Make money on Ebay

How to receive Free samples

2007-11-18T04:24:00.000-08:00

How to Receive FREE SAMPLES!
Plasma, PDA, DVD and much more!
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INTRODUCTION
Let’s remind you of something to start this wonderful guide off with. Remember those free samples of shampoo, soap or even cat food that sometimes we get thru the door? Those samples are worth nothing but the idea behind them is the same as what I am about to explain to you.
Companies (manufacturers/suppliers) are busy marketing hard; they want you to buy their products. In order to persuade you to buy their products, they give you a free sample! I know this may sound ludicrous and you must be thinking, “Huh! Free sample of shampoo is one thing, but to get hold of a £400-worth FREE mobile phone is just impossible!” Ahem...
Well, guess what? It’s not impossible! There are so many companies and suppliers using this sales practise. I highly recommend you carry on reading this guide because it CAN be done! You just need to do what I show you below. Read on, my friend… If you’re either a distributor, wholesaler, retailer or basically interested in selling a supplier’s or a company’s specific product, you will discover that they are usually very keen to send
you one or two free samples beforehand (Woohoo! In my case, I just recently received a £400-worth brand spanking new 8910i mobile phone, fully boxed with 1-year international warranty – delivered to my door – and mine to keep!!)
“How the hell did you get that?” I hear you say. Well to put it briefly for now: All it usually takes is a request for price, quantity and a sample or two and the companies are more than willing to comply – it’s that easy! (I’ll explain that in detail below) Hey guess what? Once you have contacted a company regarding a product, it’s not uncommon for them to automatically ship you a similar or related new samples in future.
Anyway, onwards we go! A phone costing you £400 may only cost a manufacturer £50 to
produce or the supplier £100 to acquire, if not less. However, these companies think they stand a good chance of gaining more out of you, so they take a gamble and send you a free
sample in no time, usually by UPS 48-Hr delivery, and most of the time they cover the
delivery costs – not you. So, have I got you interested? What, you mean you wasted your money on my information and you are giving up already? Come on, you know you want to find out how you can get your very own free goodies!
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TIME TO GET ROLLIN’
I recommend you re-read the following information over again before you start!
Right! Let’s get started – it’s easy! First thing you must have is a mailing address like your home address or wherever you live. This is needed because the parcels would most likely need a signature upon delivery.
Secondly, you need a good email address. I know you have one already since you received this file off me, however, I suggest you set-up another email account for ‘business’ use. Your new email address that you’ll be setting up soon must look professional, e.g. “th3dud3 @hotmail.com” just won’t look good and the companies will probably ignore you. What you need is a good email address, one that won’t get you ignored, e.g. if your name is Peter Piper, then an email address like peterp@executives.com would be ideal to have.
Below is some of the ideal email hosting services that I know of. Don’t use the common services like Hotmail or Yahoo considering the usernames that you can think of is taken and they are well known for spam.
www.mail.com - free
http://www.econofinance.com/free_email.html - free
www.xrs.net - free
www.techemail.com - free
www.joinme.com - free
Next thing I would suggest is you open a free account with UPS, FedEx or DHL courier.
You will get issued an account number. This number will come handy on the off chance that a company wants you to pay for the delivery costs – can’t be bad for something you’re getting for free!
Anyway, if you’re not familiar with this method, imagine it as your credit/debit card for delivery. You can include this account number with your emails to companies. If they want you to pay for the delivery, they can simply enter your shipping account number on the
international airway bill for the parcel. Then the delivery costs will be billed on your credit/debit card on your shipping account. Bare in mind that you don’t want these parcels to be shipped overnight or by any other expensive means! I mean you wouldn’t want to be billed for an arm and a leg if you’re getting a widescreen television sent overnight by UPS from Taiwan!
The best thing to do is check with your courier/shipping company that your account is with by phoning them. Speak with customer services and find out which international shipping method would be the cheapest. DHL is one I know of being the cheapest since they offer slower delivery than FedEx courier.
Make sure you know the name of the type of shipping you want, e.g. International Economy Rate. Mention this in your email to the manufacturer/supplier that you want this type of shipping method. Bare in mind, the paying for shipping is not necessary to receive free products. The cost of the sample is usually not a problem for the manufacturer or supplier; the problem for them is the delivery/shipping costs.
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FINDING THE FISH
Let’s get down to finding our companies!
For phones, laptops etc and many other great products, try the following sites:
http://www.ebigchina.com/main.phtml
http://www.worldbid.com/
http://www.eceurope.com/
http://www.5five.tv/
http://www.transportersindia.com/links/
http://www.allproducts.com.tw/index.html
http://tradeoffer.com/
http://www.tpage.com/
http://www.ectrade.com/
http://www.ecplaza.net/
http://www.ec21.com/
http://www.alibaba.com/
http://www.afacerionline.com/
When you’re on the site and you’re looking at a company of your choice, you’ll need to scroll down the page to the contact details. Here you should be seeing their contact details.
OK, now you did set up an email account with one of the above email services, haven’t you?
Good! This is where it will come handy, you can email from your new account so that you don’t have to fill in any information that could take a while and is meaningless.
By now you must’ve had a look at some products so it is time to make a request for free samples! OK, since you’re just starting out, you’re advised to begin with products – from any category – that have a consumer retail value of $20 or less. Reason being is because you need to gain a little bit of experience on how to request and receive samples. Having received a few samples and learnt from the procedure, you’ll be ready to request more expensive items such as Mobile Phones, DVD players, Widescreen TVs and etc, etc. Bare in mind this: you won’t get these costly items straight away.
It is highly recommended that you have a company or know somebody who is in the business of bulk buying already and has orders in for bulk purchase, then you have an easy chance to receive these free samples. Companies are usually very helpful and are prepared to give you many options to go forward with your requests – just be patient while you do this.
Now that you are ready to get busy, let’s begin. On the main page of the website, click on “Product Search”. From here you can either search or browse products. Sit back, relax and take your time to look around at products that interest you. Please don’t rush it by requesting any samples yet!
MAKING CONTACT
You have several ways to make contact with companies to receive your samples. Once
you’re on the page of a specific product of interest, you can click on the company’s name which will take you to a page that will have their contact information, including at lease one or two email addresses. You could then email them from your email account you made earlier for this guide.
There is another way to make contact with them, by clicking on “Request a Sample” just under the picture of the product you may be viewing, or above the picture where it says “Inquire Now”; these links will allow you to contact the companies through this website instead of emailing them directly from your email account.
When contacting these companies, you have to approach them in a professional manner.
Introduce yourself and mention that you are interested in their product(s) and you would like them to send you more information regarding the product(s) as well as a sample unit for inspection. Be sure to include your mailing address.
Here I have enclosed an example picture of an actual sample correspondence. The censored text is due to company policy. What you write in your letter is entirely up to you, it doesn’t have to be long; maybe a paragraph or two will do.
The information in this letter is true; I do not advocate nor support you writing any type of fictional information in your correspondences. Include your FedEx, DHL or UPS courier account number as well as your preferred delivery method, if you have created an account.
Some companies may require you to provide them your courier/shipping account number so it is good idea to include it, but it isn’t essential.
PATIENCE GAME
You must bare it in mind all along that you have to, no matter how long it will take: stay calm and patient. Mark my words, you will have to send emails back and forth a couple of times after your initial request, this is good because the companies do reply and tell you exactly where you stand. Patience is the key here if you are to succeed.
In Britain and United States, we do everything punctually. Our attitude is “Let’s get it done quickly - no time wasting!” and we stick to a strict schedule. On the other hand, in some parts of the world, including Asia, it’s not like this. You might not receive a reply to your email for a week, two weeks or even up till three weeks later. This doesn’t mean they’re ignoring you. That is how they conduct business there and they reply just as slowly to largecorporations too.

