Why I Blog - Updated!

Gene, Danna and Jimmy

In Oct. 2008 I Gene and I had the privilege to drive Danna and Jimmy Crawford (powersellingmom.com) from an eBay gathering in Hays, KS to Denver.  

In the 4 hours we were in the car Danna asked me if I blogged.  I gulped and said no,  not really - thinking what would I write about and who wants to read about me, or my stuff or my life?

Boy was I wrong.  

A blog can be many things and for me it is to promote our eBay listings by using keywords to get folks to the blog and then hopefully they will be curious enough to click on our logo that will take them to our listings. 

 

Picking a subject that is keyword rich is the secret I use to be visible on the 1st page of a Google, Yahoo or Bing search. 

A restaurant that was on the Food Network - Diners, Drive-In and Dives that we ate at in Chicago

One easy way to get started is to do reviews of businesses in a community or city that will bring locals to the blog looking for a review of that business. 

For every 4 non business blog posts I do one about our eBay business or about things I have listed. Lately I have been bad about following my own advice and really need to get back on track!! 

Another blog we did that was very popular especially in Sept when folks are thinking about Halloween costumes was about the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo CO. Every few days Wendy and Frosty would walk around the fairgrounds and I took their photo.

Please email me at HerbsCraftsGifts@aol.com with a link to your blog so I can become a follower.   

Try it - blogging can be alot of fun and you can meet alot of new, interesting people along the journey.

Why Bump & Speedy Bump Sites

 What is a bump?  It is a program that was 1st designed to promote eBay listings. It has been expanded to eBay stores, blogs and several other things. The creator - John- is the owner of auctionbump and speedybump.

How does it Speedybump work? The item listing number is copied and pasted into a box and viola the listing shows up with the picture. 

Imagine a column of 25 boxes.  The bottom box is #1 and the top box is #25.  When you fill in the form with an active eBay listing number it will automatically insert that listing into box # 25.  The item in box #1 falls off - is bumped off! 

The number in front of each link is the number of items the owner of that page allows each seller to have on their page at one time.
 
5 -  http://tucsontiques.com/advertising/free-ebay-advertising/
3 -  http://boostbump.com/
3 -  http://www.dejacreations.com/
4 - http://theirishshamrockcompany.com/
3 - http://auctionbump.com/
4 - http://www.sassyssavings.com/ 
3 - http://sb55-graphics.com/
4 - http://www.magiesplace.info/
4 - http://catpurry.virtualonlinelearning.info/ (was Mystery Bump)
5 - http://www.seasonedwithtime.com/ebay-bump/
3 - http://buzzbumpadz.com/speedy-ebay-buzz/
4 -  http://justbumpit.info/
? -  http://learn2earnok.com/Featured_ebay_Stores___Webs.html
3 - http://www.advertiseyourauctionsfree.com/
? - http://www.paulajeansjewelryandcloset.com/
3 -  http://promobump.com/
5 - http://powersellingmom.com/

Why bump? I think that eBay is spending lots of money on branding and bringing folks to the site.  But with big box stores, and large commercial vendors - I - as a very small speck of sand on the eBay beach - can get lost.  So it is part of my job to help bring people to my store.  And one way I do that is by bumping. 

I have compared myself to a very tiny corner store in a very huge mall.  The mall does a lot of advertising but I need to do something to to get myself noticed,too.  Just sitting and waiting for folks to wander by is not enough for me.   


How do I get noticed? Several years ago I learned about branding myself on eBay.  What does that mean exactly?  To me it means that when someone sees my name or logo they know immediately who I am.  I bet right now if I say a big red bulls eye you would think Target.  That is the idea of branding.  So when I bump my scarves I hope people recognize the mannequin and know it is me.  


What to bump?  Now that is a good question.  I notice that some folks bump the same item over and over again on every bump site. I suspect for some that is the only listings they have and that is great. It is so nice to see them helping themselves.


I like to put different items on every site in order to give a broad overview of my offerings. Here's how I do it - I go to the list of all my listings and then sort by whatever - never by best match or ending soonest.  (Don't want to bump something that is ending today.)


It depends on my mood and what is happening - some days I will do a color like pink in Oct.for breast cancer awareness, another time highest price 1st, or just Christmas items, only scarves or rubber ducks or I follow a theme or holiday. Somedays I will do one of each of my largest category items per bump site. So it is really up to each seller to decide what they want to promote.  


How do we know results? - When you go to My eBay page on the right side near the bottom there is a link to traffic reports. Click on it (doesn't work all the time), go to finding methods and referring web sites.  It is really interesting to see how the report changes from month to month. 


Can I say an item I bumped today sold?  For the most part no.  Have I made sales within a category and 24 hours of bumping? Yes! Does it matter if an item that is bumped sells or not?  It would be nice but as long as people visit my store and buy something or know what I have so when they need it they can come back, I am satisfied.  


I can go through that whole list in 20 minutes.  Who can't afford 20 minutes a day to promote themselves and drive their own traffic? 


In the end we all have to be responsible for our own business and not totally rely on someone else to bring us customers.  

And we have to be so grateful to the owners of the bump sites for allowing us to promote ourselves on their page / blog.  Thank you bump site owners!!  

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