Sellers who are willing to put in a little effort to learn the new rules are seeing better results. So you’ll likely come out ahead of your less savvy competition if you implement a few changes of your own.

So, where to begin? Let’s talk about the Best Match search criteria.

As of the beginning of March, the default for all item searches on eBay is now "Best Match" (it used to be "Time: Ending Soonest").

Buyers can change this default, but you can assume they most likely won’t do that, so it’s important to know what makes an item a Best Match.

eBay explains these search criteria:

• It sorts the listings based on Time Ending, Relevance, Seller Performance, and Shipping & Handling.
• "Relevance" is based, in part, on past successful buyer behavior for similar items (eBay notes what items are clicked on most by buyers when they run searches, and this means heading keywords will be extra important).
• Sellers with buyer dissatisfaction rates greater than 5% in the last 30 days will see their listings appear lower in search results.
• Sellers with the lowest Detailed Seller Ratings for Shipping & Handling Charges will also see a decrease in exposure.
• Sellers with Detailed Seller Ratings of 4.6 and above within the last 30 days will get higher ranking in search results.
• The time remaining on an auction is still taken into consideration, but it isn’t the main criterion any longer.

This can obviously have a huge impact on your sales. In fact, sellers with a DSR or 4.6% or greater will now likely have up to 20% more exposure on their auction listings than their competitors.

Just check out this screen grab of a search for webkinz (they’re popular on eBay right now) to see what we’re talking about.

We took this from page 6 of the search results…

Some sellers here only have a minute or two left, yet they’re lumped in with the 2-hour auctions way back on page 6 where no one is going to find them.

We clicked on the profile for one of the poor-ranking sellers. This is a high-volume seller with a 99.1% positive feedback rating, but his average DSR is 4.4. Not so bad, you might think…

… But compare the page 6 seller to a seller who ranked at the top of the same eBay Best Match search, whose average DSRs and Negative feedback results are slightly higher…

Obviously a few fractions of a percentage point make a huge difference here! A difference, in fact, of being ranked at the top of the search… or back on page 6.

And it doesn’t stop there. Shipping costs are now a really big deal on eBay as well — and that doesn’t just include buyer feedback on your turnaround time. Best Match will soon also take into consideration how the shipping cost for an item compares to other items in the same sub-category, and also whether the shipping price is specified.

Items with shipping costs significantly above the average cost for other items in the same sub-category may receive less exposure from now on.

So this is the Best Match default search in action.

What can you do to make sure you’re not shoved way out on page 6 with just minutes to spare on your auction?

Don’t panic! Our Advanced eBay Mentoring Team gave us some fantastic strategies you can use to propel your listings to the top of those searches. And since this is new territory for everyone, you can use this change as a great opportunity to get the jump on your competition.

Keywords are, as always, key

The keywords you use in your item listings are going to be more important from now on, so you need to make sure you’re getting them right.

The good news is that you don’t have to be psychic to figure out what keywords your buyers are searching for. Just do your own search for items you’re thinking of selling and pay careful attention to the listings that are making it to the top.

For example, when we go back to the search, we found that "unused tags, new, webkinz, and rare" seemed to come up in all the top featured listings. Those are the keywords you would start with in this case.

Do your own searches to make sure you’re getting your keywords correct, and include those words in your auction listings.

Test, test, test!

Here’s a very handy tip… you can test how effective your keywords are!

Post your item, then make a note of where it ranks. Go in and change your heading… eBay will rank it again within just 5 minutes. Check to see if this improved your listing or not, and revise your heading again if you need to.

You can do this as many times as you like up until the last 12 hours of the auction.

Shipping secrets

Shipping is always going to be a bit of a tricky area to address… especially when you have to rely on your postal system to make sure your items are delivered in a timely fashion. There isn’t much you can do about delays beyond your control, but you do need to remember that communication is the name of the game when it comes to shipping your goods.

