Advanced Online Selling Strategies

Cellerciser Customer Service Critique

By Gregg Birkner

It's a part of everyday eBay life for a seller to be given a feedback comment by his transaction partner and receive grades on four areas of customer service deemed important by eBay called "Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs)".

Personally, I'm not sold yet on these DSRs. I still think there is a lot of rethinking that needs to be done here. For example, how can a seller receive a score less than a five (5) when he provides free shipping and handling charges? Yet sellers continue to regularly get 3's and 4's as scores when offering free shipping.

That's just one example that needs further review. But that's not what I want to linger on today in Tips 4 Selling Online.

In my opinion, a better way to judge customer service performance on eBay is when a transaction partner takes the time to write an email or talk about his experience in a blog entry describing what he liked or didn't like about how the seller handled things.

This happened to me. In case you're not aware, I sell the Cellerciser rebounder on eBay under the User ID's cellerciserstore and dealmania! I have been selling rebounders / mini-trampolines off and on for the past 25+ years. The Cellerciser is a remarkable piece of exercise equipment designed by David Hall who is regarded by many in this industry as "Mr. Rebounder". It has been gratifying for me to sell on a product on eBay that has made such a positive difference in lives of dozens of people.

But every once in a while, a problem occurs during a transaction.

Last August I sold a Cellerciser rebounder on eBay to a gentleman who felt he hadn't received the merchandise I described in my llisting. He thought I had shipped him an older version of the Cellerciser without the triple-tiered springs that makes this rebounder the best of its kind in the world.

I called the Cellerciser home office and explained to the Office Manager what had happened. David Hall (aka Mr. Rebounder), the creator of the Cellerciser, overheard our conversation and said he would give this customer a call. The next day, that customer left me a positive feedback on eBay and mentioned that all of his concerns had been resolved.

That was August 2007. Fast forward to April 26th, 2008. I was surfing on Google after doing a keyword search on cellerciser and found a blog entry dated August 13, 2007 pertaining to the very incident I described above written by my customer. Here's what he had to say in his blog post entitled "Brush With Greatness":

"...I ordered a rebounder called the Cellerciser the week before last and it came the other day. It is designed by a guy named David Hall who has been on Oprah and other TV shows to talk about rebounding and his product. He is known as "Mr. Rebounder" in the media. I did some research and found that indeed this particular brand is the best on the market. I debated heavily with myself about it because it wasn't cheap... in fact it is also the most expensive one on the market (fyi, the Bellicon is the most expensive rebounder), however as beneficial as rebounding can be, it can also be damaging if you don't get a quality product... ie: nerve damage.

 

I found the most reasonably priced source for this rebounder was on ebay. So I took a deep breath and hit the order button. I anxiously awaited it's delivery and worried during our long weekend trip that it might sit outside while we were away or get ripped off, so we asked a neighbor down the street to keep an eye out for it while we were gone. Alas, I worried for nothing because it didn't show up until days after our return.

 

Once I put it together I had a concern about the unit not being the described item on ebay. See... one of the main reasons this unit is the best on the market is because of the quality and design of the spring system. To me it didn't look like the newest version but the older barrel style springs which are good but not the best promised. I sent a note to the ebay dealer who has a 100% positive feedback rating and described my concern and asked for a quick remedy to preserve that 100% rating.

 

''Send me an old model will you! You obviously don't know who you're dealing with here... I have a blog you know!' I thought as I composed my politely worded note.

 

The next morning at work my phone rang. I was expecting it to be Spicy because she's pretty much the only one calling me in the morning... only one anytime really. I gave my usual "Hello, Etan speaking" business greeting, expecting to hear Spicy but playing it safe just in case it was actually a business call. I heard a male voice 'Hello Etan this is David Hall how are you?' It sounded very much like an old friend of mine who's name also is David and last name very much like Hall. So I assumed it was him and immediately switch to "Old-Friend-Who-Hardly-Ever-Calls" greeting mode... Then it dawned on me who it was that I was speaking to. See... I had thoroughly checked out the Cellerciser web site and knew this guys story very well.

 

I guess my "Old-Friend-Who-Hardly-Ever-Calls" greeting mode was a surprise to Mr. Rebounder because he kind of had to switch modes himself, we just started chatting like old buddies. He reassured me that the rebounder I received was the newest version and explained how you could tell. I was completely satisfied with the explanation and had the opportunity to ask some other questions as well. He gave me some tips and exercises... It was very cool. It felt kind of like it must have been when Oprah called him. 

