Whether you sell items on eBay as a hobby or for a part time income or even if you earn a full time living on eBay, not having a Website of your own to augment your eBay sales is like throwing money down the drain. Look at it this way. Lets say that over a 10 day auction, 200 people visit your eBay Sales Page and one of those visitors buys your item. Then what? What do your 200 visitors do now? Where do they go? Well, if your not directing them to another buying opportunity then you have probably lost them for ever. Now, if you had a Website that promoted products similar to those that you sell on eBay, you would be able to direct them to that site and give them another opportunity to make a purchase. And it's so easy to do! On your eBay Sales Page you place a link to your AboutMe Page. On your AboutMe Page you add a link to your Website. eBay wont tolerate you sending visitors to a Website from your Sales Page, but they are perfectly happy for you to direct visitors to your AboutMe Page. eBays's policy on the use of the AboutMe Page is that you can direct visitors to a Website outside of eBay as long as that site provides further information on the item you are auctioning or selling. More information about eBay's AboutMe Page and Sales Pages can be found at http://pages.ebay.com/services/index.html. So, lets go through a brief scenario! Let's suppose that your selling "How To" CDs and DVDs on eBay. You set up your Sales Page for a particular "How To" CD or DVD . Let's assume in this example that it's a CD or DVD that teaches people "How To Grow Award Winning Roses". After describing the DVD you would add a line or two to your Sales Page explaining that the visitor can find out more about gardening "How To DVDs" by visiting your AboutMe Page . Then you would include a link that will take them to your AboutMe Page. It's a good idea to include this information at the beginning, middle and end of your Sales Page. AboutMe Page Ok. So you've set up your AboutMe Page to briefly describe some of your other product titles. You could include an opt-in form here to help build your mailing list. You would definitely include a link to your Website. Hopefully your eBay Sales Page has done it's job and you have sold the "Award Winning Roses" DVD at a good profit. But what about those visitors that didn't buy? All 199 of them in this example. Perhaps that particular DVD wasn't quite what they were looking for. Not to worry! You have offered those visitors an alternative and some will visit your AboutMe Page to see what other products you have, Some will click on your link and visit your Website. Some of these visitors to your Website will see products that they are interested in and buy. Even if this only happens with 2 out of your 200 visitors you will have made more money than you would have done if you didn't have a Website. WEBSITES and DOMAIN NAMES How do I get a Website? It couldn't be any simpler to get your own Domain Name and Website than it is nowadays. WYSIWYG You could go for a WYSIWYG EDITOR (What You See Is What You Get) site builder where you fill in the "blanks" with your information. See www.ephox.com/default.asp for a WYSIWYG Editor LEADING EDGE EDITORS You could use one of the leading edge brand products such as Dreamweaver at www.macromedia.com or MicroSoft FrontPage at www.microsoft.com/frontpage/. DIY CODING You could learn to write HTML (Hypertext Mark Up Language)if you wanted to. A good tutorial can be found at www.htmlgoodies.com/. A good HTML Editor can be found at http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage2.shtml (this is what I use and it's free). OUT SOURCE You could pay someone else to do it for you and a good place to find someone is www.elance.com/ DOMAIN NAMES You will want to choose and register your own Domain Name. A word of warning here. Don't use a free hosting account for your Website. You will not be able to use your own domain name and if you want your business to look professional and be taken seriously you must have your own Domain Name. You can buy a unique Domain Name for as little as $8.00 per year and you can find out if the name you want is available by carrying out a search at most hosting sites for example Namecheap at www.namecheap.com HOSTING There are many hosting sites to choose from and a search on your favourite search engine will bring up many. The most important thing here is that you get what you pay for. By now, most people are aware of free web space. I'm all for getting something for nothing but a time may come when you choose to promote products or services belonging to you and this is where the need for you to own your own Website becomes paramount. A Website belonging to you is a must if your business is to be taken seriously. WHAT WILL IT COST Website hosting can cost from nothing to upwards of hundreds of dollars but I would suggest that a good average fee would be about $20.00 a month for Hosting. The monthly fee will largely be dependent on what services and optional extra's you need, my advice would be to start out with an inexpensive package and upgrade when you need to - but remember, you "get what you pay for". If you think that you may need technical help, or you might have questions that you need answering, be sure to pick a hosting company that can provide that level of support. You will have to decide how important this is to you. My minimum requirements of a hosting company would be one that backed up it's servers on a daily basis (that way my precious information is protected) and provided secure server access so that my customer's details such as credit card details etc were kept confidential. FREE WEB HOSTING SERVICES Why pay for hosting when there are so many free Websites? The main problem with free Website providers is that you will not be able to use a Domain Name belonging to you, and as we have already discovered, your very own Domain Name is a must if you are considering running a business on the Internet. Other problems are: 1) Unreliability: Your Website could be off-line for days or even weeks. Complaining won't do much good; you're not paying anything for it after all. 2) Short life span: Free sites are notorious for closing down after a few months and all of your hard work disappears along with them. 3) Other people advertising: Your Web Host will earn money from putting other peoples adds on your site, something which you have no control over. Do you enjoy visiting Websites that bombard you with advertisements that are not relevant to your needs and then send you off to another site just when you think you have finished? I don't think so and neither will your visitors. I've said it before and I'll say it again. We all like something for nothing. But, in the long run, when it comes to promoting your business via "your" WebPages, you're better of paying. My advice, if you're really serious about owning a Business Website, be prepared to spend about $14.00 per month on hosting. So. Don't let the visitors to your eBay auctions pass you by! 1. Get your Domain Name 2. Decide how your site will be created. 3. Get a Hosting Account. 4. Enjoy all that extra money you will be making. For further information on modifying your ebay Sale Page and AboutMe Page including the HTML coding required visit www.ebayvisitorvalue.com |
