Christmas in July at OnlineAuction.com

Now that the U.S. temperatures have left us sweltering, and the heat indexes are rising, the thought occurred to me this week that it was the perfect time to remember cooler, refreshing and jollier pursuits. Unseasonal? Perhaps, but how about Christmas?  So, unofficially, of course, I am declaring it Christmas in July at OnlineAuction.com! 





Close your eyes, smell the cookies baking, the scent of fresh pine boughs, feel the sprinkling of snowflakes on your face and the goosebumps sending shivers up your spine from the first winter chill. Recall the magic, the excitement of family and friends during the holidays. Feel better? Thought so. Now it's time to shop.


Valerie Fain mentioned the word sleepers on Facebook this week. Sleepers, for antiquists, are those rare finds that you stumble upon at a flea market, an antique shop, or an estate sale... you know the ones. They're under-priced and over-looked, and you just know that snapping up that treasure is your coup d'etat for the week! Let me tell you, the off-season is when sleepers prevail.

I spoke of Christmas in July on Twitter this week. I admit it... I love Twitter! Where else can you talk randomly, (in 140 characters or less), and have people listen, not to mention, respond? My Twitter habit during the work week has become to choose a theme for the day, usually pertaining to an item I've got in my store. Then I expand on that, by featuring items from other sellers in the same genre. It's been really fun browsing OLA every morning! Boy, have I come across some interesting auctions and some sleepers.

For sure, I try to retweet some of the people I follow, and give credit to newsletters I receive which have interesting content. You have to mix it up at Twitter. Send personal greetings - comment on the news - talk sports. Shoot, you're probably all tired of hearing me rave about the Chicago White Sox by now, but just wait until the Green Bay Packers gear up for the season! The point is, variety is the spice of Twitter, and this week I featured a spicy variety of holiday related items. Care to join me for a few more?

At Supergranny's, you can find this New Box of 18 Christmas Cards Santa in Pool Reindeer on Golf Course. So cute, and priced at only $1.50! Very reasonable shipping costs make this a real bargain! (And she's one of my favorite sellers!)

This beautiful set is from NightWings! A never used set of Lenox Winter Greetings Everday 16 Piece Set Dinnerware NIB Plates/Salad plates/Bowls/Mugs, valued at $300! Can be yours for only $160, plus shipping and handling.

This is a JIM SHORE SANTA-NORTH STAR EXPRESS CHRISTMAS TRAIN #4011073, offered at auction by Linman. Bidding starts at an incredibly low price of $59.99!

Boy, is he cute! This FITZ AND FLOYD CHRISTMAS CANDY JAR is available at the store of PWittsStuff, for only $24.99. And guess what? Free shipping! What a deal!

And this lovely Bing and Grondahl Denmark 1980 Christmas in the Woods Bell can be found in Spock100's store. This seller has over 200 holiday items listed in their very well stocked store. I feature this store on Twitter quite a bit - love their merchandise!







Have I tempted you enough? Go to OnlineAuction.com and type the word Christmas into the search bar. As of this writing, there are 1660 Classic and Fixed Price listings for your browsing pleasure! And while you're there, don't forget to stop by and check out the holiday items at Fleapirates Plunder, too!

Lessons and Links from the eCommerce Summit

The eCommerce Merchants Trade Association Summit in Las Vegas last week was jam packed with offers, ideas, inspiration, and tools to help online merchants energize and advance their current business strategies. I was fortunate enough to attend, thanks to the sponsorship of OnlineAuction.com! This post brings to you lessons and links from the eCommerce Summit... I know you'll find something that will add to your success.

Paul Greenberg, of DealsDirect, was the first speaker, and his message really set the tone for the entire convention. Being a small business never felt so big! With social networking dominating so much of the eCommerce world today, opportunities for the small business abound. Your mission? Connect with your customers, and in connecting, build solid relationships... which in turn, lead to trust. Paul stressed the importance of focusing upon innovation and speed, as well as using as many channels as possible, whether those channels be multiple venues or added social networks.

