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AVOIDING 4 "KISS OF DEATH"
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Okay I'll tell you.
The thing that "urks" me about so many online entrepreneurs, business people, eBay sellers or online marketers who try to tell you how to make money with online auctions, your own eBay business or with internet marketing is they want you to believe "cyberland" is a state of money producing utopia!
They back up their "hype" trying to tell you how prosperous they are with outrageous claims of income. How many more websites do you need to see with exotic vacations, mansions, fancy cars and huge bank account sums? (I have no problem with that as long as it's true), but the problem I have is...
If they are really interested in helping YOU to achieve the same success and not just sell you the latest greatest "money making hype", then why don't most of them EVER tell you the pitfalls and mistakes they made to get to where they're at?
That's a very important part, because that's where the learning process takes place!
You will truly learn to be successful when you learn from yours or the mistakes of others! You've got to have a problem before you have the answer! Of course, no one wants to hear about problems, and most only want to hear about the glory, glamour and gold. That's why we're constantly being bombarded with the latest greatest internet business hype of how to "make tons of money" through your own internet business or auction business!
However, life doesn't work like that. I know of no successful business person who has NOT failed at some point in life. They made mistakes BUT learned from them. They used those learning experiences to propel them into the glory, glamour and gold of success.
There is no gain without pain. It's up to you if you will make the same mistakes or learn from the pain of others.
That's why I'm going to share with you my eBay business mistakes that have caused me unnecessary heartache and cost me countless of time and a lot of money over the long run.
I'll show you how to avoid "heartache" and "disappointment" and how you can avoid the same! I urge you to learn from my mistakes and problems so you don't experience the same!
Make sure you don't make these top eBay "Kiss of Death" mistakes!
The first biggest eBay mistake...
I've made is not properly investing in my business at the start. I tried to cut corners with everything to save time and money. However, as the old saying goes, "you get what you pay for"!
The results of trying to do everything for free ended up costing more in the long run than if I would have invested in the proper eBay tools to begin with! I ended up wasting more time and money because I had to go back and do things right because what I originally did, had to be done all over again. If I would have done that from the beginning, it would have saved me from unnecessary stress and heartache in the long run.
Let me give you an example. When I started, I tried to use every free program or tool that I could to keep from spending money. After all, I didn't want to spend money, I wanted to make money, right? I spent countless hours trying to get things to work with what I was trying to do and in the end, it ended up not working anyway.
An example is that I was using a free auto-responder called freeautobot. The purpose was to set up an automated system to automatically follow up with my auction visitors and customers. The result was (at the time) the auto-responder didn't follow up immediately and sometimes it took an entire day to send out the message that was supposed to be immediate! Ouch!!! THAT will RUIN your credibility and back-fire everything you're trying to accomplish by using it. In the effort to try to provide the best customer service, it ended up doing the opposite because the service I was using to help me provide the service I was trying to provide was not top notch itself!
Ebay lesson learned: |
What did I do? After examining different ones, I invested in the best auto-responder service out there, and MUCH to my amazement… the really cool thing is they have a FREE version as well! OF course it is limited from the paid version, but it will still get you much further than the other free auto-responders out there.
What is this auto-responder? You can learn more at GetResponse.
Check out How to Automate your Ebay Marketing to learn why you'll need a good and reliable… the best auto-responder and how to effectively and properly use it!
This is one of the most important keys to selling with online Ebay auctions, which leads me to my…
Second biggest eBay selling mistake…
Not properly developing a simple website and a customer list to compliment my auction business.
Here's what I mean… I started off with the free version of GetResponse and I put together a little newsletter that I sent out every couple of weeks to people who signed up from visiting my ebay auctions and or who purchased from me through my ebay listings.
Now, what I had right was this… I knew I needed to build an opt in list through a good auto-responder,
Remember, this is very important to understand and is key:
The money is in the list as long as you establish relationships with the people on your list! You MUST build a BIG opt in list with people who respect and trust you so you're not dependent on eBay. This is why not having a website initially was a vital mistake!
