eBay Live Speaker and Ten Golden Rules Author Jay Berkowitz at eBay Live 2008,

Ten Golden Rules Presentation – Preview eBay Live Speaker Jay Berkowitz

This video will give you a quick idea of the basis of the upcoming Jay Berkowitz presentation at eBay Live 2008. Our parent company, iBusinessLogic is very pleased to be working with Jay and proud that he has included our work in his upcoming eBay Live keynote speech.

Enjoy this preview, but don’t mis the live show in Chicago!

eBay eCommerce Blogging or Affiliate Sales Why not All of the Above?

Do you have your own off eBay website?

As an eBay seller you know you should have your own website but for some unknown reason our research indicates that most eBay sellers do not. Why?

If it is because you do not have the time to set up another high maintenance difficult to control Internet presence… You may not be aware of all of the new and interesting ways to get online with your own name and brand while not having to maintain that online portal each and every day.

A website can be thought of as a more difficult animal to manage than an eBay store or auction listing business. In reality the maintenance is much lower while sometimes the cost to get started can be a bit higher. Continuing costs of a website versus an eBay business are completely different however and by an almost universal consensus the stand alone website will win the cost to maintain battle every time.

So, why eBay? Because with the massive traffic generation provided by the huge amount of inbound links and the pure enormity of eBay a seller can have a higher percentage chance of making a sale on eBay than on a stand alone website.

What if you want a website and the traffic of eBay but you do not have enough source of supply to populate your own eCommerce site to compete with the massive lists of products found on eBay or Amazon? We think you could be quite happy with the following solution.

One particularly interesting method of populating an off eBay website which will not simply promote your brand and your eBay items but also will pay you back and run on autopilot. Is to install phpBay Pro on an existing or new php based website or Wordpress CMS site.

phpBay Pro (See Link in the Sidebar) is an Ebay software script available as a plugin for Wordpress or as an API (application programming interface) for php driven web sites. It’s built for simplicity, meaning that you can have it up and running in just a matter of minutes. Both versions come with documentation.
Ebay Affiliate Software

phpBay Pro enables web publishers to quickly and easily add keyword rich eBay auction listings to your Wordpress or php driven site to generate serious affiliate revenue in a matter of minutes!

What this means to those who may not be aware of the terminology used in the phpBay Pro company literature is…

With phpBay Pro any website can import any eBay listing category, store, or keyword group directly into a stand alone website or Wordpress based self hosted blog. When the owner of such a website signs up as an eBay affiliate at Commission Junction, the resulting traffic directed to eBay from these listings inserted into any own website or blog will generate 24 hour a day revenue for that site. Those same listing imported into your off eBay website add constantly updating and new content to that site. For SEO this is a great advantage. Your site can be relatively static, yet always have new listings imported providing recent and relevant content for search engine spiders to chew upon.

These imported listings can be from your own store, your favorite category, or of the best items from eBay’s hot list. The best part is that the imported listings will look as though they are designed as part of your original website. It won’t look like some eBay generated widget or html builder import. Well, actually… the best thing is that as the website owner you can make money on any item sold via your listings imported from eBay and you will not have to ship or stock or inventory any of them.

Check Out phpBay Pro – Follow that link below…. Tell em the All Business Auctions sent you! Or give us a call, we use phpBay Pro ourselves and would be happy to help you set up a website which can take advantage of this technology. We will insert eBay live listings with phpBay to a new site which could also contain not only your eBay listings from an existing eBay store but also have a page of eBay listings from other sellers stores (a great way to test niche’s) and also have a web 2.0 style blog attached to build a sense of community with your buyers. The options are endless!

Does Becoming a Guest Blogger on an Authority Site Improve Your Blog Traffic?

Guest Blogging?

Becoming a guest blogger for a related website or blog can increase your own website traffic and improve your reach. The key is to provide a valuable and interesting perspective for the readers of the surrogate blog site. Your message should be just a little bit outside the normal flow of the readers expectations but not so far out that they will dismiss your post to wait for the next “regular” issue to return to normal. Intrigue don’t insult… make new friends and possibly new subscribers in the process.

Recently I have been working closely with Jay Berkowitz of the Ten Golden Rules Podcast, Ten Golden Rules Blog and website. TenGoldenRules.com. (Everyone should be familiar with Jay by now as I have been including a great deal of information about him and our interrelated speaking engagements etc… on this blog and in the Trading Assistant Journal.

Jay has a perspective that is exciting and refreshing when viewed from an eBay guy’s vantage point. The entire world of Internet marketing is so vast and yet eBay people, myself included, can get so wrapped up with the day to day activities and grind of eBay that we sometimes let the entire outside world go by without even noticing. Jay brings into focus some aspects of that vast world, or at least the social networking and new Internet marketing portion of the it for me when I listen to his podcast. This is not a podcast which is designed to sell you a box of DVD’s , Guides, e-Books or Courses – Jay has no DVD’s for sale.

I appreciate his genuine awe struck and outgoing way of bringing his listeners sound bytes from some of the most powerful and cutting edge Internet marketers and pioneers in our World today. Jay rubs shoulders with and interviews the likes of Seth Godin and Jason Calacanis on a weekly basis. If you don’t know who those people are, it’s OK because Jay will share the highlights of the careers of these .com and Internet moguls with you when he reports on the Ten Golden Rules podcast. I say Awe Struck, not because I think Jay does not belong in the same room with these mega-tycoons of our industry but because he has a way of approaching these interviews with the kind of exuberance and giddiness of someone who may not belong, but is happy to be there, would bring. Jay belongs – one only needs to read his resume on the Ten Golden Rules website to know he has been playing in this sandbox for some time now. He simply has a style which brings the listener into the room as if we were flies on the wall and Jay is the only person who knows we are there.

