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July 28, 2008
Goodies for Your Pets
Your beloved pet has many needs, and you could spend a fortune trying to meet them. Regardless of your pet (dog, cat, fish, bird, whatever), its proper care requires both some education and shopping by its owner. And the range of requirements is wide open from life sustaining products like
Just how many of your pet needs might you actually find from the convenience of eBay? Your eBay pet supply options will certainly help with those search tasks. Does your local pet supply store have a specific product you need? You might waste a lot of time searching there in vain when you could simply find it online. You know you want the best for your pets. Do your comparison shopping in eBay before venturing elsewhere. You might afterward conclude that "elsewhere" isn't necessary after all.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:31 AM
July 26, 2008
Private Label Resell Rights: Making Money With Viral eBooks, Part 1
Viral eBooks are a big part of my business and are directly used for making money for our company. How? We create private label resell rights products and allow them to spread over the net, bringing in "GIPs". What is a GIP? It's a Genuinely Interested Person - in other words, someone who is quite likely to turn into a customer or buyer.
One of my favorite online personalities is Jimmy Brown and I was amused to read that Jimmy and I have made many of the same mistakes with our private label resell rights products and we'd like to spare you from making the same errors. Because once those products are out there, there's nothing at all that we can do to correct our mistakes.
Viral eBook Mistake #1: "Dating"
Make sure that you don't date your products. The first viral eBook I ever wrote was called "How To Suck Up Hungry Customers Faster Than A Vacuum Cleaner On Steroids". Ironically, it was Jimmy Brown who suggested that title to me. :-)
But I digress.
This ebook was about how to generate leads from eBay and it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of its time, since I wrote in around 1998. But since it was my first viral eBook, I didn't realize that it was dumb to put anything at all that revealed a particular year of creation. So the inevitable occurred: about two years later I started receiving complaints about how "old" the eBook was. By this time, there were thousands, probably tens of thousands, of copies of this eBook spread all over the Net.
Truth: the information was as good as ever. In fact, most of it still applies today.
Truth: perception said it was old and out of date. And therefore the ebook became virtually useless as a marketing tool, which was the point of course.
So when/if you decide to use private label resell rights to generate traffic remember my ghastly mistake and do nothing, absolutely NOTHING, that will date your viral eBook in any way.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 11:32 AM
July 23, 2008
eBay Scams: Fraud On eBay Turns Out Badly - For The Thief
There are eBay scams that go unpunished (darn it!) But recently the angels intervened and a fraud on eBay results in serious jail time for the thief.
The angels used the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), which started the procedings against the seller of fraudulent software. The seller, who lives in Oregon, somehow acquired stolen bank information and used it to create 40+ identities on eBay and PayPal. The SIIA called the software pirate a "whiz-kid who used his smarts and savvy to rip off software makers and consumers."
The software whiz will be busy for a time because his sentence includes:
1. 48 months in federal - not state - prison. Gag!
2. Three years of probation following his four year sentence
3. 150 hours of community service during each of those three years
The SIIA also initiated six new lawsuits for a total of 32 so far this year.
It's wonderful that this vigorous pursuit of wrong doers is occurring. Now if only sellers in other markets will be pursued in the same way we will all benefit.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:36 AM
July 20, 2008
Preparing for Your Grand Wedding
A person's planned wedding day should be one of the most exciting of their lifetime, and usually it is. However, prior to the wedding itself comes all the myriad details which help to make it an utterly gratifying experience.
For those who don't have the financial capability (or interest) to hire a wedding planner, there are a number of tasks that need to be completed. These include the design and ordering of the cake, lining up a location for the ceremony, locating a
During a recent scan through eBay, I noticed more wedding-related products for sale than I could even click through in a year. And it's unfortunate that many couples become discouraged and irritated with one another during their engagement stage because there are so many peripheral decisions and time-consuming tasks that need to be addressed. Perhaps a helpful tack would be to peruse eBay to locate and purchase many of these items from the convenience of online access. It just may save a lot of heartache before the big day!
