•10 Holiday Sales Tips: How To Cash In On The Season
With the holiday season ramping up, shoppers are coming online in droves. In fact, online holiday sales this year are predicted to increase twenty percent, as consumers grow more and more accustomed to the ease and convenience of shopping online. Internet business advisor Ana Rincon (http://OnlineBusiness.About.com) reveals ten tips for increasing your online sales over the holiday season:
1.Fine-tune your website. The biggest buying season of the year is not the time to have a slow-loading...
•10 Tips To Increase Your Search Engine Rankings
The Basics of Optimization
Many online sellers get frustrated with search engines regularly changing algorithms. But there are basic principles that haven’t changed through the years. Apply these tips to increase your rankings:
Tip 1—Don’t be too quick to change domain names. Google has an aging delay for any new domain—it can take up to a year for your keywords to start showing in the searches.
Tip 2—Optimize your site for your target audience, not the search engines. Always think about...
•3 Things Search Engines Want To See - Using Links The Engines Will Like
Search engine companies are constantly changing their algorithms to keep their results up-to-date. Optimization used to be the primary factor search engines used to determine a website’s ranking. However, it currently makes up only about 10% of their total algorithms. What carries the most weight with search engines now is linking.
Linking is the process of connecting to other sites that are relevant to your target market and that are highly ranked, and of getting them to connect to you....
•3 Tips For Every Woman Starting A Home Based Business - Challenges To Expect, Keys To Succeed
More and more women today work from home, and even more want to. Some are single moms or widows who need to earn a living. Others just want a little extra income or a sense of independence. Particularly for women, starting a home business presents a unique set of challenges. Lesley Spencer, founder and president of Home Based Working Moms (http://HBWM.com), suggests three steps to help ensure success:
1. Consider Your Options
The first obstacle in starting a business is figuring out which...
•3 Tools For Product Sourcing On Ebay - Using Seller Central
You may have already discovered that selling on eBay can be fun and profitable. But after you’ve cleared out your garage and attic, and auctioned off everything your husband owns, where can you go to get new product ideas?
Tapping into EBay’s Resources
Most people don’t realize that eBay itself is actually a terrific place to find product sourcing ideas. Besides being an easy selling venue with built-in traffic, it also contains a goldmine of useful data about what that traffic wants to buy....
•4 Strategies For Seasonal Selling - Planning For Retail Cycles
Every product has a natural life cycle and a season where it sells best: some early buyers come at the beginning, and then the mass of buyers come. Prices peak and retailers begin running out of stock. Sales slow, and trickle down to a few last-minute shoppers.
As an online seller, it’s critical you prepare for the natural retail cycles throughout the year. With some simple strategies, you can make the most of the opportunities presented by the changing seasons:
1.Keep the Flow Going The...
•5 Benefits Of Using Feeds - How Feeds Can Help Your Ebiz
What’s a Feed?
Feeds are a way of sharing content. When you make material from your website available for publishing on other sites, you provide them with a feed. Basically, it’s a code that lets them post your articles and blogs. There are different kinds of code—XML, RSS, Atom, etc.—but essentially they’re all just different ways of accessing a feed.
According to internet expert Sydney Johnston, “The great thing about a feed is everybody wins.” The article writer gains exposure, the reader...
•Call Me…how To Improve Customer Communications
The easier you make it to contact your business, the more contact your business will get. That’s why so many small businesses are turning to Web 2.0 applications, such as web-initiated calls to generate sales leads. Also referred to as click and connect, these calls let your customers make live contact with you by clicking a small icon you can paste in your blogs, emails, or website.
Explains Bill Binnig, of http://Jaduka.com, a Web 2.0 solutions provider, “[You] take simple HTML code and...
•Comparison Shopping: The Flip Side Of Searching
A New Player in Town
Search engines like http://Shopzilla.com and http://Froogle.com are great for increasing your web store’s exposure, as well as doing your own product market research. But according to Kevin Ryan, of http://ShopWiki.com, his new company is NOT your typical comparison shopping search engine. It offers some cutting edge attractions that e-tailers and consumers alike should love:
1. It has “the most exhaustive selection of stores, about 120,000, and 60 million different...
•Creating A Website That Sells - How To Keep And Convert Viewers
Designing a good sales website can be the difference between losing a visitor and making a sale. You’ve got ten seconds to capture a viewer’s attention and convince them to stay—that’s how long it takes people to decide to keep reading, or move on.