OK, when you do receive your free samples, they will usually be delivered as a “commercial sample – no value” so you do not pay any duty/customs tariffs on them. This is a very good thing as tariffs can sometimes be almost 40% of the product’s value!
If you’re looking to make money off your samples, you’ve got a long waiting to do!
Millionaires aren’t made overnight so easily. This is a fun and rewarding way of learning how to do business with companies and as they don’t know you, it is best for you to be or act as a company yourself.
Remember, RESPECT and CONFIDENCE plays a great role in helping you to successfully
get what you want. Make the companies think they are going to make money off you and you will see the rewards in return.
WARNING: anybody pretending to be a company and is asking you to send money to them
by Western Union because they have to pay for “expedition” taxes or for blah, blah, blah at their end before they can send you the sample(s): avoid them! They are most likely to be scammers who will walk away with your money after promising to send you a free sample and handing you a fake UPS tracking number. These scammers are most likely to be East Europeans, e.g. Romanians, or even from Spain. A few of them pretend to be based in US but when it comes to sending them the money, it turns out they want you to send the money to another country, e.g. Romania! So be cautious when making contact with anyone.
So there you have it, you now know how to get free sample products!
Here’s a brief rundown of tips and tricks to bare it in mind:
1) Be patient, calm and approach in a professional manner.
2) Start out by requesting for low value items, i.e. $20 or below. This will give you the
experience you need for future. It is vital that you follow this step.
3) Get in touch with companies that do not have any of their products pictured. Click on
the “View More Suppliers” when you have come to the last page of the pictured
products in a category. Contact them by email and have them forward you their
product brochures first.
4) Paying for delivery costs will definitely give you a greater success rate.
5) Bare in mind there is no limit to how many different companies you can request
samples from. The more you contact the more free samples you will receive.
6) Having gained your experience, you could start contacting companies by locating
them with search engines such as Google.com or Yahoo.com.
7) In some cases, you may want a free sample of a product that you must have. In this
case you could always purchase one or more at true wholesale price.
8) Start getting lots of free bits and pieces to begin with. This will help you gain
experience. Some of my favourites are:
a. Premium pens and stylish desktop clocks
b. Health and exercise supplies (electronic ab belts, etc)
c. Golf/Football or any sporting accessories
d. Novelties
e. Things for your house, e.g. extension cords, smoke alarms or even door
knobs
9) If you receive a product and you don’t like it or have too many of, sell it!
10) I must stress it again: stay calm, don’t rush things and act professional.
Some extra personal advice:
Please make sure that you use this information within the law. It can be used entirely legally or quite illegally. Be honest! Make sure you follow this document exactly. In addition, do not be naïve and think that people are not scammers; I have encountered a couple myself and if they have poor grammar or just talk about getting payment then do not bother. Even if it sounds like a great offer, you will lose more than you gain when you send off payment and get nothing in return!
A good tip is to scan your handwritten signature and put it at the end of your emails to produce emails that are more professional.
Also start doing this with a little bit of money behind you – say £150 – £200, this is not necessary at all but it will help you pay any shipping costs nice and quickly.
GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND HAVE FUN!
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How to cheat Google Adwords

