Could there be a new way of hearing the stories we

Could there be a new way of hearing the stories we feel are relevant in our lives?

by: Jesse S. Somer

If you’re anything like me you are really getting tired of the mainstream media’s onevoicetomany analysis of life on Earth. First of all, it’s just too negative! I read a survey recently that stated that fourteen out of fifteen newspaper and TV News stories had negative fearbased stories. I don’t know about you, but if I look at my everyday life, the amount of good and bad I experience seems to be much more balanced. Why does the ‘big’ media think we all love hearing the dark side of things so much?

If you look at what news stories truly are in historical terms, it is a person sitting around the tribal campfire at night telling a tale to inform the people both in wisdom and knowledge. In any tribe there were many storytellers, so different perspectives were always available to the masses. Well, if you think today’s media sources are too monopolized in their power of authority over the stories we are told, there’s a new option for humanity. The answers and views we are seeking in our daily lives could lie in the Internet. This Internet thing really could be the key for humanity to evolving into a species that thinks independently, leaving this age of fear behind.

It’s time to bypass the main media sources. On the Web we can access nonprofit news organizations, we can hear personal views of individuals in news forums and blogs, we can even express our own views on world issues as well as sharing our own personal experiences! With this newly accepted technology called RSS Readers we can start to get the type of information that we feel is most relevant to ourselves as individuals. It comes straight to us and then we can sort through it and decide which people and sources we want to hear from on a regular basis. This is awesome as it means we don’t have to search through a bunch of stories that have little interest to us. It also means if we want to hear more positivism, we can push the negative views out of our perceptions.

Although this idea is in its infancy, the repercussions once realized could have a mammoth impact on how individual humans see and live their lives on Earth. Imagine a society that stretches across the globe where a collective consciousness speaks to itself in an informative manytomany communicative process. There are a lot of happy, positive, intelligent people in this world who are interested in similar things to you. Wouldn’t you like to hear their stories and share their knowledge as a way of constructing your view of reality?

Let’s leave behind this era of negative perspectives and singular authorities telling us how life on Earth should be viewed. It is interesting that some of the most overwealthy, greedy individuals media moguls who tell us what is important. Don’t you want to have a say in how you look at your life while you are here? Positivism and wisdom surrounds us at all times. Would the Universe exist otherwise? Lets reconnect with that source of energy that makes us smile so many times each day. If life were meant to have so bleak an outlook, would there even be stars in the sky?

About The Author

Jesse S. Somer

M6.Net

http://www.m6.net

Jesse S. Somer is a writer thinking about how all this new technology could one day be utilized by the masses of technologically challenged people like him. If it could be incorporated into everyday life in a positive way, life itself could evolve to a higher plane. Please visit www.thepowerofeverythingthatis.com to see Jesse’s personal blog.

This article was posted on September 03, 2004

by Jesse S. Somer

Electrify Your Marketing Using Positive Energy

Electrify Your Marketing Using Positive Energy

by: Hirini Reedy

Many internet entrepreneurs need to often stop and reflect on their results. A bit like an engineer checking your energy circuits. Finding where the most flow and resistance occurs. Replenishing your batteries so that you have more energy to input into your internet marketing. So take some time now to rest and ask the question, กwhat is my energy level right now?ก If your eyes, neck and brain ache then it is time to replenish your batteries. Get up, walk and stretch your body. Yet what if you are feeling disillusioned? Spending long hours on the internet but still lacking results. You write great salescopy but still no sales. You need to look at the energy vibrations you are subconsciously sending out.

Here are some ways to input more energy into your internet marketing efforts.

1. Get Rid Of The Mosquito Mind

The mosquito mind is the annoying negative mindset that we all have. It whines and bites when we are uncertain, scared and frustrated. Being bitten once by a mosquito is OK. Same with a negative thought. Yet being bitten all night by a mosquito makes you grumpy and tired. Same with continual negative thinking. It drains you and makes you grumpy. So it is time to swat that annoying mosquito and rub on repellent. So when you feel a negative thought start to bite, just give your forehead a good slap. It will help get rid of the whining negative thought.