Jay uses a small digital recording device to get his sound bytes and interviews. He approaches people at opportune times, usually after a cocktail hour or a dinner at the end of a long day or after a conference. His interviews are not stiff but his subjects just might be. The format is simple and to the point and he repeats similar questions to all of his guests but this only makes the listener more comfortable with the process. The answers are not canned or spammed and they seem to come from the heart with most of his best guests. So I applaud Jay for his honest and forthright efforts to bring a tiny glimpse of the vast and ever changing world of the Internet and how cutting edge pioneers use it for their own personal enjoyment as well as how they market for personal gain.

Jay has been more than happy to communicate and share with me outside the world of his podcast. I helped Jay and Debbie Levitt arrange for Jay to be the Keynote speaker at RocketPlace.com and now that has become a connection which will serve all of us well into the future. With Jay speaking at eBay live in Chicago (As noted in our previous post).

Jay has allowed me the honor of guest posting with an eBay perspective on his Ten Golden Rules Blog. I hope to contribute as often as he and his staff have a need for my content. But if no more than the post I have repeated below is included in the Ten Golden Rules blog, I think I will have been successful.

Guest posting is a sign that you have good content and that people want to hear what you have to say. I respect the trust and I honor the privilege whenever another blogger has room for one of my posts within their publication. If you reach the point where another blog property will have your content inserted with your own byline, as a guest blogger the opportunity should not be allowed to slip away. Guest Blog whenever possible and do it with integrity. Make sure your host is aware of your sincere gratitude for the opportunity to address his or her readers.

Thanks again Jay and the Team at Ten Golden Rules!

The following is my first guest post on the Ten Golden Rules Blog:

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Guest Post – Top 10 eBay Stores Tips for Small Business Owners

Here is a guest post from our friend Scott Pooler at All Business Auctions, an eBay stores expert.

Top 10 eBay Stores Tips for Small Business Owners

1) OPEN an eBay store and stock it with merchandise – This is the first step! Once you make this initial step, your business will be on its way towards gaining worldwide exposure for your brand plus a robust and lively new customer base. Question: Are you aware that more searches are initiated for products on eBay each day than on Google? In fact there are more searches completed each day on eBay than on Google’s entire system and every search within eBay is initiated by a consumer looking for a product to buy.

2) Build up your positive feedback number – By building the eBay account feedback through purchases and the sales of your store merchandise new and exciting features of your eBay account will become available. Once your feedback rating exceeds 100 all of your fixed price and store listings will be gaining even more Internet exposure on eBay express and your eBay store merchandise will qualify for many other programs within eBay. When sales exceed $1000.00 per month, the eBay stores business you established will be listed as a PowerSeller. Powerseller status indicates to the consumer that you are a steady and reliable resource and they can have confidence buying from you. Additionally, when your sales surpass $3000.00 per month, your business will qualify for a reduction in PayPal fees. The best sellers rise to the top both in the new Best Match Search and with quality DSR’s or “Detailed Seller Ratings” on eBay. Being a great merchant now results in a bottom line discount on fees for Powersellers.

3) Research and Test – Use existing tools provided by companies like Terapeak and Hammertap to research your niche and products on eBay. Study the competition and learn your strengths and weaknesses as a seller on eBay. The world of eBay retailing is dynamic and different from even cutting edge eCommerce marketing. You must have relevant and accurate information at hand to really know the marketplace. Without research and testing (via your eBay store and auctions listings), no real eBay marketing plan can be developed. Use these easy to understand tools to learn the trends, price points, and methods your competition uses to dominate the marketplace for your niche. Research is king on eBay!

4) Design Your eBay Store to fit your brand – An eBay store is a marvelous tool to attract traffic to your merchandise but once a potential customer lands on your site you want them to stick around and see all that you have to offer. A standard eBay store design is very basic and will appear as one of a thousand similar eBay stores in the world. To stand out and be recognized, you need to invest in a professionally designed eBay store. A store designed with your company look and feel and your branding will perform much better than the stock eBay store packages with dated graphics and cookie cutter design.

5) Complete your eBay Store “About Me” Page – This is possibly the single most important step to succeed as an eBay seller! The About Me page is the only place where, within the eBay rules and guidelines it is possible to re-direct eBay traffic to your own website. If you want a portion of the 225 million eBay users to see your company website, this is where you get it done! A professional eBay store design should include a “me” page designed to funnel traffic to your off eBay website.

6) Write an eBay guide, review, or blog – Give your muse a try and write a review or a guide to how to buy a product you feature. What should a consumer look for in products similar to what your store features? How would a consumer go about finding an honest dealer like you? What kind of treasures can be found in the marketplace and how does a consumer tell the good from the fake in your field? This is not a place for blatant merchandising but more of a place to write a common sense guide about how to buy your specific category of widgets. These guides and reviews and/or blog posts are all ways to gain worldwide exposure for your company and your brand and identify yourself as an expert – eBay provides these tools to you for free!

7) Import your eBay listings into your own website – Create excitement on your website and offer ever changing content to the search engines by importing your own eBay store listings into your off eBay traditional website. The advantages of this strategy are vast and the investment is minimal. If you sign up as an affiliate of eBay (also free) your company can even realize revenue from any click through to eBay from your website.

Sell Internationally – With an eBay store your company becomes an international exporter overnight. Make your products available to the world and offer them on all of eBay’s international websites. You will gain new customers, additional traffic and valuable bidders for any auction listings you post. Bring the world to you with the click of a mouse!

9) Set up a Trade – In / Trade – Up Program for new equipment sales – . Example: Your business sells new and valuable products or merchandise and has a loyal customer base. You are always working toward selling your customers the latest and greatest piece of equipment or new model of your merchandise. As a business owner you hesitate to directly accept trade in equipment and then sell same used equipment for warranty and financial reasons etc… With an established eBay based Trade up program an opportunity becomes available to offer your customers a way to convert used merchandise into trade in cash on eBay if the customer will commit to buying a new stock item from you. In an eBay consignment arrangement, you never take ownership of the item and therefore you never invest in the item nor are you liable for the item. The item is sold as is to a new customer and your loyal customer applies the value towards the sale of your new inventory. Win Win – Everyone is happy. You sell new equipment by eliminating a financial objection from your present customer. – Smart Business!

