One of the main benefits of selling items on
eBay is that you can start making a profit simply by listing your first few
items. eBay attracts so much traffic that you don’t need to work hard at
finding other traffic streams if you don’t want to. You can start to make a
name for yourself by focusing on good quality listings.
However you can sell even more if you do
decide to put some effort into marketing. Many eBay sellers don’t do this, so
if you focus on using just a few cheap methods of marketing your goods, you
will get ahead of the competition.
Here are some of the best ones you can use
if you want to find more traffic.
Use regular low priced
auctions to complement your Buy It Now Items
Many sellers opt for Buy It Now items to
keep sales coming in and to encourage people to buy straightaway. But people
still enjoy getting a bargain.
An easy way to increase traffic and interest
in your store is to look through your inventory and pick out a few items you
can put on a 99p auction. This will generate traffic from within eBay. It has a
twofold benefit:
- Some of the bidders may explore the rest of your store and buy
other items
- You will be able to use the auctions as a loss leader, giving
people opportunities to buy your best selling lines at a cheaper price.
This second point is worth considering. For
example you may sell a gadget for £20 but you decide to put one on auction for
99p. Lots of people may bid on it to try and get it cheaper. If they lose they
may end up getting the £20 gadget on Buy It Now anyway. Whatever price the
auctioned gadget goes for, you will end up with plenty more people looking
around your store.
Create and send a regular
store newsletter
Every eBay store owner can send a newsletter
and it’s an easy way of reminding customers you’re there. Use it to announce
new products, seasonal discounts and perhaps even special offers just for your
previous customers.
You have to remind people you exist if you
want lots of repeat business. The newsletter is an excellent way to do so. Once
a month is often the best frequency for sending out your newsletter; weekly is
a possibility but it can be too often for some people.
Create a blog to help
promote new items and focus on your niche
You can buy a domain and hosting quite
cheaply in order to set up your own blog. The domain should be the name of your
eBay shop. It’s best to have your own blog because there is no chance of a free
blog host getting rid of your blog if they feel you have contravened their
rules and regulations. Since you are effectively promoting your eBay shop you
would be doing this.
Write about your eBay niche – which could be
anything from selling toys to postcards and right through to spare car parts.
You can also add a blog post every time you decide to add a new listing or
start a new auction. It will take time for your blog to gain followers and
traffic, but it’s worth the effort. Don’t forget to advertise your blog on your
shop newsletter and on the courtesy slip you put in with every order.
Use social media site
profiles to build a following
Choose two or three social media sites you
would like to join. Set up a profile with each one and keep it up to date with
the events happening in your eBay shop. Start connecting with people and give
them a reason to follow you and support you.
For example, don’t simply link to all your
auctions and Buy It Now listings. Provide useful information that tells people
about your store and what you sell. For example if you sell wooden toys,
provide ten snippets of information that explain why wooden toys are so
popular. You could tweet each one separately on Twitter, or write a blog post
about it and then link to it from each social media site. As you can see, many
of these low cost and free marketing ideas can be interlinked, making them more
powerful.
Don’t discount signatures!
Signatures can be helpful in driving traffic
too. You can set up a click-able signature to appear on every outgoing email to
generate interest and click through to your shop.
Another good way of using signatures is to
participate in blogs and forums that are related to the items you sell. If you
sell car parts, take part in car related forums and find relevant blog posts to
comment on. If you sell gadgets, find similarly themed blogs and forums on that
topic instead.
This has a twofold benefit. Firstly your
shop will rank higher in the search engines if there are more links pointing to
it. Secondly you are bound to get more traffic and sales as people click
through to find out what you sell. Be sure you always link to the home page of
your shop, as this is the URL that will never change. Furthermore you should
always ensure you have something worthwhile to say. Don’t just pick blog posts
at random to comment on. Make sure you read them and have something valuable
you can add.
There are many more ways to promote your
eBay shop without spending a fortune to do it. But these five suggestions are
the best ones to get started with. One of the most important things to remember
is to ensure that you put some regular effort into all these methods. It is
only by regularly commenting on other blogs, adding your signature to outgoing
emails, posting updates to your social media profile and so on that you will reap
the benefits. You will then see the rewards in more sales and higher profits.
Thanks,
Eles Team