2. Reverse The Energy Polarity.

We can transform negative actions by reversing their polarity. Find their positive equivalents. Everything in nature has a negative and positive polarity that creates both balance and flow. Find the positive equivalents in your life negatives. Here is an example based around two work negatives relating to a struggling internet entrepreneur.

Negative1:

My desk is a mess and I cannot find important documents. I stress out.

Positive Reversal

My work space is organised with a good filing system that I enjoy using.

Negative2:

Worried about paying bills, always struggling to keep ahead.

Positive Reversal.

My bills are easily paid on time. I enjoy peace of mind.

By adding these positives together, we start to create a positive energy flow around workspace and money. For example, Positive1 + Positive2 = กa organised workspace with a good filing system I enjoy using. My bills are easily paid on time. I enjoy peace of mindก. This looks more exciting then focusing on the negative equivalents. This positive statement forms part of your new desired outcome. It adds voltage to your energy levels.

3. Programme Your Subconscious With Positive Outcomes.

Get very clear on your desired outcome first. Describe it. Picture it. Fill in the details. Then instruct your subconscious mind to find ways to manifest this desired outcome. For example: กMy desired outcome is to have an organised workspace with a good filing system I enjoy. My bills are easily paid on time and I enjoy peace of mind. Subconscious mind, find me ways to fulfil this desire. Thank youก. Then just carry on with the rest of your day. Your mind will start to work behind the scenes to fulfil your order.

So start making a list of all your negatives. Find their positive equivalents. Then start to create business changes based around these positives. Become the change you desire.

Copyright 2005 Hirini Reedy

About The Author

Hirini Reedy is a native author, civil engineer, retired military officer, martial arts black belt, NLP master practitioner and internet entrepreneur. He uses native wisdom combined with modern psychology to create SIMPLE solutions. Visit http://www.maorisecrets.com.

This article was posted on March 19

by Hirini Reedy

Who Are You Mixing It With?

Who Are You Mixing It With?

by: Julie Plenty

I talk and write a lot about Life Design – creating and sculpting a life that is fulfilling for you. It is about shaping your personal landscape and environment.

Part of that environment involves being conscious of who you mix with and their effect on you. Beware of mixing with people who are consistently negative and critical, not only of themselves, but of others and their ideas.

It’s okay to vent and get things off your chest occasionally, but the Value Vampires have turned this into a fine art! They planted seeds of doubt in your mind and then you started to water them! Don’t tell them your hopes, aims, ambitions or goals too early, before they’ve had time to develop; they could kill it in infancy!

The Value Vampires are constantly whining and holding pity parties with anyone who is not aware enough to decline the invitation! They put you and your ideas down and typically ask questions like: ขwhy do you want to do that for?ข (which is really a negative judgement in disguise). Understand that when they do they often have a hidden, often unconscious agenda or a low opinion of themselves and their abilities.

Value Vampires drain you – a night out with them leaves you with a nasty taste in your mouth and normally feeling much worse about things. As you begin to make changes in your life, then you’ll probably find yourself attracted to different kinds of people and will not want to conduct your relationships, friendships with them anymore – and they’ll either change or leave your life.

How can you start to change this?

(i) Focus on building a positive support network – rather than seeking to avoid the Value Vampires. You’ll start from a more productive mindset and begin to think about who you want to be with and why.

(ii) You are what you attract. If you’re constantly surrounded by and mixing with those who have a consistently negative approach to life, then it’s very easy to discover who the biggest Value Vampire is – look in the mirror!

Develop a more positive and proactive approach within yourself and you’ll find that you are cultivating more positive and attractive relationships.

