The first step to winning is–find the right item. I’m a collector of Musical Recordings (and some plays). How do you know how to find those hard to find CDs and LPs? Most buyers search the CDs or LPs listings by the name of the item they want. But, there are other ways to seach for great finds. Sometimes sellers list items in the wrong area and that results in an excellent find for buyers who are willing to look in odd places. You would expect to find a great old Broadway musical cast album listed in CDs or Records. I have found wonderful cast albums listed as antiques, collectables, theatre-related, and many other areas. You might say, “Hey, if I just search by the name of the show in all of –I’ll find what I want anyway!” Well, that is true if the seller listed the show by the correct name, but what if they listed the album by the composer, lead actor, or the record label? I have found great albums listed in all of those ways. Remember that just because you and I know the proper title–does not mean that the seller knows it. Just because we would list the album under records or CDs–does not mean that the seller will do it that way. Go forth and search for great finds!

Lois

What is reasonable to pay?

Just like…beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

What is reasonable to pay is in the eye of the bid-holder!

~~~

Research the prices in the marketplace:

Put the ‘found’ item on WATCH.

(This makes it easy for you to find it again and to watch the bidding on the item. )

Search for the same item.

(This helps you see what others are asking.)

Search for the same item on closed listings.

(This helps you see what others are actually willing to pay.)

Search the Internet for the same item.

(See what is offered on Amazon, Half.com, Retail stores and other sites.)

THINK about what YOU are willing to pay and how badly you want the item. (Don’t get into a bidding war and allow your emotions to take over–establish your top bid BEFORE you bid.)

VERY IMPORTANT: Make certain that you are not comparing apples and oranges. Is the item exactly the same? Or, is one item of a very high quality and the other of a lesser quality? If there is an SKU available, use it to confirm that the item is the same and not just similar.

I hope this helps you to determine what is reasonable to pay?

Lois

What does winning mean to you?

This may seem like a strange question, but winning means different things to different people.

You are bidding on an item that is like one from your childhood and on an emotional level–you really want the item.

Winning may mean getting the item no matter what the price is–and–being happy to have the item no matter the price.

You are bidding on an item you sorta’ want, but you are not really married to the idea of getting the item.

Winning may mean getting the item and having fun bidding and/or using you best techniques to win–and–being happy with your results.

Or, winning may mean not getting the item and having fun bidding, but getting out before spending too much.

You are bidding on an item and you want it, but only if you can get it at the ‘right’ price–that is, the right price as you see it.

Winning may mean getting the item for the top price you were willing to pay or less than the top price you were willing to pay.

Decide what winning means to you and you will never be sorry that you won or didn’t win an eBay auction.

Lois

To Snipe or Not To Snipe…that is the question!

Reasons To Snipe…

To stay out of bidding contests–causing the price to be escalated.

To hide your interest in buying an item–from bidders with the same interest.

To avoid getting emotionally involved in the bidding process–causing overbidding.

To give yourself time to follow the action–avoiding an impulse buying decision.

To bid at the last minute–not giving other bidders time to respond to your highest offer.

Reasons Not To Snipe…

If you like to participate in bidding contests and don’t care about the price you pay–don’t snipe.

If you don’t mind bidders with the same areas of interest following your bids–don’t snipe.

If you want to give bidders plenty of time to follow the action on an item and outbid you–don’t snipe.

If you don’t think you will have access to the Internet when the auction ends–don’t plan to snipe.

If you are in a different time zone and you don’t want to stay up very late to place you bid–don’t snipe.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are your reasons …

To Snipe or Not To Snipe?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Lois

It seems to me that many newcomers are a bit lost when it comes to winning auctions on a regular basis. So, I thought I’d publish a guide to share ideas and information about winning auctions and/or deciding if you want to win the auction!

I can hear you saying:

“What? Why would I want to decide IF I WANT TO WIN the auction???”

I’m so glad you asked! The most important thing you can do to win an auction is … decide if you really want to win the auction.

What are you willing pay?

What is reasonable to pay?

How will you feel if you don’t win the auction?

Will you be upset with yourself and wish you had bid more?

