Let's face it... if you have an item to sell that everybody wants, then it doesn't matter whether your auction listing is professional looking, attractive, pretty in pink, butt ugly, almost impossible to read... whatever. Even if you have alien spaceships flying all over the page and rap music blaring from the speakers, if an item is hard to find, rare or in demand, it's going to sell.On the other hand, there just aren't that many hard to find, rare and in demand items out there, so I would advise against the hard to read, flying alien spaceship, rap blaring listing template.
I have heard from many of my former clients that their sell-through rate increased dramatically and their bid prices increased once they put their best selling foot forward and hired someone (namely me) to create a professional looking and completely branded eBay site for them.
I am convinced that buyers are more drawn to a professional site and are more likely to trust you to deliver the goods. It is also very beneficial to brand your site so that returning buyers or even casual shoppers instantly recognize you as soon as they click into one of your eBay pages. If they recgonize you by your branding, they then feel comfortable enough to send you their hard earned money.
It isn't even necessary to spend the big bucks to hire someone to brand your site. With very little knowledge and a lot of free sites out there in www land, you can make this a fun do-it-yourself project. Let's start with a logo...
There are several free sites that will help you to create a unique logo with either your eBay UserID or your eBay Store name. It doesn't have to look like you hired Donald Trump's graphic designer to create it. It only has to be unique and brand your eBay site. Once you create a logo that you are happy with, be sure to add it to every single one of your eBay pages... your listing template, your Storefront if you have one and your 'about me' page.
Ensure your UserID or Store name are easy to read and that your logo is not too busy. Think about all the memorable logos you see every day... Coca-Cola's red and white wave, McDonald's golden arches, the Red Cross, etc. They are all extremely simple and very memorable. That is the look you want to achieve and you don't need to pay a small fortune to a graphic designer to achieve it.
Check out these sites and have fun making your own logo...
Birddog's Garage eBay Store Logo Creator
(You don't have to have a Store to create a logo here... just substitute your eBay UserID for the Store name.)
GrSites Button Maker
TomaWeb Free Button Generator
Now you will need to save the logo you just created to your hard drive (normally by right clicking on the logo and selecting 'Save'), then upload it to an image host from there. Here is a list of some trusted image hosts... some are free and others have reasonable subscription fees...
http://www.zoicks.com/imagehosts.htm
Choose one that best suits your needs and upload your new logo. If you plan to host your auction/store pics there as well, keep in mind that you may need more room and bandwidth than a free site is willing to offer. Also check your ISP. Most have some available storage space and you may as well use it since you are already paying for it.
If you have a Store and want to make a logo for your Store Header slot, you need to create it at 310x90 pixels so that it will not get distorted when uploaded to eBay. eBay gives you the option of storing your 310x90 logo on eBay's servers if you don't want to use an image host.
Once your logo is uploaded, you will use the URL provided by your image host to insert your new logo into your listings and 'about me' page with this simple HTML code...
<p align=center>
<img src=http://www.WebHost.com/logo.jpg border=0>
</p>
That centers your logo on the page in its own paragraph. Just insert the above code wherever you want your logo to appear on the page. Of course, you will need to substitute the URL above with the correct URL from your image host and the correct file name and extension (.jpg .gif or .png).
With a bit more HTML code, you can also link your logo to your items for sale or to your storefront. To link your logo to your items for sale...
<p align=center>
<a href=http://URL to your eBay items for sale>
<img src=http://www.WebHost.com/logo.jpg border=0></a><br>
Click on my logo above to see my other items for sale.</p>
To get the URL for your items for sale, go to one of your listings on eBay and click on the 'View Seller's Other Items' link. Then copy the URL from the address bar at the top of your browser window and paste it into the code above and you will have your very own logo that will send buyers to view your other items for sale.
For instance, the URL for this logo...
Click on my logo above to see my other items for sale.
<p align=center>
<a href=http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZlesleyQ5ffeeney>
<img src=http://www.zoicks.com/lesley310x90.jpg border=0></a><br>
Click on my logo above to see my other items for sale.</p>
So now you know how to create your very own logo to help brand your eBay site and you also know how to link that logo to your other items for sale.
Just be sure you add the code above to the Sell Your Item form or from TurboLister in the tabbed section labeled, 'Enter your own HTML'. It will not display properly if entered into eBay's 'Standard' text editor tab.
Until next time when I'll discuss free template creation sites... no HTML knowledge necessary... we'll have you looking like a pro in no time at all if you stay tuned. Later...
Lesley
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