Copyright 2004 Julie Plenty

About The Author

Julie Plenty is a Personal and Business Coach who specialises in coaching self employed creative professionals to live more creative, fulfilled lives. To sign up for the Life Design newsletter visit: http://www.selfhelppersonaldevelopment.com

This article was posted on February 25, 2004

by Julie Plenty

Turn your dreams into reality: How to market your

Turn your dreams into reality: How to market your intellectual property to the global market

by: Neil Armand

Turn your dreams into reality: How to market your intellectual property to the global market

Whether you have tried to market your invention, art, craft, book or other talent in the past and failed or whether you have never tried beyond nurturing your ideas in your mind, please remember thisif you deeply believe in your talent, and if you have a vision of greatness for your ideas, one day you will be able to turn your dreams into reality.

Remember Carl Carlsonกs 17year efforts to make his copy machine (Xerox) a reality and Thomas Edisonกs 10,000 experiments to invent the light bulb. The powerful lesson from many great inventors and entrepreneurs in human history isNever Give Up! Even if everybody around you keeps telling you to give up, you should remember that negative people and negative reinforcements are only barriers to transforming your dreams into reality.

Many famous inventors, entrepreneurs and authors refused to give up regardless of how many people laughed at them or how many times they failed. They knew that one can never be sure of how long it will take to succeed. And so, they never gave up. All the negative people and negative reinforcements could not destroy their spirit of endurance, perseverance and resilience. They remembered the famous quote กMost people succeeded just one step beyond their greatest failure.ก

They kept on trying and did not allow the rejections and negative reinforcements to kill their hopes and dreams. They took every obstacle as a challenge to overcome. They deeply believed that one day, the right opportunities will present themselves and will open the doors to their hopes and dreams. In the end, their confidence, perseverance and hard work helped them turn their dreams into reality.

The intellectual property transfer market is now estimated to be worth over $100 billion. Today, the Internet provides a wide range of tools and resources to the innovators. A number of online forums, including Minnesotabased NewIdeaTrade.com (http://www.newideatrade.com ), Californiabased Plx.com (http://www.plx.com ), and Connecticutbased PatentTriage.com (http://www.patenttriage.com ) links buyers and sellers of intellectual property. The traditional transfer of intellectual property is complicated, costly, and can take up to one year. However, these online forums simplify and speed up the process for transfer of intellectual property.

Additional information on how to market intellectual property is available at http://www.newideatrade.com

About The Author

Neil Armand

Intellectual Property Professional

Global Commerce & Communication, Inc.

http://www.gcchq.com

This article was posted on October 13, 2004

by Neil Armand

Could there be a new way of hearing the news stori

Could there be a new way of hearing the news stories we feel are relevant in our lives?

by: Jesse S. Somer

Mainstream media has become a singleminded authority on how we should perceive life. Theirs is a negative perspective. Could there be a new way of hearing the stories we feel are relevant in our lives?

If you’re anything like me you are really getting tired of the mainstream media’s onevoicetomany analysis of life on Earth. First of all, it’s just too negative! I read a survey recently that stated that fourteen out of fifteen newspaper and TV News stories had negative fearbased stories. I don’t know about you, but if I look at my everyday life, the amount of good and bad I experience seems to be much more balanced. Why does the ‘big’ media think we all love hearing the dark side of things so much?

If you look at what news stories truly are in historical terms, it is a person sitting around the tribal campfire at night telling a tale to inform the people both in wisdom and knowledge. In any tribe there were many storytellers, so different perspectives were always available to the masses. Well, if you think today’s media sources are too monopolized in their power of authority over the stories we are told, there’s a new option for humanity. The answers and views we are seeking in our daily lives could lie in the Internet. This Internet thing really could be the key for humanity to evolving into a species that thinks independently, leaving this age of fear behind.

It’s time to bypass the main media sources. On the Web we can access nonprofit news organizations, we can hear personal views of individuals in news forums and blogs, we can even express our own views on world issues as well as sharing our own personal experiences! With this newly accepted technology called RSS Readers we can start to get the type of information that we feel is most relevant to ourselves as individuals. It comes straight to us and then we can sort through it and decide which people and sources we want to hear from on a regular basis. This is awesome as it means we don’t have to search through a bunch of stories that have little interest to us. It also means if we want to hear more positivism, we can push the negative views out of our perceptions.