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:50 PM
July 17, 2008
Ebay Niche Markets: Realism Important For A Profitable Niche On eBay
There is zero doubt that eBay niche markets can be extremely profitable. The problem is that if you're going to build a niche on eBay you shouldn't make a hasty decision because it could cost you a good deal of time and money. The easiest way is to see what other sellers are doing and take your cue from them because here is a truth ... competition is a GOOD thing. If there's no competition, there is almost never any demand, either.
Many Ebay sellers focus on just one niche while others specialize in a handful of niches. If you know some particular area very well, that's an obvious place for you to concentrate. For instance, antique sellers would have a huge advantage over me because I know zilch about antiques and collectibles. An expert, or even semi-expert, can recognize items that are "hot" {I really get tired of that word!} and which ones will languish on the shelves for years.
Once you have chosen a niche or two, it's time to become more organized. Personally, I like using webpages for organization but most folks use spreadsheets. Regardless of you choice, here are some items to consider:
1. Name of item or market {antique "salt & pepper shakers", Barbies or typewriters}
2. Approximate monetary value on eBay
3. Approximate monetary value off eBay
4. Cost of eBay advertising
5. Cost of off-eBay advertising
6. Your acquisition costs
NOTE: It's critical to be realistic when creating your records above. Success in an eBay niche market certainly doesn't depend on rose-colored glasses or positive thinking. Always remember that this is a business.
To figure out your sales value on eBay you need to do some research. If you don't have a research program like Terapeak {the best!} available, then use eBay's Completed Auctions form and get some prices. It isn't powerful and well-arranged like Terapeak, but it's free. Whatever the "average" price is - and that's hard to figure out without Terapeak or other research programs - you will have an approximate idea of what you can expect to receive for your treasures. Keep in mind that there are factors that influence price, whether negatively or positively, like condition or your skill in writing listings. Obviously, a beat-up widget will sell for less than one in excellent condition.
Realistic research like this will help you to determine if the eBay niche markets you are considering are truly worthwhile. If not, back to the drawing boards to find others. The important thing is to never, ever give up.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 8:57 PM
July 14, 2008
Fishing is Fab
Leisurely sporting activities are increasing exponentially in popularity. Camping, hiking, golf, and the like have captured the hearts of millions. Fishing is certainly among them. In fact fishing sites are all over the web. Though you can find a fishing hole just about anywhere, Alaska and Florida are two of the most popular US states for fishing activities.
In Alaska, people are enjoying float fishing trips and fly-in fishing, while in Florida they take on sport fishing, reserve charter fishing boats, and plenty of other adventures. Despite lightning speed technology and the fun that goes with it, America is aging and recreation time is more than ever marked by less and slower exertion. It's a great time for those in the recreation business.
On eBay, many have already recognized this trend and are listing up the fishing-related products. Rods, reels, hooks, fishing boats and more. And clearly many of these fishing gear sellers have been out there for years. As always, buyers can certainly locate the great deals in eBay, but this is also a seller's opportunity to cash in on a niche that will only improve in general public interest.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:08 PM
July 11, 2008
A Philosophy Of Liberty
This is a message for all people everywhere who LOVE liberty. I don't mean the folks who say they love liberty - but really don't. You know who I mean: the ones who want to use the authority of government to steal from others and give to them.
1. We shall just take {steal} 15% of everyone's IRA ...
2. We shall just take {steal} the oil companies ...
3. We shall just take {steal} money from Americans and give it to the UN, the 'underprivileged', the self-proclaimed experts on global warming ...
I mean the ones who truly love and will sacrifice for liberty. The ones who accept responsibility for their lives and don't look to handouts from the 'guv'mint'.
http://www.silverliberty.de/swf/PhilosophyOfLiberty.swf
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:19 PM
July 8, 2008
Strategic Internet Marketing: An Internet Marketing Strategy For Lazy People?
Strategic Internet marketing involves finding advantages for yourself that competitors don't have. Either the others don't understand, don't know - or insist upon an Internet marketing strategy designed specifically for lazy people! What am I talking about? Well ...
Over the weekend I was on a forum where the topic of conversation was getting high PR links back to your websites. One member had some great ideas but was meeting with resistance from other members. The reason? Because ... gasp ... her methods involved some nasty old W-O-R-K. The group clamored for software that would go out and gather high paying links while they watched American Idol. Honestly, it is no mystery why almost everyone fails at Internet Marketing. Here is my reply to that group.
