So, here we are already nearly a whole week in to 2012 and so I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a very happy and successful year ahead!
I hope you’ve recovered by now from New Year’s Eve and are raring to go. My girls’ will be going back to school on Monday and so normal service will resume and I will once again have time to think (until the next school holidays arrive!)
Now, as I mentioned in last weeks eletter, New Year’s Day is always very significant to me because it’s the very day, 7 years ago now, that I decided to make some changes in my life. If I hadn’t made the decision to go for it and start my own eBay business, I wouldn’t be sat here writing this to you now. What I would probably be doing would be still working for someone else, seeing even less of my family and generally plodding from one day to the next in a state of limbo.
But because I took action and made that decision, the last 7 years have been an awakening for me. I have made mistakes along the way of course, but have absolutely no regrets, which is why I urge you to push on with your dreams of a comfortable, flexible lifestyle and make 2012 the year that you embrace change just like I did. Because…I am so glad I did.
So what’s in store in 2012?
Well as far as I’m concerned, eBay will definitely remain the very best and importantly, the easiest place for you to start your own business. Where else can you start a business with very little capital, with low overheads, minimal risk and literally thousands upon thousands of ready made visitors from all over the world? eBay is a ready made starting block from which you can expand your business later on.
And actually that’s an important point here. Expansion. eBay is certainly a venue where you will make fantastic profits but you should also sell your products through other online venues as well, such as Amazon and most importantly, you should think about setting up and promoting your own stand alone niche websites. Why? Well, because multiple income streams equal multiple profits and that’s what we’re all aiming for here!
So talking of expansion, let me kick off the new year with a little piece of information I’d like to share with you regarding the Amazon site. They have recently introduced a new feature that will ultimately help you get your products further out there, get them noticed and get new people looking at them and spreading the word.
How? Well, because now you can share your Amazon product listings with your Facebook friends and also your Twitter followers with just a couple of easy clicks.
I am a great believer in the power of ‘Social Networking’ sites when it comes to product promotion and this is the perfect ‘easy way’ to utilise these sites and get your products seen by more and more people thus creating more sales and of course - more profits!
So here’s how it works. Now, when you create a listing using the ‘Sell Yours Here’ button on an Amazon product detail page, or you create or update a listing using the Manage Inventory tool in your seller account, a pair of Facebook and Twitter icons will appear on your ‘Listing Success’ page in a brand new "Tell your friends about this listing" section.
This is the section you should pay attention to and then it’s really simple. To share your listing on Facebook, simply click the Facebook icon. A pop-up window will appear asking you to log in to your Facebook account. So go ahead and do that. Once you have logged in, a description of your listing will appear. If you would like to, you can add a note to your post then when you're ready, click the ‘Share Link’ button, and the post will appear on your Facebook wall! Hey presto, all your friends will be able to see your products giving you an instant opportunity for your items to be spread through word of mouth via your friends!
It’s a very similar process for Twitter. To share your Amazon listings simply click the Twitter icon. A popup window will appear asking you to sign in to your Twitter account. When you sign in, you’ll see a pre-prepared tweet about your listing - don’t worry, you can edit this if you want to. Finally, you click the ‘Tweet’ button to publish your tweet to Twitter as you would normally.
Remember that each ‘tweet’ is like a mini blog post and will not only appear to all your followers immediately, but will also get picked up by Google and appear in Google searches – what an opportunity to reach loads of new buyers!
Don’t worry if you haven’t got a Facebook or Twitter account yet – they are both simple to set up. Just visit http://www.twitter.com and http://www.facebook.com to register.
Slowly, slowly catchy monkey!
So, by building up your eBay inventory, expanding your sales reach via other channels such as Amazon and as I’ve explained above, by using social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook your online sales get the chance to steadily increase
But of course I’m not suggesting you go full steam ahead and try and do everything at once. I realise that you might feel overwhelmed with the list of things you need to do to forge ahead and make a real success of your business and as I write this I totally understand that you might be wondering exactly how you can do all these things and finally achieve your goals, but as I have always promised, I am here to help you on your journey throughout 2012 and beyond so that you’ll find things easier to manage.
I want to ensure that you know exactly how to get the best out of your online business because as I have often said, I genuinely want you to succeed.
Remember, I have been in the very position you might be in right now so I know what it’s like – the frustrations, the excitement, the mistakes and the sheer joy when you get something absolutely right and the orders come flying in.
I am constantly researching new strategies, techniques and suppliers – and as you’ll know by now, I don’t keep useful information to myself for too long!
During 2012 I will carry on telling it like it is and helping you with your online venture and I’ll also continue to show you how to expand your business and make even more profit using other venues and ventures too. There are exciting times ahead and I sincerely hope that you will be by my side this year so that you can be part of everything that’s to come…
As always, I wish you the best of success,
Amanda