Although this idea is in its infancy, the repercussions once realized could have a mammoth impact on how individual humans see and live their lives on Earth. Imagine a society that stretches across the globe where a collective consciousness speaks to itself in an informative manytomany communicative process. There are a lot of happy, positive, intelligent people in this world who are interested in similar things to you. Wouldn’t you like to hear their stories and share their knowledge as a way of constructing your view of reality?

Let’s leave behind this era of negative perspectives and singular authorities telling us how life on Earth should be viewed. It is interesting that some of the most overwealthy, greedy individuals media moguls who tell us what is important. Don’t you want to have a say in how you look at your life while you are here? Positivism and wisdom surrounds us at all times. Would the Universe exist otherwise? Lets reconnect with that source of energy that makes us smile so many times each day. If life were meant to have so bleak an outlook, would there even be stars in the sky?

About The Author

Jesse S. Somer

M6.Net

http://www.m6.net

Jesse S. Somer is a writer thinking about how all this new technology could one day be utilized by the masses of technologically challenged people like him. If it could be incorporated into everyday life in a positive way, life itself could evolve to a higher plane.

This article was posted on September 05, 2004

by Jesse S. Somer

The 7 BestKept Secrets to Ultimately Achieve Succ

The 7 BestKept Secrets to Ultimately Achieve Success In Your Life And Your Home Business

