How to Make Money Online with eBay, Yahoo!, and Google

by Kent, Peter; Finlayson, Jill

• ISBN13: 9780072262612
• ISBN10: 0072262613
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-11-28
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education

Summary

Ideal for e-business entrepreneurs and brick-and-mortar business owners who want to take their businesses online and maximize sales 430,000 people make their living selling on eBay; Yahoo! powers one in eight stores on the Internet; Google delivers more than 200 million searches a day There are more than 33 million small businesses in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xxi
Introduction	xxiii
PART I Building an eBay Business
How Your Business Fits Online	3	(10)
Why Three Services?	3	(2)
What Makes a Good Online Product?	5	(2)
The Perfect Online Product	7	(1)
Understanding the Price Sensitivity of the Online Buyer	8	(2)
To Ship or Not to Ship	10	(3)
Creating Your eBay Presence	13	(16)
Why Sell Through eBay?	13	(1)
Registering as an eBay Member	14	(1)
Setting Up a PayPal Account	15	(4)
Using My eBay	19	(1)
Creating an About Me Page	20	(5)
Using ID Verify	25	(1)
Getting Help	26	(3)
Preparing to Sell	29	(10)
Learning How to Buy on eBay	29	(1)
Understanding the Selling Formats	30	(2)
Using Buy It Now---BIN	31	(1)
Different Quantity Options	32	(1)
eBay Fees	32	(2)
Selling Strategies	34	(1)
Timing Strategies	35	(1)
Setting Your Preferences	35	(4)
Planning Your Shipping	39	(12)
The Internet Shipping Revolution	39	(1)
Picking Packing Materials	40	(3)
Packaging ``Best Practices''	43	(1)
Who Will You Ship With?	44	(1)
Estimating Shipping Costs	44	(2)
Calculating a Packaging and Handling Fee	46	(2)
Considering ``Shipping Strategies''	48	(2)
Shipping Overseas	50	(1)
Listing Your Items Effectively	51	(20)
Creating Your Photographs	51	(1)
Taking Great Photographs	52	(1)
The Selling Process	52	(1)
Choosing a Selling Format	53	(2)
Selecting a Listing Category	55	(1)
Creating a Title and Description	56	(3)
Entering Pricing Information	59	(1)
Specifying When the Item Will Sell	60	(1)
Specifying Item Quantity and Location	61	(1)
Adding Photographs	62	(2)
Hosting Your Own Pictures	63	(1)
Specifying the Listing Layout and Options	64	(2)
Providing Payment, Shipping, and Returns Details	66	(4)
Entering Your Shipping Information	68	(2)
Reviewing and Submitting Your Listing	70	(1)
Monitoring, Modifying, and Managing Sales	71	(8)
Checking on Your Listings	71	(1)
Changing a Listing	72	(1)
Canceling and Rescheduling Listings	73	(2)
Reviewing the Auction Status	75	(2)
Canceling a Member's Bid	77	(1)
Blocking Bidders	77	(2)
Payment, Shipping, and Feedback	79	(14)
Viewing Your Sales	79	(1)
Completing a Sale	80	(1)
Calculating the Final Charge and Asking for Payment	80	(4)
Receiving Payment	84	(1)
Shipping the Product and Sending a Notification	85	(2)
Leaving Feedback	87	(2)
Handling Nonpaying Bidders	89	(4)
Using the Unpaid Item Process	89	(1)
Relisting the Item	90	(1)
Doing a Second Chance Sale	90	(3)
Automating and Scaling	93	(14)
The Different eBay Tools	93	(2)
Using Turbo Lister	95	(7)
Using Selling Manager	102	(1)
Using Seller's Assistant	103	(1)
Using Third-party Tools	103	(2)
More Resources	105	(2)
Opening an eBay Store	107	(12)
Why Set Up an eBay Store?	107	(1)