2007-11-18T03:53:00.000-08:00

How to Cheat Google AdWords
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Are you one of the 150,000 Webmasters and advertisers using Google's AdWords Select keyword targeted text advertising to drive traffic to your Website? If so, you may be able to save a bundle by cheating Google! Okay, so it's not exactly cheating per se, but if you're not using all the tools and tricks that AdWords provides, then you're definitely leaving money on the table. And, when your competitors see your results, they'll think you've somehow cheated the AdWords system.
This series of articles will systematically show you how to:
• Generate the absolute best keyword list for your target market
• Use simple techniques to vastly expand your productive keyword list
• Create highly clickable copy for your ad
• Precisely limit the distribution of your ad to only those prospects who are most interested
• Beat the competition with creative bidding strategies
• Dramatically reduce costs of your campaigns while increasing clickthroughs
The series has five parts:
1. Part 1 - Keywords (starts below)
2. Part 2 - Create your Google AdWords Ad [1]
3. Part 3 - Ad Distribution and Bid Strategies [2]
4. Part 4 - Results Tracking and ROI Reports [3]
Let's get started!
Generating Your Keyword List in 5 Easy Steps
In order to get the most out of the AdWords Select program, you simply must have a great keyword list. If your keyword list is not deep enough, you will be doomed to pay top dollar on only a few highly-trafficked phrases that garner top dollar bids. So, what are the steps to developing a great keyword list?
First things first: you need your core list of targeted keywords and search phrases. These are the terms that your customers will type in to find your goods and services. Let's say you have an online store that sells handheld organizers like the Palm Pilot. Take a minute and think about how you would go about searching for a personal digital assistant (PDA) online. Would you search on the term 'digital device'? How about 'PDA'? Maybe 'Palm Pilot' or 'Palm V'? Would you try 'personal electronics'? My point is that there are many, many different and distinct search terms that will get you where you want to go.
So, how can you determine which search terms to use when advertising your goods and services? Follow these instructions:
1. Write down the top search terms that you can think of that describe your business or service. I suggest keeping this list on a spreadsheet if at all possible -- this will make it easier to organize and submit later.
2. Use the Overture 'Search Suggestion Tool' to get an idea of the popularity of each search term and enter this number under a 'monthly impressions' column in your spreadsheet. The tool is located here [4].
When I searched on our example keywords, I found that those search terms were recently searched as follows:
o Pda - 420,800
o palm pilot - 75,982
o palm V - 3,899
o digital device - 376
o personal electronics - 250
3. Use the Search Suggestion Tool to lengthen your list of search terms. Not only does the Search Suggestion Tool reveal the number of searches for any given search phrase, it also displays any closely related search terms.
Another excellent resource is found at www.wordtracker.com [5]. At $199 for an annual membership, this service will reveal which terms are the most searched on the Web, and also give suggestions for alternative search phrases. Typing 'palm pilot' into Word Tracker also shows a list of search terms (suggestions), and the number of times the associated terms were searched at Overture in the previous month:
o palm pilot software – 6,960
o palm pilot game – 5,486
o palm pilot free game – 5,478
o palm pilot free ware – 2,315
o palm pilot free software – 2,203
o palm pilot downloads – 1,995
o free palm pilot downloads – 1,931
o palm pilot accessory – 1,291
o palm pilot share ware – 985
Add all the new relevant terms and monthly impressions to your spreadsheet list. Be creative! Type in any series of words that you think might lead someone to your product or service. Use a thesaurus and a dictionary to assist you.
4. Go back to your list -– it should be pretty lengthy by now –- and add modifying words that are relevant to your product or service, such as: cheap, discount, low cost, free, premium, authentic, etc. Check the Search Suggestion Tool to assess the number of searches conducted for those terms in the previous month. Enter the terms and data into your spreadsheet under 'monthly impressions'.
In our example, if you use the keyword 'Palm Pilot', why not consider using 'discount Palm Pilot', 'cheap Palm Pilot', or 'low cost Palm Pilot' if they apply to your business? The purpose of these activities is to generate the longest possible list of relevant search terms possible. Why? Remember, you only pay when someone actually clicks on your message. You pay nothing extra to simply list more keywords. Additionally, the more keywords you have, and the more specific the search phrases are, the more likely that your visitor will be truly interested in your product or service. For example: 'pda' is a very general search term. Anyone interested in handheld organizers might search using this term. However, 'Palm V' is a more targeted search term. These customers are narrowed to a particular brand and model. The search phrase 'discount Palm V' is even more targeted, and will attract price conscious Palm V shoppers.
A longer list of relevant search phrases also increases the likelihood that you will attract visitors to your site at a lower cost. That is because it is often possible to bid less for a click if the search term is less popular. More search terms, bid at a lower cost, mean more traffic to your site for fewer advertising dollars.
5. At this point in the process, you should have a fairly comprehensive list of targeted search terms and phrases. I suggest you sort the terms on your spreadsheet by 'monthly impressions' to get a sense of which terms are most popular. These are the terms that can end up costing you the most advertising dollars if you choose to bid for a high ranking.
Congratulations! You have now generated a comprehensive keyword list that will get you ahead of your competitors. In the next installment, we'll look at some rarely used techniques to ensure that your clickthrough rates are among the highest in your category.
In Part 1 of this series, we learned how to create a comprehensive and targeted keyword list specific to our business. In this installment, we'll learn how to:
• Create copy that compels your prospects to click on your ad
• Land your prospects on a page that will maximize your investment
More on How to Maximize Google AdWords
Now that you've generated a comprehensive list of targeted keywords and phrases with which to attract your customers, you must create an advertisement which will entice them to visit your site. Google adheres to a strict advertising format: all listings are text only, with a title line of 25 characters and a product or service description with 2 lines of up to 35 characters each. Your URL is also limited to 35 characters.
It is critical that this message be effective, concise and descriptive, and that sales are driven for best results.
Title Lines
