Last weekend I attended a seminar put on by the Internet Marketing Center. The seminar is geared towards selling a information product/course originally developed by Corey Rudl and now run by Derek Gehl. The sales pitch was a bit long and overdone but the information gained while sitting in the audience was well worth the endless pitch.
Most of what I learned was in the areas of SEO and keyword targeting for long sales letter websites. But there was a good explanation included about why businesses should look at involving themselves in eBay as a traffic generation technique. Of course the “real” information is included in the course material (for sale at the unbelievable one time price of…)
The gist of what they say is correct even though I would not consider most of the Derek Gehl eBay course information up to date or even advanced (Most of what they teach is basic techniques which can be found on the eBay help pages). They are on point with the concept that eBay is not a good avenue towards developing a primary source of income for anyone, not even a business…
What eBay is… is… a revenue stream and an advertising venue with incredible SEO advantages for any business!
What Derek Gehl says about eBay should be read and understood by every business owner in America…
This is what the Internet Marketing Center publishes regarding the use of eBay as a business tool:
Derek Gehl who is one of the top internet marketing experts, has answered the top 3 questions regarding eBay. If you already have internet auction business particularly eBay (successful or not) or a newbie who is planning to start an eBay auction business, this will surely help you.
Question #1: Why eBay??? I want to make ‘real’ money, not just make a few dollars selling junk for pennies!
Here’s a news flash… Selling “junk” on eBay is never going to make you rich and it’s not something I’d ever recommend.
The secret to eBay success is using key research tools to discover what people are buying on eBay and how much they’re willing to spend. Then all you have to do is find a cheap source of that product so you can buy it for less, then turn around and sell it at a generous mark-up on eBay.
It’s not rocket science… and there are no tricks and gimmicks involved, just steady, reliable income, and the chance to grow a huge opt-in list of people you can sell other products to in the future.
It might not be as SEXY as the one-in-a-million chance of launching a website that starts making 1000s of dollars overnight. But it’s way more of a sure thing and personally, I find a guaranteed extra $1,000 a month sexier than a distant longshot any day of the week.
Question #2: I’ve been pouring all my free time and money into my online business, now you’re saying I need to start all over again with eBay?
For goodness’ sake, no. If you’re smart, you should use eBay to help you grow your “regular” online business, not replace it.
Not only is eBay an excellent place to do valuable market research, you’ll also know what your potential buyers are buying. It also allows you to grow a huge opt-in list of people you can sell to, before your off-eBay site is even up and running.
Imagine that being able to drive thousands of interested buyers to your site the very same day you launch it.
Question #3: I already have a profitable online business. Why should I bother with eBay?
My answer is, I guess it depends on how happy you are with your traffic numbers.
If you’re getting so much web site traffic that it’s crashing your server and you literally don’t know what to do with it, then you probably don’t want to use eBay to send more visitors to your site.
BUT, if you’re getting less than 500 visitors a day, or if you’re getting more than that but your visitors aren’t converting to sales. Then, you should seriously consider eBay auction. It’s a great way to drive highly targeted visitors to your site.
Remember, these are people you’ve found on the world’s largest marketplace, which means they’re enthusiastic online shoppers. They’re exactly the kind of people you want to introduce your products to.