Make Your Site User-Friendly
You need to plan your website carefully to make it really sell your product:
• Have an attention-grabbing headline that tells viewers what they’ll gain by staying. It should list some clear, compelling benefits—what...
•Dangerous Mindsets: Changing The Way You Think About Selling
3 Classic E-tailer Mistakes
Since the birth of e-commerce, certain faulty thought patterns have plagued online retailers. Says Lisa Suttora, of http://WhatDoISell.com, “There are things I see people do that are very, very common, [that] really hinder their ability to grow their business and make the profit they want.” Having the right mindset when sourcing and selling your products is critical in avoiding those regrettably typical seller mistakes.
Mistake 1: I’m ONLY going to sell Product...
•Ebay Made Easy—Breaking The Inertia With Technology
The greatest challenge to getting started on eBay is just that—getting started! Though technological advances have made online retailing faster, easier, and cheaper, would-be entrepreneurs still get discouraged and give up without realizing their goals. An extremely high percentage of first-time eBay sellers leave the site without ever listing an item—they get overwhelmed by the lengthy and intensive Sell Your Item form.
A Simple Plan
This was the frustration that led John Plummer and his...
•Email Marketing For Your Small Business - Selecting The Right Server
There are many different methods for promoting your business online, but one of the most effective is still the email campaign.
Weighing Your Options
For emails, you have three choices of software, each with distinct benefits and drawbacks. You can install software on your desktop and be your own server. You can install software on the web server you’re using. Or you can join an ASP hosted service.
The most obvious benefit of a hosted server is that getting your emails delivered is your...
•Everybody’s Doing It: 3 Reasons You Should Have An Ebay Store
Testing the Waters
If you’ve ever dreamed of quitting your job and going into business for yourself, you may have considered online retail. But opening your own website is quite an undertaking—you’ll need to get a URL for your website, acquire a shopping cart, have someone design your web pages, get listed with the major search engines. And you’re going to have to pay for all those services up front, which means you’ll need to have some capital set aside. So before you tell your boss what you...
•Far From Home: 4 Keys To Successful Importing
As your eBiz grows, and housing large stores of inventory becomes feasible, importing becomes a cost-effective way to source products. If you purchase in large volumes, the incredible deals you can find by purchasing directly from overseas manufacturers may outweigh the costs and complications involved. The key to importing profitably is to do your homework:
Research your suppliers
According to Peter Zapf, of http://GlobalSources.com and http://GlobalSourcesDirect.com, there are several...
•Five Holiday Trends: What Every E-tailer Should Know
“It” Products—Giving Buyers What They Want
Whether this is your first holiday selling online or your tenth, you need to understand the current market in order to take advantage of the upcoming shopping abandon that most of your buyers will experience this time of year. Trend-watcher Lisa Suttora, of http://WhatDoISell.com, shares five specific sales trends that retailers should be conscious of entering this holiday season:
•iPod accessories. Just because you can’t afford to sell iPods is no...
•Getting Googly - A Quick Introduction To Google Adwords
You have most likely seen Google AdWords, even if you don’t realize it. It’s that list of sponsored links that runs down the right side of your computer screen when you Google a word. You’ll often see links at the top in a little blue box as well—we’ve all seen ‘em.
So what is Google AdWords?
Google Adwords is simply an online advertising solution that companies who have a web presence can use to drive more traffic to their site.
At-a-glance:
1. Google sells the space along the top and...
•Giving Your Customers What They Want: Increase Revenues Through Product Recommendations
Right This Way, Please…
When you’re sandal shopping at your favorite Shoe Emporium, you may be drawn to the boot display across the aisle. Although you didn’t come in looking for boots, you find yourself checking out with both beach sandals and ankle boots. This is the concept behind using product recommendations on your website: you’re leading visitors step by step through your store. Your goal is to sell them the product they initially came to you for, but also to strategically direct their...
•How To Build Your Online Consignment Business
Get the Word Out!