The title line is the first aspect of your Google ad that a potential visitor to your site will see. Google also has an affiliate network that displays their search results, and some of these distribution partners display only the title line of your advertisement. At these distribution sites, the only indication of your site's value proposition will be the title description. But even when the full description accompanies your title line in a listing, it is the title line's job to catch the attention and interest of a prospective customer -- and to fluidly transition them into reading your full description and clicking through to your site. No sweat, right? Oh wait…you have to accomplish this using only 25 characters in total!
My process for creation of a title line is fairly straightforward. I open a new document in Microsoft Word, pick the first (most popular) search phrase on my spreadsheet list, and then write a description that really sells my product or service relevant to that keyword or phrase. Initially, I don't really worry about the exact length. I just try to get the most sales driven message I can. After constructing something I like, I highlight the phrase and use the 'Word Count' function under the 'Tools' menu in Word to ascertain its exact length. One caveat! Experience has proven one extremely powerful rule of a search phrase description: your description should contain the search phrase or a derivation of it if at all possible. This will increase the effectiveness of your title. Experience has also shown that if you are offering a compelling value proposition, listing a price will increase clicks. I also like to use capitalize letters in the title. Obviously the word 'free' increases clicks.
For example, if you are writing a title for the search term 'Palm V', your title should include the term 'Palm V'. Here are two 25-character-or-less examples:
Lowest Cost Palm V - $100
Palm V's From Just $99
One great thing about AdWords is that it's pretty easy to change your message. I recommend testing several different approaches and finding the words and phrases that generate the most clicks. It's also smart to review the titles of your competitors in each category. I will type in the keyword or phrase and scan the title line to get a feel for what the main points of competition are. Some categories are very price driven, while others are service focused. There are no hard and fast rules as to what will work best, so continuous testing and refinement should be employed for all important keywords.
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Descriptions
Descriptions are the heart and soul of your sales pitch. You've managed to get the attention of your potential customer -- maybe for only a millisecond. Now, you've got to deliver on the promise of your title. Finally, you've got to convince your potential customer that if they click on your link, they will be rewarded with the all the benefits described in your message.
A great description gives as much relevant information as possible to the potential customer. This serves 2 purposes:
• It will encourage qualified prospects to continue on to your site in search of further information, or to purchase your offerings.
• It will discourage random clicks by unqualified prospects who are not firmly in your target demographic.
Your description should include any factors that clearly add value to the customer above and beyond your competition. Do you offer special products or services? A wider selection? Better credit terms? More flexible payment options? Hard to find inventory? These are the kinds of trigger points that can lead to higher clickthroughs.
Another Trick - Where to Direct Your Link
The final step in the customer's journey is to successfully land on your site -- piece of cake, right? It is if you know that you need to land the customer on the portion of your site that is most relevant to the search term. Always link the customer to a page that contains the exact information, product or service that they were searching for. In our example, don't just land the customer on your home page. Land them on the exact page within your site that describes and offers for sale the Palm V!
Never create a disconnection between the original search term and your landing page. Evaluate every keyword and search phrase to identify the best area of your site on which customers should be delivered. Use your spreadsheet to keep track of where you want each search phrase linked. Go to your site, find the correct page, then cut and paste the proper URL into your spreadsheet. This is absolutely necessary to maximize your conversion to sale.
One final note on landing pages and your links: Google will bill you for a click once a customer has clicked on your link. You will be billed for this charge regardless of whether or not your site is functioning properly, or if the customer abandons the process prematurely because your site takes too long to load. Make sure that your site loads quickly, and that the links you deliver are active. If your site goes down, remember to reduce your bids to the minimum amount to prevent spending money driving potential customers to a dead link.
Great! You now have titles and descriptions that stand out from the competition. You also know the power of a targeted landing environment. In the next installment, we'll look at some often overlooked techniques to further narrow your target demographic, and reduce "junk" clicks.
In Part 2 of this series, we learned how to create copy that compels your prospects to click on your ad, and discussed the importance of landing your prospects on a page that maximizes your investment in their click. In this installment, we'll learn how to:
• Precisely limit the distribution of your ad to only those prospects that are most interested
• Beat the competition with creative bidding strategies
Limiting Your Distribution – The Key to Success
If there is one component of AdWords that's most often neglected, it's controlling the distribution of your ad impressions to only those prospects who are most targeted. According to the Google AdWords Website:
Each account is evaluated after every 1,000 ad impressions are delivered on Google. If the CTR for your account falls below a minimum required CTR (which varies by ad position, but is 0.5% for the top spot and slightly reduced for each subsequent position), we'll only show your ads occasionally on your underperforming keywords. (The status of each of your keywords will be clearly indicated in your keyword reports.) If your keywords don't improve, we may disable them. You'll then need to refine your campaign to improve its performance and effectiveness. After editing your campaign, you may restore full ad delivery to your account.
In short, if your ads don't get a decent clickthrough rate (CTR) they will be disabled -- your ads won't be shown. Conversely, if you achieve a high clickthrough rate for a very general term, you will potentially be spending a huge amount of money. So, how do you get your ads more closely targeted to your audience? Here's the secret -- use the built-in tools that Google provides:
• Phrase Match
• Exact Match
• Negative Keywords
Remember, the default setting for AdWords is "Broad Match". This will see your ad displayed when any keyword from your search phrase is typed in any order. So, if you target 'Palm Pilot', under Broad Match, your ad will be shown when someone searches for: airline pilot, auto-pilot, pilot light, palm reader, palm trees, etc. None of these search terms are in the least bit targeted!
Getting Your Ad Targeted
