Why eBay Is Not Dead!
Recently I have had several discussions with other eBay traders and none of the comments were terribly complimentary either on my part or on the part of the other traders. The biggest complaints were that they are not making much money in their traditional markets and eBay’s constant policy changes.
You see they (and myself) started trading on eBay when eBay was an auction site that also sold things, as opposed to its current incarnation which is a shopping site that allows auctions. That is the crux of the problem, most people have failed to take into account this fundamental shift in eBay’s business model.
eBay decided several years ago to charm the high street stores and big sellers to their platform, essentially they wanted to be the new Amazon and to be bigger and better. The flaw in the plan is that the two business models are very different.
eBay introduced a raft of changes that effectively finished off a lot of eBayer’s by ensuring that their products were all but invisible in the search results. It’s incomprehensible best match policy killed off a range of good selling products of my own and they also banned some of my products that were being sold by other sellers and remain so to this day. I cannot relist them because I risk being banned.
They also banned my account for 3 weeks a few years ago because I was selling a product widely available not only on eBay, but in street markets and well known high street stores it is still on sale at all 3 outlets even today. They did explain to me why I could not sell it, but the document they sent me was in Korean and my Korean is rather rusty. I just wish that I had paid more attention at school!
Now, I still make a great income from eBay but due to eBays constant fiddling I have had to shift my markets several times. Five years ago I published Plugin Auction Profits (PIAP) my complete guide to profiting from eBay.
My intention was to update this on a regular basis to reflect the changes eBay would introduce for sellers (but a revision every 15 minutes proved to be a bit much!), revision of PIAP always seemed to be the next task, one that I never got around to.
One of the most often asked questions is how to find products for resale at a profit on eBay. Well on Friday 6th March I found 6 products in less than 15 minutes that are being sold by local wholesalers and doing a large volume of sales on eBay. I even shot a video of me doing it.
I have spent the past 6 months trialing new niches and refining my old eBay niches with some success and now seemed the appropriate time to completely update and revise PIAP.
So I have done this with a complete revision of the written materials, shot over 20 new videos showing the complete setup process, sourcing products and listing them for sale. I have nearly finished the product creation phase then the website will be rebuilt as a membership site.
PIAP is dead! I have removed it from the Clickbank market place. Plug In Auction Profits 2 is on its way!
Daniel Craig’s Ultimate Traffic Guide A Review
My Review of Daniel Craig’s Ultimate Traffic Guide:
Daniel has put together some brilliant strategies for increasing traffics to your own websites or products. If you are selling books, digital products, physical products or just want to drive more traffic to your blog or website then you need this.
In some superb over the shoulder training Daniel shows you exactly how to massively increase traffic to any offer or product that you have for sale. He doesn’t just show you the well known methods he shows you in great detail how you can use Google Plus, Linked In and Tumblr.
Don’t accept my word for it check it out for yourself! Click Below.
Daniel Craig’s Ultimate Traffic Guide
Online Marketer’s Academy: The Ultimate Membership Site?
No Fluff Content, Just Tools, Resources, Training and New Products Every Month, Now
That’s Rare!!!
Are you struggling to start making money online, do not know where to start or need to improve your online business?
Well, my friend Carl Topping has created a monthly membership site called Online Marketer’s Academy where he provides all the training, tools and resources for absolutely anyone to start having their own online success!
Now you may be thinking, oh no here we go again another trashy so called site that says will help you but doesn’t!
Well, for those who don’t know Carl he is an honest, ethical marketer who doesn’t believe in push button solutions and knows that it takes hard work and dedication to make money online. He also knows the importance of having multiple income streams and not putting your eggs all in one basket.
Carl has put a lot of hard work into all his products and relationships that he has built online over the years, and decided to put all he has learn’t along with a tonne of tools and resources to help his members fast track their own success
Carl has made money online in different niches and it started for him in 2004 when he discovered eBay and that there was money to be made. Since those days Carl has progressed onto the world wide web as a whole and has vast knowledge of making money online in various niches using different methods, strategies and techniques.
The beauty of the membership site that Carl has created is that there is a tonne of training delivered by Carl himself along with lots of tools and resources that you can use in your online business.
These tools and resources include a large number of new Resell Rights and Private Label Rights products which are added to the members area each and every month. You can utilize these in different ways either by using them yourself, reselling them or using the Private Label Rights content that is included to create your own products and run your own info publishing business.
Now the training is not just about creating products and all the rest of the things that are linked to internet marketing but includes other methods of making money online. Most of which again Carl has personal experience in doing and created video tutorials for you to learn from and follow.
Included also in the tools are that of hosted software applications that you can use to create your own professional looking graphics that can be used when doing product creation and websites.