BUT, here is what I had wrong…
I did not have a website OR a reason for visitors to sign up to my auto-responder list!
I had the sign up link to my newsletter list from my Getresponse auto-responder on my eBay "About Me" page but there wasn't an incentive for anyone to sign up! They didn't even know what exactly they were signing up for if they did!
I managed to get some "curious" subscribers but these were not quality subscribers. These were subscribers who ended up dropping off my list within the first few emails. If I would have had a website, I could have really built a big list by being able to tell people WHY they needed to subscribe to my newsletter and I could have offered them a free bonus for doing so. Then I had a hard time providing them valuable content for them to stay on… Ouch!
Why didn't I have my own site then? Well, to be real honest with you, I did not have a clue how to put one together, and remember I cut every corner I could back then ; (
I wish I would have known about Site Build It! This is a beautiful product that was designed for the NEWBIE to build your site even IF you have NO KNOWLEDGE or CLUE of how to build a website and market it! Take a break from reading and watch this awesome SBI video!
SBI takes all the hassle away! Complete with tutorials and training, it removes a great learning curve and will save you technological heartache, and months or possibly years of learning! Site Build It will accomplish more for the web newbie in a lot shorter time than what an experienced web builder can do on his own!
Now, in regards to the newsletter auction subscribers, since you're very limited on what you can say on your "About Me" page, this is why you need to get people to your website so you can capture your auction traffic.
My third biggest eBay selling mistake…
Another big mistake I've made is spending too much time trying to figure it all out before I got started. Yes, I researched to learn what I needed to do, but the problem is… I became an information junkie, and that's a problem most people have when starting out on the internet or with online auctions! Avoid becoming an eBay information junkie!
There's a reason Nike says: "Just Do It"!
The principle of "Use It Or Lose It!"
You will get more done faster and quicker by just doing it than you could if you studied to become book smart for 10 years before you do anything! Now, there is a balance to this. There is a time to learn by reading and studying. That is all good. However, put into practice what you learn and once you do, then move onto something else. That is one of the best things I've done.
If you spend all of your time trying to figure it all out before you began and not putting anything into practice, you will end up losing what you previously learned before you finish the the other stack of eBay books you are studying because you didn't use it when you learned it!
Think about it… how many of the things do you remember from your high school or college years that you never used since?
Once you learn what you need to do, then make an eBay business plan and do it. You may not know what you're doing when you start out, but if you have an eBay business strategy and a blueprint to follow, and you "just do it", you'll learn everything you need to know along the way.
Big eBay mistake number four…
Don't try to reinvent the wheel! You don't need to! Just follow the blueprint that's laid out before you and tailor it to fit your situation.
It' okay to do things your own way, but make sure you model the success of others! There's no reason to spend time in trial and error and failing before you figure out what works only to realize that what you just discovered what works is what you found that people are already doing! Why waste that time and go through the disappointments of failure?
Minimize the learning curve and gain the experience! This is a large reason I have dedicated this site as a free resource to YOU… because I did not have this information when I first started!
If I would have known this key information from the start, I would have been light years ahead from the beginning!
Are you ready to sell on eBay? Here's my challenge to YOU!
Don't make these same mistakes I did! The good news for you is that most eBay businesses are! Now that you know this vital eBay advice, there's no reason to! Heed my advice and take to heart. The information is there along with the resources to get you going. You don't even need to invest a lot of time researching them because I've laid out the best for you!
Let me summarize by saying: |
The best part is you don't need to spend a lot of money for the best tools and resources! The most doesn't necessarily mean the best! In other words, be wise on what you invest in, but do not try to skimp, especially when it comes to growing your business or increasing your learning in building your business.
Remember, the biggest part of your investment is in learning what to do and how to do it right! However, once you do, do NOT become an information junkie! Put into use what you learn and then learn something new. Just get started and "Just Do It"! You will be in motion that way and you will be making progress.
Use tools and services to your benefit, but the bottom line investment in your business is your heart and attitude. What you put into your business is what you'll get out of it. Now, don't make the same eBay mistakes and get busy!