Just made my first eBay store with phpBay

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saczilla

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Apr 1, 2008
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Can I get your opinion on what you think of it so far...

Video Game Products

I took this niche cause I play a lot of video games and feel I can promote it well. Any suggestions would be thankful. I am not a PHP master so I rely on plugins when I need too..lol
 


unlike 90% of us, you actually took a step, so congrats!

i would echo Crynos comment about narrowing down your niche further because you will most likely have tough time ranking high in the search engines.
 
like Cut, i suggest you get a different theme. also, post 100+ words of original content to each page, it will make a world of difference.
 
The theme doesn't matter. I don't have an automated way to toss in relevant content so I rely completely on my url to suck in search engine traffic - thus my niches are much smaller - and the products in them more expensive.
 
I don't think the theme matters either. Most of my Wordpress-based Ebay sites are using very plain themes. I do try and use a different one from the Wordpress default though because that has always screamed "unfinished" site at me. I'd just use anything else.

I'd add a ton of subdomains to that site. NintendoWii.videogameproducts.com, sonyplaystation.videogameproducts.com, etc. etc. Niche it down as much as possible.

If you're doing this by hand, some text content at the top of each page really does help.
 
tailoring the design around the niche adds value to the site imo. it is kind of like shopping at a store that looks like a hospital. while you fill their need for some irrational reason, less people want to come back.
 
awesome thanks for the ideas. I like the idea for making subdomains tailored a niche. When you say add like 100 words or so, just to each product section why they should buy from me?
 
Having eye candy can improve your conversions. So before you post back asking why you have visitors but no conversions change your theme. Changing themes make a big dif to me.

BTW phpBay rocks ... after you have around a 20-30 sites after a month or two you may be able to buy a wii
 
I understand the point of these PHP sites but have two questions... Are they typically promoted through PPC? Isn't the commission on ebay so small that you'd have to convert like crazy (or have 10-20 sites that convert well) to make any sort of serious $$?
 
thesilly1 said:
I understand the point of these PHP sites but have two questions... Are they typically promoted through PPC? Isn't the commission on ebay so small that you'd have to convert like crazy (or have 10-20 sites that convert well) to make any sort of serious $$?
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought at first. Then the brain fart fairy visited me one night and I had a thought. Target niches that would probably not have people signed up for ebay. Then I had a sting of nothing but brain farts from further visits from the brain fart fairy and created several sites based on this idea.

Ebay signups get you a whopping 25 bucks. I use both phpbay and a product called BANs... dang cant post a noob affiliate link oh well. Nice thing about BANs is you can set up a site in about 10 minutes with a bud in one hand.

All funning aside I like phpbay a little better because it worked well in WP and other CMS sites. BANS is like stand alone but for someone who is not a coding fool except minor edits both products work well for me.
 
ok...

First off, you gotta change the theme you're using, find something "store" like, not the kubrick theme. There are TONS of free themes out there, look around...

2. have some actual content on the site, not JUST auctions, it will help it seem more legit, and if you keyword stuff, it will help with SEO.

3. as mentioned before, choose a smaller niche. "video games is too big" i have a feeling the game system,s are too big too. Maybe pick a specific accessory (xbox30 controllers or something) and make an ENTIRE site dedicated around that. then you will get organic traffic.

I have my two PHPbay sites in my sig. check them out.

The fender site is about 9 months old, i probably made over $2k with it so far, and almost no work. Go through that site and take some notes.

Golf ball site is only 1.5 weeks old, so time will tell.....
 
RG. Do you just do some simple SEO using wordpress and then leave them alone for the most part? Or do you do some PPC with these sites? Seems like the margins would be pretty low for PPC
 
PPC isn't worth it unless you're selling motorcycles or expensive watches or something.
 
thesilly1 said:
RG. Do you just do some simple SEO using wordpress and then leave them alone for the most part? Or do you do some PPC with these sites? Seems like the margins would be pretty low for PPC
Click to expand...

for me it's all simple SEO...

Pick a small niche

Get domain with niche name in it

write 10-20 pages of content using 2-3 keywords for your main niche throughout the pages.

Like pages of your site together (related posts plugin)

get backlinks

Sit back and make money

tweak accordingly...
 
So basically a simple content site with the PHPbay as an add-on for the income source. I've only been content based with SEO so far. I'm going to get on this and see how it works. I'll post a site in a day or two.

Then back to the PPC.
 
I don't do PPC on mine. I do some minor article marketing though. Usually I'll write 5-10 articles for each site, build a Squidoo lens, build a Hubpage, and then wash, rinse, repeat. These kinds of sites don't need very much traffic to convert.

I need to add that related posts plugin!
 
rgordon83 said:
for me it's all simple SEO...

Pick a small niche

Get domain with niche name in it

write 10-20 pages of content using 2-3 keywords for your main niche throughout the pages.

Like pages of your site together (related posts plugin)

get backlinks

Sit back and make money

tweak accordingly...
Click to expand...

Which related posts plug-in do you use...there are many.
 
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