I know there was another thread on Ebay promotion methods, phpBay, etc. But I figured I'd actually get my thoughts together and put it down in a "guide" format. This is what I've been doing for the past several months and it's been turning a pretty nice profit for me. Granted, it's not automated so I have to keep at it to make any money...but still, it's a pretty easy method.
So here's my first (hopefully) useful thread.....
What you need to get started:
• Web hosting – I use Hostgator and I’ve been very happy with them. Whatever you already have will work just as well.
• A registered domain that has something to do with your product promotion. In this example, I’ll be using Nintendo Wii Stuff » Console Systems/Bundles as I’m promoting Nintendo Wii console systems, games, and accessories.
• The latest install of WordPress
• A copy of the phpBay Pro WP plug-in
• An affiliate account with eBay, which is run through Commission Junction (which you probably already have an account with)
• Some type of auto-responder (*optional – only if you want to automate responding to your Craigslist ads, or you could just respond to them manually). I use the Easy Auto Responder from Essential Craigslist Tools
• An idea of products that are sold on eBay that you want to promote. In my example I’ll be using Nintendo Wii consoles, games, and accessories
First steps – Building the blogs and filling them with affiliate-link auctions:
1. Since I want to use just one domain to promote eBay auctions in multiple cities, I create sub-directories for those cities. So if my domain is Nintendo Wii Stuff » Console Systems/Bundles, I’ll create subdirectories for Chicago (www.nintendowiistuff.com/chicago), Seattle (www.nintendowiistuff.com/seattle) and so on. However many cities you want to advertise your ebay auctions in…create that many subdirectories of your top domain.
2. Here’s where the initial labor comes in. Since phpBay Pro can only use 1 zipcode per WordPress install…you’ll have to actually install a full copy of WordPress and the phpBay Pro plug-in for each subdirectory (city). So, go ahead & upload/install WP in each subdirectory. Also upload the phpBay Pro plug-in to each subdirectory in the plugins folder.
3. Once you’ve got WordPress uploaded and installed in every subdirectory…then it’s time to start customizing and populating each subdirectory blog with your eBay auctions using phpBay Pro.
a. Let’s say your first city was Chicago. You’ll want to title your blog appropriately (“Nintendo Wii Stuff in the Chicago area” for example). This is in the “Options” section of WordPress.
b. Now what I have done with NintendoWiiStuff.com is to create separate pages for each product category. I have a “Console Systems/Bundles” page (which is my default page), a “Skins/Faceplates” page, a “Controllers” page, an “Adapters” page, and a “Games” page. I find it more clear to organize your blogs into product sections using pages instead of just using posts/categories. You can do it either way, but for this example it will be using pages.
c. Once you have your pages created (which correspond to your different product categories), then you need to populate each of them accordingly through phpBay Pro. The instructions provided with the phpBay Pro plug-in walk you through finding the category code from the eBay URL and using that (along with the other post options) to narrow down the listings that will appear on your page.
As an example for Nintendowiistuff.com – for the “Console Systems/Bundles” page, this is what my phpBay Pro tag looks like:
Explanation:
• [phpbay] and [/phpbay] – encapsulate the options for the phpBay listings
• Nintendo wii – keywords that the auction title has to contain
• 100 – the # of auctions I want to list on that page
• 62054 – the specific eBay category # for Nintendo Wii systems (optional, but I would try to find it out as it helps to narrow down your listings and keep you from using a bunch of keywords to filter with)
• “” – this 4th field is also optional. Here you would put keywords that cannot be in the auction title. It’s a way to filter out auctions you don’t want from this category, basically. But since eBay has a specific category # for Nintendo Wii systems (62054) then I didn’t need to use filtering keywords here
Another example would be the “Games” page ,which has this phpBay tag:
Explanation:
• [phpbay] and [/phpbay] – encapsulating tags
• Wii – the auction title has to have this keyword in it
• 100 – the # of auctions I want to list on this page
• 62053 – the eBay category # (however, this is not specific to Wii games so I have to specify filtering keywords in the 4th field)
• Nes snes gamecube gameboy (etc) – these are my filtering keywords. If the auction title has any of these in it, then it won’t be included in my listing
Your pages should now be populated with auctions based on your phpBay tag options.
d. phpBay Pro requires that you put in your PID (from Commission Junction) and it automatically takes care of formatting the links to the auctions with your affiliate ID. You don’t have to do much of anything, really. Also in the phpBay options page within WordPress will be where you specify other options, one being the proximity to a certain zip code. This allows you to limit your auctions to ones within, say, 50 miles of the metro Chicago zip code.
**This is important because once we start posting ads on Craigslist and auto-responding with these blogs…they need to correspond to the city in which you’re posting on Craigslist. Otherwise you’ll have your ads flagged/deleted and your accounts banned very quickly. There’s a good chance of people still getting annoyed with this approach and reporting your ads to admins or just flagging them themselves. But at least by taking these extra steps…you’re offering up products in the correct city and people are less likely to think you’re just spamming nationwide with eBay auctions and that you’re an actual seller**.
(continued in 2nd post...)