 

This just goes to show... you never know when a quasi-celebrity is going to call you at work..."

If you want to see the actual blog entry, please go here:

http://thedailyfloss.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!B6DA413473E8AE2F!918.entry

I learned a lot from how David Hall handled this situation. He picked up the phone and listened to his customer! He took some time to build rapport with that individual, addressed his concens to his satisfaction, and then overdelivered by providing additional tips and information.

More later...

Three Affiliate Strategies For Quick Cash

By Gregg Birkner

Generating income as an affiliate marketer is the fastest and easiest way to make money online. Your only activity is promoting products and services, so you can focus all your energy on perfecting your marketing activities

But don’t follow the crowd, rather, use affiliate strategies that set you apart from the average affiliate marketer.

1.    Use a proper domain name with a URL redirect to your affiliate program. It gets better click through ratios and people don’t suspect it’s an affiliate link. And it’s easy to set up. If you order a domain name from NameCheap.com, login to your account and select URL forwarding. Enter your affiliate link into the form and you’re done.

When your prospect clicks on YourDomainName.com they are automatically taken to the affiliate product or service you’re promoting. More of your prospects will click on your link and you will make more sales

2.    Write articles and post them in article directories. Although this is nothing new, add your link from the strategy above and you’ll see more readers clicking through to your affiliate website.

3.    Record your articles as MP3s and post them on Podcast directory sites. This is a perfect example of re-purposing your material. Depending on the length of your article it can take you a couple minutes to record it as an MP3, then post it to podcast directories.

Make sure you remind people how to get to your website. In addition to simply telling people what your website URL is, spell it out for them letter by letter.

It also helps when you’re spelling if you use the military alphabet, for example, A for Alpha, B for Bravo, C for Charlie.

The easier you make it for people to get to your website, the more sales you’ll make.

These three strategies will increase your sales almost overnight, but there are hundreds of strategies you can quickly put into place to increase your sales exponentially.

For expert affiliate training and a free business building strategies report, visit Business Building Strategies right now.

More later...

Affiliate Marketing – An Easy Way to Success

By Gregg Birkner

Affiliate marketing is when you sign up to promote other people’s products (or services) for a share of the sale in the form of commissions.  As an affiliate marketer, you usually don’t need any special training or start-up funding.

Your tasks as an affiliate marketer will be to drum up traffic to the product owner’s pitch page, allowing them to convert the prospect into a buyer.  The more targeted you are with your traffic promotions, the higher your conversion rate will be.

There are many things you can promote as an affiliate. On Amazon, for instance, you can promote anything tangible (and a few digital download to boot).  If you want to be in the paintball niche, you can include links using your Amazon associate (affiliate) ID to sell specific paintball guns, paintballs, and attire.

You can go to sites like ClickBank or PayDotCom and get a unique affiliate ID to promote an endless supply of information products.  They house everything from acne to organic gardening.

You can even become an affiliate promoting actions.  There are many Internet marketers who focus their business on getting a steady stream of traffic to take an action, such as filling out a survey online.

With affiliate marketing, you don’t have to worry about developing ideas and creating products.  You don’t have to deal with customer service follow-ups or continually process more products for the marketplace.

Your job is often made easier by product owners who care so much about their own success, that they provide a toolbox to help you with yours!  The toolbox usually includes readymade emails, web reviews, and banner ads you can use with your own link embedded in them for instant plug-n-play success.

Most Internet marketers will eventually blur the lines of product owner and affiliate marketer.  Product owners continually use their list of buyers to promote affiliate items, and affiliates often build such a good reputation in a niche that they’re urged to come out with a product of their own.

How much can an affiliate marketer earn? There are no limits. You can market multiple niches and work as much or as little as you want to generate targeted traffic through your links.  Super affiliates earn six figures or more, but even a beginner affiliate can earn enough to pay the bills each month – with some change to spare!

How to Give Your eBay Store Pizazz in 5 Minutes!

By Gregg Birkner

In my line of work, I frequent dozens of eBay Stores home pages every week. Most of the home pages I see are reasonably well done utilizing either eBay's Custom Left or Custom Top Store Themes.

However, since so many home pages use the same templates, it is becoming more difficult for an eBay seller to distinguish or brand himself amongst his competition.

Well, if I told you that there is a way to change that for free that will take about five minutes of your time, would you be interested?