Now concerning product creation many of you will know that without traffic to your products, sales will not happen, so Carl has also got that covered in what he calls the Promotion Centre.
I think this is an amazing site to join and remain a member of as new content, tools and resources are added all the time so there is really no need to go anywhere else when its all under one roof.
Well, you are probably thinking what is the cost of all this great stuff?
If I’m honest with you it is so crazily low cost to be a member that you just have to join today!
You get the first 7 days for only $1 and then if you decide to remain a member which in my eyes is a NO BRAINER then it is currently only $19.95 a month, thats right I have never seen anything else like it and it’s at an amazing deal!
But I am going to sweeten the deal!! I am offering an amazing bonus package worth $1688 Yes Really Just click the GET Bonus Button and see the full package…
I hope you have enjoyed my review, there is so much being added all the time that I could not cover all.
So go ahead and click on the link and put your business into overdrive.
Its Good To Share!
Illustrated Books For Kindle Using Comic Life 3
Illustrated books are really big on Kindle, they range from full blown graphics novels such as Watchmen.
Featuring some seriously talented artists and writers (i.e. not me) to simple illustrated books such as children’s ABC books (i.e. me).
Although these books look amazing when viewed on such devices as the Kindle Fire HD and other similar reading devices they do present quite a different challenge to the author than do ordinary non illustrated books.
MS Word and similar word processing programs where never really intended for producing books with lots of illustrations or with complex layouts. Some alternatives do exist such as Adobe InDesign which is commonly used to layout professional quality magazines.
InDesign is expensive and has a steep learning curve, we may not need all of the functionality of the program rather like using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut and I cannot therefore justify cost of buying it.
So what about a cheap, easy to use alternative that will help you produce first class illustrated books with no fuss even for those of use who can’t draw for toffee.
Enter Comic Life 3!
Comic life is available for Windows 7 & 8, OS X and IOS, it costs only $30 but you can try if free for 30 days. Comic life is easy to learn, has lots of pre built templates, panel layouts and output options producing quality comics OR illustrated books.
On Thursday I published my first fully illustrated book for the Kindle Fire HD using Comic life. Here are some example pages from the book. The finished project was exported as a set of .jpg files and imported into Kindle Comic Creator to compile the file for uploading to Kindle. All the images I used were public domain (see What’s Your image like 2). Total production cost of the book $0.
Amazon US Amazon UK
I used my new iMac to produce the book but a PC or iPad works just as well. Comic life is true alternative to high end costly illustration programs at a fraction of the price. As you can see I even did the cover in Comic Life 3, that’s saved a Fiverr!
Want to know more? I am shooting a series of videos showing exactly how I did this, look out for it.
Rob
p.s. It’s good to share!
Whats Your Image Like Part 2!
Blog posts are supposed to be interesting and informative but unfortunately all too often they can become very wordy (and I am aware that I am one of the worst culprits there is). Using graphics in your blog post not only breaks up the large bulk of text but can also be interesting and informative when used correctly.
LIKE THIS ONE!
But where can you get your images from? Well the answer all too often is from a Google search then copy and paste the picture, right? Well no it is all too easy to infringe the copyright of others this way. You may get away with it for years but one day you may have a problem.
There are a number of solutions to this problem. Buy a royalty free image from a picture agency such as Fotolia, for a blog these can be relatively inexpensive but if you are using 2 or 3 images a blog post and you are a regular blogger then the cost can be really staggering.
There are plenty of alternatives such as Public Domain (PD) images and Images available under a Creative Commons Licence (CC). Such as these…
A really good place to start is Wikimedia Commons
There are also other sites such as Icon Archive which have images for commercial and non commercial usage, some just require a link back or credit to the graphic artist.
Or you could buy a Royalty Free clipart collection which will allow you to use the images where eve you like without additional fee, as long as you don’t resell the clipart images.
One of the really big players Getty Images has made this service available for non commercial activities such as blog posts etc, by providing an embed code to a large proportion of the images in its catalogue. The image is low resolution but good enough for a blog and has a link back to Getty and the original image.
Here is an example of a Getty image embedded into this blog post.
Try Creative Commons for other sources of images. So if you are looking for images to liven up your blog posts then there are some real alternatives to the Google copy and paste approach which if you are not careful could mean that you are using copyright materials.
Rob, It good to share!!
Extra 1K Income My Unique Bonuses!
Every so often a product comes along that makes it just so easy for you to succeed, one that is given to you on a plate, a system that just plain works. Extra 1K Income from Davis Lex is just such a system.
Extra 1K Income is an extremely comprehensive training program on how to start a side business selling services by outsourcing all the work and profiting the difference!
