in a nutshell, THAT is my customer.
4. Adjust your business practices to accomodate your average customer. Again, using my customer description from above, I could put my listing titles as Goat's Milk Soap, but considering that my 'average' customer doesn't search that way, I leave out the apostrophe. It makes my grammer incorrect, but that is how my 'average' or 'target' customer searches... so putting the apostrophe in just shows that I can spell and punctuate correctly... but my customers won't find me as easily... so I adjust.
5. What venue works best for their business. All sites don't work for all business owners. All sites don't work for all products... at least not any more. When eBay was the only game in town it did (overall), but with the emergence of 'niche' sites and the many choices of sites that cater to specific business owner needs and wants, eBay is no longer the only game in town. For instance, I could sell at Etsy, where all products are handmade. Etsy wouldn't have worked for my hats. You have to find what site works best and most efficiently for you and your business. Does that mean the sites you don't sell at are worthy of scathing reviews, threads, and posts? No. It means one site works better for YOU and YOUR business.
6. Eggs in One Basket? I say business owners (i.e. Sellers) should utilize whatever sites, and however many sites, they can professionally handle and work well for them. Chris Fain, of OnlineAuction.com, has always advocated this practice. It isn't that he is saying OnlineAuction.com won't work for you as a single site, he's saying (IMHO) that there is nothing wrong with branching out. It's what businesses do when they are able to. Think of it like this: If you opened a B&M store in Philadelphia, PA, would you never consider opening a store in Garden Grove, CA? If you did, and the Garden Grove, CA store was doing more business, would you automatically close the Philly store? Of course not. Different people shop in different places. On a smaller scale... let's say you open a store in the Westminster Mall (Westminster. CA), would you not consider opening a store in the Laguna Hills Mall (Laguna Beach, CA) because it is a competing mall? Or the nearby South Coast Plaza Mall? Hell No! You'd want your business in every possible place if you could manage it! THAT SAID... most 'casual sellers' cannot do multiple sites easily... especially if they are selling OOAK types of things... therefore they pick one, maybe two sites to sell on. The bottom line? Whatever you can manage without causing overdue stress on yourself... THAT is how many baskets you should spread your eggs in. I can manage two sites easily... 2 different 'malls' as it were. How funny is it that neither of the venues I sell at find anything wrong with a business owner running their own business by selling at another venue? One should never over-extend themselves (which is a mistake many have made, but most have learned from), but one should take advantage of everything (and every site) out there that works for them... to the degree that they are able.
7. SEO and SEM are crucial to YOU, not necessarily your venue. The days of sites doing YOUR advertising and promoting are fast coming to an end. Even when they say they are doing it, it doesn't mean it's for you... especially if they collect per sale from you. They are advertising THEIR business, catering to THEIR business bottom line... that you get something out of it is secondary (I don't mean that to sound like a diss to those sites who do SEO/SEM for their sites). Learn to do it yourself. It isn't hard... it doesn't take hours... it doesn't have to cost you a dime... Nobody has at much at stake in your business as you do... so no one is going to advertise your specific business like you would. Learn to do it yourself... even if your chosen site is doing it as well.
Gosh, I could go on and on... but I'll leave it at that for now... lol... and just say I absolutely agree with your post. Set YOUR goals for your product and your business. Do what works best for YOUR product and business as a whole. Research, learn, and execute what works best for YOUR product, business, and goals.
See the whole discussion: http://onlinesellersunited.com/viewtopic.php?p=6438#6438
One line really sticks out in your post: "This is my product - am I investing the proper amount of time in it's full potential for marketing it?"
I would add the word Business... not just Product. I think that people still think they should be able to list it and sell it. It doesn't work that way as a rule... at least not any more. With the economy, the competition, and savvy buyers (to name a few blocks the eCommerce business owner today has to contend with), sellers have to become savvy enough not just to list, they have to become savvy enough to stay ahead... it's more than just 'product'. It's 'business'.
I agree with you that the days are over of finding it at the thrift store or garage sale for a quarter and then selling it for hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. It still happens, but rarely. It's a shame too... lol...
As customers become more savvy today, business owners have to stay ahead of them. I think each business owner has to:
1. Figure out their business. What product are you going to sell or produce. Believe in your product or service. I find that the more I believe in the product, the easier it is to sell.