You bet.

To get started, head on over to this page on the eBay Site about Custom Store Headers:

http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/headerdesign.html

Upon arriving at this page, you will be presented with four different design layouts to choose from to customize the look of your Store home page:

1. Main Featured Item and Two Sub-Featured Item
2. Two Featured Items and Six Promotional Links
3. Three Featured Items
4. Four Featured Items

For my personal eBay Store, "The Cellerciser Store," I clicked the link to the "Three Featured Items" option. A pop-up box was generated for me to fill in my color information, item numbers, and text for the three items I wanted to feature. It took about five minutes to fill out.

If you're not sure what the exact html code is for a particular color being used on your Store home page, feel free to go to your "Manage Your Store" page and click the "Display Settings" link on the left side of the page. Scroll about halfway down the page and click the "Edit Current Theme" link over on the right side of the page next to "Store Theme." You'll be able to see and copy the codes for the different colors being used on your home page.

After filling out the information asked for in the form and previewing it to your satisfaction, click on the "Generate HTML" button and follow the steps below:

1. Once the HTML below is generated, hit "Ctrl-C" on your keyboard to copy the HTML
2. Go to the "Manage your Store" form
3. Click 'Display Settings' on the left side of the page
4. Scroll down to the "Store header display" section and click "Change"
5. Click the radial button to add "Yes, include additional information in my header
6. Click the View/Edit HTML check box
7. Paste in your generated HTML by hitting "Ctrl-V" on your keyboard
8. You will see your new header appear on your store once you save

The change to your eBay Store Header takes effect immediately.

To see what my Store look likes after adding the Custom Store Header, go here:

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Cellerciser-Store

Put some pizazz into your eBay Store by customizing your Store header. It's a no cost, time efficient way to boost sales by keeping your traffic on your home page longer.

Social Networking on Squidoo

By Gregg Birkner

Squidoo is a remarkable resource for Internet marketers. It’s what’s considered a web 2.0 site that allows users to create “lenses,” which are individual pages situated on the Squidoo.com domain that promote a specific topic.

You may be wondering what’s so great about that, when thousands of other sites allow you to do the same thing. But Squidoo is unique. Not only do they make it incredibly easy to create a web page, ripe with graphics, content, and interactivity, but they allow - and even encourage you - to use the page to make money.

A few other web 2.0 sites allow a minimal amount of marketing to take place, such as HubPages. But they’re far stricter about the number of outgoing links you can have, and they have other rules, which make it harder to use the site for your own personal profiting potential.

Squidoo is actually far more conducive to making real money than any other site that has come into popularity in recent years. This is the biggest reason Squidoo has risen to fame so rapidly and why Tiffany Dow penned the eBook "Social Networking on Squidoo", which was endorsed by an endless supply of high-profile Internet marketers thanks to its step-by-step instructions on how to market the right way on Squidoo.

Squidoo has finally created a site that can be used for commercial purposes in addition to being a valued consumer resource and wealth of free information. Thousands of smart marketers have flooded to the site to take advantage of the free tools available to them.

Of course, with the influx of honest marketers, a wave of spammers came to try to take over. This caused Squidoo to temporarily experience a sharp decline in the search engine rankings of its pages at Google, and a sharp drop in traffic to boot – known as Google’s Squidoo Slap.

Squidoo was quick to take action, removing some of the tools (such as iFrames) that made it easy for spammers to abuse the system. They also banned four major spam topics from the site. This was frustrating to a lot of honest marketers, but it made it harder for spammers to abuse the site.

They also instituted some policies with regards to quality of lenses, requiring a more substantial amount of content to be published before the lens would show up in searches on the Squidoo site itself. This also helped deter spammers who would put up a lens with just a paragraph or two of keyword-rich spam text and then a bunch of outbound links.

Squidoo can be used in many ways. You can promote services, products, or affiliate items through your lens. You can have multiple accounts and on each free account, you can have an endless supply of lenses.

You can cross-promote your lenses. Build one master topic lens, and then branch out to build a number of more targeted lenses. Squidoo helps anyone be an expert on any subject, and Google love to Squidoo is once again rampant, helping lenses acquire page 1 rankings in the SERPs for many competitive keywords and phrases.

People who sell on eBay also love to promote their eBay stores or auctions through Squidoo, using built in eBay modules (building blocks) that Squidoo offers. Some modules give the lensmaster a share of co-op earnings through AdSense and some module profits. But you can also use text and image links to funnel traffic directly through to your own domain.