by: Ryan Terry

As you read every word in this article, you will ultimately discover 7 powerful secrets that will effectively make you more productive, and help speed up the overall success of your home business.
These secrets must be applied on a daily basis to ensure your long term success.
Let’s get started:
1. Discover Your Self Worth
ขSuccess is created with a positive routineข Carlos Garcia
Free yourself from the negativities in the world and focus on your inner peace. First and foremost you must start taking care of yourself, before you can effectively help inspire those around you.
The trick is to *always* remain positive at all times, no matter how negative things seem to get.
In order to properly jump start your day, simply sit alone in silent meditation at least twice a day for approximately 15 minutes in the morning, and 15 minutes in the evening. This process alone will help you accomplish the positive state of mind that you want to be in.
Since you only have control over yourself and the actions you make, *avoid judging* events and situations as they occur throughout the day, because being judgmental can seriously lead you into a devastating pattern that will affect your attitude for success.
Accept each and every situation as it occurs, and know that everything in your life happens for a reason, and everything is as it should be.
Notice how judgmental people are *always* concerned with the opinions of others. They shift their focus, and energy towards everybody else and eventually lose focus of themselves. Their mind then becomes clouded and cluttered with negative energy that they really don’t need.
Wouldn’t you rather enjoy life?
2. Give And You Shall Receive
You may have heard me say ขHelp people get what they want and they will Help you get what you wantข
When ever you meet someone new, provide them with a gift or a compliment. This gift may be a free report, a free eBook, an article, or silently wish them the best of luck in their life. Give something to everyone you come into contact with, and this in turn will dramatically increase your chances of making new friendships, partnerships, which will lead you to create a tremendous amount of joy, riches and prosperity in your life and in the lives of others.
Welcome and appreciate all the gifts that your home business will offer you. Be open to receiving from others, as it will potentially lead you in the direction you want to go.
Learn to effectively keep wealth circulating in your life, by giving and receiving from the specialized group of people you work with. Always remind yourself of the spectacular things people have done for you, and exercise a positive routine to help encourage them to do the best they can with their lives.
3. Self Awareness
It is crucially important for you to become aware of the consequences of each choice you make, whether it is positive or negative. Realizing those choices will bring you closer to your conscious awareness, and prepare you for a better tomorrow.
When ever you think about making a choice, here are 2 important questions to ask:
ขWhat are the consequences of this choice?ข and
ขWill this choice bring fulfillment and happiness to me, and to those who are affected by this choice?ข
If the choice you’re making feels comfortable, than move forward with a positive attitude and ขJust Do Itข, like Nike says. However, if the choice feels uncomfortable, pause for a moment, and try to envision the consequences of your actions.
This guidance alone will dramatically help you improve the choices you make for your home business, and in your personal life.
4. Keep An Open Mind
Learn to effectively accept people, situations, circumstances, and events as they occur. Appreciate and understand that each moment is as it should be. When you struggle against any given moment, the situation will ultimately become too complicated for you to handle.
Accept everything as it is, not as you wish it was.
Why?
When you accept things as they are, you become responsible for your situation and for any events you see as problems. Taking responsibility means not blaming anyone or anything for your situation. Look at every problem, or obstacle you encounter, with an open mind and grasp this opportunity to make positive changes in your life.
Accept ALL these negative events as opportunities in disguise, and transform them into a greater benefit for your future success. Be open minded with the opinion of others and remind yourself to *first* give others what they want, before you can achieve what you want.
5. Know Your Desires
Write a list of all your desires and take this list wherever you go. Make a mental note of this list before you go into bed and when you get up in the morning.
Always keep a positive attitude by believing that everything contained in your list of desires will be accomplished. Especially when things don’t seem to go your way,
Remind yourself to be aware of all your actions. Do not let any minor obstacles consume and affect the quality of your intentions. A positive attitude will keep you moving forward, leading you in the direction you want to go.
6. Let Things Go
Welcome any circumstances to come into your life with open arms, whether it is in your best interest *or not*. Do not try to justify the negative problems with solutions by imposing idea’s of how things should be, because you will only create bigger problems for yourself.
Learn to let the little things go, so you can focus your full potential and energy on your home business, and the positives in your life.
When you accept uncertainty, solutions will spontaneously emerge out of the problem, confusion, and chaos. Don’t allow yourself to fear the unknown. Instead, let things be for the moment, and you will soon find your path to security and happiness because uncertainty is your path to freedom.
With this amazing knowledge of uncertainty, you will find the security that will let you take complete control of your life and your home business.
You will soon discover all the opportunities, and excitement that can occur when you remain open to the possibilities of choices within yourself.
7. Take Action With Your Purpose In Life
Promise yourself that you will exercise these 7 tantalizing secrets that will ultimately improve the quality of your personal life, as well as directing you towards success in your home business. Start this journey by taking care of your heart, body, mind, and the spirit that lies deep within your soul.
Let go of all the negative problems and focus your attention towards the positive events that transpire in every moment of your life. Challenge these negative occurrences and constantly fuel yourself to remain positive, no matter what is happening.
I don’t have to convince you that just by making a list of all your unique talents, you will dramatically improve your self worth. Use your unique skills to guide you in the success of your home business and to service humanity because this in turn will create an infinity of possibilities in your life and in the lives of others.
That’s exactly what will happen to you!
Don’t take my word for it, justask yourself daily, ขHow can I serve?ก and ขHow can I help?ข The answers to these questions will allow you to help and serve your fellow human beings and your business will achieve extraordinary profits as a result.
Copyright 2004 Ryan Terry

About The Author

Ryan Terry is the owner & CEO of www.realwealthsecrets.com & several internet marketing websites. Claim your FR.EE report now that reveals the *answer* to money, time and traffic & get $125 worth of FR.EE gifts instantly once you click here: http://www.realwealthsecrets.com

This article was posted on May 14, 2004

by Ryan Terry

Common Ways People Waste Their Marketing Dollars!

Common Ways People Waste Their Marketing Dollars! (1 of 2)

by: Blair Ballard

1. Why paying to get your web site automatically submitted to ten zillion search engines doesn’t pay off.

The key search engines prefer you to submit manually in order to get the best results. In fact some view automatic submissions as spam, persistent submitting may result in more harm than good for your site.