10) Stick with it! – There are many tools available to your company which will automate the process of listing and re-listing merchandise which reduces labor costs and the possibility of tedium causing you to abandon an eBay store plan. When you set up your eBay store, have an eBay plan in place with goals and milestones in mind and on paper. Stick with your plan, adjust your goals, and learn your marketplace. Each sale will propel your business along the pathway to success and each sale will be a learning experience. Your company and you can do it and you can do it now!

Bonus Tip – eBay is more than a sales channel – eBay is a worlds most highly trafficked intersection of buyers and sellers. Location is everything in the world of retail and if your store is on a busy corner you will be touted as a genius for your selection of a location. Think of eBay more as an advertising opportunity and a brand building marketplace with the added benefit of producing real sales. eBay has spent as much as 4 Billion dollars per year on PPC advertising targeted for goods listed within eBay Stores, do you want a piece of that ad buy? An eBay store can have a long lasting positive impact on brand awareness and new customer acquisition all while providing actual revenue. Top tier retailers including Sears and Circuit City have invested in the eBay marketplace because it is much more than a place for collectibles. Open up to the possibilities of eBay, no other venue provides so much traffic with such a small overall investment.

Scott Pooler is an eZine Articles Expert Author and the Publisher of the “Trading Assistant Journal” . His company – AllBusinessAuctions.com provides eBay stores design, eCommerce development, Internet & eBay solutions & software to small and mid sized businesses worldwide.
727-596-6900

Posted by Jay Berkowitz at 10:45 AM 0 comments

Labels: All Business Auctions, eBay, Hammertap, Scott Pooler, terapeak

Ten Golden Rules Founder Jay Berkowitz to Speak at eBay Live 2008 Chicago

Jay Berkowitz of the Ten Golden Rules Will be a featured speaker at eBay Live 2008!

Jay is scheduled currently to speak just following eBay CEO John Donahoe and should be a big hit with his Ten Golden Rules of Internet Marketing presentation. I know that many of the attendees of the RocketPlace.com conference were very impressed with Jay’s speech and style and they simply wanted more of the information Jay had to share.

Now is your chance – Registration for eBay Live opens March 14, 2008

To get a better idea of the focus of Jay’s 10 Golden Rules Podcast you can listen to Episode 20 at the following Link:

Episode 20 – Ten Golden Rules Podcast

Jay was kind enough to give both Debbie Levitt and Myself the credit for his speaking engagement at eBay Live in the Podcast listed above. Thanks Jay, we appreciate your coming to speak to all of the eBay people who are interested on your perspective regarding the future of the Internet and how we should use Social Networking to market outside of eBay.

Jay’s Website is TenGoldenRules.com found here:

Press Release Tools For Marketing – RocketPlace eBay Conference – PR Web Based Marketing

Do you use Press Release Marketing?

Press releases can be a very effective tool for online marketing. Using services like PRWeb, Express Press Release and more (just google “press release or online press release and you will have hundreds to choose from) can increase your online exposure, provide back links to your blog articles and web pages and much more. The odds of an online press release being picked up by a major news outlet may be slim but the everlasting exposure on the web is still worth your efforts.

You should write press releases in a newsworthy style. Simply repeating your marketing message will not cause many readers of press release material to linger long on your press release. Include current events which relate to your business or service and try to get quotes and references from outside sources. Your press release should look somewhat like what you might read in a newspaper, not like a brochure or web page for your business.

Here is an example of a press release I just sent out this morning. Tell me if you think it looks newsworthy.

All Business Auctions of Largo, Florida CEO Scott Pooler to Speak at eBay Powerseller Conference – RocketPlace – Orlando March 1, 2008
Scott Pooler of All Business Auctions to Speak at an eBay Selling Seminar & Conference (The first to convene after the recent fee and feedback changes at eBay). The focus of this conference is education and information sharing. Scott will discuss the addition of eBay consignment to existing small businesses and many other speakers will share insights about how to make eBay add to your bottom line.

Recent eBay news has been filled with negative reports about changes in fee calculation methods and seller feedback. These changes have just recently been introduced by eBay to the millions of current sellers utilizing the online auction service to present their wares to the world.
Rocketplace (formerly the As Was Conference) @ The Disney World Yacht Club Resort, February 28 – March 1, 2008. http://www.rocketplace.com/index.html Is the first conference of Powersellers and Solutions providers being held after these eBay changes were announced.

“We will discuss the changes in fees and feedback but we do not plan on adding to the present fervor by promoting sellers strikes or departures” Said Scott Pooler of All Business Auctions.com in Largo, Florida. “Our focus is and always has been, using eBay’s massive appeal and significant worldwide traffic pull to help small businesses succeed in online marketing”

Mr. Pooler is a 10 year veteran of online marketing via eBay. He has been a Powerseller, a Trading Assistant, eBay Drop Store owner and a Master Franchise Representative for one of the largest eBay drop store chains in America. “I have seen how changes can sometimes cause a stir among the eBay selling community in the past. It is important to remember as an independent seller, your focus should be more about how to use the site to your advantage, we teach those methods to small businesses every day”. As a certified eBay Education Specialist with eBay University, Mr. Pooler has transitioned his business into an Internet Marketing and eBay sales consulting firm. All Business Auctions is designed to first demonstrate and then implement advanced selling strategies and solutions for local small businesses. “We help small businesses with every aspect of getting online, from branding and web design to eCommerce and eBay sales”.

Many speakers and presentations will be available to attendees at RocketPlace. Subjects covered will include eBay and eCommerce solutions and resources in addition to utilizing web 2.0 applications and methods to effectively promote your business online. “This is not just a eBay centric conference, we will discuss many emerging technologies and methods to increase online sales” Says conference organizer Debbie Levitt of As Was Marketing in Tucson, Arizona.

