eBid Marketing Challenge!!

[BLOXBOOKS]

HelenAndGraham wrote some interesting things, I know from looking at a few sites related to various items and collectors type of items, these sites have some facts and basic bits and pieces that are of interest.....and a link to items they may have for sale at an online auction site. I think some times how much better some sites would be if they had more information, an archive of pictures, just an interesting place to look around (that relates to my original search), so anyway,RSS feeds, it minght be worth building a few specialised websites to use such a feed, people who have an interest and sell related items on eBid could maybe do some articles, over the months articles and a pictures archive would soon build into a place worth visiting. I read some place that google likes informative, attractive websites that are updated regular. ok this sort of idea is a low cost slow burner that can be sorted with an admistrator who has a few hours free over the week.

[HelenAndGraham]

HelenAndGraham wrote some interesting things, I know from looking at a few sites related to various items and collectors type of items, these sites have some facts and basic bits and pieces that are of interest.....and a link to items they may have for sale at an online auction site. I think some times how much better some sites would be if they had more information, an archive of pictures, just an interesting place to look around (that relates to my original search), so anyway,RSS feeds, it minght be worth building a few specialised websites to use such a feed, people who have an interest and sell related items on eBid could maybe do some articles, over the months articles and a pictures archive would soon build into a place worth visiting. I read some place that google likes informative, attractive websites that are updated regular. ok this sort of idea is a low cost slow burner that can be sorted with an admistrator who has a few hours free over the week.

You've hit the nail on the head here.

Imagine eBid, or someone contracted by eBid, created an 'eBidzine' type site? News and articles about various items of interest available on the site - updated daily - and, of course, those all important links to the listings etc.

RSS will enable such a site - once built - to be managed by one person utilising just a couple of hours a day. As time and content mature the Google ranking of the site should streadily increase meaning more and more visibility in search returns and so a virtuous circle develops.

I've no doubt Mark and Gazza could manage such a site 'in house' relatively cheaply by employing someone on a basic 16 hour part-time basis. But, albeit a great start, that will create just one site.

Alternatively they can use the incentive of a proper affiliate scheme. Paying a few pence for sign ups is all well and good, but the existing scheme wont turn many internet marketing people on. The eBay affiliate model is much more the way to go although the fee structure at eBid means some careful thought is needed to get the balance between incentive and results right.

What I mean is....

If a person comes to eBid as a result of an affiliates efforts and begins to use the site why not:

1) Pay a few pence for the sign up as currently happens.
2) Pay a larger 'bounty' if they upgrade to Seller+ within a month.
3) Offer a revenue share on the first 28 days worth of purchase activity.

Such a scheme would not increase current costs significantly and only reward affiliates on results.

I've removed the current 7 day revenue share on returning customers that eBay also use as that would need eBay type fees to operate as it could add a significant additional level of cost to the business.

But all this talk of RSS aside, have many sellers on eBid looked to promote themselves further afield on the internet?

Hve many joined other forums, commented on other peoples blogs, started their own blog, Squidoo lens, MySpace page or have they got together with other eBidders to create a cooperative blog?

In forums you are usually allowed to place links in your 'signature' (just as you can here), blogs will usually publish your link in return for your participation (although be careful as many blogs now use the search engine 'no follow' tag to deter link spamming by commenters).

Yes it will take a few weeks for your input to get indexed by the search engines and for the sellers and eBid to begin to see the benefits, but it is potentially as effective as any Adwords campaign (perhaps more so) and there needn't be any costs involved other than a little time investment by sellers.

Perhaps Mark and Gazza would allow sellers doing this type of promotion work to place a small link to their eBid supporting websites in their seller listings (a little like the logos you see for software used to create listings)? This then adds eBids own SEO support to the websites supporting eBid. Again it becomes a virtuous circle.

Although RSS is great to manage constantly fluid content, such as individual listing links and category promotion, the links that don't have a short shelf life (e.g. an eBid Store URL or a Sellers items for sale page) can be used equally effectively via traditional HTML with little, if any, ongoing time demands on people.

[nykmedia]

Hi guys!

My background is marketing. Although I'm not quite over the hill yet and not drawing any State Pensions, I was Marketing Director for a PLC in the finance industry until I retired in 2002. I guess I'm just a 'net bum' now tho :-)

The key thing about this challenge is to spend this money in a way that will produce ongoing results. Having spent substantial amounts of company money in the past, where my performance was judged on the results, I've learned a few things about value for money and what type of advertising works best in certain circumstances.

Dear Graham,

As ex-marketing director for a PLC then I think YOU should take up the challenge. Yes, it would mean forking out the cash until such times as eBid reimbursed you if you beat the ad-words conversion, but as a well-versed specialist in this field, it shouldn't be a problem for you. At the same time, you could get the sign-ups via your own username, which should amount to quite a few buddy points into the bargain. Come on Graham, show us the way...