Search engines get their listings by either surfing (spidering) the web like you and I, or from the 2 key directories Dmoz and Yahoo. To my knowledge you cannot automatically submit to these directories, nor would you want to as they are manually updated.

If you still insist on going the automatic submission route there are lots of free submission sites out there just do a search for กFree search engine submissionก. I just entered that phrase for an exact match on Google and got 268,000 results!

2. Ignoring the importance of กNegative Keywordsก in PPC campaigns.

Why? First let me explain what is a negative keyword in this context. When you create a PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign through the likes of Google or Overture you want your ad shown when people search for certain keywords. These keywords are probably not that different from the contents of your meta tags. A negative keyword is a word or phrase that you do not want to appear along with your keyword. For instance an internet marketing company might choose กWeb Promotionก as a keyword. Their ad will now appear whenever someone searches for those two words.

Consider this company may not want to do web marketing for a particular line of business. The web company may want to add กFreeก as negative words. By adding the negative keyword, when a User does a search for กFree Web Promotionก the companyกs ad will not be displayed. This saves a potential wasted click by the User and stops the company wasting money on a useless Sales Lead.

So just as you may have hundreds of Keywords in a campaign, you could have 10100 Negative Keywords, depending on your target audience. But that just goes back to the point above Marketing Plan!

3. Running a PPC campaign and don’t check your own web site logs.

Why? PPC sites give you lots of stats telling you how many Users saw your ad, whether they clicked on it, what keywords were most successful etc. But a PPC siteกs idea of success is a User clicking to your site and making them money. Your idea of success is the User staying a while on your site, and hopefully you making a Sale.

You need to follow Users coming to your site through these campaigns and watch what they do next. By tracking the referred url, it will tell you what PPC campaign and keyword they used. This can be done easily enough by adjusting the urls within the PPC campaign itself. But now you need to track their stay on your site. Did they actually look at more than just that one page they landed on, how long did they hang around for, etc?

You can buy software to do this, but you can also do a rudimentary job of this yourself looking at your web stats. It depends on what type of traffic volume your site gets and what type of stats you get about your web site. I have to recommend some freeware software that does a great online tracking job http://www.statcounter.com. For larger operations , you can upgrade to a more detailed analysis.

PPC campaigns have 2 parts. a) Listing your ad on search engines and b) Listing the ad on กPartner Sitesก. Usually you can turn the latter off if you want, but not always. The Partner Sitesก listings are better known as those little boxes you see on the side of web sites saying something like กAds by Googleก at the bottom. Iกm not picking on Google, but they are the most obvious.

Often the volume of click thrus can be much greater from Partner Sites, but the longevity of their visit at your site can be very short. It depends on your keywords and which PPC company you choose. We actually dropped using one PPC company due to the ineffectiveness of their Partner Sitesก listings.

About The Author

About the Author: Blair Ballard is founder of the MARKET YOUR WEB group. His experience spans from that of Corporate Project Manager to Webmaster for a Non Profit organisation. http://www.marketyourweb.com.

© Copyright http://MarketYourWeb.com 2005. All rights reserved

You may only reproduce this article ขAs Isข and where URLs are live active links.

[email protected]

This article was posted on March 19

by Blair Ballard

Tradeshow Booth Cures KnickKnack Knockouts

Tradeshow Booth Cures KnickKnack Knockouts

by: Patty Stripes

Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese art of positioning objects in conjunction with the movement of กchiก, or natural energy, through our environments. Chinese philosophy purports that every object is capable having an effect, either positive or negative, on the energy inherent in all things as it flows and pools around us. Strategic use of Feng Shui elements like light and color of can do a great deal to contribute to our trade show success. But in todayกs competitive environment, itกs necessary to pull out all the stops. Don’t worry, we won’t ask you to trot out a กdog and ponyก show. Our approach is a little more subtle than that all you need is a little smoke, and a few mirrors.

