A Powerseller's Guide to Ebay Ad Design

Have you ever wondered how people reachSection 2
Powerseller status and manage to keep it byThe white space here provides room for our product
sustaining their business over the long term? Inpicture. In this case it will be of a watch he plans to
simpler terms; how people consistently turnsell in his online auction. Use this space to let your
self-sustaining profits on eBay?potential buyer know exactly what they will be
There are of course, the obvious factors; find abidding on. It's the first product image they will see
reliable supplier that can offer competitive pricesafter clicking on the search listing item; make it count.
(lower than those of your competitors), find aSection 3
market that isn't overly saturated with sellers andThis is the information section. It's where you will
ideally flooded with interested buyers willing to payhighlight the strong points of your product, hopefully
good money for your intended product, gain as muchconvincing the viewer to make a bid. Be careful here
exposure as possible for your auction item, as well asnot to bore the viewer with paragraphs of product
making your advertisement as attractive as possibleinformation. In the case of many niche products, your
so as to tempt the highest possible bidder. Theseviewer will already know what they are looking at. It
factors are but a few in the infinite factors affectingis more important to describe the product condition
how potentially successful you can be selling on eBay,and package inclusions so that the bidder knows
and whilst we could talk for days discussing the insexactly what they're bidding on. Detailed pictures are
and outs of the online trading business, this piece willa great way to tempt that potential bidder. The old
focus on just two; i) How to develop an attractivesaying "a picture is worth a thousand words" has
advertisement geared to tempt the highest possiblenever been more true. These days with free image
bidder, and ii) How to gain maximum exposure forhosting sites such as it has never been easier to
your online auction through keywords, search stringsmake your advertisement hosted-image friendly.
and Boolean terms in listing titles.Section 4
Whilst the following tips could prove useful to almostWhilst your auction listing may provide the
every level of eBay seller out there, for the purposesappropriate space for postage costs, we've found it
of this piece we will assume that the reader has aquite useful to display specifics within the bulk of the
limited advertising budget, seeks to employ a valueadvertisement itself. The same applies for payment
for money approach to online auction trading, andmethods. What better way to remind your potential
above all has a willingness to learn and adapt newbidder that you accept a bank deposit from their
business practices to their current or intendedfavorite bank as well as their credit card. Any
operations.warranty offered with your product should also be
1. Advertisement Designlisted here. Again, let the bidder know exactly what
Regardless of whether you are using a turbo-listerthey're bidding on.
application for your advertisement design, confident inSection 5
html coding or web page design using aFinally, we list the terms and conditions for your
what-you-see-is-what-you get application likeauction. Use this space to further elaborate on your
Dreamweaver or similar, or whether you are justwarranty statement in the previous section, as well
now using (or thinking of using) an online trading siteas your postage time disclaimers and any other
like eBay for the first time, the proceeding points andliability disclaimers you may with to include should an
theories can be useful to you. As we go through theunfortunate occasion arise, even if only a
points please note that there are an infinite numbertypographical error. The key here is to include what
of variations for the final advertisement but the oneyou know. If you are not sure about something it is
described and pictured has been proven by ourselvesbetter to omit it rather than look foolish contradicting
to be effective in achieving notably better resultsyourself. For certainty, consult the necessary
over competitors averaged over numerous productauthority on your subject in question.
types, categories and auction times.Ok, so there you have it. Your advertisement is now
When building your template the goal should bedesigned and you have a template calling card that
consistency. This template will become the standardyour current and future clients will recognize your
used for all of your products, and whilst they willgood business through. (A copy of this demonstration
undoubtedly vary over various product types andtemplate can be downloaded at and is free for you
evolve over time it will be the standard all the same.to modify and use for your own advertisements).
The template will be your calling card so to speak; a2. Keyword Success
way for shoppers to identify you and yourThe most obvious and often most underestimated
(hopefully) successful business in an instant - givingsource of online auction success is the auction title;
them the confidence that your business is (or willwhat good is the most attractive advertisement in
soon be) famous for. There is no point wasting timethe world at the world's best bargain if no one gets
convincing every shopper for the first time that theyto see it?
should trust your business, especially if they haveThere are several options for highlighted listings, bold
already happily purchased from you in the past. Thislistings, super bold listings, stroked listings - all of
is called branding.which require varying degrees of payments. As
Next, create even just a simple logo for your tradingmentioned at the beginning of the piece we are
name to give a named identity for your brand. It'slooking for the best value for money, which in our
easy if you use your seller username as buyers willopinion is the regular auction listing with a small
instantly make the connection between yourstandard gallery picture. This is the most common
advertisement and your seller profile. That, and you(and package-wise, cheapest) form of auction listing
are guaranteed to have a unique name specific toand thus a perfect way to measure the success of
that auction site. Even if you are not running aour listing.
