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May 18, 2005
An Almost Unbelievable eBay Case Study
Here is an eBay case study that should win an award for ... something. I'm just not sure what. Granted, I'm not the world's neatest person, but just seeing these pictures made my stomach churn. Take a look and see if it does the same for you.
http://www.randomthink.net/misc/ebay/
Amazing, huh? Anybody have an idea of an appropriate award?
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:45 PM | TrackBack
May 17, 2005
"How To Make A Website" 101
Even though I teach how to sell on eBay, I hear a lot of talk about how to make a website, because eBay is a door to the entire world of ecommerce. My students discuss templates, software, how & whether to hire a designer. I know how overwhelming all this knowledge can be, but truthfully, the best way is to focus on a do-it-yourself website.
Yes, there's a lot to learn. Yes, it's incredibly time consuming. Yes, it's hard to stay motivated when you aren't making any money. But isn't that the way it always is with a new craft? Were Mel Gibson and Nicole Kidman great the first time they acted in front of a camera? Were Larry Bird or Shaq experts with a basketball their first time on the court? Did Georgia O'Keefe pick up her brush and paint masterpieces? Excellence in any field is the result of long hours of practice and effort. Why should net marketing be any different?
My opinion: the only way to wealth and independence is by mastering basic skills and web design is one of these basics. Hire designers or use templates only after you can make a website yourself. Otherwise, you will always be dependent.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 1:44 PM | TrackBack
May 12, 2005
How To Handle Negative eBay Feedback
Often I run into eBay sellers who are literally held hostage by their fear of negative feedback. For instance, they buy something and the service is pathetic and the product is substandard - but they're afraid to complain for fear of retaliatory bad comments. Or they sell something to The Customer From Hell, who is unreasonable, demanding and even unscrupulous and the hapless seller just accepts the abuse.
If you are an eBay seller and also a buyer, it's easy to protect yourself - simply have two accounts ... one for selling and one for buying. Your eBay feedback as a buyer is less important to your wallet than it is as a seller.
But beyond that basic strategy, there is a way to survive negative feedback with grace and style. For instance, here is a seller with a whopping 964 negative reviews in the past year who is quite successful, nevertheless, just because of the way he handles customer complaints:
http://www.auction-genius-course.com/auction/worst-ebay-feedback.shtml
Of course, if you've got overwhelming negativity flowing your way, you might as well give it up - you absolutely won't succeed on eBay.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 8:00 PM | TrackBack
May 9, 2005
Does eBay Help Sellers Find Items To Sell?
Obviously, it is in eBay's best interests to help its customers find profitable items to sell. The more money sellers make, the higher eBay profits are and nobody can say that eBay isn't business-smart. Still, their help isn't all that useful and I'm not sure why?
One of their 'primo' help pages offers advice about 25 categories, but it surely doesn't help me much. For instance, I clicked on their "Home" category. It lead me to a commercial about why I should put video on my auctions - all for only 99 cents/listing. This is pretty self serving advice.
Too much of eBay's help is offered as discussion board fare. All too often, (although certainly not always) discussion boards are a pool of shared ignorance.
http://auction-genius-course.com/auction/items-to-sell-on-ebay.shtml
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 5:14 PM | TrackBack
May 5, 2005
Earn Passive Income With Sydney's Master Plan!
Have you ever heard someone say, "I only work three hours a day and I make fifty thousand dollars a month".
* Are these people just liars?
* Or do they know something that we don't know?
The greatest number is probably in the liars group. But still ... there are people who seem to run their lives and business that way, and I've never been able to figure out how to do that, myself.
But at last, I've figured it out! How to create wonderful, delicious, rewarding passive income. Hoo-rah!
And the way I've found is with FEEDS.
What is a "feed"? It's just a way of delivering content, 21st century style.
Probably the best known feed on the Net is Google AdSense. You put one small line of code on your website or online store and seemingly by magic ads appear that match whatever is on your page. If you're selling shoes, you won't find ads for movies and stuffed bears.
Did you know there are feeds on every kind of content you can imagine? Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, probably millions of feeds on every kind of content imaginable. In fact, here is a list of just a few of them:
http://search-engine-dominator.com/free-rss-feeds.shtml
Now, here is the cool part ... what if you could take those feeds and put them on YOUR webpages?
You may know that the word-of-the-day in net marketing is "niche".
* Instead of selling 'beauty products', you focus on 'make up'
* Instead of selling 'make up', you focus on 'skin care'
* Instead of selling 'skin care', you focus on 'night cream'
* Instead of just 'night cream', you focus on evening skin care for teen age girls, or women over 40 or redheads or ...
Now what if you are selling these skin care products and you can find a feed or two or three that is
And here's the best part - whenever a new article is written, you don't have to add it to your site! Instead, it "auto updates" without the slightest effort on your part.
It's a win-win for everybody:
* Your customer is happy because they're getting quality information that they want
* The author of the articles is happy because more people are reading what she writes
* The
* You are happy because happy search engines and happy customers means more pr*fits for you
So here is my plan ... I am aiming for a very modest 250 dollars a month from every one of my feed sites. Some will make less, of course - and some will earn much, much more. But if I build two sites each week, for one year, that will be a lovely passive income. One hundred sites X two-fifty per week equals ... well, you can do the numbers yourself.
There are so many uses for feeds, even in auctions, that I haven't even begun to scratch the surface. There will be much more to come in future issues, but if you would like to attend a fr** class on some of the many ways to use feeds, you can sign up here. It will be this Tuesday, May 10 at 7 PM Eastern time:
http://www.residual-income-dominator.com/classes.shtml
There are only 40 seats, though, so first come, first serve.
Also, please know that using feeds requires some basic computer skills. If you are a total newbie, this is not for you. If you consider yourself medium to advanced, you're in for a thrilling surprise when you 'get' the possibilities! You gotta love the Internet.
