Friday, August 17, 2007

some tips & pointers for your website & ebay auctions....

ok...this one is for all of you out there who are listing primitive ebay auctions and you want to get more bids.....well, i can NOT sell the product for you...but i CAN give you some tips i suppose ;)...these are things that i have found to be helpful in the last 4 years that i've been selling primitives and patterns on ebay.....ebay can be SOOOOOO profitable, but you HAVE to do a little bit of advertising, (open an ebay store and send out newsletters to the ebayers who sign up)! This works!! ANY newsletter will be great.....i use http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com to send my newsletters out to people who sign up to receive updates....if you don't have a website, but you want to advertise your ebay auctions, well that is simple as pie!!! get a banner! get one that is the normal banner size at about 468 X 80...then get a button banner that is about 125 X 125 ....(these are just sample sizes!)...but it will give you an idea....below are my banners i use to advertise!










a banner like these will be all you will need to get started.....i know a few graphic artists who would be MORE than happy to fix you up with your own banners and buttons for advertising, and you WON'T have to sell an unborn child to pay for them!!!!!!!!! Sorry, bad joke ....lol...but some of the prices for simple banners and graphics are just RIDICULOUS!!!! stay clear of these over priced graphics...BUT ALSO remember that you always get what you pay for!!! so if you don't want some shotty, horrible graphics, be willing to pay a reasonable amount for what you get! hope that makes sense :)... i have purchased several graphic sets over the years! i've bought auction templates as well as web sets....and here are a few of the BEST out there!!!
http://www.hattiesworkshop.com this lady is AWESOME!!!!! not only will she make a set of graphics JUST for YOU exclusively, but she will also get a website up and going for you in no time at all!! i get my website hosted through brenda (hatties workshop)..here is her hosting site.... http://www.hatties-u-design-it.com/ ....brenda is simply AMAZING..she works so hard for her customers! when i was changing over to her from another hosting company, (i won't mention any names of the company, but they were the RUDEST, MOST HORRIBLE hosting company out there!)........but when i made my mind up to go through brenda's for my webhosting service, i emailed her one morning and told her i was thinking of changing over to her hosting plan, which is one of the cheapest webhosting plans out there @ $15.00 a month! brenda emailed me back within minutes with a price for some new graphics that SHE made for me, along with the hosting, and i told her YES.....by the next morning, she had my website switched over to her server, and my website was ONLINE and ready for customers to start purchasing patterns!!! And she didn't stop till i told her i was satisfied with it!!! trust me, this is the BEST hosting service out there....she is TOPS......if you decide on a website and decide to go with brenda, be sure to tell her that i sent you her way ;) she is a super sweet lady!!! you won't be sorry!!! ;)
now, if you aren't ready for a website yet, but you still want to spruce up your auction listings with an awesome primitive template, then i know a few you can check out!!! Sara, of thevintagerooster is AWESOME..she made my auction template, plus she made my website graphics i have up now on tennesseeridgeprimitives.com to match my auction template....she does some very good work!!! you can get to her website here @ http://www.thevintagerooster.com or you can find her ebay store here at http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZthevintageroosterQQhtZ-1 .....she is also fast with the graphics!!! :) and VERY good...so check her out as well.....
another, VERY talented graphic designer is linda, of linda pinda designs.......WOW this lady is so sweet, and she can make some AWESOME templates....veryyyyyyy reasonable prices as well....you can find her here at http://stores.ebay.com/Linda-Pinda-Designs !!!
ok...now that you have a few graphic designers to choose from, you can spruce up your auction and make it look great!!!
there is one thing that i consider to be SOOOOOOOOOO annoying, is when people add music to their auction. most of the time it slows down the auction page, and it will give me errors as well and won't let me get off of the page!! VERY aggrevating! leave the music OFF of the auction templates!! ;) most of us are listening to music when we surf the net anyway, OR listening to the sound of kids and we can't enjoy the pretty music ANYWAY......lol....so leave the music out of the auction listings!!!!!! ;) just a tip!! of course :)
up above i mentioned advertising.....what i mean by that is advertising with some of the top prim sites out there.....sign up for http://www.primmart.com and get listed!!! go to http://www.countryprimitivemarketplace.com and sign up for some advertising! another great place to do some advertising is http://www.primclipper.com/store/Default.asp and advertise with her.....she also works HARD to get her site noticed which only means that more people come to her website, and you have a better chance in getting more hits to your site or auction listings!! another great place to do some advertising is @ http://www.primtalkradio.com/store/Default.asp ......so do some checking into it when you have some spare time ;)............i also offer some advertising on my website, AND on my FREE E-pattern!!! my free e-pattern gets downloaded A LOT.....the last e-pattern was downloaded about 1400 times in a little over 2 days.....that is a lot of downloads, which means that YOU get YOUR site downloaded in EVERY FREE e-pattern that i post.....you can find out more info on my advertising spotlight ad and e-pattern sponsor by going to my website here http://www.tennesseeridgeprimitives.com/pages/freeepattern.php and 1st, download a free pattern...;).....THEN read about the sponsor ad....you can also go here http://www.tennesseeridgeprimitives.com/pages/advertise.php ...there are a few choices to choose from as far as the advertising goes.....
i get several emails a week from primitive crafters who want to know what they can do to help get more hits to their site or get more bidders for their auctions...the main thing is DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!! if you REALLY have a passion for primitives, then it will all work out....remember that you will always have some slow times here and there, we ALL do...........but start from the bottom and WORK your way up.....if you put your heart and soul into your work, it WILL pay for you in the long run!!! patients is VERY important ;)
and believe me, i am NOT at the top! nowhere near the top yet!! but i will NOT give up!!! i absolutely LOVE primitives....everything about them!!! ;) and i also love the fact that i am able to be HOME with my kids!!!! they are the MOST important thing in my life....and it means a lot for me to be able to stay at home with them...even though this is the HARDEST job i've ever had!!! i work from sun-up to wayyyyyy past midnight every day trying to keep my business going, and keep my husband and kids happy as well ;)...it also helps to have someone who supports what you do....i am so blessed!!!!!
i am going to stop for now...time to get the kids ready for bed and maybe get ME into bed before midnight tonight ;)
hope you have a great weekend!!!!





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