The first step in narrowing the audience to which your ad is displayed is to use the 'Phrase Match' feature in AdWords. This limits your ad to those searches that include your search phrases in order. To activate the 'Phrase Match' feature, simply enclose your search terms in quotation marks, for example, "Palm Pilot". Now, only those terms that include both Palm and Pilot in that order will be shown your ad, such as: free palm pilot, palm pilot software, and palm pilot V.
This may be a good first step for some, but I've found that it's necessary to refine the distribution of my ads even further by using the 'Exact Match' feature. This is particularly useful for increasing the clickthrough rates of poorly performing ads. The 'Exact Match' feature will only display your ads when the exact search phrase is entered. The 'Exact Match' feature is activated once you place parentheses around your search term. In our example, we'd use the term [Palm Pilot]. Now, only the exact search term 'Palm Pilot' will cause our AdWords ad to be displayed.
The third tool is 'Negative Keywords'. This feature simply excludes your ad from displaying along side the search results of any keywords you choose. If you're selling a product or service, you may want to use 'free' as a negative keyword, thus preventing your ad from displaying when the word 'free' is part of the search phrase. To enable negative keywords you simply place a minus sign in front of your search term. If, in our example, we wanted to exclude all searches for 'free palm pilot' and 'palm pilot software', our keyword list would include the following entries:
• free
• software
Use of these targeting features will instantly place you into an elite category of Google AdWords users who have clickthrough and conversion rates at the top of their categories. Now, let's look at how to set your bid.
Creative Strategies for Successful Bidding
There are many different approaches to the process of bidding for position within AdWords. A $5.00 minimum deposit is required to set up any AdWords account, but once it's set up, any of the listed bidding options are available to you.
The 'Always be #1, No Matter What it Takes' Strategy
This strategy espouses the view that being #1 is everything. It is true that the top listing gets the most traffic. In some cases, the top listing can generate much more traffic than the lower listings -- even the second listing. The top listing will also always be the most expensive spot for any given keyword or phrase, and, depending on the popularity of the search term and the bid required to secure it, the top listing may become very expensive to maintain.
Also, as AdWords uses the clickthrough rate to weight your listing, it may simply be impossible to sustain the number one position at any bid price. Remember, too, that Google currently has a $50 per click maximum bid limit. The 'Always be #1' strategy is also prone to bidding wars.
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The 'Never Bid More Than the Minimum Bid' Strategy
This strategy focuses on cost containment. Given a vast assortment of search terms, it is likely that some top bids will be only as high as the minimum bid. These terms will most likely be less popular terms that don't generate a significant amount of clicks.
This strategy assumes that even where the top bids are $1 or more, some visitors will read through the entire list of advertisements, and click on much lower bids. As of the writing of this article, Google AdWords bids can range in price from 5 cents, to $50.
The 'Position Yourself Next to a Weaker Competitor' Strategy
The thrust of this strategy is to position your listing as high as possible, while looking critically at competitor's listings and offers. You then position yourself next to a competitor whose price is much higher than yours for the same item, or whose offering is in some other way uncompetitive with yours, thereby making your offering seem even more attractive.
For example, if you mention a sales price of $149 for a Palm V in your listing, and the listing directly above or below yours displays a price of $99 for a Palm V, your offer appears overpriced. However, if there is a listing that offers the Palm V at $199, positioning your listing directly above or below the $199 price can make your price of $149 look more attractive.
The 'Steady State' Strategy
This strategy is similar to the 'Never Bid More Than the Minimum Bid' strategy, but with a twist. You calculate the amount that you are willing to pay for each qualified customer that lands on your site, and always bid exactly that amount. For example, let's say that you calculate that you are more than willing to spend $1.35 for each qualified customer who lands on your site. You simply bid $1.35 on your best keywords, regardless of what others around you bid.
This strategy is often employed by bidders who take a "hands off" approach to their bids. They simply want to set the account up once, and let it run on 'autopilot', without much (if any) maintenance.
Of course, you can access your AdWords account as frequently as you like, and adjust your maximum bid to give the return on investment (ROI) you require. Measuring and maximizing your ROI will be the topic of the forth and final installment of this series.
In Part 3 of this series, we learned how to precisely limit the distribution of your Google AdWords ad to only those prospects who are most interested, and how to beat the competition with creative bidding strategies. In this installment, we'll learn how to:
• Track the results of your ads and campaigns
• Create a Return on Investment (ROI) report
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Tracking and Results
From the moment your AdWords account becomes active, it begins to generate valuable data that will help you optimize and fine-tune your marketing activities. In order to bill you correctly, Google must carefully monitor the number of clicks that each and every one of your keywords and search phrases generates. Not only that, they also have to report on what your active bid was at the precise moment that each click was generated.
It is important that you familiarize yourself with the reporting data that Google provides. Experience has shown that, although one may generate a vast list of search terms, keywords and phrases, it is invariably a very small subset of these search terms that generate the lion's share of cost and clicks. The click reports will alert you to this, and help you optimize your activities.
Some advertisers may have the capacity to track a click directly from a particular site and keyword back to the sale of an item at their site through the use of 'cookies' or other online tracking methods. If you have the ability and resources to create unique tracking URLs for each keyword or search phrase, I highly recommend doing this. The ideal situation for a any advertiser is to know which specific keywords, titles, descriptions, and products are driving the highest return on investment (ROI). Even if you are not capable of tracking a click through to sale, I recommend maintaining an ongoing ROI report as described below.
Closing the Loop - ROI Reports
Below is an example of a general Return on Investment (ROI) report similar to one that I've used extensively to manage cost per click sites, and to optimize our advertising dollars spent there. While it can be somewhat time consuming and resource intensive to generate a report such as this from your actual results, it is well worth the effort if you reveal information that saves you money on bids, or dramatically increases sales.
Please glance through the following report format. Each element is described below.