Today, let's talk about some of the tools that are available to simplify social networking. I wrote down links to many of these tools from a number of guest speakers, but in all honesty, John Lawson, ColderIce, was the most informative speaker on social media. I recommend that you watch his entire presentation online. What follows are some of the tools that I've already had the chance to research and/or implement.

TWILERT:
This is an alert notification tool, similar to Google Alerts, that allows you to monitor search terms and keywords across Twitter. It is free and easily customized. Results are emailed to you.

WIBIYA:
Got a blog? A personal website? Wibiya is a toolbar that you may install on your blog or your website. (It works on all the popular platforms.) This multi-function toolbar allows your reader to:

• search your blog or website
• translate to other languages
• see and sort recent posts
• see videos on your YouTube Channel
• view real time stats about your page
• connect, recommend and "like" on Facebook
• connect on Twitter
• join a live chat
• and more!

SHARE THIS:
At OnlineAuction.com, we already have this feature. The button is also standard on my Blogger posts. However, you can place this tool on your browser, or in your personal website, for quick sharing of favorite places to a large variety of social networks.

SURVEY MONKEY:
This site does exactly what you'd expect... it creates surveys for you! What a great way to find out what your customers think and what your customers want. I've used surveys before, (at PollCode.com), but what I really like at Survey Monkey is the analytics! And you can easily share these surveys across all your networks.

HOOT SUITE:
This one's my favorite! This application allows you to merge all your social networks onto one page, for simplified interaction. For example, I have personal accounts at Twitter and Facebook, as well as a Facebook Fan Page, so my HootSuite shows me recent activity on all three accounts at one glance! Not to mention, there is a little HOOTLET that you can drag and drop to your browser, which allows you to post favorites to any or all your networks with one click. So easy! Go check this one out.

FACEBOOK:
I put Facebook on this post because I want to share two links with you... you're on Facebook, right? ;)
Start a Fan Page for your business.
Check out the Facebook Widgets page and make some badges to place in your blog, your website and in forum profiles outside of Facebook!

RAPPORTIVE:
Rapportive is a simple, free, plug-in application that gives G-Mail Customer Relationship Management capabilities. What is this? It allows you to see information about the people who email you in G-Mail. It also allows you to make personal notes about the sender, for future referencing.

TUBEMOGUL:
I haven't signed up for this one yet, but I am going to. Basically, TubeMogul is video distribution and tracking. This application allows you to upload and share videos simultaneously across multiple networks. It gives you analytics, too. Certainly worth investigating, and I will try this for Fleapirates' next video!

In his closing speech, ECTMA Director, Brandon Dupsky asked attendees to write down 2 goals that we wanted to implement over the course of the next 3-6 months. Mine? I'd like to bump up my social media skills, by putting to use these tools and being more proactive in social networks, and learn techniques to improve my use of video for advertising. What goals do YOU have?

Remember, perspective is everything.
Your definition of success is based upon your perspective...
the definition of a good, reputable business depends upon your customer's perspective.

The Five W's of Blogging

 I was both honored and energized to be invited to be a speaker on the OLA-Radio Show last night! The night's topic of discussion was blogging, (one of my favorite things), and we talked at great length about how to start a blog, how to maintain a blog, and why blogging is important for your online business. The show is archived, so anyone can access and hear the show in it's entirety.

Our radio host last night was MetzyMom, and besides me, the show featured two guest speakers. StubsInc is the coordinator of the OLA Team Blog. A long time blogger, StubsInc also shares her knowledge of blogging with all OLA members via omail, the chat forum, and regular Webinars. GalleriaGifts is a valued OLA friend. As an eBay PowerSeller; Education Specialist, Podcaster, and eCommerce Coach, her words of wisdom are always highly respected and appreciated. Are any of you tweeting? You can find and follow any one of us on Twitter!