The unique selling point is that you don’t need any starting capital, or skills to make this business work – And all you need is just 1 hour per day to make an extra $1,000 per month!
Now Davis provides everything you need to succeed in his system, but I want to sweeten the deal for you, so I am offering not one but 12 ways of adding to your Extra 1K Income with my unique bonuses. No one else will be able to offer you this because these 12 systems or business plans are part of a product that I created.
It is impossible to put a figure on the value of these bonuses but this product has made in excess of $5000 in sales.
My complete e-course 12 Roads to Success, 12 complete business plans for you to copy and profits from ranging from the very simple to the more complex (and profitable). Real Value: Incalculable
Not only do you get the product itself but you also get the resale rights to this product, for every sale of this you make you get to keep 100% of the cash. Yes you did read that correctly! Real Value: Incalculable
To help you to sell and promote this I will give you all the web page templates, promotional graphics and sale materials so that you can hit the ground running and start making sales as soon as possible. Real Value: $147
HOWEVER I AM LIMITING THIS TO THE FIRST 25 ACTION TAKERS
Don’t Miss Out on This BONUS, Make Sure You Grab Yours Right Away,s it’s for a Very Limited Time Only!
EXTRA BONUS!! JUST ADDED
All the tools you need to build your business, the one I used in my own successful business. Your FREE!
IMPORTANT:
|
Remember, in order to receive your bonuses you MUST purchase from the links on this page.
IMPORTANT: In order to claim
your bonuses, please send your Payment Receipt to:
With ‘Extra 1K Income Bonus‘ in the subject.
How to clear your web browser cache:
Firefox:
Go to Tools
Go to Options
Go to the Privacy tab
Click “Show Cookies”
Click “Remove all Cookies”
Firefox 5:
Click on ‘Firefox’ in the top left
Go to Options then Options
Go to the Privacy tab
Click “Show Cookies”
Click “Remove all Cookies”
Internet Explorer 6:
Go To Tools
Go to Internet Options
In the “General” tab & under “Browsing History”, click “Delete”
Click “Delete Files” under “Temporary Internet Files”
Click OK & then OK again.
Internet Explorer 7:
Go to Your Control Panel
Go to Internet Options
Under “Browsing History” click “Delete”
Click “Delete Cookies” under “Delete Cookies”
Internet Explorer 8 & 9:
Click on the “Tools” icon in the top right
Go to Internet Options
In the ‘General’ tab under “Browsing History” click “Delete”
Click “Delete Cookies” under “Delete Cookies”
Chrome:
Click on the ‘spanner’ icon in the top right
Go to “Tools” and then “Clear Browsing Data”
Select “Cookies” then click “Clear Browsing Data”
If you have problems try using a different browser.
To your Success
It’s good to share!
What’s Your Image Like?
Well what is it like? I don’t mean how dapper you may look on a night out or for a big occasion. But what is your online image like? I am currently finishing off a suite of products with varying graphic needs.
I have created some of my own (the simple ones) had some more complex ones created as Fiverr gigs and some very high quality graphics created by GFX-1. Your graphic needs may be your eBay listings, the look of your blog or that of your products. So I want to illustrate this with a few examples.
Any good chef will tell you that the first bite is taken with the eye, so a great picture or graphic is needed to attract the attention. So let me start with eBay listings, there are many “excellent examples of bad graphics” but together with the title it is the one of the most important factors in getting customers to look at your listing further. Look at this example of a bad graphic!
Some Resell Rights products are amongst the worst offenders, Take this as an example.
This is a product I have sold both on eBay and Amazon (before the cull) but I hasten to add not with this graphic!
But the thing about it is that it often does not take much effort to produce a first class graphic. Here is one I created for one of my eBay listings. Even with my limited skills I am more than happy with the result.
Here are some examples of book covers and other graphics I have created or had created for various parts of my new course E-Publishing Roadmap. The first two examples are my own work, one of the images is from the public domain and the other cost a few bucks from Fotolia.
There came a point for me when my skills were not up to what I wanted to create, so at that point I had to outsource my graphic needs.
For simple graphics I am a great fan of Fiverr. But….. Not every piece of work I have had done has been as good as I would have liked it to be.
Illustrated books are BIG on Amazon and yet they can be very simple to create. Here is one of my examples, forget about the author name, it’s me.
A classic example of fourth time lucky, I ordered a book cover for this A-Z book on Fiverr, a few hours later my internet went off. Three days later when normal service was restored I found that the artist had cancelled my gig.
Attempt two, reordered the gig from someone else, they failed to deliver even after having three additional days. I cancelled and reordered the gig from another artist. Three days later the gig was delivered but the cover was in portrait format groan…
I Requested a revision which took three additional days.
