Secrets of the eBay

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CHAPTER 2: Establishing Your Identity: Your Mission and Your Web Presence 37 In Shiana’s case, there are several “front doors” to their business on the Web, and the various sites link to one another to boost traffic and present shoppers with different sales options. If you want to start your own successful PowerSeller business on eBay, you should also think about creating an About Me page, an eBay Store, and a web site. Chapter 10 discusses creating an eBay Store to attract customers, and Chapter 7 examines creating a business presence in multiple locations on eBay and the Web. When it comes to creating your own business web site, you need to follow a couple of “best practices,” as described next. Choose a Domain Name That’s Easy to Remember As I’m sure you’ll agree, the name “Shiana.com” is easy to remember because of its uniqueness. If you can choose a domain name that consists of a single word (or perhaps two words), that makes sense for your business, and that is not being used in the dot-com domain, you’re in an ideal situation. A domain name is an easy-to-remember alias for a location on the Internet. Instead of a computer address such as 202.144.55.2, or a long URL such as http://www.webhostingservice .com/~username/filename, a domain name is a short term that you purchase and assign (for example, shiana.com or ebay.com) so that people can find your web site more easily. Of course, it’s getting more and more difficult to find single words that can be translated to short domain names. You can create domain names in domains such as .biz and .net, but they don’t have the same “cachet” as one in the dot-com domain. Give some thought to a domain name and business name that are short and easy to remember. If the name has other meanings, so much the better. Pam Thien explains that the word “Shiana” is from a Japanese bonsai red-leaf maple. “It’s the rarest and one of the most difficult to grow of all the bonsai; we were told that if a person is able to grow a Shiana, they are able to conquer all other bonsai. My mom introduced us to the word when she told us bedtime stories. I decided to register ‘Shiana.com’ to constantly remind us that even if times are bad, we are growing a ‘Shiana’.” Create a Business Web Site Most of the PowerSellers I interviewed for this book have a business web site: a site that isn’t connected to eBay formally but that is hosted with another company. The site may have a link to the seller’s current auctions on eBay, but the site’s main purpose is to provide a way to sell directly to customers, without having to pay eBay’s fees. eBay provides an invaluable way for businesses to acquire customers, but once they develop loyalty through (continued)
38 Secrets of the eBay Millionaires eBay, savvy PowerSellers do everything they can to encourage buyers to make purchases from them directly. Once you have a domain name, you need to find a host for your web site, either through your own Internet Service Provider or through a full-time web hosting service such as webmasters.com. A good web site like Shiana.com’s contains a business logo, a sales catalog, and information about who you are and what you do. It’s the best way to establish your identity online and connect with customers who trust you and believe in what you’re doing almost as much as you do. You can find out more about creating a business web site in the books How to Do Everything with Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003, How to Do Everything with Dreamweaver MX, or Build Your Own Web Site, all published by McGraw-Hill/Osborne. Pam used an approach that’s common to many successful online businesses. She developed a simple but elegant design for Shiana.com, and applied the same “look and feel” to all three of its business sites: ● Its About Me page on eBay (http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/ shianallc) ● Its eBay Store (http://www.ebaystores.com/shiana-com) ● Its web page (http://www.shiana.com) Each web site presents a different “face” to a prospective customer. The About Me page (shown in Figure 2-4) is the same as the About the Seller page in Shiana’s eBay Store; it provides visitors with links to both the eBay Store and the web site. In terms of products for sale, the About Me page provides links to fixed-price items Shiana has for sale in the eBay Store. In terms of background and shipping information, the About Me page links to the Shiana.com web site. The simple-looking textual logo “Shiana,” the clean white page background, and the flower artwork in the background of the page are common to all three web sites. In contrast to other eBay businesses, Shiana finds that most of its customers make purchases through the eBay Store rather than the web site. “Our web site is secondary. It seems that our eBay sales market our web site rather than the web site marketing eBay sales.” Nevertheless, Pam spends a good deal of time making sure the Shiana .com web site contains useful content that will encourage shoppers to trust
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CHAPTER 4: Think and Act Like a Bus
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Chapter 5 Identify Sources of Merch
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put on eBay.” The difference betw
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“People Call Me to Say, ‘Are Yo
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een taken professionally come from
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Chapter 6 Reach the Widest Possible
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Search terms entered here CHAPTER 6
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his situation now: “I could eithe
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Lessons Learned in This Chapter ●
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Business name Abovethemall Seller n
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Comment Learning Point “Super fas
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Business name Blueberry Boutique Se
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place for buyers,” he comments.
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CHAPTER 9: Build a Good Reputation
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“Go on Discussion Boards and Real
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“I Had a Lot of Customers Already
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“I Can Walk a Hundred Yards to My
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“If One Person Leaves Me Negative
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Chapter 10 Acquire and Keep Your Cu
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CHAPTER 10: Acquire and Keep Your C
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● Gives them new reasons to visit
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Chapter 11 Automate to Ramp Up Sale
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markets within 15 miles of Charlott
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“We Are Plugged in Directly to eB
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CHAPTER 11: Automate to Ramp Up Sal
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Business name Jake’s Dog House Se
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company’s Marketplace Manager pac
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● Extensive customer service info
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“There really aren’t that many
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● Don’t purchase merchandise fr
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Appendix A Web Resources for PowerS
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Appendix A: Web Resources for Power
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There are no images, very little sp
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Appendix B Becoming an eBay Million
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Appendix B: Becoming an eBay Millio
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A About Me pages, 36, 37, 38, 79, 2
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customers abusive, 148-153 acquirin
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iSold It, 142 ISPs (Internet Servic
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information on, 232 motivation, 3,
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shoe business, 134-140 Shoetime, 13
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