2. Research that product or service so that they know it inside and out. When I first sold on eBay, I sold used audio books. I knew nothing about them other than I enjoyed them. I did alright, but I didn't do all that well. Later, I sold hats. When my family inherited about 2000 hats, I knew very little about hats other than I enjoyed wearing them. I couldn't sell them at eBay to save my life... at first... I did some researching and little by little I became a bit of an expert. The more I learned, the better my listings were. The better my listings were, the more I sold. Even though I seldom sell hats now, and never at eBay, one of the guides I wrote is still one of the most popular guides at eBay (Purchasing and Caring for Just About Any Hat). It's a cheesy little piece, but the info is correct, easy to understand, and effective because I did my research.
3. Know your target audience. This is a part of a business plan that many skip over. The fact is that you have to know who your customers are. You also have to follow trends that affect your average customers, like them being able to shop using their PDA's and Cell Phones... lol... For instance, I sell homemade Goat's Milk Soap. My average customer is between the ages of 25 and 55. They're working class. They've got a 'green' streak and are concious of the earth. The try to use organic and/or natural products but cost and convenience is a problem in most cases. My average customer is educated, but not overly so. OK... that sounds about right... BUT here is a bit more about my average customer: my average customer can order from a cellular device. My average customer uses text messaging. My average customer doesn't use an apostrophe when searching for Goat's Milk Soap... instead, because they use text messaging (on their cellular device, as well as in chat rooms, when tweeting, etc.), they search for goats milk soap. There's more, but in a nutshell, THAT is my customer.
4. Adjust your business practices to accomodate your average customer. Again, using my customer description from above, I could put my listing titles as Goat's Milk Soap, but considering that my 'average' customer doesn't search that way, I leave out the apostrophe. It makes my grammer incorrect, but that is how my 'average' or 'target' customer searches... so putting the apostrophe in just shows that I can spell and punctuate correctly... but my customers won't find me as easily... so I adjust.
5. What venue works best for their business. All sites don't work for all business owners. All sites don't work for all products... at least not any more. When eBay was the only game in town it did (overall), but with the emergence of 'niche' sites and the many choices of sites that cater to specific business owner needs and wants, eBay is no longer the only game in town. For instance, I could sell at Etsy, where all products are handmade. Etsy wouldn't have worked for my hats. You have to find what site works best and most efficiently for you and your business. Does that mean the sites you don't sell at are worthy of scathing reviews, threads, and posts? No. It means one site works better for YOU and YOUR business.
6. Eggs in One Basket? I say business owners (i.e. Sellers) should utilize whatever sites, and however many sites, they can professionally handle and work well for them. Chris Fain, of OnlineAuction.com, has always advocated this practice. It isn't that he is saying OnlineAuction.com won't work for you as a single site, he's saying (IMHO) that there is nothing wrong with branching out. It's what businesses do when they are able to. Think of it like this: If you opened a B&M store in Philadelphia, PA, would you never consider opening a store in Garden Grove, CA? If you did, and the Garden Grove, CA store was doing more business, would you automatically close the Philly store? Of course not. Different people shop in different places. On a smaller scale... let's say you open a store in the Westminster Mall (Westminster. CA), would you not consider opening a store in the Laguna Hills Mall (Laguna Beach, CA) because it is a competing mall? Or the nearby South Coast Plaza Mall? Hell No! You'd want your business in every possible place if you could manage it! THAT SAID... most 'casual sellers' cannot do multiple sites easily... especially if they are selling OOAK types of things... therefore they pick one, maybe two sites to sell on. The bottom line? Whatever you can manage without causing overdue stress on yourself... THAT is how many baskets you should spread your eggs in. I can manage two sites easily... 2 different 'malls' as it were. How funny is it that neither of the venues I sell at find anything wrong with a business owner running their own business by selling at another venue? One should never over-extend themselves (which is a mistake many have made, but most have learned from), but one should take advantage of everything (and every site) out there that works for them... to the degree that they are able.
7. SEO and SEM are crucial to YOU, not necessarily your venue. The days of sites doing YOUR advertising and promoting are fast coming to an end. Even when they say they are doing it, it doesn't mean it's for you... especially if they collect per sale from you. They are advertising THEIR business, catering to THEIR business bottom line... that you get something out of it is secondary (I don't mean that to sound like a diss to those sites who do SEO/SEM for their sites). Learn to do it yourself. It isn't hard... it doesn't take hours... it doesn't have to cost you a dime... Nobody has at much at stake in your business as you do... so no one is going to advertise your specific business like you would. Learn to do it yourself... even if your chosen site is doing it as well.
Gosh, I could go on and on... but I'll leave it at that for now... lol... and just say I absolutely agree with your post. Set YOUR goals for your product and your business. Do what works best for YOUR product and business as a whole. Research, learn, and execute what works best for YOUR product, business, and goals.
See the whole discussion: http://onlinesellersunited.com/viewtopic.php?p=6438#6438
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