Ambitious Sales Drive

[CrowlasCrafts]

Well I have searched all 87 pages on google for handmade cards and I didn't see my listing or anyone elses from ebid - although I did see a few for e*ay! Humm!

Where do I go from here!

I am going to try and reword my listings and see if that makes a difference and I'll do some research on those at the top of the list!!

[nykmedia]

Well I have searched all 87 pages on google for handmade cards and I didn't see my listing or anyone elses from ebid - although I did see a few for e*ay! Humm!

Where do I go from here!

I am going to try and reword my listings and see if that makes a difference and I'll do some research on those at the top of the list!!

If you were looking for a unique card for a particular occasion, how would YOU search for it?

I would tend to use the following:

Hand made greetings card, birthday

or

Handmade birthday card, daughter (or son, father, mother, niece, nephew, get well, sympathy, congratulations etc, etc, etc.)

or

Handmade christmas cards

or

Handmade gift card

ets, etc, etc...

[CrowlasCrafts]

I see your point - I was just wondering how others get to the top of the listings. One of those very near the top - 2nd I think - is actually someone else who is living in Cornwall.

Anyway thanks for your advice - I will see what I can do!

[kedo]

Hello Nykmedia, I'd really appreciate an answer to my earlier question (a page or two back, if you have a moment).

In addition it occurs to me I'm being a bit thick. If a lot of people are looking at my stuff because it's mentioned in search engine results then I need a very obvious link on each auction page to the sign up to ebid page. If theres an obvious link I'm more likely to sell (something like 'sign up to ebid here, it's easy and takes 10 seconds or whatever), plus I'd get some buddy points.

[*artsbanquet*]

Doesn't Google offer a service whereby you can pay to have your listing at the top?

I would probably search for - Grandmother birthday handmade card

or seaview birthday card (if I was looking for a view of the sea)

or 21st Birthday handmade card UK

[*artsbanquet*]

In addition it occurs to me I'm being a bit thick. If a lot of people are looking at my stuff because it's mentioned in search engine results then I need a very obvious link on each auction page to the sign up to ebid page. If theres an obvious link I'm more likely to sell (something like 'sign up to ebid here, it's easy and takes 10 seconds or whatever), plus I'd get some buddy points.

That's true. Every Ebid seller should have a sign-up link on each of their auctions. The easier we make it for people to buy, the higher the chance they will.

[nykmedia]

You're absolutely right. Very interesting stuff!

Re. your earlier post, strangely enough I always do include the auction title in the auction description. I also name the picture. I don't do it because I know anything about search engines, it's mostly just habit from my training in the past. It sounds like I've been doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

I suppose it would go some way towards accounting for the high hits rates I get on some of my items. For instance I managed to get a reasonable proportion of my antique prints of Sussex listed. There are around 100 now, all mentioning Sussex in the title, at least once in the description and once in the picture name. All these items have been getting disproportionately high hit rates. I was getting quite puzzled as to why in fact.

Hi Kedo,

I'm going to be updating all my listings as soon as I can just to experiment a little. The Google search engine updates very quickly on eBid - I'll be back with a further response very soon, trying something out first to see if it is possible to work out how fast it updates

[kedo]

Well I'm actually updating all my auctions now anyway (because of a problem with my pictures) so it makes sense to do something right away. If people come to my auction page direct from a set of search results they probably won't have heard of ebid. That's going to be the main stumbling block. If I want to convert more of the hits into sales I'm going to need some sort of reassuring message like - 'If you like this item and would like to buy it join ebid now. ebid works just like other auction sites and you can use Paypal and Google Checkout, join ebid HERE, (HERE being a clickable link) it's free!'. Can anyone think of a better way of phrasing it?

[nykmedia]

Well I'm actually updating all my auctions now anyway (because of a problem with my pictures) so it makes sense to do something right away. If people come to my auction page direct from a set of search results they probably won't have heard of ebid. That's going to be the main stumbling block. If I want to convert more of the hits into sales I'm going to need some sort of reassuring message like - 'If you like this item and would like to buy it join ebid now. ebid works just like other auction sites and you can use Paypal and Google Checkout, join ebid HERE, (HERE being a clickable link) it's free!'. Can anyone think of a better way of phrasing it?

Hi Kedo,

I know all of this seems like a great deal of work, but I really do believe sellers can benefit from in the long run. I like your wording, but would include, 'available to buy now' as well, so the ones who are averse to online auctions don't just disappear. Search engine traffic could be like the passing trade - they had no initial intention of visiting the shop, but something caught their eye (your listing in the (re)search engine). It needs to appear as simple and as quick as possible for potential buyers to get hold of what they have spotted.

For payment options, I'm going to try including as much information as possible and am now going to include a link to my 'about' page. I'm writing an entire introductory paragraph to include in all my future listings, along with the links to my other stores etc. I guess that means every single listing page appears as a mini-website.

There's another thread here somewhere about the use of eBid as a bolt-on, and that pretty much sums up how I look at it for now. It is a great opportunity to grow your own sales but you have almost the same amount of work to do as you would by having your own site to market in the first place. Benefits of being here are the increasing network of other sellers, ready made store facilities, invoicing, search engine submission and everything else that the eBid guys have already provided us with - joint marketing of individual stores is a must. I've said it before and I will keep saying it - not everyone enters the marketplace by the same entrance.

Now... I just need a phone line in at my new address so I can get online anytime!!!

[*artsbanquet*]

Here's a link to a helpful Google Tool. Check if your Ebid store or website is indexed by Google. I have found that my Ebid store with a domain name has fared far better than the Ebid store without a domain name.

https://www.google.com/accounts/Serv...%3Den_GB&nui=1