Hi all,

I came across  a brilliant Twitter desktop app today that I thought I would share with you.  It is one of Mike Filsaime’s  products and you can download it for free with an option to upgrade.

Mike claims that this new Twitter app gets you free traffic that can grow viral pretty fast.

Tweetglide has  a built in traffic generation feature that allows you to display your ad inside of the app that all users will see.  This really impressed and excited me so I thought I’d give it a bit of a test. I didn’t even use the ad creation feature (which I will), I just sent a couple of Tweets advertising a couple of my sites. Took me all of a minute or so.

You can check your stats in the settings panel and I was amazed to see that I’d had, in just a few minutes, over 80 unique hits. Finally I am starting to see the real value of Twitter.

When you join, make sure to check out the Elite Option as you can make ads in full color.  Apparently, they get clicked on 7 times more often than non elite members ads.  If you are already a member, you can select the pro option later to get full color ads. Also, when you join, there are several options to purchase traffic packages that will get you a flood of traffic to your affiliate link.

This app has so much more to offer and it really does make tweeting easier.  Also, coming soon is a Tweetglide app for your iphone, I can’t wait for that one.

Thanks Mike, you’ve done it again. Download Tweetglide here.

I’d love to hear what you think of it and what success, if any,  you are having with Twitter.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and all the best,

Tracey

Hi all,

As I mentioned in a previous post, Ebay are currently changing some of their policies again. One of them is an update of their ‘Best Match’ search algorithm. This has already taken place in the US and UK and will happen here in Australia next week on September 10th.

What will happen is when a customer/bidder types  a keyword in the search field the Ebay system will give preference to listings that they feel are better for the searcher based on a number of things.

Until now, the search would yield listings in order of their finishing times leaving you to plow through potentially hundreds of listings.

Ebay has now focussed on the customer/bidders by giving them a more select selection that should suit their criteria more.  The system will now look at all the listings and try to offer more good listings higher in the search. Without getting too technical, a ‘good’ listing will not only have great keywords and good copy but preference will also be given to those listings that have a high Buy It Now rate or a high sell through rate.

This is not only great news for Ebay shoppers but also for serious Ebay sellers. If they are smart about it and make sure that their listings do have the right keywords and great copy (see my post on great ebay copy) it could mean that their listing that may still have 25 days to go, could appear above a listing that has 5 mins to go and that’s got to be a huge benefit.

So this appears to be another positive move on Ebay’s part. Not only for shoppers but for sellers as well.

All the best,

Tracey

Hi everyone,

Ebay is changing some of it’s policies again. There are a number of changes already taking place in the US and the UK and as many of you are from these areas you may already be aware of them.  Here in Australia they will not take effect until the 10th of September.

Today, I’m only going to talk about one of those changes.  I want to make sure you are aware that as of the 10th September there will be no more Store Listings. This of course will only be of interest to those who have an eBay store.

For those who are not aware, currently, you can list items in your store for a much lower amount than an item listed in the auction or ‘Buy it Now’ formats.  Once an item from your store sold though, you would have to pay a higher final value fee.  It means that you can list a whole lot of items for very little. The down side though is that you would have to drive your own traffic to the store as your store listings  do not show in the search fields.

Ebay is doing away with store listings and replacing them with 30 day ‘Buy It Now’ or ‘Good Till Cancel’ listings. These are more expensive to list but will now have a cheaper final value fee.

Personally I think this is a great move. I like the idea of not having to worry about sending traffic to my store. I love the idea of a 30 day or ‘good till cancel’ listing and I like still having the option to list an auction if I choose to.

I think more and more people who shop online are now wanting to just buy their products there and then. I know I am guilty of that, I don’t want to wait around until an auction finishes. I want to know how much I’m up for and that I can buy it right then if I want. Some people still like the thrill of an auction though so its good to still have that choice when listing.

So, for you Aussie store owners, make sure on September 10th, you change all your store listings to Buy It Now with 30 days or list with ‘Good Till Cancel’ and lap up all that fabulous eBay traffic.

To your eBay success,

Tracey

Hi everyone,

Well after a much needed break I am back and hopefully will be bringing you more great eBay tips and ideas in the near future.