Here are some top tips you can use to make sure your customer knows when to expect your items so they’re not up in arms because their package is a few days late:

1. When you make a sale, leave positive feedback for your customer that also states your shipping times. You can say "Thanks for buying my product! You can expect to receive your item on April 17th," so the buyer has an exact date they can aim for. The more detailed information you can give them, the more likely you are to receive positive feedback yourself.
2. Be careful when you calculate your shipping times… add a day or two to your estimates to avoid disappointment. Then if it arrives earlier, you’re golden!
3. Include details of your shipping costs on a sheet of paper in the package so the customer sees it when their package arrives. This way you can explain that, for example, although postage may only have cost $1.50, you charged $3.00 because you needed to buy bubble wrap ($0.75) and a post pack ($0.75) to make sure the item was delivered in good shape.
   

   Again, this gives your customer all the information they need to see you’re being reasonable with your charges. You can even print these details on a bright pink sheet of paper if you think it will help attract their attention!

4. Ask for positive feedback from your customer! You can include a written note with your item, add it to the feedback you give to the buyer, or send a follow up email to them, but make sure you politely request that they give you positive feedback, or at least let you know what you can improve on if they’re not happy.
5. Remember that your DSR is based on the last 30 days only, so you can work to improve it all the time!
6. Add a specific shipping service and price in the Shipping Details section of your listing, and making sure shipping costs are competitive with what buyers see in other auctions. And put your shipping information in the body of your item description too so there’s less chance people will ignore it.
7. Check out eBay’s Shipping Best Practices for more info… http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/shipping.html#best

If you’re looking to start an Internet business…

• WITHOUT a website
• WITHOUT a ton of start-up capital
• WITHOUT being a computer techie, and
• WITHOUT a ton of business experience!

… eBay is the perfect place for you!

PLUS — if you have an EXISTING Internet business —
you’ll learn how to boost your sales by expanding into
eBay’s giant online auctionplace of 2,000,000 shoppers
a day, with over $1 Billion in purchases made in 2006!

So if you’re keen to earn life-changing wealth in the
world’s largest marketplace (I’m talking 241,000,000
registered users who are PSYCHED to spend money online),
then check out my new Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay!

Every once in a while, a reader sends me an email that says something like this…

"Derek, help! I’ve done everything you’ve told me to do in — and still my website only makes $200 a month! I need to be making at least $1000 a month! WHAT SHOULD I DO???"

Well… if you really and truly have implemented all of the business strategies I recommend in my "Insider Secrets" course, and you’re still generating only $200 a month instead of your target of $1000 a month…

Then my advice is this…

Step #1. Build another $200 website
Step #2.Then build another $200 website
Step #3. Then another
Step #4. And another

… And that’s it!

Now, some of you might think I’m joking… but I’m not.

If you go from one to 5 sites that are all making $200 each — you’ll have gone from making $2400 a year to $12,000 a year!

(And $12,000 isn’t exactly pocket change, in my opinion.)

See, here’s the thing with making money online — the trick to becoming successful is to DIVERSIFY and MULTIPLY your streams of income whenever possible.

You should never put all your financial eggs in one basket, especially in today’s uncertain economic climate. If your business is based on just one website, and that website starts to flounder because of changes in the industry, then there’s only two choices you can make — sit back and watch it sink, or pour more effort into revamping it to fit the changing market.

But if you have many different websites, all targeting different markets, then just because one fails, it doesn’t mean YOU will fail. You can just shrug it off and focus your efforts on your remaining sites — as well as any future ones you plan on building.

And the great thing is, once you’ve successfully set up one money-making website it’s easy to duplicate the process!

It’ll take you way less time and effort to set up each successive site — because you already know what you’re doing.

On top of that, if you automate your Internet business, running 5 sites doesn’t take much more time than it does to run one — so you can have multiple websites pulling in money and STILL only work a few hours a week on your business!

So if you were to ask me, is it better to have one website that makes $1000 a month — or five websites each making $200 a month — I’d have to say the latter, because together they’ll give you more economic security in the long run.

And besides, you never know… one of your new "$200 a month" sites just might grow into a $1000 a month profit machine!

So don’t be afraid to cast a wide net! You’re sure to catch more fish that way…

To your success,

Derek Gehl

 P.S. I am interested in knowing how many of my readers have more than one source of income on online.. and if not, why not?

But you need to move FAST…

Because we just released only 300 copies of the most complete Internet business start-up solution the world has ever seen…

… To a list of more than 15,472 people like you who have been chomping at the bit, eagerly waiting for this announcement!

