The Unofficial Guide to Making Money on eBay

I have been selling on eBay on and off for about nine years now. It has not always been easy and I have learned many lessons the hard way. There are several books out that claim to show you the latest secrets to success on eBay but I find that many of them are self-promotional in nature. The Unofficial Guide to Making Money on eBay (Unofficial Guides)is not such a book. In it, you will find good and practical advice in regards to generating income on eBay. From the review:

From Power Sellers to first-timers, everybody wants an eBay edge With 125 million members, eBay is a huge, efficient marketplace that redefines low overhead. It appeals equally to full-time entrepreneurs who focus on a certain type of merchandise and occasional sellers with treasures in the attic they want to unload. Sellers have more options now, too; eBay auctions are still popular, but fixed-price Buy It Now sales are increasing. There's also a new business model in which third-party resellers post items for others for a fee. Packed with tips and inside information on every aspect of selling on eBay, The Unofficial Guide to Making Money on eBay gives pros and amateurs an edge. Lynn Dralle (Palm Desert, CA) is a third-generation antiques dealer and an eBay Power Seller who lectures widely and has appeared on national television. She created an auction-tracking notebook system carried by eBay and is the author of several books, including How to Sell Antiques and Collectibles on eBay . . . and Make a Fortune

More than 430,000 people run full- or part-time businesses on eBay. Whether you want to become a PowerSeller yourself, supplement an established bricks-and-mortar business, or just make some extra money by cleaning out your garage and attic, this guide will help you get your merchandise going?going?gone! It tells you how to do everything from opening your seller's account and listing your items to collecting the payments. Chock full of tips, techniques, and expert advice from "The Queen of Auctions," Lynn Dralle, it includes:

• Vital Information for maximizing your sales, including the top ten eBay categories

• Insider Secrets on acquiring merchandise, creating effective listings, earning positive feedback, and more

• Money-Saving Techniques, including the best ways to ship various types of merchandise

• Money-Making Techniques, such as selling collectibles individually rather than as a set

• Time-Saving Tips, such as setting up efficient areas for staging, storage, and shipping

• The scoop on the latest trends, including Buy It Now sales and eBay drop-off stores

If you are interested in selling or are a current seller wishing to maximize your income on eBay, this book is a must read.

Get Your Own Affiliate Marketing Website

Many people just starting up in affiliate marketing often ask if it is really important to obtain their own domain and website when selling as an affiliate. After all, many affiliate programs offer the seller a prefab store complete with shopping cart and all. In my experience, the question of getting your own website is a no-brainer. I feel strongly that it is worth a few bucks to invest in your own domain name for no other reason than to present your business in a good and professional light.

Read on for more information on this topic.

3 Tops Reasons Why You Must Have Your Own Affiliate Marketing Website
by: Mal Keenan


Budding entrepreneurs entering the affiliate marketing business invariably struggle with many questions on the setup, methods and strategies of their new business.

In dealing with prospects on a daily basis the same question arises time and time again:

Should I get your own website? Do I need one? Will it make a difference to my affiliate sales?

If you have ever joined any affiliate programs at all then you will know that every affiliate program provides you with your own version of the merchants sales page - coded with your affiliate link, in order to track sales.

Technically it is possible to make money promoting this turnkey site that the merchant has provided. In my professional opinion and from my own experience though, this is NOT the way to go if you are serious about making your affiliate business a full-time enterprise.

Let me explain why - giving the most important points against using the affiliate website:

1. By far the most important factor is that the affiliate program can go out of business at anytime leaving any promotions that you have done for your affiliate site useless. If you have links on the www pointing to an affiliate page and the company is no longer in existence then those links will fail to work.

If you have your own website then YOU are in control. You can simply point the link on your end to a new company and thus give you a chance of building a new income stream.

2. It is undoubtedly of massive importance that you build your reputation online. If you only promote another persons website, even though it will bring you commissions, it will usually have the name of the product owner on this site. So, in this case, you are building the merchants' reputation and web presence instead of your own. Branding your name and business online will lead to further success so it's better to get YOUR name out there right from the very start.

3. Point 3 is, that with an affiliate page you don't have the ability to make changes to your webpage. Again, this is a business, so you MUST add your own uniqueness and some personality to the aspect of this business that you are presenting to the public. You CANNOT do this with the affiliate site that the merchant provides - ONLY with your own website and domain name.

