Be sure to keep an eye out…I’m going to be ranting…I mean writing about eBay Live 2008 (or as I called it “eBay coma 2008″) soon. Check back in a bit…
Here’s a sneak peek at the new cover:
I don’t know if this book (and all 5 previous releases) is the all time best selling eBook or not, but it’s been selling like crazy since 2004 on the top eBook website, clickbank.com, and it’s been at the top of the charts for much of that time making several appearances at #1.
I’m humbled by it all. And grateful.
After much editing, creative input and long hours of hard work I’m about to release the latest and greatest (version 6 of the book) .
The website is being re-worked and finalized now - it really needed an update!
This is a final warning though that within a few days the NEW book with a NEW higher price will be out. Right now you can get the old version for $24.95 and we’ll give you the latest upgrade (version 6 pictured above) for free when it’s released within days.
Don’t say you weren’t warned…
Get “old version” pricing and a free upgrade by visiting: SilentSalesMachine.com
PS - MySilentTeam members can get the latest revision for free, right now. Membership has it’s perks!
Yesterday there was a big announcement at eBay about “digital goods” which includes ebooks. Since many readers of this blog and my newsletter have sold or do sell ebooks on eBay I wanted to address the issue as quickly as possible.
My take on it is that eBay is overreacting to an issue they’ve been dealing with for awhile. The heart of the issue is feedback manipulation.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE EBAY ANNOUNCEMENT
HEY EBAY: How about a minimum price of $5 on eBooks, or block the ability to leave “shipping” feedback on digital goods instead? Or, you could talk to your top legit sellers (like John Thornhill) first and get some feedback on the issue.
Later the same day the same eBay rep Brian Burke posted a note that includes the fact that digital goods have just been banned in Australia and the U.K. and have always been banned in Germany. See the post here: CLICK HERE
As of this writing there is still no official announcement on the eBay U.K. or eBay Australia eBay sites on this issue though. I think Brian may have jumped the gun, but the announcement is likely coming very soon.
What’s it all mean?
It’s potentially bad news for those that:
o had a BIG ebook business set up on autopilot on eBay with auctions launching and delivery occurring automatically.
o don’t understand classified ads on eBay
o have all their eggs in one basket
It’s potentially good news for those that:
o understand the power and potential of eBay classified ads
o realize that eBay very likely has just given us permission to include external links in our classified ads
o have quality ebook and info products that can be shipped to customers on CD
o realize that the competition herd on eBay just got WAY thinner
o have their OWN ORIGINAL products
The good new (once again, as with all major eBay announcements that seem to go against sellers) is that the CUSTOMERS are still there on eBay. eBay is pouring marketing dollars into attracting them and it’s our job to find ways to funnel them into our businesses. As long as the customers are there we’ll be there finding creative ways to market to them.
What’s your take on it? Click the comment button below and leave your thoughts. If you are just mad at eBay don’t bother posting - I’m looking for intelligent, insightful comments and observations. It’s okay to be mad, but venting here does no one any good.
I’ll post more on the issue once I gather more facts.
UPDATE: One of our contributing experts at MySilentTeam.com David Lovelace has a special report he put together recently that talks about converting ebooks and digital products into CD products and automating (outsourcing) the whole thing. Check it out: CLICK HERE He’s dropped the price for us to just $10 if you use that link - normally it’s a $27 book.
Here’s all the good stuff you need to know now about eBay Live 2008:
eBay Live 2008 will be in Chicago this year June 19-21st. Registration opens on this page:
http://pages.ebay.com/ebaylive/
…on March 14th
We plan to be there and we’d love to meet you there!
If you are interested in hooking up with us while we are there send a blank email to:
…and we’ll add you to our notification list to let you know when and where we’ll be around.
Ron (the webmaster for MySilentTeam.com) and I will be there…and since they are supposedly allowing kids this year (nothing official yet on that) I may have some of my great kiddos with me part of the time. I’m not sure if Andrea is coming yet or not for those that want to meet my better half.
PLANNING AHEAD TO SAVE MONEY? Book a hotel now in the “McCormick Place” vicinity to avoid the rush on rooms that will certainly happen once registration opens. Here’s a FAQ page about McCormick.
Use THIS LINK to see many hotels that are close by. Prices will likely go UP after the announcement so book now if you are MAYBE going (you can always cancel later if you can’t go). The hottest hotel to stay at will be the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place which is connected to the convention center. You can contact them at 312-567-1234.
eBay is introducing a new feature called “Guest Buying“. This means that even customers without a full eBay account can now purchase items being sold on eBay with a “Buy it now” price. Store listings and fixed price listings are also eligible.
What are the implications?
This means the pool of buyers just got WAY bigger! That’s good news for all of us in my opinion.
Click to read more about the eBay Guest Buying Program right on eBay.com.
Join eBay’s official discussion of the new “Guest Buying” Feature on Wednesday, November 28th from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Pacific time. Even if you miss it live you can read the questions and answers left by others using that link.