[HelenAndGraham]

Appreciate the thought but I can't use 'Buddy Points' in Tescos each week and I value my time ;-)

But you will see in my forum signature that I already promote my eBid store via a dedicated domain name already and I do make sure that name is promoted.

If you do a Google search for the phrase 'name awareness' (a common term used by PR people etc.) and among the 50+ million returns you may see a link to en eBid store appears quite prominently (top or second). This is because I invested a few quid in the domain name and keep working on promoting it.

So I am already doing much of what I've suggested here already. If eBid and other sellers get some spin off benefits from my own marketing efforts then good for eBid and the sellers, I'm pleased.

But that domain name promotion is just a part of my seller marketing for which I accept complete responsibility. I don't see it as eBid's responsibility to promote my store over and above the venue facilities that are already in place and provided. My personal results here at eBid are my concern, not Gazza or Marks.

Of course if ALL eBidders are given greater promotional resources then I will be very grateful and make the best use of them I can. But I certainly wont attack eBid for what they do or don't do for my marketing.

But, that said, for eBid's own site marketing (which has to be a global strategy) then that is Gazza and Mark's responsibility rather than mine or anyone elses. Sure, offer somone a job to do this kind of work for eBid. That makes perfect sense. If someone takes the wage then they should feel obliged and capable of creating results for eBid that are worth more than the cost of their employment.

The same principal should be applying to the current Adwords campaign already. If Gazza & Mark don't feel the £2K a month we're discussing in this thread is generating more than £2K by way of eventual return on an ongoing basis then alternatives should be explored urgently as the advertising can be considered not cost effective.

I can't help thinking that a good number of sellers have unrealistic expectations of eBid when it comes to promotion of their listings. Sure eBay do a lot more advertising and already provide excellent RSS facilities backed up by a robust and motivating affiliate scheme. But this accounts for a lot of the fees sellers pay at eBay. IMO sellers cannot expect such centralised 'hand holding' by alternative venues that charge much lower fees. It isn't realistic. Gazza & Mark's first duty is to eBid and the health of eBid. If they were to allow this venue to become unsustainable because costs exceed income then, along with their business, all of our efforts here are put at risk.

[*artsbanquet*]

Hve many joined other forums, commented on other peoples blogs, started their own blog, Squidoo lens, MySpace page or have they got together with other eBidders to create a cooperative blog?

It's very interesting that you've brought that up. There are only a handful of Ebid Squidoo pages at the moment. It's been mentioned time and time again as a good advertising opportunity, but not many EBidders seem to have taken this up. Even if they didn't want to set up their own Squidoo page, it would benefit sellers to add their shops to the existing Squidoo pages on Ebid. It only takes a few seconds to do it. I don't really understand what is meant by a co-operative blog?


Perhaps Mark and Gazza would allow sellers doing this type of promotion work to place a small link to their eBid supporting websites in their seller listings (a little like the logos you see for software used to create listings)? This then adds eBids own SEO support to the websites supporting eBid. Again it becomes a virtuous circle.

That's a good idea.

[HelenAndGraham]

All I meant by a cooperative blog was one where several eBidders do the posting (meaning less pressure on individuals). Perhaps there are a few eBidders who make natural blog partners because of friendship, geographic location or selling in similar or complimentary product categories etc.

[Barrattess]

....You make a lot of sense Graham and I would second NYK's proposal!
...of course the buddy points are NOT an incentive...as you rightly say and the other observation you made is that sellers need to 'sell' their OWN items...a point that has been raised on more than one occasion already here in the forum.
Ebid, as a venue for sellers, does have a lot to offer. I, like many, are lifetime members so it is in our own interest to make Ebid 'bigger' than it is.

I am not business minded…I enjoy what I do. It is more of a hobby for me as I do not depend on this income for a living J …that said, I still wish to be successful. I do promote the site at every opportunity and would think that all sellers do… but…it just isn’t enough!

If I ‘refer’ someone …and they do come over and buy items from me….then that’s great! If they return and but more items, then that’s even better! It shows that I have succeeded. I must be doing something right. The buyer was pleased with the item, price, packaging etc…so OK …am I to say ‘I’m alright Jack’ and carry on? I think not!