In summary, Squidoo is the ecommerce equivalent of MySpace. At no financial expense, you can position yourself through Squidoo as the "go-to" authority for your business, create substantial targeted traffic to your eBay listings, and improve your search engine placement on Google.

For my money, the best thing you can do for your business today is to purchase the eBook below and follow its tips and techniques religiously.

Once again, the eBook is called Social Networking on Squidoo by Tiffany Dow.

How to Create a Successful Product Launch

March 27, 2008...the day you and legions of Internet marketers have been waiting for has arrived...

In just a few hours, Jeff Walker will open the gates to his much anticipated Product Launch Formula 2.0 program.

At 2pm EST today, the most ballyhooed training course in the Internet marketing world will be released.

PLF 2.0 won't be inexpensive, but with the all the free content Jeff's been sharing for the past month or so, you know this course will be all it's cracked up to be--and MUCH more.

From what I'm hearing, Jeff has set a limit on how many people can purchase his product.

So make sure and be at this website come 2pm EST.

http://www.productlaunchformula.com?17678

On second thought, don't get there at 2pm EST...get there a few minutes early and start hitting the "refresh" button. Because if the tremendous buzz for this launch is any indication, there will be thousands just like you straining to burst through the gates once they open.

So grab your spot in line early.  

 http://www.productlaunchformula.com?17678

P.S. Need more info? Go here:

http://www.squidoo.com/jeff-walker-product-launch-formula

What’s a Blog and Why Should I Have One? - Using Blogs to Generate Business

by Chris Malta & Robin Cowie

Most everyone on the internet has, at some point, run across blogs. Blogs are simply internet journals recording whatever happens to be on a writer’s mind at a given moment. Typically written in an informal tone, blogs read as though the writer is having a friendly conversation with their readers. Though blogs have exploded in popularity, few online retailers understand that having a blog can be a very effective way to drive sales for their e-businesses.

Getting Started
The easiest way to start a blog is with a free commercial service, like Blogger.com or BlogSpot.com. All you have to do is just set up an account and start blogging. To create a blog that sits on your website, you can go to SixApart.com and choose from several software options.

It takes time to build a loyal base of readers, but you can start guiding traffic to your site by linking with relevant blogs. Go to Technorati.com and find blogs whose content ties in with yours. Link only to blogs with content that’s useful and entertaining to your customers. Request they look at your blog and consider linking back to you.

For your product sales site, you don’t have to blog about your product itself. Blog about things related to your product. If you sell camping gear, blog about the country’s top camp sites, your hiking trip in the Appalachians, or the best time of year to visit Yellowstone. According to Anthony Perry, of BlogAds.com, “You can make your customers feel empowered if you inform them to make their own decisions, as opposed to just beating them over the head, saying, ‘This is a great product! You should buy it!’”

3 Benefits of Blogging
In addition to educating your viewers, your blog provides you with several advantages:

1. The familiar tone of blogging creates a window for buyers to see there’s a real person behind your site. The internet’s an impersonal selling medium, but the personal nature of blogs creates an element of customer trust and loyalty to your brand.

2. By sharing your valuable knowledge, you’re giving your customers a reason both to stay and to return. It’s a proven fact that the more time a user spends on a site, the more likely they are to purchase something. The more your readers return for your expertise, the more you increase your sales.

3. Get feedback on your products, your site, and your customer service. Let your users leave comments, and find out what changes they’d like to see or what products they’d like you to carry. Says Perry, “Blogging’s a tool that lets you communicate with your customer base in a way that’s far more intimate than a monthly e-newsletter.”

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BIOGRAPHY: Product Sourcing Radio is Created and Hosted by Chris Malta and Robin Cowie of WorldwideBrands.com, Home of OneSource: The Internet's Largest Source of Genuine, Factory-Direct Wholesalers for online sellers. Click Here for more FREE E-Biz & Product Sourcing info! 

The Golden Rule of Online Marketing: Thou Shalt Not Spam

A lot of non-marketers think of marketers as nothing but spammers.  It’s easy to understand why. We all get mountains of spam emails on a daily basis – regardless of whether or not we gave out the email address.

But unless you want to be prosecuted and condemned for sending spam emails out, you’ll want to take precautions to be careful about who you email and why.  Spam is defined as unsolicited email messages that are sent out to the masses.