This article is targeted towards OnlineAuction.com members who are current bloggers, or are thinking of becoming bloggers. Actually, these tips will benefit all bloggers selling merchandise at any online venue! It is a summary of what we discussed last night on the radio show. I call it The Five W's of Blogging, and I hope it will motivate you to start and maintain a blog of your own! If you're the least bit hesitant, joining the OLA Team Blog will give you the practice you need to become a confidant blogger, the ease of membership in an already successful blog setup and the support of a growing, eager team. Who could ask for more?

The Five W's of Blogging

WHO? You, of course! It really doesn't matter where you sell, in today's online marketplace social networking is an essential part of any solid business plan.

WHAT? Write about what interests you! To get you started, here are a few ideas...

• Your products or niche market
• Your store or any sales you are advertising
• Any events you are participating in
• Humor... look at Supergranny's blog and you'll see what I mean!
• Knowledge... check out Kidatheart10's blog posts on the OLA Team Blog for a great example of sharing knowledge. Remember, if you can teach your readers something, you provide a value to them, and they'll return for more good reading!

WHERE? Well, obviously, I like Blogspot. It is a Google product and very simple to use. Also accessed by the name Blogger, this blog can be created by signing into your Google account. Another popular place to create a blog is WordPress. Both programs have easy to follow instructions which will lead you through all the steps necessary to create and maintain a blog.

WHEN? Search Engine Spiders, (bots), thrive on relevant changing content, so the more active you are, the better. My advice? Write as often as your schedule allows. I try to post once or twice a week on the OLA Team Blog and once per week on my personal blog... more if I have time. And not to be cold-hearted, but if you reside on my blog roll and have not made a post to your blog within 30 days, I am liable to delete your blog from my list! Staying current is as important to your SEO as it is to hold any loyal readers that you may acquire.

WHY? Because of their relevant changing content, blogs are often given greater ranking than standard webpages. Today's online reader looks for blogs as a source of information! Want incentive? The OLA Team Blog received over 2500 hits in the month of July! And the backlinks that are created show popularity to the receiving webpage. This means that every time we link to OLA, OLA gets another popularity vote, and their ranking is increased. This is the same for your store and your product! (There I am with the building blocks theory again!) I've posted this article from Wikipedia about backlinks before, but please take the time to read it... you won't regret it.

HOW? Ok, so it is not a "W"! Read on anyway...
Create a blog. The process should take about 15-20 minutes to set a basic blog template. Important features to consider when creating your blog are:

• Title - keep it relevant to what you will write about, whether it is your store, your product or your life.
• Description - again, keep it relevant, and use keywords to describe the content to be found on your blog.
• Comments - you may choose to allow comments from anyone, or moderate your comments, (which means you'll get an email asking you to allow or block any comment before it is visible on the blog).
• Adult Content - you'll need to add this warning message to any blog that may contain foul language or inappropriate content... and we sure hope that all OLA blogs refrain from including any adult content!
• Date / Time Display - speaks for itself. You can set it to your preference.
• Template - Blogspot offers you a wide variety of attractive templates - choose one!
  
• Color/Font - in Blogspot you can also change the font and color of your background page template.
• Page Elements - Blogspot offers you an area to add gadgets to the sidebar of your blog. Right away you'll want to personalize your About Me page, add other blogs to your Blog List, and offer readers the opportunity to Subscribe To your blog. Other gadgets, like Twitter feeds, widgets and hit counters may be added using the HTML box. You can add gadgets and modify your settings at any time. To start, just get the basics done!
  