Pushing People to Your Store	108	(2)
Selecting a Store Type	110	(1)
eBay Store Fees	110	(2)
Monthly Fees	111	(1)
Listing Upgrade Fees	111	(1)
Final Value Fees---Sales Originating Through eBay	111	(1)
Final Value Fees---Sales Originating Through Your Own Efforts	112	(1)
Setting Up Your Store	112	(3)
Customizing Your Store	115	(2)
Listing Your Items for Sale	117	(2)
Marketing, Keywords, and Promotions	119	(8)
Using eBay Keywords	119	(1)
Using Store Promotion Boxes	120	(1)
Setting Up Cross Promotions	121	(1)
Using eBay's E-mail Marketing Tools	122	(1)
Looking for Ways to Differentiate Your Listings	123	(1)
Using Your Store to Build Relationships	124	(1)
Selling Wholesale Lots	125	(2)
Power Selling, Consignment Selling, and Analyzing Your Business	127	(12)
Becoming a PowerSeller	127	(1)
The Five PowerSeller Levels and Their Benefits	128	(1)
Reviewing Your Sales Reports	129	(3)
Consignment Selling and Becoming a Trading Assistant	132	(3)
Becoming a Trading Post	135	(1)
Building Your Trading Assistant Business	135	(4)
PART II Building Your Yahoo! Store
Getting Started with Yahoo! Merchant Solutions	139	(14)
Choosing a Merchant Solutions Package	141	(2)
Do You Need a Web Site, Too?	143	(1)
Deciding How to Build Your Store Pages	144	(2)
Making Your Decision	145	(1)
Poor Man's Site Integration	146	(1)
And the Choice Is	146	(1)
Picking a Domain Name	146	(1)
Registering for a Yahoo! Merchant Solutions Account	147	(2)
Pointing Your Domain to Your Store	149	(1)
Pointing www to the Store	150	(1)
Finding Your Way Around the Store Manager	150	(1)
Creating a Store Security Key	150	(2)
Setting Up a Credit Card Merchant Account	152	(1)
Adding and Importing Products	153	(20)
Understanding the Product Database	153	(1)
Adding an Item to the Product Database	154	(8)
Working with Options---Monograms, Inscriptions, Incremental Pricing, and More	159	(2)
Modifying Items	161	(1)
Publishing Your Product Data	162	(1)
Viewing the Data in Your Store	162	(1)
Exporting Product Data	163	(1)
Importing Product Data	164	(9)
Dealing with Options	165	(1)
Creating Section Pages	165	(3)
Entering Inventory Quantities	168	(1)
Creating and Importing the Data File	168	(2)
Publishing Your Import Data	170	(1)
Importing Images	171	(2)
Working in Store Editor	173	(16)
Moving Around in Store Editor	173	(3)
Understanding Your Store Structure	176	(2)
Using the Contents Page	178	(1)
Learning the Edit Toolbar Buttons	179	(4)
Planning Your Strategy---to HTML or Not to HTML?	183	(6)
Creating the Home and Section Pages	189	(16)
Setting Up the Home Page	189	(8)
Using HTML in the Message and Other Text Fields	193	(1)
Moving and Removing Elements on the Home Page	194	(1)
Making a Product or Section a ``Special''	195	(2)
Creating and Editing Section Pages	197	(8)
Working with Images and HTML	200	(2)
Placing Other Products on a Section Page	202	(2)
Moving Products Between Sections	204	(1)
Modifying Page Layout	205	(12)
Modifying the Section Page's Head and Contents Layout	205	(2)
Choosing Product Layout with Contents-format	207	(1)
Picking Product Elements with Contents-elements	208	(1)
Overriding Head and Contents Settings	208	(3)
Using Leaf	209	(1)
Overriding Contents Layout	209	(2)
Placing Products on the Section Page Only	211	(1)