Have you done your homework?

Do you know the value of the item on which you are bidding?

Have you looked at outside sites to see if the price listed as retail is ‘real’ or ‘inflated?’

How badly do you want to win? Have you created your own ground rules for winning? Okay … give it some thought … decide if you want to win!

Lois

“Search is the ultimate expression of the power of the individual, using a computer, looking at the world, and finding exactly what they want.”

Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google

By John Phillips

What good is it to have a website - one built with profits in mind - if potential customers can’t find it? Sure, you can drive Web traffic to your site in any number of ways… with e-mail, banners, and print ads, to name just a few.

But, if you think about it, there’s no better way to score online customer prospects than by reeling in people who:

• Reveal what they’re interested in
• Request information on it, and
• Visit your website at zero, or nominal, advertising cost

That’s where search engines come in.

Search engine marketing is the ultimate low-cost, high-return form of targeted advertising. And, by the way, it’s all quantifiable.

You see, opportunities for profit still abound on the Internet. And make no mistake… there’s no better way of getting traffic to your website, and staking your claim in the online industry, than by employing the sound practices of search engine marketing.Tens of thousands of websites hang their entire businesses on it.

In fact, one of the most appealing aspects of search engine marketing is the level playing field this medium affords. Small players can compete with the Big Suits - and win - by outmaneuvering them.

But you can bet that those who’ve already figured out how to get their websites to the top of Google’s, Yahoo’s, and MSN’s search results would prefer to keep their competitors in the dark.You see, there’s no shortage of information out there on how to win in the search engine wars. While some of these resources can be accurate and helpful, much of it tends to be outright misleading… which could prove disastrous for your website’s search rankings.

The best information - the secret sauce producing big profits for leading websites - is largely held under lock and key by those who possess this knowledge.

Today, I’m going to give you the pivotal first step - a simple strategy overlooked by the majority of website owners. You can employ it right now to propel your site to “organic” search success. (And keep in mind that getting a top “organic” - as opposed to pay-per-click - search ranking for your website doesn’t cost you a thing.)

The #1 most important first step to getting your website to the top of the search engines is this:

• Give every webpage on your site a “searchable” Page Title.

Search engines rank webpages by sending automated “bots” or “spiders” all over the Internet to determine which ones are most relevant and useful to the reader (relative to his/her search query).

The first thing these bots look for as they scan every webpage?

The Page Title!

The Page Title is the first clue for the search engines as to what a webpage is about. So, if your webpage content focuses on, let’s say, “dashboard hula dancers,” you’d be doing yourself a disservice to make your Page Title anything but that.

The trick, then, is knowing what “keywords” your potential customers are searching for. Keywords are the cornerstone and starting point of every search marketing strategy. Understand that keyword research is never a one-and-done deal. Rather, it’s an ongoing process of finding every possible permutation of your core keywords, as well as your “long tail” keywords… each of them an opportunity for a sale or a conversion.

Here’s how to go about doing keyword research for your site…

Go to Wordtracker.com. For about $30 a week, or a yearly $299 subscription, you can discover the keywords people are using to find websites in your industry. Simply type in the keywords that come to mind, and the software returns a series of related keywords, along with estimates of how many times per day searches for those keywords occur.Wordtracker offers a complimentary trial run of its keyword service, too.

You can find the same free (yet limited) results with it, plus additional keyword results from Yahoo/Overture’s pay-per-click database (on digitalpoint.com/tools) via the Keyword Suggestion link.

An item of note when crafting your Page Titles…

The Page Title is actually two things:

• It’s the title you type in at the top of each webpage, advisedly in big, bold letters to distinguish it from the page’s main body copy.
• It’s also the title you type into each webpage’s meta title tag, within the html code. Very easy, and hardly technical.

Using a keyword-oriented Page Title is a simple way to get your website ranked at the top of the search engines and ultimately bring more traffic - and more motivated buyers - to your site.If you’ve only just green-lighted a killer idea for a site but haven’t yet cleared the hurdles for launching it - consider the money you’ll be leaving on the table by not employing search engine marketing techniques from the get-go.