EBID - NOT JUST ANOTHER ONLINE AUCTION!

Get some FREE SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Reduce, reuse, recycle - all watchwords of our current economic climate. Selling your surplus is a great way of generating a little extra cash. Online trading offers a whole new customer base and can provide you with a much-needed platform from which to promote your goods and services. Handmade items, old stuff, new stuff, even stuff that you thought was no longer of use to anyone can find a new home via an online advert. The potential is unlimited. All these opportunities are available to us right now and, better still, they are available FREE if we know how, where and when.

FREE TO LIST YOUR ITEMS

For existing businesses, an Internet presence is essential. For new start businesses, the Internet provides one of the best platforms from which to promote, advertise and/or sell your goods and services. For homeworkers, it's the ideal communications tool, offering many benefits. One of the best offers we have encountered over the past 12 years is that provided by the UK based, eBid online auctions. This site appeared on the scene around 1998 and has continued to grow since then, now spanning the globe. Unlike eBay, eBid offers a free listing facility with free multiple relistings. There is a small percentage fee charged on sales and there are various options for enhanced listings if you opt for the free membership, however... it is possible to set up a sales outlet free of charge. But there's more...

REGISTER A SENSIBLE USERNAME

If you decide that you're already at a stage where an online store (or up to 5 stores at no extra cost) is what you need, then a single payment opens the doors to a world of opportunity. But before you register, STOP AND THINK! Carefully consider your options for naming your stores! On payment of the set-up fee for Seller+ lifetime membership, you can set up a maximum of five different stores in five different categories. Niche markets are great but it doesn't really matter what, or if, you are selling anything to start of with, what matters, at this point, is that you give your stores relevant names. Why? Because these are what show up in the search engines and are also incorporated into the quick link URLs.

PAY NO SELLER FEES when using eBid's basic listing format, which includes photographs, list your items as if they are individual, stand alone adverts. You can even place links to generate new sign ups (and Buddy Points) plus cross link to your other stores and items, literally creating your own network on eBid. There's free secure invoicing, a choice of payment methods for customers, including PayPal and Google checkout, and a specially designated forum where sellers can promote their stores. What we must never forget is that every single listing is scrutinised by the search engine spiders that regularly crawl the pages, indexing them for the likes of Google. Add to this the cheap availability of domain names and you begin to get an idea of how easily you can have yourself an entire online business website in no time. If you already have a web site, integrate eBid as soon as you can. We have and we know it works, so keep reading. It gets even better.

SET UP AS MANY AS 5 ONLINE STORES

Working example: Racing Book Shop

Racing Book Shop is now one of the largest online horseracing book stores in the UK and has successfully integrated eBid online auctions as a sales platform. The 'buy it now' option is favoured by many and costs nothing extra to impliment. With the current offer, for less than £50, your company could have a secure sales platform with the added bonus of a lifetime of advertising and promotional opportunities! What other media format can boast that kind of offer? Who can afford to turn their back on this simply brilliant opportunity? Forget paying a fortune for search engine optimisation. The search engines are forever changing their algorithms, so why pay good money to try to beat them? Even those who never actually fill up a store can create a fantastic website with a page 1 presense on Google, thanks to eBid. As a marketing tool alone, the current Seller+ lifetime offer is a crazy bargain that no serious frugaleur (frugal entrepreneur) should miss. Less than £50 FOR A LIFETIME.

Sign up for free now and then upgrade to full Seller+ Lifetime membership within 24 hours of registering to take advantage of the offer. I've been there, I've done that and I've even got the t-shirt, so don't forget to email eBid with your sizer so you can claim one, too. An extra layer in winter is an extra layer, even better when it's a freebie.

MASK YOUR eBID STORES WITH SUITABLE DOMAIN NAMES

BUDDY POINTS - eBid's own loyalty bonus scheme. All buyers and sellers earn buddy points.

Buddy Points, which can be spent on some fantastic electronics bargains or promotional merchandise, can be earned in various ways. In the past, we have successfully 'won' an iRiver ebook reader, a digital camera and a Nintendo DS in the buddy point auctions plus purchased numerous items of merchandise, so I cannot fault the system. Here are the ways you can start collecting Buddy Points once you've joined eBid.

Referring a Buddy 1.00 point

Your Buddies Upgrading to SELLER 2.00 points

Your Buddies Upgrading to SELLER+ 5.00 points

You Making a Bid Meeting Reserve 0.50% of reserve price (max 5.00 points)

You Winning by Bidding 1.00% of final bid (max 5.00 points)

You Purchasing Using BuyNow 1.00% of BuyNow price (max 5.00 points)

You Gaining Positive Feedback 0.50% of final bid OR BuyNow price (max 5.00 points)

Selling items to your customers means earning points for both you and them, it's a win win situation. You can then use your buddy point 'buys' as incentives for your own customers.

*NO SELLER FEES FOR SELLER+ LIFETIME ACCOUNT HOLDERS

BEATING THE BUDGET & SAVING YOUR CYBERDOSH

As soon as you set up your free account on eBid you should start designing your free webpage, because that's what it is, even although it doesn't say this. Click on the 'My eBid' tab then scroll down to 'My Options'. These are listed on the left hand side of the page. The first option is 'My All About Me' and this is the page you want to focus your attention on for now. Add some details about yourself and/or your company. Tell others about your business, products, shipping policies etc. You can change to a plain HTML box to add your own html code or use the advanced editor via the 'My Defaults' link. This basically allows you to create an entire web page incorporating links, graphics and as much information as you can to provide.Some people use this as their home page, masked by their own domain name and linked to their various stores or items. I am completely gobsmacked by how few people have realised the potential of these free advertising opportunities.

UTILISING EBID FOR SOME FREE SEO, ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONS

eBid's pages are regularly spidered by the top search engines, so there is no genuine reason why anyone should not want to capitalise on this fact. My theory has been tried and tested. I can key in the first phrase from my experimental eBid page ("With an avid interest in moneysaving, frugal living and home working") and Google can throw up NYK Media's page as number 1 in its search results, emblazoned with the NYK Media name for all to see. It only takes a little bit of tweaking to alter the introductory line to something more likely to be searched and hey presto - your business, name, service or products could have a page one result in the big search engines like Google. And that's before you even spend time listing products that will then be uploaded to Google shopping.

Example of how Google Shopping works for free advertising. ( I used the 'Cyberdosh' name for this one).Open up Google.com, click on the 'Shopping' tab at the top and then key in the title of the item you're hoping to find; ie, the item you are selling. For the purposes of this experiment, I'm using 'Country Smallholding magazine April 2006'. HERE are the results.

I rest my case - experiment complete, ready to hit 2011 head on, but I still need to decide whatt I want to promote, advertise or selll. :)

> Register for this phenomenal, unmissable offer HERE <

Let NYK Media help you for free. You can ask any questions or discuss any aspects of this opportunity with NYK Media in the Frugaldom forums, where our aim is to make as much as possible as affordable as possible.

We've cut so many corners, we've been around for years.

Now You Know! It's the Kingdom of the Frugal Entrepreneur!

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* Listing enhancements available for a small fee or percentage commission, but the costs are minimal.

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