Consignment is a simple concept—taking other people’s products and selling them for a percentage of the sale. According to Skip McGrath, of http://skipmcgrath.com, a successful eBay PowerSeller, “[Consignment selling] is the fastest growing phenomenon on eBay.” The key to successful online consignment is marketing your services. You really have to promote your business, and McGrath shares some techniques for doing just that. There are four areas you’ll use: advertising,...
•How To Make Product Liquidation Work For You - Sourcing Liquidated Products
Liquidation—a very scary word for most of us. But the reason we get nervous is just because we really don’t understand what liquidation is. One man who is extremely familiar with the process is Bob Nelson, president of Power Retailing, a retail consulting firm (http://www.retailing.com). Nelson explains liquidation is simply “get[ting] rid of and convert[ing] inventory and other assets into cash.” It’s a practice that allows manufacturers and retailers to maximize the value of their assets....
•How To Make Your Family And Friends Your Investors - Minimizing The Risks Of Personal Loans
Most people don’t realize that over half the businesses in America are financed by money from family and friends. The truth is everyone relies on their circles when they have nowhere else to go. Someone with mediocre credit may have a difficult time getting a start-up loan from a bank, but Mom and Dad will always help out if they can.
Weighing the Pros and Cons
There are inherent risks and advantages to getting a private loan over a bank loan:
Risks:
• Not clarifying both parties’...
•How To Prevent Fraud On Ebay! - Four Signs To Watch For
Of the millions of transactions that transpire on eBay each day, only an infinitesimally small percentage are fraudulent. However, even that small percentage means that fraud does still occur. How do you, as a seller, avoid becoming the victim of a scam? By recognizing common signs of fraud:
1. “Phishing” expeditions. According to eBay guru Skip McGath (http://SkipMcGrath.com), “phishers” send out mass emails, posing as eBay, or any company, and asking the recipient to confirm their password,...
•How To Save Money With Shipping Alternatives - Shipping Freight Without Breaking The Bank
The Problem with Freight Shipping
According to both UPS and FedEx, anything exceeding 70 lbs. is considered freight. The price for shipping anything that falls into that “freight” category often exceeds the value of the item itself. For this reason, most eBiz owners don’t deal in large or heavy items. And most consumers walk away when the shipping for their online purchase exceeds 20% of the item’s cost.
If you do ship sizeable items—cars, boats, pianos—you have to deal with other logistical...
•Importing Basics - What You Need To Know To Get Started
You’re Already Importing—Why Not Get the Benefits?
Everyone knows there are great deals to be found overseas—items that can be picked up for a fraction of the cost. But what most people don’t realize is that almost everything they’re buying domestically was already imported. They’re just paying a mark-up cost to the middle-man who did the actual importing for them. For those new in business, there’s nothing wrong with that. But for the established businessperson, importing directly can save a...
•Increasing Your Profits Through Buying Groups (2) - Strength In Numbers
Why Join a Buying Group?
Because wholesalers give pricing breaks to customers who buy in large volumes, small businesses are at a disadvantage. They usually can’t afford to purchase in huge quantities like the larger vendors. Many small businesses are turning to buying groups to level the playing field and allow them to compete with bigger sellers.
Attorney Harry B. Ray, of http://BuyingGroups.com, defines a buying group as “a group of businesses in the same industry who combine their...
•Learning From History: 5 Common Ebay Mistakes
Errors in Judgment
Certain mistakes are common among eBay sellers, even those with experience. But avoiding them can result in higher close rates and better final prices. Lynn Dralle, of http://TheQueenOfAuctions.com, shares the five top mistakes she sees eBay sellers make:
1. Writing a Bad Title. Look at the keywords other sellers are using for similar items, and use every relevant keyword you can—make the most of your 55 characters! Avoid wasting characters on punctuation, and using...
•Legal And Tax Strategies For The Online Retailer - Protecting Yourself And Your Assets
When you open an eBiz, it’s important you remember that it really is a business and approach it as you would any other business. Don’t just jump in and start selling. Consider all the legal issues—your responsibilities and the risks you’re assuming—in order to safe-guard your investments.
Do I Need to Charge Taxes Online?
If you’re running an internet company, it’s your responsibility to keep current on tax laws that affect you. As a retailer, you’re obligated to know the laws regarding both...
•Marketing With RSS Feeds - Creating A Direct Link To Your Customers
What’s an RSS feed?