Once you've created a blog, start writing! In my experience, your confidence and your skills will grow with each post. And be sure to read other blogs, join in any webinars that you can, and soak up all the information that you can... all this will assist you in becoming a successful blogger! In addition, I have a few tips below:

• Always include a link to you. (Your store, your product, your website, etc.) If you don't know how, we hold webinars to talk about quality linking... try to attend one, or ask for a private session with one of our Team Members. Your link should contain words that are relevant to the webpage that you are linking to, so that you maximize your potential for search engine exposure.
• If you choose to include a picture, be sure that the title of your picture is relevant to the picture. For example, when uploading pics from your camera to your hard drive, do you let the computer numerically title them, (ie; Pic202, Pic 203, Pic204, etc), or do you title them yourself, according to what they represent? (ie; Babe Ruth Rookie Card, Fenton Colonial Blue Vase, Sapphire and Diamond Pendant, etc.) Titling allows the search engines to further index your blog post by including the picture titles as keywords, as well as the keywords in your blog title and post. Incidentally, last night GalleriaGifts mentioned the use of Flickr for image hosting, citing Flickr's new capacity for using keywords in titling images, which leads to increased SEO. I've not yet investigated this, but surely will! Care to join me?
• Copy and Paste is your friend. The exact copy of your auction listing title, first paragraph, (or section), of your description, and the use of additional keywords will increase the popularity of those phrases in search engine exposure. It's fast and easy, too! Gotta love that!
• Use 72 characters max for titles. This includes auction titles and blog titles. Keyword rich.
• Keep your topic focused. Writing about multiple topics only confuses spiders, and they are likely to find that your blog post is not relevant, thereby reducing your standing and importance in the indexing. (They are computers, remember!)
  
• Ask questions! As I mentioned above, MetzyMom, StubsInc and I are always ready to offer advice, instruction and support. You can also count on help from Aesthetics48 and Sunflowerranch. Don't hesitate to contact any of us - we want you to succeed!
  
Please stop by and browse the treasures in my OLA store, Fleapirates Plunder

Interviewing Buyers and Sellers, Part 3

In Parts 1 and 2 of Interviewing Buyers and Sellers, I spoke primarily to online sellers, asking thought provoking questions such as, On how many venues do you offer product? and What's your favorite venue?

Hopefully, this started you thinking about your own options! Soon we'll discuss things like SEO and social networking, but first let's look at the results of my last poll regarding favorite venues.

I must admit that I expected OnlineAuction.com to rank high, as I am already a member there and pray that I have a following of readers from that venue. I was not disappointed, as OLA took 3 votes! Seller's Arena followed with 2 votes, and the three venues which had single votes were Atomic Mall, eBay and "My Own Website". Thank you all for participating!

Surprisingly, there were no votes for Bonanzle! I sure hope that means that their sellers were too busy packaging product for shipping! One thing I have learned about Bonanzle, that I really like, (and commend them for), is that they have a button to tweet your items, (on Twitter), while you are listing them. BuyItSellIt offers this also, and I think we'll see more and more venues adding this feature, don't you?

As for me, I've already made arrangements to have a new mall store at Seller's Arena. As soon as their testing is complete, and stores are available, Fleapirates Plunder will be expanding. It's rather exciting, and I am looking forward to managing 2 venues!

For this week's poll, I'd like to address the buyers! Your answers to my poll will lead us into our next discussion about SEO strategies. I am curious as to how everyone searches for products. Let's say you want to purchase a gift, and you know exactly what you want. For the example we will use an iPhone... that's a popular buy. (Not in MY field, but it should work for this purpose!) Where do you look first?

Where do you search the internet for specific items?

GoogleAlternative Search EngineThe Manufacturer's WebsiteBig Box StoreseBayCheck my favorite venue firstAn online service, like PriceGrabber

pollcode.com free polls

Thanks again, my readers! I hope you all had a safe, relaxing and enjoyable Memorial Day!
Look for me on Twitter, under the username fleapirates!

Friendship in the Online Marketplace

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.
~ Woodrow Wilson

Today's OLA Tuesday Tidbit is about Friendship in the Online Marketplace. Why should you get to know your fellow sellers & buyers? Because, often times, these are the very people who can provide you with advice, knowledge, support, motivation, inspiration, challenges, & friendship.