“In my business I have seen the effectiveness of these new technologies and methods of promoting via social media/web 2.0, I want to share these techniques with other business owners and merchants. This conference is an amazing opportunity to do that in a face to face situation, I am very pleased to be asked to not only attend but speak at such a cutting edge and prestigious event”. Scott Pooler – All Business Auctions

Scott Pooler will be speaking about bringing eBay consignment services into existing businesses, how it works, and how to use these services to bring value to existing customers while promoting your own brand on a worldwide stage. Scott’s presentation is scheduled right before the amazing keynote address we expect to hear from Jay Berkowitz of TenGoldenRules.com in Boca Raton, Florida – “I know Jay Berkowitz will bring amazing insight and clarity to the social media topics he specializes in. Ten Golden Rules is a great concept and Jay is a fantastic speaker, we will all learn from his perspective”. (Jay Berkowitz is the former marketing director of Coca Cola, AT&T, Sprint, and e-Diets.com).

Worldwide Brands, eBay, Refund Retriever, Kyozou, Merchant Advantage, Channel Advisor, HammerTap Research, PPCSummit.com, Type Pad – Six Apart, Constant Contact, buySafe, & Blueberry Consulting are just a few of the major solutions and services providers presenting and available at the RocketPlace.com conference.
See:
http://allbusinessauctions.com/blog/2008/01/19/the-as-was-conference-in-orlando-2008-meet-and-network-with-the-pros-of-ebay/

All Business Auctions

12525 Walsingham Road

Largo, Florida 33774

727-596-6900

See Our Blog At: http://allbusinessauctions.com/blog

Read the Trading Assistant Journal http://allbusinessauctions.wordpress.com

As Was Conference & All Business Auctions Recruit Ten Golden Rules Jay Berkowitz for eBay Social Networking Keynote

As you may know from my previous post about TAWC (The As Was Conference in Orlando) Debbie Levitt of As Was asked me to discuss adding eBay consignment to any business at the conference based on my consignment background and history with drop store operations, franchising and our publication of the Trading Assistant Journal.

Debbie also wanted to bring in a focus on social marketing via networks such as Facebook, Linked In, and Second Life among others.  Debbie actually asked my opinion of who she should ask to speak at the conference about these cutting edge marketing topics.

My first thought was of Jay Berkowitz CEO of Ten Golden Rules an Internet marketing professional with former employers on his resume such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, AT&T, Sprint & e-Diets.com .

Jay broadcasts a very successful and informative marketing podcast on i-tunes called the Ten Golden Rules of Internet Marketing. I thought he would be the perfect choice to introduce these types of new marketing opportunities to the eBay culture.  Debbie asked me for the introduction after I gave her a short review of Jay’s considerable qualifications.

I called Jay and introduced him to the As Was Conference and briefly covered the goals of the conference.  Jay was more than gracious in making time for our conference in his very cramped February speaking schedule.  Debbie was very pleased to offer Jay the Keynote speech to end the conference on Saturday March 1, 2008.

The Ten Golden Rules Podcast and Jay Berkowitz featured an Interview with Debbie Levitt of As Was in episode 19 available on i-tunes or directly from the Ten Golden Rules website.  I will also add that both Jay and Debbie were very gracious on the Podcast in mentioning my contribution towards bringing Jay to speak at TAWC… Thanks for the honorable mention Jay and Debbie!

Check out the podcast and sign up for The As Was Conference – You will learn more at this conference than you could possibly imagine. It’s not too late to join Debbie, Jay & I along with numerous other eBay and Internet Marketing specialists at the conference at Disney World Yacht Club Resort.

See You There!

Scott Pooler

Blogging & Blog Contests – Weapons in Your Marketing Arsenal

Writing a blog for your company is an outstanding method for disseminating your message to the world and to attract new loyal customers for your brand.  

Blogging efficiently and wisely creates a conduit of information for your audience (potential customers) and there are few methods available either on the Internet or in traditional media matching the speed or effectiveness of this outstanding method of advertising. 

I could go on and on about the many reasons a blog for your firm is an initiative worthy of consideration, but this article is more about promotion of the blog after it is up and running.

When a blog is initially launched it is sometimes quite difficult to find readers for your message.  Making regular posts on the blog is the best method to get your message out because ultimately, good relevant content is king in the eyes of the search engines and your potential viewers.  Posting interesting and informative information with less of a sales pitch and more of a helpful and understanding tone is your best weapon in the blog arsenal for attracting and maintaining regular readership.  

There are other weapons available in the blog promotion arsenal.  Today we will discuss blog contests.

What is a blog contest?

A blog or blogger contest is a method used to attract other blog authors to post articles and links from your blog or about your blog, company or event - on other blogs. 

These links and content ultimately add “authority” to your blog.  In the eyes of Google, Technorati and other search engines such as Yahoo or MSN, the fact that your blog was mentioned - or a link to your blog was added to another blog or website with similar content - makes your blog more valuable, and therefore it becomes ranked higher in the search engines. 

When your ranking is higher, your content gets noticed faster. 

Another more immediate benefit is the almost instant increase in traffic from the blogging community. They place posts in their blogs about your site and you quickly see the increased traffic from the readers of these other blogs.

How do you get other blog authors to write about you or your blog?

With an incentive, a prize or an outright lotto… Cash is always good, but may be seen a payment for links and therefore considered somewhat of a taboo in Google’s eyes.

An artful and creative contest can inspire other bloggers to write good material for your benefit, but only if your incentives are interesting and sincerely delivered.

How will you find these other bloggers to enter your contest?

When you first initiate a blog for your company, the first task after launch should be a systematic campaign to join and be accepted by social blog networks. These subscriptions will take time to develop, but once you are accepted in the communities like Mybloglog and BlogCatalog and others, you can begin to form relationships with the other members of the community. 