Creating and Editing Product Pages	212	(1)
Creating a ``Link'' Information Blurb	213	(1)
Creating a Product Accessory	214	(1)
Associating One Product with Another	215	(1)
Modifying Product Page Layout	216	(1)
Customizing the Site Design	217	(14)
Modifying the Store's Graphic Design	217	(1)
Quickly Selecting a Design	218	(1)
Modifying the Navbar Buttons	218	(5)
Switching to a Horizontal Button Bar	218	(1)
Adding, Removing, and Moving Buttons	219	(2)
Changing the Order of the Contents Buttons	221	(1)
Changing Button Designs	221	(1)
Changing Button Labels and Using Images	222	(1)
Changing the Function of the Y! Shopping Button	222	(1)
Adding More Buttons	223	(1)
Using the Design Variables Page	223	(5)
Adding Ancillary Pages	228	(2)
Creating a Feedback or Catalog-request Form	229	(1)
Creating More Pages	230	(1)
Publishing Your Work	230	(1)
Defining Payment Methods and Your Checkout Process	231	(12)
Setting Up a Credit-card Merchant Account	231	(4)
Credit-card Transactions Explained	231	(1)
Already Got a Merchant Account?	232	(1)
Merchant Account Fees	233	(1)
Setting Up Credit-card Transactions	234	(1)
Configuring Credit-card Verification (Risk) Tools	235	(3)
Understanding Address Verification	236	(1)
Understanding Card Verification Value	237	(1)
Selecting Risk Settings	237	(1)
Selecting Payment Methods: Credit Cards, PayPal, and More	238	(1)
Setting Up Your Order Forms	238	(3)
Setting Up Notification and Feedback Messages	241	(2)
Configuring Shipping, Taxes, and Inventory	243	(18)
Specifying Where You Ship---Foreign Orders	243	(1)
Setting Up Shipping Methods and Rates	244	(7)
Using UPS OnLine™ Tools	244	(1)
Creating Shipping Methods	245	(1)
Defining Shipping Rates and Creating Rules	246	(4)
Configuring Shipping Settings	250	(1)
Defining Shipping Confirmation Messages	251	(1)
Managing Sales Tax Rates	251	(5)
Setting Up Sales Tax in Merchant Solutions	253	(3)
Using the Shipping & Tax Test Tool	256	(1)
Configuring Inventory Options	256	(3)
Configuring Database Inventory	257	(2)
Entering Inventory Data	259	(1)
Opening for Business	259	(2)
Processing Orders	261	(12)
Reviewing Your Orders	261	(4)
Checking Flagged Orders	265	(2)
Processing Credit-card Payments	267	(1)
Modifying Charges and Canceling Orders	268	(1)
Processing Fax, Phone, and Mail Orders	268	(1)
Processing PayPal and Other Forms of Payment	269	(1)
Shipping Your Order	270	(1)
Shipping via UPS	270	(1)
Blocking Fraudulent Orders	271	(2)
Promotion Strategies and Tools	273	(16)
Submitting Data to Yahoo! Shopping	273	(5)
Preparing Product Data	274	(2)
Adding Data Fields	276	(1)
Categorizing Products	276	(1)
Creating the Product-url Field	277	(1)
Importing and Publishing Your Data	277	(1)
Using Coupons and Discounts	278	(1)
Creating Affiliate, Discount, and Tracking Links	279	(3)
Using E-mail Marketing	282	(1)
Setting Up Cross-sell Products	282	(7)
PART III Using Google Pay Per Click and More to Grow Traffic
Google AdWords and Other Pay Per Click Programs	289	(14)
What Is PPC?	289	(2)
The PPC Systems	291	(1)
Understanding the PPC Process	291	(1)
Understanding Conversion Ratio, Click Value, and ROI	292	(2)
Calculating Click Value and ROI with No Background	293	(1)
Calculating Gross Profit	293	(1)
Calculating Breakeven Click Value	294	(1)
What's the ROI?	294	(1)
