HOW TO START AN ONLINE AUCTION BUSINESS

Written by Carol Woods


Have you spent any time looking at online auctions? There are thousands of visitors to repparttar big online auction sites every day, looking for something to purchase! This is an excellent place to find buyers of your products without having to do any significant marketing, and an inexpensive way to start making money without much upfront investment.

Heres how to get started:

First, decide what you will sell. ------------------

You can sell most anything via an online auction, but here are a few items Ive seen do very well in this venue:

* Collectibles of any sort * Childrens items, especially clothing and toys * Handmade items, including quilts, soap, and dollhouse items * Craft supplies

Select your venue: ------------------

Decide which online auction you will use to sell your items. Ebay (http://www.ebay.com) isrepparttar 106530 site withrepparttar 106531 most traffic, so it is an excellent choice, but Yahoo! Auctions (http://auctions.yahoo.com) and Amazon Auctions (http://auctions.amazon.com) both get significant traffic.

Also keep in mind that there may be specialty auction sites for your particular item with customers looking only for what youre selling.

Once youve selected your auction site, sign up for a sellers account.

Find your products: ------------------

There are many ways to locate products to sell. Heres a list to give you some ideas: * Visit garage sales and flea markets * Peruse sale racks at local shops * Go to discount or dollar stores * Watch your newspaper for inventory closeout sales * Locate wholesale sources; buy large lots and sell in small lots * Start a consignment service, where you sell items for others for a fixed fee or percentage ofrepparttar 106532 auction price

MARKETING YOUR ARTICLES

Written by Carol Woods


* Are you trying to promote a web site or online store? * Are you a consultant or small business owner looking for new customers? * Do you have an e-zine and want new subscribers?

Writing articles and sharing them online can be a great way to meet all of these goals!

What to write about: ------------------

Before you actually begin writing, get out a piece of paper and write down your goals forrepparttar articles. Are you trying to bring business to your online store? Do you want to locate new customers for an offline business? Write down specifically what you hope to accomplish.

Next, write downrepparttar 106529 type of people who you are seeking. What type of people are most likely to buy from your store, for example? Are they male or female, young or old, parents or single? Write down as many characteristics of your ideal customer as possible.

Then, look atrepparttar 106530 combination of your objective and your desired customer, and figure out some article topics that would be of interest to a person in your target group.

Heres an example to give you a feel for what Im talking about:

* Goal: bring customers to my online store, which sells birthday items * Ideal Customer: a mother with children between 1 and 10 who is planning a birthday party for her children inrepparttar 106531 next few months. * Topics:

    - How to plan a first birthday party - How to plan a childs birthday party - Kids parties on a budget - Unique party ideas for children - How to have a _ birthday party (dressup, zoo animal, etc etc)

    Write it: ------------------

    Now, start writing your articles!

    Pick one of your topics to start. Develop an outline ofrepparttar 106532 topics you want to cover. Dont pick too many; ideally your article will be only about a page in length.

    Write it! Keep it torepparttar 106533 point, share as much information as you can, and keeprepparttar 106534 paragraphs fairly short. When youre finished, have someone else proofread it if possible.

    Finally, develop a short resource box to place atrepparttar 106535 bottom of all of your articles. This is only 4 - 5 lines, and tells a little about you plus has a link to your web site, an email address, or whatever else you want. If you include some sort of free gift or report for people who click through that will increase your click-through rate.

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