Today I want to talk about ‘Shill Bidding’. I guess a lot of you will be wondering what the heck that is. I first heard the term a few weeks ago and was intrigued to find out what it meant. Basically it is the placement of ‘pretend’ bids on your eBay auctions.

By this I mean, bidding on your own auctions to drive the price up. It might be you, your family members, your friends or even in some cases your paid employees. Yes, some eBay sellers have been known to pay their staff to bid on their auctions to drive the price up.

Not only is it illegal and strictly against eBay’s rules but I think it’s immoral too. To my way of thinking, if the product is good enough and sought after enough the price will be driven up by demand, as it should be.

Some people may think it’s no big deal to help their auctions along but let me tell you, if you make this a habit, eBay will catch up with you as they monitor all bids. IP addresses are recorded and it becomes obvious if the same computer is constantly bidding on the same users products.

The penalties are just not worth the risk. At the very least your account can be suspended or cancelled completely. At worst, you can lose your account, be reported to the law and be hit with hefty fines. A fete that would be unbearable for most serious sellers.

So, if you ever think you might give your auctions a bit of a nudge, forget about it, it’s just not worth it. Your time would be better spent on researching products that will get the high bids without having to resort to such tactics.

Well, it’s great to be back. Happy selling folks.

Tracey

Hi everyone,

Today I thought I’d talk a little about sales copy on your eBay listings. Have you ever clicked on an eBay listing and found it to be very evasive, unexciting and lacking in information about the product on offer? It puts me right off and makes the seller look very amateurish and sometimes untrustworthy. So is it important to have good copy on your eBay listings? I believe it is critical to your success.

If you want to be a serious eBay seller then you need to treat your business seriously and that means having your products as well presented as possible.

When creating a listing I use an easy 4 step formula:

• Firstly, get their attention (obviously this would be a catchy title to tempt them to click on your listing).
• Secondly, make an offer that is irresistible (sounds so good they just have to read on).
• Thirdly, prove that what you are saying is true.
• And lastly, give a call for action (tell them to go bid now).

Good sales copy can be an art but you can come up with some great listings with just a bit of thought and a few good keywords.

Statistics show that a title like ‘Puts Music In Your Life’ is far better than almost the same title ‘Put Music In Your Life’. That little ’s’ resulted in a 300% increase in response.  Amazing isn’t it?  By saying ‘put’ you are telling them that they can put music in their life whereas ‘puts’ suggests that the product will do  it for them. See the difference?

So next time you post a listing on eBay take a little extra time and really think about how the buyer is going to see your listing. Will it temp them to read the entire description and most importantly will it tempt them to hit that ‘bid now’ or ‘buy now’ button.

To your successful ebay business,

Tracey

Hi all,

You may think this post has nothing to do with internet marketing but I believe it does. What is your dream? I suspect, like me, at least one of your biggest dreams is to be able to quit your job and work for yourself. To have a successful online business is a huge dream of mine right now. I believe I am on my way but I do have days when I wonder if I’ll ever get there.

Recently I saw a video of a woman who has a dream. Her name is Susan Boyle and her dream is to become a professional singer. Susan never gave up that dream and at 47 years of age she performed on Britains Got Talent. I’m sure a lot of you have already heard of and seen Susan’s performance but in case you haven’t you’ve just got to watch the video below.

Click here to watch (sorry can’t embed this one)

Against all odds she completely wowed the audience and now, the world.  Talk about a dream come true. You’ll see what I mean once you’ve seen the video.

Let me know what you think and if this inspires you like it inspired me.

I hope you enjoy it,

Until next time, dare to dream,

Tracey

Hi all,

Well, what an incredible weekend I had. I attended a 3 day eBay workshop called eBay Magic. It was held at Mantra Legends Hotel at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast (that’s Qld, Australia for those who don’t know where that is) …the heart of tourism territory. So yeah, great venue but back to the workshop.

It was a wonderful experience and I learnt so much. I really had no idea of the extent of the opportunities that eBay make available to us all.