My thoughts? This means more leads for my eBay sales funnel and I don’t have to pay a dime for it. That’s good news in my opinion. The buyers won’t be able to leave feedback which introduces an interesting spin, but we’ll see how that all plays out. For now I really like this idea.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below.
MySilentTeam.com expert contributors and respected eBay powersellers Dave and Debbie Harber are going to speak before a U.S. congressional committee in Washington D.C.
The committee they’ll be addressing is the “Internet Taxation Committee”. Dave and Debbie are part of a group of 30 eBay powersellers that have been invited to go along with eBay representatives to address congress.
Just the NAME of the congressional committee should strike fear in your heart. “Internet Taxation”…they are trying to kill the golden goose friends…
My friend Dave puts it this way, “Just imagine if you had to collect and remit sales tax for every item you sold online? Not only would you have to file to 50 states but often each state has different tax rates from county to county. In fact there are over 30,000 taxing jurisdictions in the US alone that you would need to keep track of.”
The potential complications and red tape that go along with tracking this tax is astounding to even consider.
What can you do to help Dave and Debbie prepare for their trip to D.C.?
They are requesting that you send them specific examples of how this legislation would impact your business. What are your thoughts on this issue? Leave a brief comment in the blog, or if you have more in depth info you’d like to get into Dave and Debbie’s hands before they leave please send it to us at:
ron @ jimcockrum . com (remove all spaces from email address)
…and I welcome them!
I’m honored to have been invited to take an “advisory” role with Exponent Trading. I’ve been on the phone several times now with the founder of Exponent Trading and each time I come away more excited. He’s a decisive leader that respects the input of proven experts. It’s an honor that he has taken the time to address the ideas I’ve sent his way.
I can assure you he has big plans that make perfect sense to me. That’s my honest assessment regardless of whatever bias you might think I have. I want this idea to succeed because I think it’s a great idea. Agreeing to be an adviser though doesn’t keep me from making honest observations and public suggestions. This post is a bit of both.
Admittedly, the company isn’t where I hope they will be in six months, but it’s easy to give them a little breathing room from my perspective. They just launched this week and many of the core leaders are pretty new to Internet Marketing. I remember being nervous about PayPal for about six months after they launched. Even eBay itself has plenty of “grey areas” that sneak up and bite even the most loyal of sellers from time to time. There are no perfect companies in this business, but here are some reasons I like Exponent. I’ll follow this list with some of the weaker aspects of Exponent that I’m advising them to address sooner rather than later.
The positives from my perspective:
1. Let’s start with how Exponent “fixes and improves” the eBay affiliate program (as currently run by commission junction at cj.com). Currently the eBay affiliate program pays out on one level. This means that if I refer someone to eBay and they start a business I do get paid a little sum, but that sum is NO WHERE NEAR ENOUGH to give me incentive to hand hold and assist my friend each step of the way. How many serious eBay sellers do you know that have time to hand hold EVERY PERSON IN THEIR LIFE that is interested in starting an eBay business? Especially the true newbie… This is one strength of Exponent.Not only do I get paid fairly well to help my friend get started, but I also get paid for anyone that my friend happens to turn on to eBay. Since eBay is such a proven opportunity (yes, it takes work, but it WORKS when you WORK!) we can all promote it with confidence. In effect, with Exponent Trading the eBay affiliate program becomes seven levels deep. Why shouldn’t I get a small reward for being part of launching a string of new eBay businesses?
2. It’s about time someone got personal with helping new sellers. Ask 20 new eBay sellers how committed eBay seems to be to helping them individually with the issues they have in starting and running their business and you’ll likely hear about 19 of them say that eBay lacks a personal touch in this area. Ask those same 20 sellers if they’d be willing to pay a couple hundreds bucks to get INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION from not only the person that referred them to eBay, but also experienced, talented, creative, successful sellers that are all sharing a small piece of the $200 in order to give them incentive to take the time to help you out. I would guess you’d have about 10 takers out of the 20. That is a win/win opportunity waiting to happen! I realize that some people will read what I just wrote and think the “newbie” should save some money and just go buy a book about eBay. In many cases that may well be enough, but I’ve helped enough people learn new skills to realize that there are at least 5 different learning styles and one of them is clearly the “please hold my hand step-by-step” type. These folks would be willing to pay a lot more than a couple hundred dollars for what Exponent has to offer. Exponent will be a world class membership site for everyone form eBay newbie to eBay pro within six months. A phone in center where members can get questions answered by A LIVE HUMAN is already in place. Who else does this? Answer: NO ONE.
3. It’s NOT JUST ABOUT CONSIGNMENT SELLING ON EBAY as some early opponents have accused. I can assure you that it’s about much more. The flash video that introduces the opportunity talks about consignment selling AND selling your own products. I think they made the marketing material heavy on “consignment” because that is where a lot of very successful eBay sellers start out. It’s low hanging fruit that builds confidence for most sellers. Most top eBay experts even have an “introductory level” book about consignment selling in order to tap into this market. Before I signed on to Exponent I made sure that I wouldn’t have to only sell items on consignment from others and I was assured by management that I could sell ANYTHING and be in the program. This was a huge relief for me because I rarely do any consignment on eBay.