Fiverr is not just for book covers here is some channel art I had created for my YouTube channel, I asked for something with the same look and feel as the header on this blog.
Pretty neat! Check it out live!
For E-Publishing Roadmap which I am creating there will be no skimping first class graphics will be an absolute must. So I used GFX-1 which I use for all my high class work. So for the last component of the course which is about using eBay I have had had a listing template and a CD authoring template made as bonus items. Here are just two of the graphics. Impressive?
So it just remains for me to ask what’s your image like?
Its good to share, please do!
New Year Plans 2014 And End Of Year Review 2013
Once more we start a New Year we look forward to the plans ahead and with it the inevitable review of the previous year and plans. When you look back it is often sobering to see what you have achieved or have failed to achieve, so here goes.
There has been a BIG spectre haunting me and unlike Scrooge this one did not arrive just before christmas it has been in residence for a long time. It is my long trumpeted, long awaited but not delivered Kindle training course. I never delivered this, I have been unhappy with a lot of the content, I have tinkered with it, messed with it and also left it alone (for too long).
But, I have finally realised what I was unhappy about and with a renewed vigour have created a Kindle course that I am not just happy with but also proud of, so look for that in early 2014.
I have not as yet updated my eBay course Plugin Auction Profits or my 12 Roads to Success course as I was wanting to do in 2013. But, I have the new versions in outline form and intend to move these to there own membership sites with the addition of some new materials. There will also be some additional content available as an optional additions to the product.
I have also been experimenting with Optimise Press 2 as the membership platform for my Kindle course. I find OP 2 both easy to use and infuriating in equal measure, on bad days it is seems more like Optimise Depress.
I am unsure as to whether I will continue to use this after I have used up my 3 licence quota, so stay tuned.
A great positive in 2013 was joining the team at Marketing Mini Classes, I knew everyone personally and I am delighted to be working with Steve, Mandy and Barry. Look for some more classes from me in 2014.
So to 2014, here’s the broad plan.
To release 3 products this year
To update and upgrade my Plugin Auction Profits and 12 Roads to Success to membership status.
To add to my Kindle book portfolio by at least one book per month
To buy myself a Mac computer and publish content to Apple iBooks
To extend my existing POD ventures
To build a more extensive and responsive marketing list
And above all to provide excellent value to all my subscribers and customers
Phew just looking at that list is scary! But these business goal should go someway to helping me achieve my personal goals.
What are your plans? Leave a comment below and share your plans.
So it only remains for me to wish you the compliments of the season and wish you success in all your ventures in 2014.
Oh and remember its good to share so please share this!
How Quickly Can You Start In A New Niche?
How many niches do you work in? Most people work in just one or two and others seem to work in multiple niches. Those niches may be in Internet Marketing, eBay, Amazon or even offline.
Here is a little niche that I have just started to work in. I have always been interested in astronomy have bought my first real telescope when I was 15. I always wanted to do something in this hobby niche so I have decided to have a go, and record my progress as I developed this new area which would make a good case study even if I were only moderately successful.
The whole niche involves the building of a website http://thenightskyonline.com/ which I have started to construct. The idea is to do this on an absolute shoestring. I have used a free theme and if you visit the site, it is clearly in the early stages of construction. I intend to build a marketing list in this niche and the first step is this little book which I have just published.
Click the links to check out the listings
Amazon US
Amazon UK
This was entirely written by me, it is enrolled in KDP select for at least 90 days, the idea is that I can give this away for free on 5 days of my choice during the enrolled period. I am offering some excellent free software with this book. This is provided via a link in the book that takes you to a download page HERE.
On the download page is another freebie which you can only get by subscribing to my list.
Here is how I produced the book, the content was entirely written from my own knowledge in about 8 hours. All the illustrations were from the public domain and can be used for free, they all came from wiki commons (there are many other places I could have got free content but in this instance I found all I needed there), total time approx 2 hours.
Compiling the book using my own kindle template approx 2 hours
The free software is also public domain and consists of two program’s, downloading, zipping and uploading to my own web space approx 1 hour.
Compiling the download page again approx 45 mins. Writing Kindle listing and uploading 30 mins.
The point being that all this could easily be done in one weekend at a fairly leisurely pace. The hardest part was really just getting started on it. I broke the book down into sections and wrote each section as the fancy took me.
Now before anyone says I couldn’t do that! If you have a hobby, interest or a passion for something then you can just as easily do what I have done.
Oh yes and the cost? £5 for the royaly free image I used to produce the cover 20 mins, which again was done with free software, real budget product production, just 15 hours max. The amazing thing is it took Amazon less than 6 hours from me submitting it to them publishing it.