Calculating Click Value and ROI Later	294	(2)
So, Can You Make Money?	296	(1)
Understanding Keywords	297	(1)
Broad vs. Narrow Terms	298	(1)
Doing a Keyword Analysis	298	(2)
Checking Bid Prices	300	(3)
Setting Up a Google PPC Campaign	303	(16)
Getting Started	303	(1)
Selecting a Location for Your Ads	304	(2)
Selecting the World or Specific Countries	305	(1)
Selecting a Region or City	305	(1)
Selecting a Very Precise Region	305	(1)
Creating Your Ads	306	(1)
Entering Keywords	307	(1)
Bidding on Keywords	307	(3)
Specifying Your Daily Budget	310	(1)
Entering Your Account Info	310	(1)
Modifying Keyword Characteristics	310	(5)
Changing Bid Prices for Specific Keywords	311	(2)
Changing Target URLs	313	(1)
Keyword Matching Techniques	313	(1)
Understanding Expanded Matches	314	(1)
Creating New Ads	315	(1)
Turning Off ``Content'' Placement	315	(1)
Writing Effective Ads	316	(1)
Google's Editorial Guidelines	317	(1)
Going ``Live''	318	(1)
Managing Your PPC Campaigns and Measuring Results	319	(14)
Viewing PPC Results	319	(4)
Managing Bad CTRs	323	(1)
Why Does Google Do This?	323	(1)
How to ``Fix'' Low CTRs	323	(1)
Tracking Conversions	324	(4)
Entering Conversion Values	328	(1)
Placing the Conversion-tracking Code into Your Site	328	(1)
Using Trackable Links	329	(1)
Using Other Tracking Tools	329	(1)
Using the Conversion Information	330	(1)
Watching for Click Fraud	331	(2)
Selling Through Shopping Directories: Froogle, Yahoo! Shopping, and More	333	(6)
How to Work with the Shopping Directories	333	(4)
Using Froogle	337	(1)
Using Yahoo! Shopping	338	(1)
Other Shopping Directories to Work With	338	(1)
Improving Natural Search Engine Ranking	339	(16)
Why You Must Understand the Search Engines	339	(1)
Understanding Search Engines	340	(3)
Understanding the Keywords	343	(1)
Making Sure Search Engines Can Index Your Pages	344	(1)
Avoiding the Basic Mistakes Before You Start	345	(3)
Frames	345	(1)
Invisible Navigation Systems	345	(2)
Images and an Absence of Text	347	(1)
Macromedia Flash	348	(1)
File and Directory Names	348	(1)
Optimizing Pages for Particular Keywords	349	(2)
Understanding the Role of Links	351	(2)
Getting Links to Your Site	353	(1)
Registering with the Search Engines	353	(2)
Using Affiliate Programs and Other Marketing Techniques	355	(10)
Using Affiliate Programs	355	(3)
Using Coupon and Discount Sites	358	(1)
Promoting Through Newsletters	359	(1)
Creating Your Own Newsletter	360	(1)
Content Syndication	361	(1)
Marketing Through Discussion Groups	362	(1)
Creating Your Own Discussion Group	363	(2)
Selling Through Amazon and Other Merchant Programs	365	(10)
Selling on Amazon.com	365	(3)
Different Ways to Sell Through Amazon	366	(2)
Becoming an Amazon.com Marketplace Pro Merchant	368	(1)
Using PriceGrabber	369	(1)
Using Half.com	369	(1)
Using Overstock.com	370	(1)
Using uBid.com	371	(1)
Using SmartBargains.com	372	(1)
Using Other Merchant Sites	373	(2)
Cross-site Merchandising and Promotions	375	(8)
Understanding Channel Conflict	375	(1)
Using Your Brick-and-mortar to Promote Your Online Site	376	(2)
Giving People a Reason to Visit Your Site	378	(1)
Using Your Online Site to Promote Your Brick-and-mortar	379	(1)
Using eBay to Push Visitors to Your Web Site	380	(1)
Using Your Site to Help eBay Sales	381	(2)
Index	383