Due to the overwhelming amount of spam on the internet, many users are turning from traditional newsletter subscriptions to RSS feeds to get their information. RSS is Really Simple Syndication. Besides connecting you directly to your customers, feeds are advantageous for several reasons:
• They update automatically. Anytime you publish a new article or blog, your readers receive it with no effort on their part, or yours.
• Unlike an email campaign, they don’t force you...
•More For Your Money - Pay-Per-Call—A Smarter Way To Advertise
Pay-per-call is one of the biggest trends in online marketing right now. In fact, pay-per-performance advertising, overall, is gaining ground as more and more businesses discover the high value proposition it provides. Different search engines are incorporating this type of marketing, including AOL search, InfoSpace, and Marchex, who have a combined total of 1.3 billion searches a month.
A Quick Overview
The concept of pay-per-call is simple:
• It’s an auction for customer calls—you bid...
•Must-Do’s For The Holiday Selling Season - How To Cash In On The Busiest Retail Season Of The Year
The holidays are a great time to be a retailer—60% of all retail sales are made during the holiday season. Millions of new online shoppers make their first internet purchases during this season, and their experience there can either erase their hesitancies about online shopping, or reinforce them. This gives you, as an eBiz owner, an opportunity to create loyal customers and generate repeat business.
That’s why you need to be ready when the holidays roll around—don’t get taken by surprise....
•One Man’s Trash… Could Be Your Treasure - 3 Rules Of ‘Thrifty’ Product Sourcing
Thrift Shops and Consignment stores can be an excellent source for your product inventory—they always have fresh items to pick thru and you can find some great deals!
• Consignment Stores, are commission-based. People bring in products for the store to sell on commission—what doesn’t sell is returned to the owner.
• Thrift Stores are often ‘not for profit’ and get most of their goods via donations.
In comparing the two, Thrift Stores are typically more willing (and able) to bargain with you...
•Our Town — Sourcing Products Locally
Get Creative with Community Resources
If you’ve ever picked up a trinket for $4 at a yard sale and sold it for $65 on eBay, you know how exciting translating your treasure hunts into cash can be. But yard sales are not your only local source of goodies. Dennis Hester of http://MillionDollarDeals.com has built a successful online business using local providers almost exclusively. Flea markets, antique stores, auction sales, craft shops, Hester attends them all.
One particularly useful—and...
•Preparing For The Holiday Season Now - Christmas In July?
Christmas comes a little early every year for the online retailer—June or July to be exact. If you’re just starting to prepare now for this year’s holiday selling season, you’re none too early. Most people think the holiday buying craze starts the day after Thanksgiving, but the truth is it starts in September and tops out in November. So now is the time to get ready for the busiest selling season of the year.
Enhancing Your Product Line
Start thinking about your product sourcing. Your...
•Price Check: How To Set Your Product Prices
How you price your products has a tremendous impact on your business’ bottom line. That’s why you, as an online seller, need to find the pricing strategy that works for your web store and allows you to achieve your business goals.
Costly Mistakes
Bad pricing can have serious repercussions in the form of lost business and lost revenues, yet many e-tailers disregard its importance. Many new, and not so new, sellers seem prone to certain common mistakes:
•Not tracking the consequences of...
•Product Sourcing Strategies - New Trends That Will Work For Your Ebiz
Changing with the Times
In recent years, online shoppers have gotten more computer-savvy and more comfortable making purchases over the internet, and their expectations have grown. They know what they’re looking for and they have more choices, so they’re more discriminating about where they’ll shop. That’s why it’s important for online sellers to adapt the way they source products and give their customers what they want. Fortunately, some new trends have emerged in product sourcing that are...
•Protecting Your Intellectual Property - How Copyrights And Patents Affect Your Ebiz
You may not realize it, but you deal with intellectual property (IP) every day. If you own a website, that website is your intellectual property. The way you deal with IP—yours and others—can directly impact the success of your business.
What’s Intellectual Property?
Registered patent attorney Patricia McQueeney (http://BrinkleyMcNerney.com) explains, “[Intellectual property] can be broken down…into four types: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.”
• A patent deals with a...