So by now you may be asking for the solution. The only answer is to get a website and build YOUR own web presence and brand rather than someone elses. This way you can promote any affiliate programs you like from your new site AND you can change the links, content etc. as often as you require.

This is how I personally do it. If you visit my own sites you will see that I have added loads of my own content BUT each of the links from within that site point to affiliate product from which I will get a commission for evey sale that is made.

Do you see how this works? Do you see how it is a much better strategy than promoting an affiliate page that will NEVER belong to me?

Now, at this stage you may be terrified as to how you where you would even start to acquire your own business domain name and website.

The process is actually quite simple, once you actually begin to push through the fear and take action.

If you don't see the importance of having your own website now then believe me, it WILL become clear as you get a better understanding of online business.

For a few dollars per year for a domain name and hosting you are much better to have an affiliate website than be without one.

Checkout Mal Keenans' Top Rated Affiliate Marketing Secret Resource Site: http://www.malkeenan.com

Discover How You Can Have Your Own Affiliate Website Up and Running Today. Download My Free Success Guide for All the Details: http://www.freeadvertz.com/

Email Marketing Secrets

A follow up to the last post. Additional tips for a successful email marketing campaign.

Email Marketing and Your Business

Much has been written about the value of email marketing in regards to your online business. I have recently signed up with Campaigner and will be designing my own email marketing campaign for one of my websites shortly. What better way to introduce yourself to potential customers and promote your products and/or specials than using the power of email. Read on and see if this method of marketing is for you.

Communicating with customers is the best way to persuade them to return to your web site and make a purchase. The easiest way to do this is to create an email list. With an email list, you can accomplish many things including:

* Repeat sales – it is much easier to sell items to those who have already used them and are satisfied with them.

* Trust and loyalty – many people are still unsure about purchasing items from the internet and only shop on select sites. Sending email and promotional alerts will persuade people to shop on your site. Once they have made a few purchases, you will have a customer for life.

* Branding – branding your product using a logo or slogan will help people recognize your product easily. Including your company logo in all email sent will help spread the word and create brand awareness as people can forward your email on to others.

* Newsletters – with an email list, you can send monthly newsletters that inform people about what is going on in your industry and your web site. Include sale items, new products, and other information that will entice customers to browse your site.

As you can see, the benefits and possibilities you create for your company by building an email list are many. This is a resource that will continue to grow as more people visit your web site.

Sign me up!

The biggest obstacle when creating an email list is getting people to sign up. While you can't force people to sign up for email alerts, newsletters, and other items, you can persuade them in a variety of ways.

* Landing pages – This is a page that can be used to introduce your web site. Many internet business owners use this page to expand their email lists. Simply ask for email addresses before taking visitors to your site and you will be amazed by how quickly people will sign up.

You can choose to make this mandatory for entry to your web site or voluntary. Try both ways to see which is more successful.

* Advertising the newsletter – By simply adding a sign-up box on the pages of your web site asking if people want to sign up for your newsletter, your email list will grow. Make sure your box is easy to find and easy to use.

* Ordering pages – You can ask customers when they are placing an order if they want to receive alerts and other promotional items. Make it easy by having them click a box to sign-up. Since most companies need email addresses in case of order issues, all you need is the customer's permission to send promotional items to their email address.

* Receipt confirmation pages – Ask a second time on the receipt confirmation email you send to customers. They may change their minds and want to sign-up.

Always include an opt-out option so customers will be able to remove themselves from your email list at any time. Add this to the bottom or your email.

Buying email lists

If you are having difficulty building an email list, you can always enter into a joint venture with other internet business owners or affiliate marketers. By sharing some of the profits earned from list sharing, you will be able to reach even more people, who may turn into customers.

Buying email lists outright from a list broker is another option. For a one time fee, you will have access to hundreds of potential customers. While most internet business owners build their own email lists over time, if you want to increase your sales quickly, investing in an email list may be the right decision for you.

Even though there are many forms of marketing on the internet, communicating directly with customers is still the best way to make a sale. Creating an email list or purchasing one will allow you to showcase new items, persuade more people to visit your site, and increase the number of return customers, which can have a huge impact on your bottom line.

About The Author
Stuart Pearce is founder and owner of Style Product Developer Ltd. The company specialise in offering tools and resources to make the creation of a web based business easy and accessible to all. Begin your online career now, visit http://www.styleopportunities.com for details.