A closer look at eBay reveals some amazing potential though. The fact is, many creative users of eBay are being rewarded for their unusual approach with a steady flow of new customers and newsletter opt-ins.

One such opportunity can be traced back to the quite agreement that is currently in place between eBay.com and Google.com. Many of the most savvy marketers and eBay users are not aware of this arrangement, but Google has embraced eBay in its search results. As evidence of this agreement you may have noticed many eBay auction listings are showing up ranked VERY high in the Google search engine.

Many eBay sellers are now tapping into this new traffic source by lengthening the amount of time their eBay listings remain active in order to get maximum Google exposure.

(To get some proof of this new phenomenon do an experiment and visit eBay. Find any unusual item and copy a few keywords from the title. Next use those keywords to do a Google search and witness the magic firsthand.)

Taking this knowledge another step can generate a targeted traffic stream from eBay to any website.

Here’s how:

There is a relatively new feature on eBay that isn’t widely advertised or even understood yet by the vast majority of eBay sellers. It’s called eBay “classified ads”. These ads are specifically intended to be used as lead generation tools for businesses that want to get multiple leads from a single eBay listing instead of selling just one item at a time.

Using the new eBay classified ad listing feature a seller can list an ad on eBay for 30, 60, or 90 days and get some great overnight Google search engine ranking for any chosen title keywords.

The next logical question is: Does this mean eBay users are allowed to link to their own website from within an eBay listing?

As of early June 2007 eBay has NO POLICY that disallows the inclusion of a hyperlink to an external website from within a classified ad. That very question was posed to the V.P. of the eBay Trust & Safety department and in his own words, “there is no policy in place”. To include such a link inside a traditional auction has been prohibited for years and remains a violation of eBay policy, but clearly no such policy exists for eBay classified ads.

The potential is massive.

When getting creative with eBay there are a few rules to learn. Keep in mind that eBay does not like to be treated as a sign post (meaning they want their piece of the pie), but it is worth your time to learn the strategies that work.

An introduction:

Over the course of the last several years I’ve been helping thousands of others see eBay through a new lens and I was excited to be invited to join the team at ‘Online Marketing Monthly’.

My Mission: Convince you of the huge potential of both conventional and unusual Internet and eBay marketing strategies.

What makes me such an expert?

According to Danish Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr, “An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field”.

Using Niels definition we’ll proceed with me as your “expert” guide to some creative uses of eBay and other unusual marketing strategies.

I’ve been on eBay since April of 1999 and have been making a full time living online since 2002. To make a very long story very short I now have about 95,000 opt-in subscribers reading my weekly free ezine that is dedicated to creative Internet income strategies.

I’ve also surrounded myself with about 30 of the most creative users of eBay on the planet and we’ve started a membership site you should check out at MySilentTeam.com. If you visit you’ll meet creative people that, in most cases, work very few hours weekly on eBay (in some cases 100% automation is occurring), but they are achieving amazing results.

Some examples of my MySilentTeam.com members and experts:

-John is running a mid-six figure eBay business selling ebooks and special reports on eBay as a great lead generation technique. He’s grown a massive mailing list and has become a top affiliate of many Internet Marketers. His business is 95% automated.
 
-Young Paul is making around $1,000 per day profit on eBay selling mainly “Public domain” material on eBay and using some stealthy but legal strategies to grow huge opt-in mailing lists.

-Nancy filmed herself making home made decorative wreaths and now sells the wreaths and the highly profitable “how to” videos on eBay. She’s turned her hobby into a thriving eBay business with a growing loyal following.

-Terrance uses his inexpensive video camera to film events (for example car shows) and then burns copies and sells the barely edited DVDs on eBay for HUGE profits. His loyal customers don’t mind the “home made” feel of it all.

When it comes to eBay I’ve seen and tried it all and now I literally make a living testing, experimenting, and often failing with eBay and other creative marketing ideas. I’m excited to share what works with you in this column.