Over time, a certain amount of these other bloggers will join your neighborhood in the community because they want you to join their neighborhood.  Some bloggers do this for a sense of community, while others do it more to spam the other members with a daily barrage of linkbaiting.  I suggest your goal is to remain far to the left of linkbaiting and somewhat to the right of the social butteryfly…

Save your messages to the community for attaboys and sincerity until your have a serious reason to use the collateral you may have built up in the interim.  Do not start out your relationship with the embers of these communities with an instant “Hi – Nice to meet you – HERES MY PITCH”….

Be calm cool and casual until you have a contest to offer.  This approach will be more effective because the other members of your community will have more interest in your contest if you do not band them over the head every day with a pitch for your blog, your latest article or your best product.

Blogging is a more social way to market your business goals and ideals.  You can not apply the old tried and true mass-marketing tactic in a blogging environment.  “Easy does it” is the way to attract readers (or hits) which increases your rank and then can ultimately lead to sales.  Using a blog as the open end of your long tail sales funnel to direct your readers to links of your products – without selling them with an obvious pitch – is an art which can take time to develop. 

Using blog contests to jump start the stream of readers into your funnel is a very good weapon in the blog promotion arsenal. Use it wisely and judiciously…

Sample Blog Contest: (Running now on our Trading Assistant Journal Blog)

  

Announcing a special blog contest… Write & Win!

Simple & Safe to enter!

If you own a blog,  you may enter.  If your blog topic is eBay or eCommerce related – even better!

What is it?

A simple contest with judging based upon the most original and entertaining yet clean post written.

What to Write About?

The contest is based upon new and original posts describing TAWC – The As Was Conference

Main Page Here: TAWC Registration Link Here: TAWC Registration

Write about why eBay sellers and/or small business people should attend this conference. Include links to the main page, the registration page and/or my post describing the conference.

There is a great deal of content available recently regarding all of the changes in the way eBay is doing business so you should have plenty to work with.  TAWC conference attendees will get the best and most accurate information concerning these changes and how to adjust to them.

What Do You Get for your Words?

1st Prize Winner receives choice of:

• Auction Bytes.com 25k impression ad space ABAdvertising Link Donated by Debbie Levitt of As Was
• or Registration for 2 to attend The As Was Conference in Orlando (Travel and Accommodations Not Included)
• Plus 125×125 Advertising spot for your blog (restrictions apply) On this site for one month.
• Plus:1 hour of eBay marketing consulting time from your choice of experts (Debbie Levitt or Scott Pooler)
• Plus a Link to your blog of choice on As Was and All Business Auctions Or The Trading Assistant Journal blogs. (Restrictions Apply – No Links provided for unacceptable format or negative content sites)

Second Prize:

• Full Site/Blog review with recommendations for SEO improvement and graphic design element improvement or adjustments if necessary.
• or … One Free Registration to attend TAWC (Airfare & Accommodations not included)
• Plus 125 x 125 ad spot on the ABA blog for one month. (Will not run concurrent with first prize winner)
• or 1/2 hour of eBay marketing consulting time from your choice of experts (Debbie Levitt or Scott Pooler)
• Plus a Link to your blog of choice on As Was and All Business Auctions Or The Trading Assistant Journal blogs. (Restrictions Apply – No Links provided for unacceptable format or negative content sites)

Third Prize:

• Reduced price registration to TAWC (1/2 price) – (Airfare & Accommodations not included)
• or 1/4 hour of eBay marketing consulting time from your choice of experts (Debbie Levitt or Scott Pooler)
• or 125 x 125 ad spot on ABA blog for 14 days.
• Plus a Link to your blog of choice on As Was and All Business Auctions Or The Trading Assistant Journal blogs. (Restrictions Apply – No Links provided for unacceptable format or negative content sites)

Details:

Posts should be a minimum of 250 words

Posts must be clean and original

No Copy and Paste of previous articles or other blog posts

Posts must include links to the main page, the registration page and/or my post describing the conference.

Posts may include graphics and or video

Posts must not be on a explicit or pornographic site

Contest is only for bloggers who post the most unique (and clean) post describing TAWC and promoting registration…

Post the TAWC review/write up/article in the next 5 days. Deadline Monday Jan 28, 2008 at Noon GMT

Send a link to your review/write up/post to: service@allbusinessauctions.com

Judging will be based upon originality, quality and uniqueness of each blog posting and will be reviewed/judged by three experts in Internet marketing and copywriting.

The winners will be notified via email. (So send in your email address please)

Get The Word Out!

Get the word out about the conference and we will reward the top three bloggers with the prizes listed above. Prizes will be awarded to three different people posting on three different URLs so make your post count!

We appreciate any participation and will be pleased to discuss the contest or prize package details with you.

Contact Scott Pooler 727-596-6900

Skype: allbusinessauctions

Yahoo Messenger: allbusinessauctions

email: service@allbusinessauctions.com

eBay Stores Designed for Cross Selling and Conversion: eBay Store All Business Auctions
eBay “me” pages designed to drive traffic to your website – Custom eBay “me” Page

eBay Stores and e-Commerce Website Choices – Build it in-house or hire a professional?

When you’ve made the decision to get your products online via eBay and/or your own eCommerce website, what is the next step?

First Question: Build it in-house or hire a professional?

Yes, you can build your companies eBay store and website with talent already existing within your organization.

Website design is taught at most high schools or community colleges these days – chances are good that your employee pool may have budding web designer talent lurking deep within…

The next question is… are you ready to trust your company marketing and image to this untested talent?

eBay provides numerous tools and a great deal of information for anyone to accomplish the task of getting a store up and running.  The quandary is… does eBay provide these tips and tricks to help your as a business to thrive or to help their business prosper? Obviously, if you are a seasoned business professional you will soon realize that a company such as eBay does nothing without a reason.