Yes it’s true that the same buyer MAY buy from other Ebidders…and every little helps…I am of the opinion that what Ebid needs is a mass influx of both buyers AND sellers…instead of the ‘dribble’ that it seems to get….some of whom do not stay around long enough, in all fairness, to give Ebid a chance, they compare it to Ebay which of course it isn’t J

Nothing wrong with a ‘dribble’ I hear you say, indeed, nothing wrong with a steady dribble at all…steady is good….but frustration can and does come when it seems like it’s a ‘one sided affair’… we sellers do the best we can, at least within our capabilities, it is time now for a push forward ….which is why there has been a little ‘unrest’ on the forums of late. I think we can assume that Mark and Gary have been and are, busy behind the scenes. After all, it is their ‘baby’ and they need it to succeed more than anyone.

I don’t know what the answer is.

I can only comment on what I think. So I will watch with interest to any and all suggestions that are made.

[HelenAndGraham]

I very much agree, eBid does offer a great venue for sellers. But do the sellers offer great reciprocal support and effort to eBid and the wider buyer & seller community here?

Earlier in this thread I made the point that if a reasonable number of eBid sellers agreed to risk just one 99p listing each week of an item realistically valued at £5+ we could easily make eBid far more appealing to buyers inside a week than the next 100 months of Google Adwords spend combined. The feedback on that idea has been what?

Even if the Adwords do drag a few thousand curious visitors here each month, the vast majority will never return until they see something appealing in most categories they visit. Mark & Gazza have done their bit in getting the visitor to this site. They can hardly be held liable for the failure of sellers to make the content of the site interesting enough to capitalise on these visits.

eBid have achieved a very respectable Alexa rating and index well in the major search engines. Forgetting the odd little glitch here and there (less than eBay suffers in my opinion) the functionaility and facilities we sellers enjoy are among the best available. eBid are delivering well on their side of the bargain and that is all the more exceptional given who the main competitor is. Credit where credit is due.

But when will the eBid sellers start looking at eBay sellers and recognising them as their competition? It simply isn't good enough to have eBid full of poor quality listings (e.g. too many overpiced buy it nows). Sellers like BINs because of the 'risk' they remove but buyers don't so much (unless they are very competitively priced).

We the sellers all have to take responsibility for the quality of content potential buyers are seeing here. Every seller here should forget the MyeBid button for a few hours and browse the site as a buyer actively looking for something they know about and have a sense of values for. But first they should browse eBay for the same items and get a sense of values to compare with. I suggest if this is done properly and fairly then the sellers will quickly start understanding the low sell thru rate problem and it's main cause.

I know a reasonable amount about various collectables. Browsing some of these categories is perhaps only just preferable to chewing glass as a buying experience. You can go insane if you seriously try to browse eBid as a buyer.

Surely we don't want Gazza & Mark to have to become full time sellers on eBid in order to get a better level of attractive and competitive listings? Otherwise who will look after the site?

I appreciate this observation is way off topic now but it really is the crux of the underlying problem here. Until sellers realise they are responsible for the content of this site then the usual round of ill considered and unjust criticism that I've been reading elsewhere is set to continue.

I would suggest that around 75% of the listings in the categories I know something about on eBid wouldn't sell on eBay the way they are presented here. So why do sellers expect them to sell here? And, worse still, how can they seriously complain that they aren't getting the sales here?

A seller who places unrealisticly priced, server space and bandwidth wasting listings on eBid is hurting every single sellers chances of success on eBid.

So, until this problem is seriously even acknowledged by sellers, I will simply carry on using eBid for a store that I can promote selfishly under my own domain name. It's a fantastic facility that works really well. So long as I get a few buyers over to see my store listings from elsewhere on the net then I don't really care if they get turned off eBid generally. Why should I? Not many sellers seem to want to see the reality of what is happening and prefer to lay blame anywhere but at their own feet.

So, to end this 'rant' on a more constructive note, another suggestion for the £2K. Give totally free listing upgrades for 99p start auction listings. ;-)


Graham

[Barrattess]

Earlier in this thread I made the point that if a reasonable number of eBid sellers agreed to risk just one 99p listing each week of an item realistically valued at £5+ we could easily make eBid far more appealing to buyers inside a week than the next 100 months of Google Adwords spend combined. The feedback on that idea has been what?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well that was a good rant!.....
.....by the way...where are your 99p auctions?

I know of at least 36 auctions with a starting bid of 99p....they finish tonight...

[HelenAndGraham]

Well that was a good rant!.....
.....by the way...where are your 99p auctions?

I know of at least 36 auctions with a starting bid of 99p....they finish tonight...

Read toward the end of my post. I am happy to admit my current selfish use of eBid and minimal participation in any seller community efforts at present.

I also said when I posted the idea originally that I would list 99p start items that are valued at £5+ if many other eBid sellers committed to do the same as a campaign to improve the browsing experience.

I haven't checked but assume from the hint you are actually listing high quality items worth £5+ at a 99p start bid? That being so I'm impressed and they must be in different categories than I have browsed! ;-)

Graham