How to Self Promote eBay Listings

I have been asked to describe the different ways we promote our eBay listings  Many think we pay enough to eBay and they should be doing it for us.  Let me do an analogy that I have used several times. 

Imagine the largest shopping mall near your home.  There is probably an anchor store in it.  Around the holidays the mall will advertise the mall, the anchor store will advertise themselves, and every little business is there hoping to benefit from their advertising. I am that little store in the corner and I want to stand in the hallway waving at folks who are there in the mall already.  So it is with eBay, too.  I don't want to be the little store off in a corner just waiting for someone to drop by.  I want to go out and try to snag folks to visit me. 

Ways to do that - 

• A blog such as this one - see the top right corner - there is a link to my eBay store. Blogger (a Google product) is easy, WordPress (for the more computer savvy).  Write about anything that you can think of.  It is more important to get keywords.  A few ideas - a local restaurant; things and scenery from your town/city; hobbies; cooking hints. I found I had better luck (and better use of my time) just writing without researching the subject and am huge-ly surprised on the subjects that get searched on Google resulting on hits for the blog! ;
• Bumping - not sure how much they help but the more exposure I can get for my listings the better. Click link for my blog on what bumping is;
• Pinterest - A social media site where we do post listings on various boards, but be careful 2 ads for every 8 social posts.  Don't sell to your followers.  Build your followers based on your interests. Facebook Pinterest Addict group;
• Same thing goes for Facebook Shares.  Friends & family don't want to see your listings so be selective what you choose to share - same formula applies - 2 ads for 8 social posts on your wall;
• Twitter - same (sorta) as Pinterest - a social media site we also need to be careful not to spam
• Facebook groups - I own a closed group where you can share 2 listings every day.  There are several others too but mine is alittle different because we all click on the listing giving it a click up in eBay search and then can share on a social media site too. We approve all requests for membership to keep out the spammers and have to see something in the profile that tells us the potential member is involved with eBay. 
• Facebook seller group - I have another closed group for sellers to help each other brainstorm, problem solve and just be the water cooler where we can chat about our business.  Closed just means anyone can see who belongs but can not see the posts. There are many different groups each offering something alittle different from the other ones;
• And last is not really a way to self promote but very important for all eBay sellers - join a Meetup.com near you or attend an eBay event at least 1 time a year.  

Another hint is to have the .com for your eBay name or store and the .net for the blog. Then have that URL point to your listings or store.  When you want to share your eBay info you just have to give name.com or for blog - name.net.