Most of eBay’s teaching tools and to a certain extent, eBay’s entire growth strategy is based upon making the process of setting up an eBay selling account and consequently an eBay store easy for home based businesses. eBay wants mom & pop to go garage sale shopping with an eye towards making a few extra bucks for the cookie jar. To that end they want to get mom & pop up and running with an eBay store as soon as possible (and funneling fees into eBay). Just because eBay has based a majority of their marketing focus on home based businesses does not mean that an eBay store is not a valuable asset for any established brick and mortar retailer or other “real” business concern. eBay is simply going after the largest number of potential users of their products.

Unfortunately this also leads to numerous eBay store failures…

These home based eBay store owners do not have the prior background, sources or resources to take advantage of the world wide marketing giant and revenue producer now known as eBay. Therefore, while getting your company eBay store up and running may seem to be an easy in-house task for any intern, or kid just out of college with a great computer science degree… the real nuts & bolts set up and operation of an eBay store or e-commerce solution or both in tandem (the best option) is better left to professionals who work with eBay and e-commerce each and every day. If you are reading this because you are interested in moving your business more into an Internet sales based program you should consider the wisdom of hiring eBay and Internet marketing professionals to help you and your company get a head start toward those goals.

Still Thinking About Doing it yourself?

Building an online business requires ability in several completely different arenas: graphic design, programming, database development, Web design, copywriting, photography, and online marketing. This is just a short list of what is required to start from scratch or to add Internet marketing to your sales operation. If you have these skills in-house or if you plan on learning them yourself, please take this advice to heart.

Make a list of your employees’ available skills as well as which skills they can learn. When you have a choice between learning a skill that will directly translate into making more money for your company or learning a skill that will let you do cool stuff on the Web, make a careful choice. Decide how much time you really want to devote to learning and doing things that really don’t help you sell more products. Do you want to be an online retailer, or do you want to be a Web developer? The highest and best use of your available time & resources probably isn’t learning the ins and outs of XHTML, but taking care of customers, finding new products, and promoting your business.

Making it Happen

Anything you can do yourself on a website design or to a eBay Store can be delegated or outsourced. You can hire eBay Stores Certified design professionals to design your eBay store from the ground up, create a custom logo, develop a corporate identity with unique colors and fonts, build your store product database, take product photos, write sales copy, perform search engine optimization on your site, custom-build XHTML templates that do almost anything you want them to do, and even manage your orders and perform customer service. It all depends on your budget.

After you’ve decided that you need help, you have lots of choices to make. The first decision is the size of your budget, which determines who you can hire. You can find prices for “building a eBay Store” that range anywhere from $300 to $5,000 and up. You can get a bargain using offshore designers (working anywhere from eastern Europe to India), college kids, or even professional designers moonlighting out of their basement. If you want a more “professional” experience, expect to pay up to $15,000 for a complete branding, marketing, and design package from top-drawer eBay store and Internet marketing firm. Both your web e-commerce site and your eBay store should present your branding and image as you expect them to. Getting the eBay image and your website image to mesh almost seamlessly is your goal, this can be quite difficult for even experienced web designers.

Using a CMS or Content Management System type of website design can significantly reduce your web design costs. There are a huge amount of new and exciting options available for web development, do not think you must use a “hand coded” html site to get your branding and image in front of the public. Some companies are even using simple blogging platforms like Wordpress or Typepad as the basis for corporate websites. These blogging platforms are very inexpensive to set up and the software is free. These CMS or Blogging platforms may also be used in conjunction with an eBay store or a with an eCommerce plug in (or both) to craft a unique Internet marketing funnel for your company.

You get what you pay for

eBay store designs from the good design companies run between $2,000 to $5,000. eCommerce website designs sometimes run in the tens of thousands of dollars with continual maintenance costs and webmaster fees. If your budget makes you choose between the two options, an eBay store is the more economical and faster route to success when managed correctly.

The best part of an eBay stores set up is that once it is installed as you want it, you have very few outside maintenance costs. Your company will have complete control of the products presentation (with the use of a template) and the inventory management is a simple to learn affair on eBay. Advanced tools are available to help with the management of large inventories and to help you create a listing just as you would within a word processing program or text editor.

When you get a quality eBay Stores design, sometimes the results are more than just superficial. Qualified designers improve the shopping experience, which can dramatically increase sales from your existing traffic by increasing your conversion rate. Also, many designs, when set up correctly improve the way your site looks to search-engine spiders, too! (This is the power of an eBay stores “me” page and other exclusive features and benefits of eBay stores packages).

After you determine what parts of the store building process you can do and what you can’t do or would rather not do, you’re ready to look for some help with the heavy lifting. First, you have to decide what type of vendor you want to work with because there’s a big difference between working with a freelancer or independent consultant and working with a large design company or ad agency:

eBay Stores certified design specialists

eBay Stores certified design specialists (certified eBay stores designers) provide the best overall experience. Your company will get the personalized attention it deserves and you will know that the design is based upon eBay marketing principles. Look at the portfolios of these certified eBay stores designers and decide which firm best represents your companies’ image. Stay away from home based eBay stores designers with frilly eBay templates and flashy bouncing mouse pointers. You should be looking more for a corporate image that sells product and more importantly, cross sells more products for your company.

Look at the online stores you frequent in your daily life, think about the type of image and features you would like to emulate for your eBay store. Look at the designer’s portfolios and or ask them if the features you think are most valuable are available in their design packages? Some eBay stores designers can deliver very advanced packages designed to promote more than one primary product at a time. If you are looking for growth in your Internet sales segment, these are the designers to contract with. Talk with several designers to find the one you are most comfortable with and the one who you think will represent the image of your company best with an online design. If the same designer can also develop your off eBay website e-commerce design, you should place that designer high on your list of candidates.

Having a web presence for your company which flows from eBay to your own website with the same “look and feel” is very important. Your goal should be to make your customers feel confident in your products and your company. If you (and your design company) have made an effort to create a nearly seamless shopping experience between eBay and your own e-commerce website, the confidence of the buyer will increase and your conversion rate will as well. Drawing eBay shoppers to your website from within eBay is not only possible, but very probable with a eBay store design done correctly.