What have I and others advised them to improve?
-The launcher tool. Make it world class …the sooner the better. Right now it is an impressive tracker that serves it’s assigned function quite well, but the obvious end user features it lacks (like an easy HTML feature, simple image management etc.) are all in the works. It will only get better with time I’ve been assured.
-The online experience of members is a little rough around the edges and can leave members feeling a bit isolated. A good forum for members will go a long way in helping with this. Members of exponent will soon have a user forum where everyone from world class eBay sellers to true newbies will gathers and share ideas, successes, technical issues, complaints and kudos. I can’t wait! Get that up and running!
-Go International ASAP. eBay is International and so should you be. This is coming but I’m not privy to a date.
-Clarify the policies. Consignment , using websites and blogs to promote the opp etc. are all points of confusion for some people still. Don’t rely on blogs like this to clear it up. We need communication straight from the top right on the Exponent website. I’ve been told this is coming as well - with good news on all issues of concern.
Again…I like to give week old companies a break, but the sooner the better.
And finally a note for the skeptic - I still love you and hope you’ll stick around even if you don’t agree with me. Surrounding yourself with only people that agree with you all the time is not only boring, it’s disastrous for your business plan.
Here’s my advice to you. Please don’t join Exponent Trading if…
-You are anti-network marketing to the core. I realize this is a lot of people and if that’s you let’s be friends that agree to disagree! I don’t think the little guy gets the shaft with Exponent - it’s actually just the opposite. That’s why I think the model works here and that’s why it’s the first time I’ve EVER promoted a network marketing model. It’s almost funny to me that I’ve been accused of just cashing in on an MLM because I have a big list. If that was the case I would be “cashing in” weekly. My reputation allowed me to grow my list to around 100,000 and keeping my reputation intact is how I’ll continue to grow it. I promise not to become Mr. “network marketing company of the week”. Odds are I’ll never promote another network marketing company the rest of my life.
-Don’t join if… You like to wait until all of the bugs are worked out. Exponent is undergoing changes daily. Improvements in the launcher tool, the support system, the website, the marketing tools, the policies etc. are all underway…but none of them are where they could be at this point. It’s all coming together though! It is rare that being on the “ground floor” of something is beneficial but, this is one of those times in my opinion.
- Don’t join if… You don’t “get it”. Wait until it makes perfect sense to you.
- Don’t join if the thought of investing a few hundred dollars scares the living daylights out of you. With any new venture comes risk. I don’t think any business risk is worth losing sleep over though. Wait until it has a “no brainer” feel to it for you.
When people ask me what I do for a living these days I tell them I’m a filter. I filter out the bad and keep the good. Better to make mistakes in blocking out a few good items than let through a few bad. That’s how I grow my business.
Exponent has made the cut. I’m in based on what I know. I’ll be hitting the marketing machine harder once a few small issues are addressed. For now I’m excited too see the “early adapter” jumping in with us - it’s going to be a great ride!
Exponent Trading is a new company launching Midnight Sunday June 24th 2007. They have a very impressive marketing model and from what I can tell a very qualified executive staff. I’m typically very anti-network marketing, but I keep finding more and more I like about this company. They’ve integrated with eBay to pull off a pretty impressive product that makes it easy for anyone to get started selling on eBay.
I suggest you get in NOW if you can. Use this link to view a video about the company and the opportunity:
exponenttrading.com/JimCockrum
I’ve turned down hundreds of invitations to join other “network marketing” companies because the program didn’t benefit the “new guy” from day one. For example - we all know of vitamin companies that charge $90 per month for $20 vitamins just so the upline can profit. Not so with Exponente…
With Exponent Trading the new guy gets access to an amazing and growing collection of video and personal training about eBay and online success so it’s worth the price of admission from DAY ONE.
Stay tuned for more info…
As I mentioned in the last newsletter I’ve been invited to be a monthly columnist for Online Marketing Monthly - the new print magazine for Internet marketers. Below is my first article that will be in the first issue. To get a free issue mailed to your house visit:http://www.jimcockrum.com/omm.html
Traffic Alert: Google Is Quietly Embracing eBay
For Internet entrepreneurs web traffic is a currency. It’s the lifeblood and fuel of an entire industry.The holy grail of course is cheap or free targeted traffic.One source of targeted traffic that many overlook is the 233 million member ecommerce site eBay.com. The common misconception about eBay is that it is only a giant online yard sale and has no use as a serious source of traffic or opt-in subscribers.
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.
I’m currently recording a video series that will be a step by step guide to some of the most creative eBay and Internet ideas I’ve ever used or seen. What would you like to see in these videos? Are there topics that you’d like me to cover? Leave your feedback and we’ll try to include your ideas!