• Site: The cost per click site that generated the clicks for this reporting period for this keyword.
• Keyword: The keyword or search phrase that generated the click and cost data.
• Total Cost: The total dollar cost for all clicks associated with this keyword over the reporting period.
• Estimated Impressions: An estimate of how many times the ad listing was actually viewed whether it was clicked on or not -- this data is available from your AdWords reporting.
• Clicks: The total number of times the ad listing was clicked during the reporting period.
• Average Cost Per Click: The average cost per click during the reporting period.
• Clickthrough Percent: The number of clicks divided by the number of estimated impressions for the reporting period.
• Sales: The total number of sales generated by this keyword during the reporting period.
• Cost Per Sale: The total cost divided by sales for the reporting period.
The key to successful ROI is to manage your campaigns by sales. The optimum campaigns are driving the highest volume of sales for the lowest possible cost per sale. If you're optimizing your listings according to how many sales they make and the cost of those sales, you have mastered the secret of the ROI report.
Summary
The purpose of this series is to get you started with a solid foundation of great information learned through years of day-to-day experience with cost per click sites. The tips included in this series should place you well ahead of your competition in the quest for more sales and lower costs in Google AdWords. This is only a beginning, and you will develop your own style, methodologies and secrets as you become more familiar with the Google AdWords product. I wish you well in your online endeavors!