Ask your prospective design firm the right questions and you will know immediately if you have made the best choice.

Example Questions:

• Are you a certified eBay Stores Designer?
• Do you have examples of cross marketing designs?
• Can you create an eBay stores design which matches my existing website or can you create an e-commerce design to match your eBay stores design?
• Is SEO important for eBay?
• How important is a eBay about me page?
• Do your templates appear correct on all of the major browsers?
• What kind of changes can be made to the design after your job is complete? (Can I offer a special sale item in my template?)

If your chosen designer is not informed in these questions you should look further. Not every eBay or Internet design firm has the necessary skills or background to help your company effectively cross-market your products. Find the right design firm which will give your firm a solid foundation from which to grow and prosper in the new world of Internet retailing.

The As Was Conference in Orlando 2008 – Meet And Network with the Pros of eBay

I have a small announcement:

Scott Pooler of All Business Auctions has accepted a gracious invitation from Debbie Levitt of the marketing and eBay design company -As Was – to speak at: The As Was Conference in Orlando 2008.

Debbie Levitt has asked me to speak about a subject she knows I am passionate about and I am grateful for the opportunity she has presented me. I will be more than pleased to share my enthusiasm on this particular subject with the attendees of The 2008 As Was Conference…

eBay sales and consignment – marketing opportunities for your present business model.

My pre-conference outline for this session is:

1. Detail the honest and realistic pros and cons of leveraging eBay sales and consignment services to an existing retail or wholesale business.
2. Reveal the secrets of leveraging an eBay consignment as a marketing tool to expand your brand and bring new customers through your door.
3. Discuss the advantages of an eBay trade up program for new equipment sales to existing customers.
4. Quickly outline the plentiful tools and solutions available to help any business get started with an eBay consignment and marketing plan.

I asked Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was and organizer of this impressive event, why she decided to hold her own advanced eBay conference?

“Lots of people read the Entrepreneur Magazine eBay Startup Guide and then call us wanted to know how to eBay. Or they’ve been reading books or blogs by Adam Ginsberg, Janelle Elms, Skip McGrath, Mike Enos, Jim Cockrum, and Phil Dunn, and wondering who to trust. How to sell on eBay, how to start an eBay business, what products to sell, how to make the money they hear you can make. Should they attend eBay seminars, eBay University, eBay Live, or other events with eBay experts. Those are good questions, and are better answered in a 2.5 day conference than a short blog post.

The reality is that selling on eBay is work… nobody makes heaps of money sitting on their pool rafts, doing nothing, and barely turning on the computer. Don’t believe the scams. Like any business, an eBay business has to be taken seriously. Research, planning, and informed decision-making are part of the process. Don’t just jump in, and don’t just throw money at a system that claims it does most of the work for you, but your success is your responsibility. Anybody considering starting or growing any sort of business needs education, information, and networking”.

So how about that 2.5-day conference with all the answers?

It’s the 2008 As Was Conference. http://www.aswasconference.com/agenda.shtml details the speakers and schedule.

The conference will be held this year at Walt Disney World’s Yacht Club Resort in Florida at the end of February, it’s the only event (other than eBay Live) taking a look at how to grow your eBay business now. Packed with free networking lunches, networking dinners around Disney, free Business Clinics and expert speakers giving you techniques, tips, strategies, and tools you can use immediately to change and grow your business, The As Was Conference is different than everything else out there.

TAWC Will Teach You How to Make More Sales, Be More Profitable, and Attract More Customers Through:

• Software and systems that will make your eBay and off-eBay selling easier, automated, and more efficient.
• Blogging, shopping comparison websites, pay-per-click advertising, and your own email mailing list.
• Finding the right products to sell and the strategies for selling them successfully.
• Item presentation, listing design, and how to build the most effective eBay Store.
• Faster and cheaper shipping.
• Hiring part-time, full-time, or seasonal staff.
• Adding eBay Consignment to your existing retail or wholesale location.

Worldwide Brands recently sent a notice to their mailing list about our upcoming conference. Here is some of what they said: How would you like to come to Disney’s Yacht Club Resort in Orlando, FL for a few days and learn real ‘insider secrets’ to making money on eBay? Well, on February 28 through March 1st, 2008, you can come to one of Disney World’s most popular resorts and get a huge unfair advantage over your eBay competitors. If you do any selling on eBay or plan to, you should definitely attend this event. You’ll discover the newest techniques and strategies that can help you grow a huge eBay business for 2008.

Highlights of TAWC Include:

Informative sessions designed to teach you with the newest and best ideas, techniques, and strategies that will make you more profitable.

• Sessions presented by eBay staff, industry experts, and successful online sellers.
• FREE Business Clinics; get personalized advice from a team of industry experts.
• Plenty of time to meet speakers and exhibitors, and join roundtable discussions.
• A fun environment with three FREE networking lunches in our banquet room.
• Networking dinners around Walt Disney World.
• Learn what you’re not going to hear at eBay Live! or any other conference.

Get Ready To Network

Make sure you bring business cards because there will be plenty of time to connect and network with other sellers, speakers, exhibitors, and the experts on the Business Clinics panel.

Want to be a part of the incredible networking dinners? During the conference registration, you can check boxes to indicate that you want a seat at one or both dinners.

When you get to the conference, there will be convenient sign-up boards with different restaurants (and different high powered eBay experts). If you asked for a seat during registration, you’ll then be allowed to choose which restaurant, and sign up.

Business Clinics sign ups will be handled the same way. And of course, each days lunch will be a networking and information exchange bonanza!

oPINions will be great ice breakers. Pins at TAWC are not for collecting or trading. Every sponsor/exhibitor at our event will have 1″ round logo pins, called oPINions. At registration, you will get one lanyard oPINion for each product and service that you currently use or have used in the past. These are designed to be conversation-starters rather than for trading or collecting.

