Sorry to hear that you’re under the weather – hope it’s not that dreaded you-know-what type of flu!

I think your last paragraph is very important and explains why some of the sites that I have built in the past have seen very few sales, even though the targeted keyword might rank high in Google. I’ve been building sites from an SEO standpoint and not targeted to actual product demand.

But, this is how the so-called experts have always said to do it – target the longtail phrases that are easy to dominate such as “cheap pink ping karsten series anser 2 putter for sale houston texas.”

But, what you are saying makes total sense – what good is ranking #1 for a phrase that might be listed on eBay once in a blue moon?

Hope you feel better soon!
Caro

That’s all very reassuring! Got my brain revving up now.

Thanks for the insight!

I actually can’t say all too much without disclosing what the specific training modules I have built on the RankSpankers site… but in a nutshell.

[Niche Discovery]

1 – FIND popular products (within the niche) that people are BUYING.
2 – Make sure your Site is Built around the MOST POPULAR SELLING products within the niche.

Only then…

[Niche Presentation]

3 – Use On and Off site SEO to make sure people find them!

Also – I will target a single item in a heart beat!:-) Even if I want 4 to show on the page, and there is only 1 available (which does happen) when I see that that specific item has a very high sell through rate!

I mean… if a specific product sells 100% of the time its listed, why NOT target it!?

Mark

Okay, that’s making sense. So you’re saying finding products that sell is only half of the equation. It’s what helps define the niche and/or justify if it’s worth getting into.

Once the niche is defined, figuring out how to get customers TO your site is the other part of the equation.

This also addresses a problem I’ve been coming up against and that is finding what I think to be a worthwhile niche, but when you break it down by specific models, sometimes there’s just not that many of them selling on ebay. So you end up getting no products to display or maybe just one on your site (that’s a problem when you want four to show).

This broadens the possibilities a little better. So while I can cast a bigger net by using generic (and more likely to be used) keywords, I can then display more models under that brand and let the customer decide on which specific one.

Does this still align with maximizing the outcome we can expect with ebay’s QPC efforts though?

When I talk about separating SEO from your planning process, I am strictly talking about the items you choose to put on your site as part of the review process, NOT the “presentation” of those items, which is when the SEO process comes in.

To put it flatly though – when I build a RankSpanker report for someone or myself, I pay very LITTLE attention to search demand, competition, or anything OTHER THAN sales.

Your example about the Nokia Cell Phone… actually comes AFTER you have decided to list a nokia phone on the site, and hopefully, you decided to list that phone, because a bunch of them sell on eBay or wherever your affiliate program leads.

Q: Does it sell? A: YES
Q: Does it Sell Enough to earn a spot on my site? A: YES

Conclusion: List It!

(Then comes ther SEO process)
Q: How do People Find it before Buying it?

So.. for myself, I break these into two separate processes. Discovery and Presentation. Each having a pretty tight set of metrics to build a finished product.

Mark

I have a comment about #4 that I’d like your feedback on please.

I’m trying to figure out why it’s a bad idea to think in SEO terms while planning a site. (Actually, this is perfect timing because I’m in the process of researching my next ebay store.)

The process I use to home in on keywords for article marketing is the same one I’m using for finding brand/product keywords for my store (it’s similar to some degree as the N1Way guide process). My process includes finding terms with a decent amount of searches and low competition. But it also includes looking at the amount of products on ebay, both live listings and completed. If it looks good, I’ll save it as a keyword and move on to the next.

As I’m doing so, a hypothesis is forming in my head. Just based on the search numbers and competition, I’m thinking it’s more likely that people will be searching on “[brand name] widget” more than they would on “[product name] widget”.

Or maybe it’s not more likely, but I’d still be catching traffic and providing them a door way into the ebay category that filters on the brand name rather than on a specific product.

For example (and really, that’s all it is; I haven’t looked at these terms), if I find a higher search volume and low competition for “Nokia cell phones” than I do for “Nokia [enter specific product name here] cell phones”, then why shouldn’t I go for the low hanging fruit, which is the more generic term?

Whew, sorry for the long-winded comment.

Btw, how’s that that new Arthemia theme coming along that you mentioned recently? No rush, I’m just holding out for it to make my new store.