Okay, we were kidding about the smoke, but not about the mirrors. Mirrors are exceptionally useful Feng Shui devices, especially in regards to manipulating the flow of energy. In addition to their reflective qualities which help brighten up your booth, they are capable of deflecting negative energy. Strategically positioned mirrors can also be used to reflect your product, and this is an effective way of กincreasingก your display space. If you do opt to use mirrors, try to find ones that are slightly convex. This will distort the reflected image a bit, but it will disperse any negative energy in itกs path.

Plants, too, are an important tool of the Feng Shui masters. While you can’t exactly landscape your booth, you can still tap into the power of botanicals. Plants are used extensively in Feng Shui to keep negative energy out while letting positive energy filter in. Place plants around the entrances to lead good energy (and people) into your reception area. Use them to soften the linear edges of furniture or corners. In Feng Shui, กrounder is betterก because it allows energy to flow while presenting minimal resistance. Choose plants with rounded leaves and make sure they’re planted in rounded strategicallycolored pots.

Another widelyused Feng Shui implement is fruit! While the Feng Shui masters probably did not have the tired, poor, hungry masses at a tradeshow in mind when they studied its chi, fruit can serve a dualpurpose. Red apples or oranges, with their strong yang colors and rounded edges are excellent กbaitก. Hungry people won’t be able to pass them by, and once inside ‘the matrixก, they won’t want to leave. Make sure you only have perfectly ripe, and perfectly fresh fruit on hand though. ‘tiredก fruit is an energy drain.

Finally, we turn our attention to the sense of smell. Even though our olfactory sense is our most powerful, it doesn’t really affect the flow of energy so there are no scentdriven Feng Shui cures. But weกd be remiss if we didn’t do something to evoke every possible sensation in our efforts to draw people to us. Traditional aromatherapy is designed to be therapeutic, but we have a more devious approach. Seed your reception area with a big plate of cookies or brownies and put a few drops of vanilla on a light bulb and the hungry masses that we mentioned earlier will come pouring in.

About The Author

Patty Stripes is an editor for http://www.thetradeshowbooth.com/, an online resource where she has posted various articles including http://www.thetradeshowbooth.com/tradeshowdisplayexhibits.html.