It took me and my team $500,000 and six months of blood, sweat, and tears to develop — but we’re excited to reveal that we can now remove absolutely EVERY barrier standing between you and your first successful Internet business.

(Yes, including getting you into a fully-functional, professionally designed website that accepts credit card payments without knowing a lick of HTML!)

And even though it’s based on the SAME system that’s created MORE six-figure income websites in the last 12 years than any program like it…

… We’re still going to let you try it for just $2.95!

Click here to get your copy before the first 300 are gone and you’ve missed out.

To your success,
Derek Gehl

P.S. I can’t emphasize the urgency enough… More than 15,472 people expressed interest in getting into a lucrative new Internet business using one of these 300 automated Internet business start-up solutions.

So there’s no time for hesitation. If you’re interested, you need to act NOW because I expect this offer to be gone very soon…

Click here to get your business started.

Have you heard the news? The Internet has CHANGED!

It’s a whole new world out there… and if you don’t jump on this super-hot new trend RIGHT NOW, these changes are going to crash down on your head like a tidal wave and sweep away your chances of achieving online success — for GOOD!

Sigh…

How many times have you seen overblown "scare" pitches like this, telling you that the world of Internet marketing has been turned on its head, and only the savvy elite will survive the changes that are coming?

Every time I see something like this, I shake my head.

Sure, the Internet is growing and evolving… But the fundamental rules for making great money online have NOT changed at all.

And it drives me absolutely CRAZY when marketers use fear tactics to try and scare people into buying "The next hottest thing!"

The shocking secret is, there IS no secret!

I know that’s a funny thing to hear from the guy who sells a best-selling marketing course called, "Insider Secrets Course to Marketing Your Business on the Internet!"

But the fact is, there is no real "mystery"involved in creating a money-making online business.

All you need to do is follow these six steps:

Step #1: Find your niche market

You need to confirm that there’s a NEED for whatever it is your business is going to sell — and that people are willing to pay for it!

Also, you absolutely MUST research your competition to make sure your niche isn’t overcrowded with competitors who offer perfectly good solutions to the problem you want to solve for your customers. Otherwise, there may not be enough room for your business to grow and thrive.

Step #2: Make sure you sell the right solution

You have to come up with a product or service that does a good job of solving your market’s problem.

And there has to be something truly "special" about it!

You need to have some sort of "unique selling proposition" (USP) — something that sets your product or service apart from every other product out there.

Step #3: Keep visitors glued to your site with compelling copy

When you have an online business, the WORDS on your site are going to be your best salesperson — so you have to make sure they do the best possible job of selling the benefits of your product to your potential customers.

Step #4: Design a site that leads visitors straight to the order button

You have to make sure your website gives people exactly what they’re looking for — and makes it EASY for them to buy your product!

Step #5: Use an "opt-in" to capture leads and build customer relationships

Most people won’t buy from you unless they feel like they know you.

That’s why you need to capture your visitors’ email addresses so you can build relationships with them over time. Otherwise, you’ll only ever make a fraction of the sales you could be getting.

Step #6: Advertise your business to the people who are MOST LIKELY TO BUY

The beauty of the Internet is that you can laser-target your advertising so you only present your message to the people who are most interested in buying your product. And traffic channels like the ‘Net’s top search engines can help you drive thousands of qualified leads to your site — for little or no money!

… And that’s basically it!

All of these 6 steps are essential to the success of your business.

Once you have mastered all of these steps, you will be the proud owner of a website that’s guaranteed to generate you healthy profits.

HOWEVER, if you skip a single step, or do them out of order, you won’t achieve the kind of success you’re hoping for.

And you’ll end up wasting a lot of time (not to mention blood, sweat, and tears) trying to correct a painful situation you never would have experienced if you had done all these steps properly in the first place!

Are you confused by any of these 6 steps, or experiencing problems implementing any of them in your business?

If so, leave me a comment letting me know which steps you’d like me to explain in more detail – and I’ll do my best to fill in the blanks tomorrow.

To your success,
Derek Gehl

If yes, there are 3 rules you absolutely MUST follow in order to avoid going down the wrong product path.

These rules have nothing to do with researching supply and demand or locating a niche market to sell to. They actually precede that kind of research. And if you violate one of them, then I can guarantee the product you choose will NOT be a good money maker.