Social networking is a hot topic right now. How many venues or forums are you a part of? Aside from OLA, I am a member at Twitter, Seller's Arena & Online Sellers United. By far, OLA is my favorite, as I've been there the longest, & had the chance to more fully develop acquaintances there. (How did I ever manage at eBay for 9 years without social networking???) These relationships are all a work in progress, however, as new forum members are joining every day, & seasoned members are socializing more, providing opportunities to meet people I never would have met without my internet connection.

Some would argue the other side of the coin... that you're here to do business, not to make friends with potential competitors. I disagree! There's enough online pie for everyone to have a slice, & by sharing our experiences, we can all learn from each other & grow both personally & professionally. And I'll tell you, I like having friends all across the country!

One day, I'm going to wiggle my toes in Florida sand with CaptDonna. And if I ever am fortunate enough to visit Washington State, I want to see Curiocache & her mini horses. On the way, I just might stop by Oregon & surprise Ragmop! Or swing south and knock on Supergranny's door. The possibilities are endless! (And if I didn't mention you, please don't feel slighted... you're on my list, too!) Oh, did you know that I almost got the chance to meet Draggontagger? A longtime friend had a car breakdown about 30 minutes from DT. She was so helpful, telling us all about the local amenities & offering assistance if we needed it. I was sorry that I didn't end up driving to rescue my friend in Iowa, & sorrier still that I missed having coffee with one of my online buddies!

I've been talking lately with another couple of friends about gardens. Aesthetics48 has a lovely garden, & posts photos and tips in her blog. Sunflowerranch has also become one of my favorite bloggers, with her story-like posts. (It's no wonder that she's a book seller!) Do yourself a favor & get to know both of these ladies. They're OLA veterans, who are always ready to help with technical issues, trading advice & everyday chit-chat.

Stay social! And get to know your fellow members. You never know when you'll need 'em! (Or they may need you.)

In our garden talks, I was begging for advice on how to keep critters out of my garden. Aesthetics hit it right on the head with her reply, "I just try to plant enough so they will share with me". So with her good advice & without further adieu, here are photos of my newest garden friends...LOL!

The Eye Candy

Morning Dove

&

Cardinal

The Bandit

(Look, he's even smiling!)

The Flying Squirrel

Our evening
entertainer!

The Exterminator

I know, it's not the best picture... this hawk is elusive!

And the trouble-makers...

And the Stinkers, (the skunks), I am not hanging around long enough to get a photo! LOL!

So make a new friend today, & be sure to stop by

FLEAPIRATES PLUNDER to browse for all your vintage collectibles!

What You See Is What You Get!

Hello everyone! Today's OLA Tuesday Tidbit explores the world of WYSIWYG Editors, & the need for OLA members to learn how to use them. Many members enjoy making auction templates, store backgrounds & chat signatures with colorful graphics, unique images & distinctive font styles. This creativity is more easily achieved with the assistance of an outside WYSIWYG editor.

WYSIWYG is an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed during editing appears very similar to the final output, which might be a printed document, web page, slide presentation or even the lighting for a theatrical event.

The phrase was originally a catch phrase popularized by Flip Wilson's drag persona "Geraldine" (from Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In in the late 60s and then on The Flip Wilson Show until 1974), who would often say "What you see is what you get" to excuse her quirky behavior.

(I loved that show! Didn't you?)

For the past year, I've been touting the editor at Creating Online. It is simple to use, and fulfills all my needs in making auction templates, etc. However, Creating Online has one drawback... it does not operate well within Mozilla Firefox browsers. Like many users, I have gotten away from using Internet Explorer, preferring the security & ease of Firefox. What to do???

After getting frustrated with searching editors online, I contacted my buddy Rowen, at OnlineAuction.com. He actually gave me links to 4 different editors, and after doing some research, I have found one that I really like! It is from Trellian WebPage, it's a download, & it has capabilities to help someone publish a web page. So many new gadgets to investigate! What I needed, (the editor), was easy to locate and use, & I am looking forward to learning the rest of their tools. Check them out!