Are you thinking about using a certain product or service? Find someone wearing that oPINion, and ask for their oPINion on that company. Give your honest oPINion to anybody who asks. Nothing’s better than getting feedback from real eBay sellers at our conference.

Take It Home
The As Was Conference will not be recorded on video, so you need to be there! Attendees can pick up brochures from our speakers and exhibitors, and after the event, we will make the presentation slides from every session available for download. That means that you’ll get everything the speakers put on the screen (that isn’t live off the web) including their information, tips, examples, and resources.

Seminars and Events

Increase Sales with Unique Branding and Item Presentation
Learn how to present your item and your company in ways that will make shoppers trust you more and want to buy.
Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was

Scalable Sales Automation
Learn how Kyozou’s online and sales management system can grow your business.

Custom Software Solutions
Learn how software can be customized to make your online selling life easier and more efficient.
Tobe Goldfinger, President of JDT Technologies

Growing Your Business With eBay Certified Providers
Learn which companies eBay recommends that eBay sellers work with.
Laura Della Torre, Senior Manager, Seller Tools at eBay

Growing Your Business Without Growing Old: Automating, Expanding, and Scaling Like the Pro’s – Learn how ChannelAdvisor’s online and sales management system can grow your business.
Max Leisten, Senior Product Manager at ChannelAdvisor

Make Shipping Cheaper and Easier
Learn how to get UPS, FedEx, and DHL to pay you when you ship with them, and how to make shipping faster and easier.
Brian Gibbs, President of Refund Retriever

Driving Repeat Business and Buyer Loyalty

Learn how to attract buyers, keep them thinking about you, and get them to tell friends.
Tim Woda, Director, Business Development & Enterprise Sales of buySAFE
Lisa Sparks, Regional Development Director – South Florida, Constant Contact

Cause Marketing and New Media to Grow Your Business
Learn how eBay Giving Works charitable listings can bring buzz and fierce customer loyalty.
David Yaskulka, President, Blueberry Consulting

eBay Research and Strategies for Maximum Profits
Learn about specific eBay listing strategies that will save on fees and attract more shoppers as well as how eBay-related research can be used to make better-informed decisions about how and when to list.
Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was presents eBay strategies and EverySeller Research
Steve Nye of HammerTap

Your Best eBay Store
Learn the best ways use your eBay Store and its many features as well as how pushing the limits on eBay Store design could pull shoppers in.
Rich Lee, eBay Stores Marketing
Iarla O’Halloran, Creative Director at As Was

How to Stop Breaking the eBay Rules You Didn’t Know You Were Breaking
Learn how to stay out of trouble on eBay. Considering that some of your competitors might look through your listings to see what rules you’re breaking and turn you in, it’s important to be fully compliant.
The As Was Team

Hiring the Right Full-Time and Part-Time Staff
Learn what qualities and skills to look for in part-time, full-time, seasonal staff, and where to find these people.
Eric Winegardner, Monster.com

Sourcing Product and Being the Product Source
Learn how to find product lines from reliable sources. Are you a reliable product source? Learn how to get in front of online sellers.
Rob Cowie, President, Worldwide Brands

Overseas Product Sourcing & Manufacturing
Learn how to do business directly with the factories in Asia.
Charles Bell, Senior Project Manager of Siege Engineering, Inc.

Exciting Your Shoppers With Great Item Photos
Learn how to take better product photos, and how to give them that “floating” effect or make them unique.
Eric Majeran, Senior Sales Manager at Vertus presenting Bling! It
speakers, TBA

eBay sales and consignment – marketing opportunities for your present business model.
Learn the pros and cons eBay consignment sales, and how this may be an exciting and profitable addition to your present retail or wholesale business.
Scott Pooler, CEO of All Business Auctions

How to Grow and Manage Your Profitability
Learn how to get your accounting organized so you can measure and increase your profits.
JP O’Brien, CEO of Keepmore.net

Turn Traffic Into Cash
Learn how to grab shoppers and make money by leading them to your eBay items and/or ecommerce website. Learn the ins and outs of eBay’s Affiliate Program, blogging, shopping comparison websites, and pay-per-click advertising.
eBay Affiliate Program staffer, TBA

Come create a dialogue with our team of experts, and get personalized advice!

(Pssst… These people will be available to network with during the free lunches and scheduled dinners , or you may just meet up and hob nob in the halls… enjoy!)

• Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was
• Edward Sayers, eBay Consultant (former eBay TSAM)
• Dawn Sears, Account Manager at As Was (former eBay TSAM)
• Sarah Sosniak, Product Manager of Typepad at Six Apart
• Mary O’Brien, Partner and Chairperson at PPCSummit.com
• Michael Lambert, CEO and Co-Founder of Merchant Advantage
• Rich Lee, eBay Stores Marketing
• Rob Cowie, President of Worldwide Brands
• JP O’Brien, CEO of Keepmore.net
• Erika Barcott, Account Manager at As Was
• Iarla O’Halloran, Creative Director at As Was
• Edward Sayers, eBay Consultant (former eBay TSAM)
• Scott Pooler, CEO of All Business Auctions
• Marcia Cooper, Certified eBay Education Specialist, PowerSeller, and Trading Assistant
• Harvey Levine, eBay Education Specialist, PowerSeller, and Trading Assistant
• Sharon Ware, Business Consultant and Certified Education Specialist
• And many more

This is an opportunity to learn all the inside secrets and effective marketing strategies of established and recognized eBay and eCommerce experts you know and can trust. This conference is not a marketing pitch for some fly by night eBay solution in a box… This is a solid and respectable marketing and informational conference with speakers and presenters dedicated to helping you succeed in online marketing and eBay based sales programs. All of the tools, solutions, tips and experience one could hope to find will be available to attendees for an unbelievable price of only $299.00

Register NOW! – The information you will gain from just a single day of this conference is worth more than the price of admission for the entire 2.5 days of events.

See You There!

Scott Pooler

CEO

All Business Auctions

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