True Internet marketers don’t mess with spam because it hurts their credibility, risks their accounts, and doesn’t convert as well as targeted, welcomed email does.  You can have your ISP ban you for sending spam, and you can lose your autoresponder account, too.

It’s far better to use an opt-in form where people willingly enter their first name and email address.  In fact, it’s best to utilize the double opt in option most autoresponders provide.

A single opt in is when you just let the person enter their information once.  But what’s to stop one person from going around entering another person’s contact information for unethical reasons?

You want a double opt in to protect yourself.  Here’s how it works:

The user lands on your website and sees an opt in box, asking for their first name and email address.  They enter it (usually in exchange for a free download or the promise of information at a later date).

Then the autoresponder tool automatically sends out a verification email.  The end user gets the email alerting them that they’ve signed up to be on your list, but it asks them to verify their subscription by clicking on a link in the email.

This means if someone goes to your site and signs someone else up, that person will get a notification and have the option to decline if they weren’t the ones who really opted into the list.

Make sure you abide by permission marketing standards.  These people trust you enough to hand over important details, so don’t sell their contact information or abuse it in any way.  If you respect the people on your list, it will grow and you’ll have a readymade list of prospects that can help you earn more money on both a short and long-term timeframe.

What It Means to Be an Internet Marketer

There’s no PhD you can strive for to be in the Internet marketing industry. You have to learn as you go – on your own – soaking up information along the way.  The first thing you need to know is what it means to be an Internet marketer, because it isn’t always clear to everyone.

Let’s start with what Internet marketing is not.  It’s not being a con artist. It’s not being a spam king.  It doesn’t just mean selling on eBay or having your own website and products.

In reality, Internet marketers can pick and choose from a whole host of options available to help them make money.  Your opportunities are virtually endless, and include one or more of the following:

Selling digital downloads (information products like eBooks)
Promoting other people’s products for a commission (affiliate marketing)
Selling on eBay or other auction sites
Running a membership site
Selling your online services (writing, graphics, etc.)
Owning a website that sells dropshipped or wholesale items

And this is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you're a newcomer to Internet marketing, you might be worried that you don’t have anything to sell.  That’s okay – most people don’t start out with anything, and you never have t stock a tangible inventory if you don’t want to.

Internet marketing creates no gender or age boundaries for you.  There are teenagers who have launched multi-million dollar companies as budding Internet marketers whose ideas sprung to life and catapulted them to instant success.

You don’t have to do anything unethical or shady to succeed at Internet marketing, and in fact, launching a respectable business with a solid reputation is the secret ingredient that will allow you to hatch an empire on the ‘net to fulfill all of your dreams and those of your family.

The Secrets to Making Money Online!

I hope your work week is off to a good start. I just wanted to ask you a quick question:

Have you ever wondered who to trust in internet marketing?

This may sound like a simple question, but it's an important one. Why?  Well, because there is a world of opportunity out there for someone who has the right amount of desire and dedication.

That said, it's this opportunity that fosters a huge group of scammers and con-artists.  You know...people who love to take advantage of unsuspecting customers in order to make a quick buck.

Heck, there are times when you don't know who to trust!  I could probably name about 7 internet marketers I trust enough to send them my hard-earned money.

One of those internet marketers on my short list is Russell Brunson.

Russell's the real deal. He took a measly little one-man internet marketing business and turned it into a muli-employees marketing powerhouse.

And, get this, a LOT of his success came when he was working out of his a dorm room in college. And what's even more remarkable is that Russell did all this withonly an HOUR to invest in his business...due to classes and wrestling practice.

You could imagine that, if you only had an hour to work per day on your business, you'd have to hone your focus like a laser beam and toss out information that doesn't allow you to reach your goals.

It's this exact SAME focus that allowed Russell to humiliate his competitors and take his online business into the money zone!

For the first time, Russell tells you how he did it (and how you can too!) in his DotComSecrets course:

http://gbirkner.thesecondtier.com/january1st2007

This course is jam-packed with everything you need to start taking your online business on the path of wealth and prosperity.

Believe me, there's a LOT of content here! It took me a solid week to get through everything. The price is a little expensive, but the time it would take me to "figure it out" by buying a bunch of ebooks and browsing internet forums to try to "piecemeal" it together...the course is priceless!

So, head on over to:

And learn the blueprint from someone who's making serious money online.

Have a profitable day.