•Rss In A Nutshell: What It Is And What It Does
You’ve probably heard the term “RSS feeds” before, but if you’re like most people, it doesn’t mean much to you. However, if you sell online, it’s high time you discover this powerful marketing tool and what it can do for your eBiz. According to Jeff Molander (http://www.ThoughtShapers.com), CEO of performance-marketing consulting practice, Molander and Associates, the potential of RSS as a promotional vehicle for online retailers is tremendous.
Really Simple Syndication—
That’s what the...
•Safe And Stress-free Shopping! Building Customer Trust
As more and more merchants move online, it becomes an increasing challenge to stand out from the pack. While price may influence a shopper’s choice, it’s usually not the deciding factor: most buyers would prefer to pay a bit more for an item they feel safe buying, than to spend less and worry they’re throwing their money away.
That’s why, as an online retailer, creating a safe and stress-free environment for your shoppers should be a top priority. With internet scams and identity fraud to...
•Search Engine Marketing - Gaining Exposure Through Sponsored Ads
No matter how great your products or how well-designed your website, if no one ever sees them, you’ll never sell anything. You have to let people know you’re there. According to Boris Mordkovich of http://AdWatcher.com, “Search engine marketing is a way to expose your business to thousands of people who are searching for your products and services.”
One of the main types of search engine marketing is pay-per-click advertising. Internet users search for items using keywords and phrases, so you...
•Shopping With Uncle Sam - A Breakdown Of Government Auctions
A Retailer’s Bargain Paradise?
We have all heard about the amazing deals you can find at government auctions—the planes, trains, and automobiles your neighbor’s uncle’s cousin picked up for a song. But how true are these stories? Are government auctions really a good source for purchasing products for resale? The answer to that is they CAN BE, but you have to know what you are doing.
Where do Govt. Auctions get their products?
Government auctions are can be held online, live ‘in-person’ or...
•Sitting Pretty: How To Achieve High Search Engine Rankings
The best kind of traffic is the free kind—that is, the traffic that comes from natural search engine rankings. Acquiring those rankings, however, takes time and a dedicated effort; but once you achieve that positioning, it’s only a matter of doing a little maintenance work. And, most importantly, you don’t have to reinvest half your profits back into advertising to maintain the higher sales volumes you achieve.
How to Get Ahead
So how do you improve your rankings without spending a fortune?...
•Sourcing Customer Returns - Buying Retail Returns At Wholesale Prices
Retail overstocks and customer returns can be an excellent product source—as long as you understand what to expect when purchasing this kind of merchandise.
A Mixed Bag of Goods
Typically, returns are sold as pallets of assorted, dissimilar items—you’ll find everything from snow boots to toy cars to staplers. Most likely, you’ll also find some damaged goods among a pallet’s wares. A portion of these items were returned because the customer damaged them, or they didn’t work in the first...
•Starting An Antiques And Collectibles Ebiz - How To Find, Buy, And Market Antiques Online
Antiques and collectibles are big business—on eBay, the collectibles category alone had a gross merchandise value of over $2 billion dollars last year just in the second quarter. The e-commerce boom has only fueled the industry—sellers are no longer limited to local audiences, and buyers are no longer limited to local dealers. You can find things that you’d never run across in your lifetime, from people all over the world. Buying or selling online isn’t really that different from buying or...
•Storage Units Auctions - Buying Abandoned Assets For Ebiz Profit
Storage unit companies regularly seize abandoned goods and auction them off in an effort to reclaim some of their lost profits. Many online retailers are cashing in, using these auctions as a product source for their e-businesses. According to enthusiast Blaine Herbest, founder of http://StorageAuctionSecrets.com, “You can pick up an entire storage unit filled with things for a couple hundred bucks.” Finding these auctions can be as easy as looking in the yellow pages under “storage units” and...
•Successful Affiliate Marketing: Running A Profitable Program
Affiliate marketing presents a tremendous opportunity for small business owners to gain traffic and create a good buzz around their product(s). To have a successful program, you need to keep up with your current associates and aggressively recruit new ones.
Size Matters
Some merchants tout smaller programs because they allow you to maintain greater control and have more direct contact with your affiliates. According to Dave Delisle, of http://ThePartnerMaker.com, “The problem with that idea...