While I was surfing the net today, I also ran across an interesting blog from ProBlogger, Darren Rowse. He surveyed online users about what would they prefer - to have more blog readers or more Twitter followers. Twitter may be new, but people are flocking to it by the thousands, & while it did not get many of the votes in his poll, many people would be interested to see if the results would change in a year from now. I am following Darren on Twitter now, because he's a social media participant & a full time blogger, & I think he will have many, many informative posts. I hope you'll all take a moment to check out his blog! And do tell... how would you have voted?

FLEAPIRATES TUESDAY TREASURE:

Artesania Rinconada # 38 Rabbit Figurine. This treasure is now retired. Excellent condition, with no chips cracks or breaks. Artist signature is on the bottom. Measures 2 inches tall x 3 1/4 inches wide. Weighs 6 1/2 ounces. Hand-carved & detailed in fine grain earthenware ceramic material.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Artesania Rinconada was founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, by twin brothers, Jesus & Javier Carbajales. Born in Spain, the twins moved to Uruguay in 1936, when the Spanish Civil War erupted, but never forgot their spanish roots. Focusing upon nature, they released the Classic Collection in 1972. Over the years, other collections have been added, such as, The Silver Anniversary Collection, Rincababies, the Emerald Collection, and the DeRosa Box & Dolls Collections. Highly collectible, these figurines are still widely popular in stores today. Many of the older pieces are now retired and difficult to find.

Click HERE to see the details of this auction!

Click HERE to browse other collectibles in my OLA House!

Self Promotion for Small Sellers

Do you sell product online?
Your own website or a community venue?

If so, then I am guessing self promotion
is high on your list of "things to do"!

It doesn't matter where you sell...
the more effort you put into self promotion,
the better your chances are of being seen & getting sales.

So what do you do?

There are many opportunities to self promote!

I will list some of the ones that I have tried,
& I hope you'll join in by adding some that I didn't mention!
Or give me your thoughts on the ones talked about!

http://www.pingomatic.com/
I hope that because you're reading MY blog,
you already know how invaluable blogs are!
Search engine spiders love the updated content,
& tend to keep relevant content situated
at the top of their search engine results.
BUT... did you know you could "PING" your blog?
I didn't even know what that was!
Simply put, you can let the search engines
know that you've updated your blog by sending
them a "ping"... a reminder to check you out!
Read more about this at Wikepedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ping_(blogging)
And thank you, Supergranny, for recommending them!

FREE SUBMISSION TO SEARCH ENGINES:
http://www.freewebsubmission.com/
http://www.ineedhits.com/
http://www.addpro.com/

LISTINGS & LINKS OF ONLINE SELLERS:
http://www.everyplaceisell.com/
http://www.sellersarena.com/
http://www.hotfrog.com/

OTHER PLACES TO TRY:
http://www.linkreferral.com/
Link referral is a place I am just learning about!
You place your store url, and participate in their
reviews of other seller's sites, and your rank grows.
http://www.oodle.com/
Oodle is a fantastic, fast growing website,
that allows you to list your individual items for sale,
and link to your store for completion of purchase!
Users are finding their items at
THE TOP of the search engine pages!
User-friendly and easy!
www.twitter.com
Another new venue for me...
basically a social networking site!
Allows you to stay in touch with friends,
family, colleagues, & buyers,
while promoting your items, your store or your blog!

Is anyone a facebook member?
I'd love to hear from you!
In the past, it seemed like facebook was a site
limited to the young.. not anymore!
Tell me how it works for you!

So, OLA members, that's your
Tuesday Tidbit!
Ragmop must be busy...
I didn't get any Words of Wisdom today!
LOL!

But be sure to check back next Tuesday,
because he's rarely out of things to say!
Just teasin' Ragmop... you're the best source of OLA info!

And now..
FLEAPIRATES
TUESDAY TREASURE!

Vintage 3 inch Kewpie Doll with Crocheted Outfit
Only $4.99!
Click the photo to visit the auction!