This article was posted on August 06

by Patty Stripes

eBay Gold

eBay Gold

by: Greg Hayes

Internet auctions are relatively new having been around since the mid 1990กs. There are several Internet auctions including Yahoo Auctions and UBid. But of course the undisputed king of Internet auctions is Ebay. Ebay has over 100 million registered users making it one of the top 10 most visited websites in the world.
I discovered Ebay way back in 1998. At first, I was strictly a buyer. I was amazed at the thousands of items that could be found on Ebay. Just about anything you can imagine can be found on Ebay. And there were more incredible bargains to be found than at any other ecommerce website or brick and mortar store I had ever visited. After about six months or so of buying, I began selling items on Ebay. I had an extensive collection of unbuilt as well as built plastic model cars. I began placing the models on Ebay with starting bids of $5.00 and no reserve. To my surprise, people started jumping all over these model kits. Some of them sold for as high as $70.00. It was at this time that I realized the enormous money making potential of Ebay. The key to being a successful seller on Ebay is selling items that people want. There are a number of ebooks on Internet auctions that tell of the importance of a great headline and a killer ad for your auction. While this is true, it is also important to remember that the best ad in the world will never sell an item that no one wants. The items that do well on Ebay are unique or interesting items. Antiques, pottery, collectables and highend apparel are just a few of the items that will bring high bids on Ebay. If you can easily find the item at WalMart, chances are it will not do well on Ebay.
There are a number of wholesalers around the country that you can buy merchandise from to sell on Ebay. But before you buy, do your homework. Itกs very tempting to buy a bunch of electronic widgets that sell for $2.00 a piece. You might think you can buy 20 of the $2.00 widgets and then sell them for $12.00 a piece on Ebay and make a killing. Unfortunately, you discover that no one is bidding on your widgets despite the fact that you have started the bidding at a mere $6.00. In fact, there are very few people that are even viewing your auctions. The end result is you are now stuck with 20 widgets that no one wants. The first mistake here was not doing a search of widgets on Ebay to find out if they’re hot or not. The second mistake was trying to sell an electronic item. Yes, I know there is a huge market for electronic gadgets. Thatกs the problem; the market is too huge. It is already saturated. How many times a day are you bombarded with offers for the latest and greatest cell phone or digital camera? If you try to sell in this market on Ebay, you’re encroaching on Best Buyกs turf, which means youกll be smashed like a bug. On the other hand, how many offers do you receive for NASCAR collectibles or Gucci shoes? Or how about die cast models? These are the hot items on Ebay. These are in demand items and more importantly you can sell these items without competing against WalMart and Best Buy.
If you’re new to Ebay, the first thing you need to do is to build positive feedback. Feedback is vital to your success on Ebay. Potential buyers will read your feedback in order to determine if you’re an honest seller. If you have high numbers of negative feedback, many buyers will look elsewhere. Take a look at some of the Ebay Power Sellers feedback. Many of them have feedback in the thousands with a rating of over 99% positive. Itกs no secret how these Power Sellers became successful on Ebay. They take care of their customers. This means theyกll have plenty of repeat business.
When you first sign up with Ebay, youกll have zero feedback. Most buyers will shy away from an Ebay newbie with zero or very low feedback. Start building your feedback rating by selling personal items from around the house that you no longer want. This is a good way to get the feel of using Ebay and to build positive feedback. You should invest in a good digital camera. Good clear pictures are an important selling feature on Ebay. Remember to describe your items accurately and honestly. Do not try to trick or deceive buyers in any way. You can’t afford receiving negative feedback this early in the game.
I came across a perfect example of a deceptive seller on Ebay a while back. The seller had sold a pair of slightly used shocks for a 2003 Chevy pickup. He used Ebayกs BuyItNow feature to sell the shocks for just one cent. Wow! What an incredible deal! But wait a minute. The unwary buyer forgot to read the entire auction. The shipping charges were a whopping 60 bucks! The result was a pissed off buyer and negative feedback for the seller. This was an obvious attempt on the part of the seller to make money on the shipping costs. He was banking on the fact that the buyer would not read the entire auction and would simply assume the shipping charges would be reasonable. Do not use deception in your auctions or try to make money on shipping costs. If you treat your customers the way you expect to be treated you will never go wrong and youกll be well on your way to building a reputation as an honest topnotch seller.
If you happen to get a few nonpaying bidders, resist the temptation to leave negative feedback for these individuals. Leaving negative feedback will only result in possible retaliation by the nonpaying bidder and negative feedback for you. Once again, you do not want any negative feedback this early in the game. Buying items off of Ebay is another great way to build positive feedback. When you win an auction, pay for the item promptly. The result will be positive feedback for you. Most buyers will not care whether your feedback came as a result of buying or selling as long as itกs positive.
After youกve built a feedback rating of least 25, youกll be ready to start purchasing wholesale merchandise to sell on Ebay. Remember what I said about doing your homework before buying merchandise. If you have your eye on a particular item you think might sell on Ebay, first do a search of that item on Ebay to find out what people are bidding if anything on the item. If it looks hot, at least 7 or 8 bids, then itกs probably a good bet. If it doesn’t appear to be getting many bids, you should steer clear. You can also do an advanced search for auctions that have already ended. Itกs a great way to find out the final bid price for a particular item. A few extra minutes of research can save you from a giant headache down the road.

About The Author

Are You Tired of the scams and the getrichquick schemes? Greg Hayes is founding editor of http://www.mammothprofits.com/. Mammothprofits is the website devoted to helping others filter out the scams and become successful in a home based business.

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This article was posted on July 11, 2004

by Greg Hayes