•Tax Loopholes: 3 Ways To Make Tax Laws Work For You
Many people associate the words “tax loopholes” with questionable accounting practices. But according to tax strategist Diane Kennedy, of http://TaxLoopholes.com, “A loophole is nothing more than a government incentive—tax laws are written to favor people wanting to start businesses because businesses stimulate the economy.” Tax loopholes are just legitimate deductions the government allows in order to encourage certain behaviors. Exploiting loopholes isn’t about skirting the law, but rather...
•The Price Is Right! - How To Arrive At The Best Price For Your Products
Avoiding Common Mistakes
A trap many eBiz owners fall into is trying to set their prices by simply adding a percentage or flat amount to an item’s cost—they buy a watch for $20, slap another $20 on the price tag, and pass it along to their customers. The problem with this type of pricing is that your costs aren’t fixed. For example, your costs for buying and reselling 100 blow-dryers will differ substantially from your costs for buying and reselling 10,000 of the exact same blow-dryer....
•The Ten Commandments Of eBay: Side-Stepping Common Seller Errors
Rookie eBayers are prone to making certain mistakes that are detrimental to their businesses. CEO of internet consulting company, http://InternetBusinessSkills.com, Allison Hartsoe, shares her insights on avoiding the top ten mistakes eBay newcomers make:
See Yourself through Your Customers’ Eyes
• Don’t Start Off with a Feedback Rating of Zero. No one wants to be your first buyer—they’d rather not be a guinea pig when their money’s at stake. Go in and buy a few products, so you don’t appear...
•The Truth About Optimization - 6 Common SEO Myths Debunked
Gaining good positioning with the search engines is one channel for increasing your online business—but it’s not an end in itself. Your ultimate goal isn’t to increase traffic, but to increase sales, and thereby, profit margins. Will Reynolds of SEO consulting firm http://ThinkSeer.com, sheds some light on common misconceptions regarding search engine optimization:
Myth Number One: I have to submit my site to the engines to get ranked.
Truth: The search engines have advanced to the point...
•Tips For Finding And Getting Good Deals At Garage Sales
When eBay first started, garage sales were most sellers’ main source for finding products. And though product sourcing has come a long way, garage sales still provide a wide range of quality goods at rock bottom prices.
Rules of the Game
According to Terry Gibbs, founder of http://IWantCollectibles.com, “Garage sales are a numbers game. You always have to be looking.” The trick to successful garage sale hunting is persistence. You’ve just got to keep getting out, going back, and being...
•Tradeshows The Right Way - How To Get The Most Out Of Going
For online retailers, trade shows are an incredible opportunity to source goods, connect with wholesalers and manufacturers, and expand their product lines. There is a right way and a wrong way to attend tradeshows. To get the most out of your experience, you need to prepare.
Your first step is to find the tradeshow that’s right for you—there’s a tradeshow for nearly every industry imaginable. One good source for locating tradeshows is http://www.TradeShowWeek.com—you can search for shows...
•Virtual Staffing For Your Small Business
What’s a Virtual Assistant?
Virtual assistants are independent contractors or entrepreneurs who provide administrative assistance to multiple clients. Unlike regular assistants, they work out of their homes rather than at your business’ physical location.
There are numerous advantages to using a virtual assistant:
• Location. If you work from home, you don’t have to find a place to put an employee. • No Overhead. They provide their own office supplies, desk, computer, software, and phone...
•What Should I Sell Online? - Ideas For Choosing Product Lines
What NOT to Sell
Everyone who starts an eBiz faces the question: What do I sell? And most everyone seems to make two classic mistakes in the beginning:
1. They try to sell what everyone else is selling—DVDs, electronics, designer clothing. The problem they encounter is that the market is already saturated with these products and the Suppliers typically do not work in small quantity. To make any profit at all, they’d have to buy huge quantities.
2. They try to sell what they know and love....
•Work Smarter—How To Streamline Your Ebay Business
Automating the Processes
Imagine a tool that eliminates most of the busy work associated with running your eBay business. According to Dave Cotter, that was the idea behind his company, http://Mpire.com. After talking to hundreds of eBay sellers and hearing the same complaint again and again—people were spending too much time running their e-businesses—Cotter and co-founder, Greg Harrison, were inspired to create a tool to automate the processes involved.
4 Advantages to Auction Automation...
|
|