www.auctionsandmarketing.com

Bye Bye ebay.co.uk.

2007-03-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

By John Thornhill. Respected ebay Powerseller 'Planetsms'

After thinking about this I have switched almost all my auctions from ebay.co.uk to ebay.com mainly for the following reasons.
1. By default ebay.co.uk items no longer always show on ebay.com searches, you can read more about this at this link: http://www2.ebay.com/aw/uk/200702.shtml#2007-02-16181558
Anyone in the UK will still find my products and so will US users again now I have switched over. So if you list on ebay.co.uk you may want to consider changing to ebay.com as US users may no longer find your products if you list only on ebay.co.uk.
2. The US Dollar rules, I sell almost all my digital items from most of my websites by the US dollar. A lot of people still don't know what a UK Pound is but everyone knows the US Dollar.
3 The digital format policy on ebay.com, there is less chance of eBay pulling your auctions if you use ebay.com's digital selling format (See my last newsletter). We still don't have the digital selling format in the UK and anyone in the UK who has had listings pulled will understand.
4. Although I still use My Digital Dispatch to deliver my eBooks you actually don't need any delivery software if you list on ebay.com via the digital item format. You can simply enter the download link for your eBook when you list your item.
To list on ebay.com just go to www.ebay.com and list as usual. You can also add ebay.com to Turbo Lister by going to:
Tools > Options > Seller Options > eBay Sites.
Make sure you follow eBay's rules on digital items. These can be found at:http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-digital-items.html

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Looking for .? .................. www.datingadults.co.uk

Note

2007-02-17T14:24:00.000-08:00

This site is funded by Google Adds. Some of those adds will offer money making opportunities. Should you click on those adds you will be dealing with people who have no association with this site. Therefore I can accept no responsibility for the services offered.

