By Arie Shpanya in at 2:13 am 01/11/10
Everyday I hear the same problem arise for small and mid-size businesses: “I have a good site and a good product, but simply don’t have enough traffic coming in.”
There are many ways to bring traffic to your site, but the number one thing you need to improve is your SEO. Ideally, you want to appear on the first (or second) page of Google/Yahoo/Bing when people search for certain term relating to your product (Health Products, martial arts supplies, ID badges, etc.). To do this you need improve your current ranking, which, unfortunately, may be pretty much non-existent.
A good way to do this is by having a great number of backlinks – links to your site that are on related sites (blogs, forums, affiliates). Simply put, every link to your site on the Internet helps your ranking.
Also, most products could really benefit from eBay and Amazon sales. Those are two huge marketplaces that can generate a lot of profits for you.
Finally, I suggest becoming familiar with and using these tools, which are all free:
Google Ad Planner
Google insight
Google Trends
Also, I recommend Google Analytics and Quantcast (free version) in order to learn more about your users, their demographics and their habits.
Basically, you need to significantly increase your Internet presence. I’ll tell you straight out that it’s a time-consuming, costly job because there are many channels to focus on (PPC, CSE, Affiliates, Marketplace, M-Commerce, etc.). However, the good news is that there are e-commerce marketing companies that offer an all-in-one service. imOnline can handle every aspect of your integration on a performance-based pricing model with a proven track record of success.
Obviously, I can’t cover all the tools and tracks of the trade since it’s complex and dynamic, but I hope this crash course helps.
By Arie Shpanya in
eBay at 3:08 am 01/02/10
eBay recently sent a message to some of its US sellers offering 75% off insertion fee rates. The promotion runs from December 30 until January 3rd – so, if you are among the selected sellers, hurry up!
Apparently, the promotion is limited to particular sellers only. In order to see if you qualify, you need to verify an email on the eBay message center. Only 30% of imOnline’s clients were offered the promotion rate. Strangely, some users that registered as private sellers received the promotion.
eBay has chosen to pursue a strategy that is different than usually – it is only granting discounts to a limited number of sellers.
Here is a quick summary of the promotional rates:
Keep in mind that the promotion ends on Jan 3rd. This could be a great opportunity if you’re one of the chosen sellers.
imOnline strategy suggestions:
1. Check to see if you’re one of the eligible sellers (Notice the promotion for qualifying sellers only).
2. List 4 time more than your usual auction listings.
3. Gain maximum exposure: % of inventory that you usually sell in auction. We recommend best selling items.
Lets take the following example: if a seller that sells on average $750 and has 1000 items in inventory – which he lists on Fixed Price 30 days format – we recommend listing 100 items in the auction style during the promotion (we estimate that the seller normally lists only about 5% of eBay inventory in auction format due to the pricing).
Standard strategy
30 Dec- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings]
31 Dec- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings]
1 Jan- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings]
2 Jan- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings]
3 Jan- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings]
Total: 500 listings in auction format. Total cost = $500 (instead of $2000)
Aggressive strategy
30 Dec- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings] + [10% of inv] * [10 Days listings]
31 Dec- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings] + [10% of inv] * [10 Days listings]
1 Jan- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings] + [10% of inv] * [10 Days listings]
2 Jan- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings] + [10% of inv] * [10 Days listings]
3 Jan- [10% of inv] * [7 Days listings]+ [10% of inv] * [10 Days listings]
Total: 100 listings in auction format.Total cost = $1000 (instead of $4000)
If you need any further clarification, feel free to post your comment here, or just shoot us an email and one of our eCommerce experts will answer any questions you may have.
Cheers
By Arie Shpanya in
Amazon ,
eBay at 4:47 am 12/19/09
In my last Amazon vs. eBay post I explained why Amazon is the right horse to bet on.
In this post I want to shed some more light on this claim. From the demographic viewpoint the conclusions become pretty clear:
Amazon users are:
1. More Educated - 36% of its users hold Bachelors and/or Graduate degrees. Only 27% of eBay users falls into this category.
2. Wealthier - 20% of its users earn household incomes of over $100,000. 17% of eBay users earn the same.
3. Younger - Analyzing the trends shows that eBay users are generally defined as older, whereas Amazon users are generally defined as middle-aged.
4. Diversified - 44% of eBay users are female – compared to 51% of Amazon’s. Overall, Amazon’s population is mixed, whereas eBay’s is mainly masculine.
eBay users are:
1. More Loyal - 54% of Amazon’s users are defined as Passers-By by quantcast. Only 33% of eBay’s users are defined as such.
Although eBay users may be more loyal (58% regular visitors and 9% “addict” users), Amazon has 46% regular users and almost no “addict” users. Amazon’s chief officers are aware of these figures and efforts to preserve clients has increased over the last 2 years. Features such as “Amazon Prime” are intended to increase the Amazon user’s loyalty.
It appears that Amazon wins in 4 out of 5 criteria. See the charts below to get better visual indication on this:
eBay vs amazon- source: Google ad planer
eBay vs Amazon - demographics
amazon vs eBay- source: Quantcast
What’s The Bottom Line?
eBay users may be more loyal, but Amazon gets more new visitors every month. Amazon users are also more educated and wealthier. Amazon wins in an almost flawless knockout (4 out of 5 criteria). So I think it is safe to say (again) that our main bet for the 2010-2012 leading marketplace remains Amazon.
I would love to hear your thoughts and predictions about this trend. You are welcome to discuss this issue with our team of eCommerce experts.
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