So here they are…

Rule #1: Don’t sell something people can easily buy at the local supermarket!

Or mall, or hardware store, or electronics shop, or sports store, etc. etc.

Why would people go online to buy something they can easily get on their regular weekly shopping trip?

Unless you can offer something truly unique — such as a lower price or a hard-to-find product — you’ll find it tough to compete with the convenience and the lack of shipping costs those offline alternatives offer.


Rule #2: Don’t sell a "time-sensitive" product!

If you try to sell something people need RIGHT AWAY, you’re going to have a hard time convincing them to wait a few days for it to be shipped to them.

For example, if you do proper keyword research you’ll see that thousands of people do searches every month on the keyword, "cure sore throat fast."

But here’s the challenge: If someone wants to cure a sore throat fast, do you think they’re going to wait for you to ship a herbal remedy? No! They’re looking for immediate results. And once their cold has gone, their desire to buy any kind of cough remedy will vanish along with it.

If the product can’t be delivered through a download, think twice…

Rule #3: Don’t enter a market with a massive amount of competition!

If there’s already a huge number of savvy marketers selling to your intended market, you should probably choose a different market.

Take world-famous online "shopping mall" Amazon.com, for example. They’re one of the hugest online vendors out there. If you decide to start your own catalog site selling a general selection of books, or music, or DVDs, how will you ever be able to compete with an industry giant like Amazon?

Unless you figure out a way to offer a lower price (doubtful) or cater to a very specific niche Amazon hasn’t yet tapped (difficult), you’re going to have a hard time getting your business off the ground.


Nothing is impossible… but the more competitive a market, the more time and money it will cost for you to become successful.

If these rules seem ridiculously obvious, then I apologize for wasting your time. But I had to mention them. Every day, I see budding entrepreneurs break these rules and spend weeks… months… and even years working extremely hard for minuscule results.

And it frustrates me, because I know it didn’t have to be that way.

If you want to learn how to find hot products that people are absolutely GUARANTEED to buy — before you even start selling them! — you can discover the formula that teaches you exactly how to do it in Step One of my best-selling course, "The Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business On The Internet."

For more information, go to:

http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr

If you’re just getting started online, you cannot afford to choose the wrong product! That’s why we dedicated a full 5 lessons in our course to showing you how to choose the right product. You can let us hold your hand and walk you step-by-step through this entire scientific process.

Or you can base your business on guesswork and hope for the best… but I hope you’ll take my advice instead.

To your online success,

Derek Gehl

Here it is…

If you are currently in the process of looking for a business idea, chances are you will come across the "Business in a Box" pitch.

The pitch will look something like this:

"For only $XXXX.95 (Insert dollar figure here you can have your very own business and product to sell! We will give you the website, the product, the marketing material and all of the training you need to sell it!"

Wow, sounds like a sweet deal…

… Or does it???

The harsh reality of this kind of offer is: If a company is selling you an opportunity to sell a product — even if it does sound like a great product (or products) — chances are they have sold the exact same opportunity to hundreds, if not thousands, of other people!

That means you have hundreds, if not thousands, of other people who are selling the exact same product, with the same website, using the exact same marketing strategies you are!

Think about it for a second… Do you want that many IDENTICAL competitors?

Nope!

Not to mention, if the product was really that hot, why isn’t the company selling it itself, instead of merely selling the opportunity to sell it?

That’s why we work so hard in our Insider Secrets course and our mentoring programs to teach you how to start real businesses using tested and proven market research strategies that help you make healthy profits by simply identifying untapped niche markets and then giving them what they’re looking for.

That way, you have minimal competition and you’re selling something you know people want to buy.

The bottom line is this… if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is! I have never come across a great opportunity that didn’t require a little elbow grease to get off the ground.

Sure, it might require some more effort on your part to find a niche market and build a site that targets it… But at the end of the day, at least you’ll have a profitable business!

My best-selling online marketing course, Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the Internet, teaches you everything you need to know to build a REAL online business making REAL profits — without falling into the common mistakes so many people make when they’re first starting out online.

And right now you can take it for a full 30-day test drive for only *$2.95*. Click here to learn more!

To your genuine success…
Derek Gehl