Make money on Ebay

2006-12-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

Welcome.There are hundreds of books and reports available to buy on ebay. These come in a variety of formats, but the serious buyer always buys books with resell rights. This means that they have the benefit of the information, and can also resell on ebay, other auction sites or their own website.It is my intention to give away reports and books, that I think would help you make money. You will be able to resell any book or report. I will have purchased these with resell rights or the information will already be in the public domain.Links will be set up so that you can instantly download the material absolutely free of charge.Free reports will change regularly, so please bookmarkGood Luck

Don't buy Wholesaler lists from Ebay

2006-12-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

I noticed recently there are a whole bunch of listings on wholesale list of all sorts being sold on ebay for really ridiculous prices like $0.99 or $1.99. I recently brought one of the xbox360 wholesale list thinking since it is the holiday season, I could make a few bucks selling xbox360 on ebay.
Want to know how I fared? It was a scam. The seller sent me a list of over 50 wholesale suppliers who carried xbox360. Some had a website and some only a telephone number.
Let me tell you none had of the wholesale suppliers were true wholesale suppliers. The most funny part was through some searching, I found the ebay seller listing his website as a wholesale source on the list he/she sold me.
Here why I said they were not true wholesale suppliers. First, I have to tell you even though I had a list of about 50 wholesale suppliers, most of the contacts were outdated. I was only able to contact about 10 of them. Most of these suppliers either have a website that had expired or does not exist, or the telephone number was not valid.
1) One wholesale supplier who had a website would not even allow me to know the prices they were selling without me paying $24.99 to access their price list.
2) Another supplier price their Xbox360 so high that I would be better off buying a Xbox360 from a retail store.
3) Through some investigation, I found some of the suppliers were actually middlemen who have already marked up the prices and in turn reselling it to me.
4) Some suppliers only carry a limited quantity of Xbox360 and if it was sold out, I was told I would be placed in a waiting list with 3 to 4 weeks turnaround time. How am I supposed to sell these on ebay? Even If I managed to sell one xbox360, I will no idea if the supplier have the stock at the time I ordered and if it runs out of stock, how am I going to tell my customer he/she has to wait 3 to 4 weeks?
5) Another supplier charge such a ridiculous price for shipping that no one on the planet will buy it.
6) I contacted another supplier who seems to have reasonable prices but when I asked for a sample or I would buy it for a sample, they told me it was not possible. Their customer service person was rude and not responding to my emails and 90 percent of the time, I could not contact them. I’m certainly not going to do business with someone who does not treat their customers well.

Ebay eliminates pre-approved bidding feature

2006-12-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

eBay Eliminates Pre-Approved Bidders FeatureBy Ina Steiner AuctionBytes.com December 07, 2006
An eBay spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday that the company will be eliminating the Pre-Approved Bidder feature for sellers. Catherine England said the change would take place after the holiday shopping season, but could reveal no details about the change at this time. eBay is currently alerting sellers of the impending change through messaging on the site, such as the notice on this page (http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html), but has not posted it to the main announcement board.

The optional Pre-Approved Bidder feature is used by some sellers to eliminate nuisance bidding and to control who may bid on their items. Users not on a seller's pre-approved list are asked to contact the seller by email before they can place a bid on the item. But apparently scammers may have been using the feature to collect email addresses of potential bidders.
A seller who contacted eBay about the change posted the response she received from customer support that cites Trust & Safety concerns. "Pre-Approved Bidder is being discontinued because it enables sellers to collect, and potentially misuse, the email addresses of prospective bidders. Inappropriate use of bidder information is, of course, a violation of the eBay Privacy Policy. Occasionally, sellers who have been approved by eBay may receive limited access to this feature."
But another seller questioned why eBay wouldn't keep the feature, but prevent sellers from seeing the potential bidder's email address.
eBay's attempts to thwart scammers through policy changes are often met with mixed reviews as well as skepticism - and frustration - from users.
A reader who contacted AuctionBytes about the impending change to the Pre-Approved Bidder feature said, "There goes one of the most powerful tool sellers have to keep Nigerian Scammers away from their higher priced BINS. No mention of it in eBay's announcements. Just this notice on the Pre-Approve page. Guess who won't be listing any more higher priced BINS now? Anybody who's been scammed by Nigerian Scammers using BIN - a group that includes myself."
eBay Motors recently instituted a new bidding policy called Safeguarding Member IDs, also in an effort to thwart scammers. That policy reduces the transparency of bidding activity for shoppers on eBay Motors for items that reach $200 in an effort to fight scammers who employ spoof phishing techniques. eBay also rolled out Safeguarding Member IDs on the UK site (http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m11/i03/s01).
The elimination of Pre-Approved Bidder lists helps protect bidders, but prevents sellers from trying to protect themselves from scam bidders. Similarly, while the Safeguarding Member IDs is designed to cut down on phishing emails targeted at bidders, it also hinders bidders' efforts to detect shill bidding from sellers.
eBay sellers are also frustrated over a new initiative by eBay to counter the sale of counterfeits on the site (http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m11/i29/s01). eBay began conducting manual reviews of sellers listing items prone to counterfeiting - leaving some sellers unable to list during critical holiday-shopping days.