Grabbing Buyers From Reviews & Guides

One of the lessons that eBay has learned in recent years is that content is king. To be honest, until recently even eBay themselves admitted that the site lacked content. In other words, the site did not have much in the way of useful information; it was purely a place to buy products or services.

Some of the most recent developments to encourage user-provided content were: eBay Wiki, eBay Reviews and Guides and eBay Blogs. By eBay's own admission the aim of these sections is to build valuable content that will encourage users to come back to the site more frequently, as well as to influence the search engines in a positive way to increase the visibility of the site overall.

These features have been largely ignored by most eBay users, but they present a powerful opportunity for the switched on seller (that's you). How so? In return for providing content to these sections of the site, eBay promises a nice payback. It's a 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' kind of arrangement.

The opportunity that exists in eBay Reviews and Guides is great because it's a flexible and open format.

According to eBay's own definition, Reviews and Guides (which are actually independent sections of the site in their own right) were provided as a way for users to research suitable products and benefit from the wisdom of eBay members that have experience in a particular product category, either as a seller or as a user. 'Reviews' contains comments and ratings about all kinds of commonly sold items on eBay.

Note that eBay limits reviews to specific types of products that they list. 'Guides' are short articles or reports that contain information and opinions about almost any topic you can think of.

There are two key ways to benefit from these sections of eBay:

1.Use the free information as a research resource for creating your own information products.

2.Write informative and useful information about the niche that you sell in, and then promote your own products.

The first point should be self-evident. Reviews and Guides is a rapidly growing information resource that's available for free, so it's a great tool for research when creating information based products.

The second area is a little more complex, but don't be put off, because it represents an outstanding way to generate interest in your eBay listings, for free. Here are some of the ways you can use Reviews and Guides:

1. Have a friend or relative post an objective review of your product. Make sure it's realistic and credible, and be sure to include details of what makes your product superior to the competition.

2. Write a Top 10 products review for your industry (guess which is No.1?)

3.Write a 'white paper' report about a product that you sell.

4. Write a guide that explains how to use your product.

5. Write a guide that explains unusual uses for your product.

6. Write a guide that explains the pitfalls to look out for in hiring a service you offer.

7. Write a guide that gives tips and advice within some aspect of the niche that you sell in.

8. Write a guide that explains how to replace or repair a product.

Be as creative as you like, and remember that you can include pictures, photos, illustrations, basic formatting, and eBay links to specific products or eBay searches. If you do use any kind of photo or drawing, make sure it closely relates to the content and that it enhances rather than detracts from the text (that's a common mistake).

Also, in preparing your writing, ask yourself what people would be most interested in reading about. After all, you want to attract as many readers as possible. As with any copywriting, the headline (and title) that you select are the most important aspects to consider in drawing readers in.

Be A Writing Whiz - Market Your Articles

If you're a writer who can write short, snappy, but chock-full-of-information articles, then the Web is your perfect home. For anatomical reasons, web surfers cannot read long articles with text-rich paragraphs – but they're after information, and if you can provide it, then you're a winner.

But how do you let the world know that you can write well? And how can the world know that you are willing to offer your services as an article writer?

The key is to successfully market yourself by marketing your articles. But if you can't send out dozens of emails to prospective clients, or spend hours designing a website, what can you do to get people to hire you?

The key is to write one, and only one ground-breaking article, and to include a resource box.

A resource box contains information about you, and it will usually be at the end of your article. But to make your Web visitors curious, you have to make a resource box so brief and loaded with information, they'll want to hire you after they read the first five words of it.

So what should be in your resource box?

• Give your name – not your full name that stretches all the way out of your birth certificate, but the name you would like to be placed on checks, and how you would like request letters to be addressed. Oftentimes, online writers rely so much on their email addresses and contact details that they forget to put their names down.

• Give your website address, if you have a website. Direct your prospective clients to formal samples of your writing – not to your informal blog where you have details of what happened during your day, all in "Net-Speak."

• Make your pitch – a one to three sentence proposal that shows readers what makes you and your writing unique. Some marketing experts refer to this as your unique selling proposition, or your USP, the promise of fulfilling an unmet need. Others call it the "Elevator Pitch," or what you would tell a prospective client if you were caught for a few seconds together on the elevator.<

 
The key to making a pitch is brevity: say in a few words all that makes you special.

• Make a call to action by inviting people to visit your website and take you on as a writer. This can be done in a simple sentence that will tell prospective clients that you are the person for the job, and that if they do not take you on, they will regret their choices for the rest of their lives (of course, in not too many words).

• Lastly, give your contact information. Give only your professional email addresses, not your "cute" e-mail addresses, such as teddybear@ilovechocolate.com. This does not reflect well on your credibility as a writer, and it will make you appear juvenile, no matter how "cute" your e-mail address is. Stick to yourname@youremailprovider.com (Yahoo and Google Mail are acceptable providers). If you do not have such an address, get one.

"Your Name" email addresses are not only more professional-looking, they are easier for your busy clients to remember.

If you follow your writing rules when making your resource box – that is, if you keep it short and to-the-point, you'll be sure to get a lot of clients clamoring for your services in no time. All you have to do is advertise well and frequently, and make your writing shine.