= = =
The last thing you want is a piece of software to do this! In the first place, I can't see how this can be done without a human mind. There is already software that will find high PR sites and tell us who is linking to those sites. But once on a high PR site, a human needs to spend some time to see if there is a way to get a link. It's not as though there is a button on the home page that says, "Get Your High PR Do-Follow Link Here".
But more importantly, if there is such software these links will become useless because every lazy, get-rich-quick person on the Net will be trying to push a button and get high PR links. How much value will they be then? I've been marketing on the Net since 1999 and I've seen really good things ruined by software that makes it too easy. An example: blog comments. Most blog owners welcome thoughtful human comments but once spam-the-blog bots swung into action, the entire system was damaged. I have a popular blog and allowed and welcomed comments for years. But I finally shut them off when we reached 8,000 spam comments per hour! It did the cheating spammers no good because I never allowed those stupid viagra posts on my blog. But that volume ate up a lot of both human and server resources and so now I don't allow comments at all. Too bad for every legitimate marketer.
Look at it this way: buying a PR link of the kind described here costs $50-$150/month - or more. You can buy a link for one month for indexing, for example, but if you don't continue with the link it isn't going to do you much good with Google et al. That means you would spend $600-$1800/year buy a single link. If an hour or so of your time isn't worth that kind of money then you must be doing really, REALLY well. What makes these links valuable is that fact that they're not easy to come by! So if you've read this report, then you know something that everybody out there doesn't know. Don't spoil your advantage.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:54 PM
July 5, 2008
Home Furniture and Online Options
For those of us who love to avoid the hassles and expense of travel to department stores, the Internet has been a welcomed relief. What often amazes me are the types of very large items you can purchase barely leaving your living room. Automobiles and real estate head up the list.
Additionally, home furniture can be located, analyzed, purchased and delivered - all initiated at the keyboard. Ok, small accent lamps and perhaps a fire proof file cabinet aren't such a big deal. But when it comes to computer office desks or an entire room full of education furniture and even larger items like couches and beds, well the convenience becomes a huge time saver for busy people.
Similarly, eBay sellers offer thousands of furniture options that can be purchased with a few clicks of a mouse. If you also enjoy the acquisition of home furnishings from the comfort of that very same home, you'll do yourself a favor by starting your investigation in eBay.
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 12:34 PM
July 2, 2008
Paid Membership Sites: Comments On Jimmy Brown's Membernaire Course On Paid Membership Sites
In the past, I haven't been a big fan of the notion of paid membership sites. I have friends who run these membership sites and it seems like a boatload of work, plus they're always scrambling for new members, since there is a definite attrition rate.
However, my long-term pal Jimmy Brown seems to have a new slant on this. Jimmy himself is famous for his paid membership sites and he's finally gotten my attention. His site is called Membernaire and it isn't such a gagging amount of work. Here's what I like:
* First of all, the cost of these memberships is fairly low: $10-$25/month. That means that it wouldn't be hard to get members. And it's possible we might retain them longer.
* It's what Jimmy calls a "fixed-term membership site" which consists of weekly content shared via autoresponder to paid members for a specified period of time.
For content, what you do is
1. Write ONE 2-3 page article lesson every week.
2. Load this article to an autoresponder for subscribers to access.
3. Sell access to the series, which would last 3 - 6 - 9 or 12 months.
To quote from Jimmy's Membernaire site:
= = =
A good friend of mine does the math at a site of his -
500 Members X $20 Per Month = $10,000 Monthly Profit
That's $10K coming in monthly from one site ... from just 500 members.
Sidebar: This isn't an unrealistic number ... one of my membership sites had 1,500 members paying $29.97 per month and another one of my membership sites had 2,500 members paying $10.00 per month.* Let me do the math for you. That's $44,995/month for the first site and $25,000/month for the second. If that doesn't get your attention, then it's time for a jolt of Rockstar high energy drink ... cuz you need to wake up!
= = =
I've joined. So if I see you on the inside, be sure to introduce yourself. :-)
Posted by SydneyJohnston at 10:57 AM