I now realise that to have a successful eBay business one must be prepared to research, find a niche and become an expert in that niche. Sound familiar? Well yes, an eBay business should be treated the same as any other online business with the focus not only on making money but building a list of buyers that you can provide niche related information and further market to outside of the eBay arena.

Did you know that at least 50% of listings on eBay don’t get a single bid?  In most cases it was not the fault of the product being auctioned but rather the way the product was being auctioned.  Even on eBay great copy is a must and well worth the effort.

That’s it for now, I have some research to do,

remember, never give up, there’s plenty for all of us,

Tracey

Hi folks,

Twitter seems to be the biggest craze at the moment. I’ve joined like so many others and I must confess, I am still trying to figure out the point of it all, to be honest.  It seems every man and his dog are tweeting away as we speak. But are they all on Twitter? Perhaps the man is but maybe the dog is actually on Bark. Yep, doggies now have their own version of Twitter. You may have to do the typing for them though.

You will notice I have my Twitter Tweets highlighted in the widget on the right of my blog, see ——–>

Well, if you were to scroll down further you will see my ‘Bark’ widget, just under the Clickbank ads. What do you think? Pretty nifty huh? The format is very similar to Twitters.

I do have a dog product so what a great way to advertise it. For most though, I think it’s just a bit of fun. If you have a dog and would like to ‘Bark’ away click here and sign up.

Enjoy!

Until next time, have fun,

Tracey

Hi folks,

Today I received my copy of Butterfly Marketing 2.0. I was very excited to receive this package and I wasn’t disappointed. While the magazine was thinner than I expected it appears to be crammed with useful information. I’ve only flicked through at this stage so not entirely sure of what I will get out of it. I’m not sure if I will cancel my membership or not just yet.

Along with the mag there is a bunch of cd’s/dvd’s, 10 to be exact. The first, of course, is the tutorial. I was pleasantly surprised though that of the other 9 discs, 7 were mp3 bonus cd’s containing ‘Mastermind calls’ with some of the top internet marketers like Craig Perrine, Mark Joyner, Richard Schefren and Gary Ambrose. That’s got me sorted in my car for a while. There were also 2 dvd’s titled Denver Presentation part 1 & 2. I’ve not looked at these yet so I can’t comment on what they are about. All in all a very impressive collection by the looks.

The rest of the package consisted of the Butterfly Marketing Confidential Manuscript (123 pages) and The 7 Figure Secrets (84 pages).

Considering Mike Filsaime gave away this package for free, apart from the postage charges, it is a fantastic resource crammed with huge potential to make money online. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it and create my first Butterfly Marketing site.

I was fortunate enough to have signed up for this through John Thornhill’s link so not only have I been extrememely lucky enough to receive Mike’s wonderful gift but as an added bonus I will be tutored in using it to it’s fullest potential by one of the finest marketers online, John Thornhill.

Special thanks to Mike Filsaime and John Thornhill for making all of this possible. Here’s to the many new Butterfly Marketing sites that will be popping up all over the internet in the coming months and here’s to the potential income they will make for us all.

I’d love to hear from any of you who have received your copy and what your thoughts are on it.

Success to us all,

Tracey

Hi everyone,

You know eBay is truly one of the easiest ways to make money online.  When you think about it, it’s a no brainer.

Firstly, lets look at traffic, anyone who has a website knows that without traffic constantly pouring into their site it will just get lost in amongst the billions of other websites out in cyber space today. Getting good traffic to your website is almost an art and unless you are paying for that traffic it can be extremely time consuming. The great thing about eBay is that there is never a shortage of good hungry to buy traffic visiting every second of the day. These searchers are there to buy. They haven’t just stumbled across your website, they have gone there for a purpose and that is to spend money. Who could ask for more?

Of course, getting people to look at what you are selling is only half the battle. You will need to be selling good quality in demand products to get your slice of the eBay pie. So how do you decide what to sell on eBay? This is a question I am asked often and there are tools to help you research what is a hot market to sell into. One of the best tools I have found and one that I know many of the top eBay powersellers use is  Terapeak.

If you are truly serious about your eBay business then this research tool is a must.

Watch a Terapeak eBay Research Demo

Until next time,

Tracey