Ambitious Sales Drive

[nykmedia]

Thanks for joining us Awevtrading, perhaps you could take a look at partsanthings thread and join us in some of the other online promotions? Every little helps and we are still a few short on the US side. Good luck on eBid and hope we'll see you back here again soon

[awevtrading]

Thanks for the greeting nyk media,
I will have a look around a bit later on. Just a couple ideas before I look elsewhere.

1) Write an article, and post it to your own web site or submit it to an article site, or better yet, do both - just don't submit it for general publication for a week or so to help make sure you are credited with the original and not just a copy cat (search engines penalizes if you don't have original content) . Remember to include a link near the bottom of the page so people can find out more info about you - and it adds another link pointing to your auction/store.

What to write about? Well, how do you decide on what to purchase to re-sell here? How can you tell if the item is first rate or trash? How do you manage the finances? Do you sell items that are part of a passion or hobby? Do you collect or trade/swap the items?

2) Create a blog. This is like a diary for every one to see. It can be rants and rages, or a bit of joyful news. You can talk about how much fun/trouble you had finding that one special item. Make sure when you mention the item, such as XYZ, that you have it as a link, so people can see it by visiting your site. This is where you can shamelessly plug your auctions/web site. Just use some tack in doing so.

3) Join a social site, like MySpace, or YouTube. This lets you network with other people with similar interest, and maybe create new customers. Don't forget to include a link to your website somewhere in your profile.

If you find something useful or helpful while visiting the sites leave some feedback, or post a comment. Guess what, you can work in another link to your site. An example would if you watched a video on how to preform cosmetic surgery on a chipped vase you could leave a comment something to this effect:

"After watching your video I was able to repair a vase that was returned by a customer. You can see how good [ u r l = "your.site.here"]the vase[ / u r l] turned out for yourself. "

You just slipped in a link with tack, and people will click on the link to see how good it actually looks. And you would use the proper code to create a link on the site where you are posting.

3) Something I forgot in my above post - your supplier/vendor can be a good source of info. If they are a major wholesaler for a manufacture then they may be able to provide you with marketing material and research developed by the producer of the item(s). They may be able to inform you of upcoming ad campaigns the company plans to run, or provide an advertising allowance so you can promote the item yourself. Your wholesaler should be interested in your company's good financial health, as you are his/her customer, and help keep the cash flowing up the line. If you go out of business then they lose another source of revenue, so check with them and see what they can provide you - even if it is nothing more than high quality photos and pre-printed fliers with a space for your address label/rubber stamp.

Now I need to practice what I preach. I do some of those things, just not everything as religiously as should (time, or lack of it).

[*artsbanquet*]

Hi awevtrading, a warm welcome and thanks for those excellent ideas. I will have to try them out!

[nykmedia]

Hi awevtrading, a warm welcome and thanks for those excellent ideas. I will have to try them out!

Hi arts, that was really polite and subtle ROFL

Hi awevtrading, all of your ideas are great, but if you get the time, please have a look around the forums to see what is already being done. If you are on MySpace, check out the eBid supporters, I think it was started by *artsbanquet* At least, I'm sure that's who invited me there

[alyak46141414]

It must be me I have an account on myspace and I don't really understand it much at all. Might be an age thing.

I do much better at Squidoo for some reason.

[CrowlasCrafts]

Excellent! £30 of free ads will do nicely, thank you very much. I opened my previous voucher and it was only offering £20! All I need to do now is work out keywords to try to grab the kind of buyers I'm looking for, hmm....

hi - how are you doing with your Adwords?

[kengillam]

I have Squidoo lenses and am also on MySpace but I can't say that it seems to have made a great deal of difference. Perhaps it requires more time than I have.

[nykmedia]

hi - how are you doing with your Adwords?

I haven't set up any adwords. After having a good look at the programme, I decided against it and am, instead, gradually updating my listings and website. When I do a search using any of the words that are relevant to me, the pages are almost all on the first page of the searches, so something is working without having to pay out any cash. I now also have the eBid search box (doesn't earn me any money but it's handy to have) and I have a Google search linked up to all my stores (courtesy of Jimbo's pointing me in the right direction.) This will gradually be updated to include all the stores of those participating in the Cyberdosh 2008 Challenge. As soon as the site and stores are completely updated, I'll probably set aside £x per month for front page listings on eBid but I do wish the boys would change the graphic on the front page. Comparing eBid to any number of other sites, the picture of the watch has outstayed its welcome, I think. It would be better if the graphic changed according to the time of year. For example, rather than have a watch, this month could have been a Halloween related image, then a bonfire image, followed by Christmad theme etc. It, at least, gives users the impression that the site is maintained on a regular basis. We all know that it is, but casual surfers landing on that front page have been seeing the same thing for quite some time now and, frankly, I find that boring.
OK, now I need to go change the front page of my own website, as it is equally boring and needs a new look / new graphic / new theme LOL

[HannaHolly]

NYK is there a thread anywhere relating to your cyberdosh 2008 challenge?

I did try searching your own site ( even joined your forum!) this morning and read about your earlier challenges- but couldn't find the specifics for the 2008 one.

[alyak46141414]

Haven't gotten any sales off them, but I did receive a lead for a lot of vintage parts that someone wanted to sell. Going to go an look at them next week. That came from my Squidoo lens