So here's my first (hopefully) useful thread.....
Making Money Promoting Ebay auctions through Craigslist.org and phpBay blogs
What you need to get started:
• Web hosting – I use Hostgator and I’ve been very happy with them. Whatever you already have will work just as well.
• A registered domain that has something to do with your product promotion. In this example, I’ll be using Nintendo Wii Stuff » Console Systems/Bundles as I’m promoting Nintendo Wii console systems, games, and accessories.
• The latest install of WordPress
• A copy of the phpBay Pro WP plug-in
• An affiliate account with eBay, which is run through Commission Junction (which you probably already have an account with)
• Some type of auto-responder (*optional – only if you want to automate responding to your Craigslist ads, or you could just respond to them manually). I use the Easy Auto Responder from Essential Craigslist Tools
• An idea of products that are sold on eBay that you want to promote. In my example I’ll be using Nintendo Wii consoles, games, and accessories
First steps – Building the blogs and filling them with affiliate-link auctions:
1. Since I want to use just one domain to promote eBay auctions in multiple cities, I create sub-directories for those cities. So if my domain is Nintendo Wii Stuff » Console Systems/Bundles, I’ll create subdirectories for Chicago (www.nintendowiistuff.com/chicago), Seattle (www.nintendowiistuff.com/seattle) and so on. However many cities you want to advertise your ebay auctions in…create that many subdirectories of your top domain.
2. Here’s where the initial labor comes in. Since phpBay Pro can only use 1 zipcode per WordPress install…you’ll have to actually install a full copy of WordPress and the phpBay Pro plug-in for each subdirectory (city). So, go ahead & upload/install WP in each subdirectory. Also upload the phpBay Pro plug-in to each subdirectory in the plugins folder.
3. Once you’ve got WordPress uploaded and installed in every subdirectory…then it’s time to start customizing and populating each subdirectory blog with your eBay auctions using phpBay Pro.
a. Let’s say your first city was Chicago. You’ll want to title your blog appropriately (“Nintendo Wii Stuff in the Chicago area” for example). This is in the “Options” section of WordPress.
b. Now what I have done with NintendoWiiStuff.com is to create separate pages for each product category. I have a “Console Systems/Bundles” page (which is my default page), a “Skins/Faceplates” page, a “Controllers” page, an “Adapters” page, and a “Games” page. I find it more clear to organize your blogs into product sections using pages instead of just using posts/categories. You can do it either way, but for this example it will be using pages.
c. Once you have your pages created (which correspond to your different product categories), then you need to populate each of them accordingly through phpBay Pro. The instructions provided with the phpBay Pro plug-in walk you through finding the category code from the eBay URL and using that (along with the other post options) to narrow down the listings that will appear on your page.
As an example for Nintendowiistuff.com – for the “Console Systems/Bundles” page, this is what my phpBay Pro tag looks like:
[phpbay]Nintendo wii, 100, 62054, “”[/phpbay]
Explanation:
• [phpbay] and [/phpbay] – encapsulate the options for the phpBay listings
• Nintendo wii – keywords that the auction title has to contain
• 100 – the # of auctions I want to list on that page
• 62054 – the specific eBay category # for Nintendo Wii systems (optional, but I would try to find it out as it helps to narrow down your listings and keep you from using a bunch of keywords to filter with)
• “” – this 4th field is also optional. Here you would put keywords that cannot be in the auction title. It’s a way to filter out auctions you don’t want from this category, basically. But since eBay has a specific category # for Nintendo Wii systems (62054) then I didn’t need to use filtering keywords here
Another example would be the “Games” page ,which has this phpBay tag:
[phpbay]wii, 100, 62053, xbox 360 nes snes gamecube gameboy ps3 ps2 playstation ds[/phpbay]
Explanation:
• [phpbay] and [/phpbay] – encapsulating tags
• Wii – the auction title has to have this keyword in it
• 100 – the # of auctions I want to list on this page
• 62053 – the eBay category # (however, this is not specific to Wii games so I have to specify filtering keywords in the 4th field)
• Nes snes gamecube gameboy (etc) – these are my filtering keywords. If the auction title has any of these in it, then it won’t be included in my listing
Your pages should now be populated with auctions based on your phpBay tag options.
d. phpBay Pro requires that you put in your PID (from Commission Junction) and it automatically takes care of formatting the links to the auctions with your affiliate ID. You don’t have to do much of anything, really. Also in the phpBay options page within WordPress will be where you specify other options, one being the proximity to a certain zip code. This allows you to limit your auctions to ones within, say, 50 miles of the metro Chicago zip code.
**This is important because once we start posting ads on Craigslist and auto-responding with these blogs…they need to correspond to the city in which you’re posting on Craigslist. Otherwise you’ll have your ads flagged/deleted and your accounts banned very quickly. There’s a good chance of people still getting annoyed with this approach and reporting your ads to admins or just flagging them themselves. But at least by taking these extra steps…you’re offering up products in the correct city and people are less likely to think you’re just spamming nationwide with eBay auctions and that you’re an actual seller**.
(continued in 2nd post...)