fully-fledged business and simply selling some of yourNow most (if not all) auction sites will only give you a
old effects here and there for pocket money thecapped number of characters for your title so it is
branding and logo creation you implement will payimportant to use this space as best you can. Based
dividends down the road. Please note that tradingon eBay's 55 characters main titles limit the first way
name laws vary from country to country so pleaseto attract attention is by printing the entire title in
check with the appropriate authorities for precisecapital letters. In a sea of lower cased rambling the
information.capitalized title is quite effective. Next are the words
When designing logos don't be worried if you don'tin the title. You must find the balance between
hold a graphic design degree, you only needcommunicating to the buyer as efficiently and
something distinguishable as yours. For example, ifaccurately as possible your item as well as making
your username is larryjones64, then a simple LJ64 inuse of keywords that might increase the exposure
'Franklin Gothic Medium' in a chosen color mightof your advertisement.
suffice.Take the example below:
You need next to decide on your color scheme.Nokia N95 great condition plus leather case charger
Again, if you are not that way inclined color schemesbox
are readily available via a simple google search. TheWhilst it may appear to accurately describe the
goal here is to use only a few matching yetproduct in question as well as use the entire 55
distinguishable colors to use for your i) theme colors,character allocation it wastes precious character
ii) font colors, and iii) miscellaneous sections. Youspace and words that should be saved for the
should base your color scheme on the types ofadvertisement itself. It is quite possible for you to
products you sell as well as your personal preference.achieve a number of advertisement views or hits
For instance if you are promoting cosmetics madefrom people searching Nokia, N95 and several others
from 100% natural products you might opt for anfrom those searching case, charger, and box. Those
earthy and green color scheme or even a pink colorsearching for the latter group are unlikely to pay for
scheme depending on your target market. Thesea $300 item when they were only looking for a $10
colors however might not be as suitable for anitem in the first place.
electronics company aiming to capture the attentionTake the next example:
of bargain hunting males between the ages of 16 andBLACK NOKIA N95 CELL PHONE UNLOCKED + GPS
22 years old. Regardless of your choice of scheme+ CAMERA +ACC
you're the one that should be happy with it as yourIn comparing the two the second example jumps at
standard color scheme for all of your advertisementsyou from the page simply because of the capital
to come.letters. Most buyers of cell phones need to know
Now that you have decided on your color schemefirst up if it is unlocked, as in most cases they
you must now decide on your font. Typically, youralready have a SIM card. By highlighting the important
font should be clear and easy to read. Since Arial isattributes of the item like GPS and camera you are
the most common and easily legible font available onalso exposing your advertisement to potential buyers
the internet currently, we will use it here. You shouldof GPS units as well as those searching cameras.
use this font for all of your advertisement textUnlike the first example, GPS units and cameras are
spread across only a small number of sizes. By limitingquite often priced similarly to high end cell phones so
the variation of font size and color you will better beit is not completely out of the question that the
able to direct the viewing of the potential buyer,phone could be purchased by those searching these
making sure they receive the important informationitems as well. Please beware that eBay and other
as required.auction sites have policies in place forbidding the use
We will now separate our developing advertisementof title keywords in an attempt to gain exposure if
into 5 sections. One for the header, another for thethe keyword doesn't directly relate to the item for
product picture, the next for the item description andsale. This means that inserting the keyword iPod
information, followed by the shipping, payment andNano or Motorola Samsung into the title simply to
warranty block, and finally the terms & conditionsgain extra exposure across various categories is illegal
section.- and will cause your listing to be removed and
You can see through the image outline ( how thepossibly have your account suspended. In the end, it
advertisement will be sectioned. As per our earlierpays to know your product and your target audience
larryjones64 example a blue, white and grey coloras well as the rules of the auction site you are using
scheme has been chosen to sell his range of(or intending to use).
consumer electronics and miscellaneous personalYou may be thinking that the points you have just
effects. The colors have been dispersed over theread are completely commonsensical and that anyone
section so that they are clearly defined for thewould be able to figure them out - and this is 100%
viewer.true. The preceding approaches to online auction
Section 1trade do not require any specialization in design or
A simple image editing program has been used totrade, but require only that people think as they
place the logo created earlier on a blue background.approach this field. We cannot guarantee success for
This has been saved in a web friendly format and willevery application of our theories into your trading
appear as our calling card at the top of all of ourpractices, but based on our averaged results they
advertisements for larryjones64.have worked in achieving the desired results.