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I’m claiming my blog in Technorati! It’s simple… I want my blog to be accessed by more people, so I joined Technorati. It’s free to join… and one of the ways to claim your blog (for them to check if it really is your blog) is by writing a post and including a special link (Technorati Profile) that they will provide for you. So I’m basically writing this post in compliance with Technorati’s requirement.
Cheers,
Eric Delos Santos
Sunday 23 March 2008
by Chad Thompson
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In this newsletter, I’m going to share with you some copywriting secrets that most marketers would kill for. Calvin Coolidge, thirtieth President of the United States, once famously said “Advertising is the life of trade.”
And trade on eBay is no exception.
Good advertising involves more than a nice picture. Just because ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ doesn’t mean you should let it do all the talking. While your photo might initially be what initially catches people’s attention, your words are what ultimately close the deal. Words can be powerful enough to convince a window-shopper to buy, yet they can also just as easily deter an enthusiastic would-be bidder.
On eBay, you have to apply your wording skills twice: in the title and the description. There is a big difference between an excellent title and description on eBay and a poor one. Look at the difference between these examples:
Example 1:
Title: ‘L@@K! Brand new, gorgeous cake tin set.’
Description: This set comes with 4 tins - all different sizes. Found them at a sale. Lovely red color with white bits around the side. Will make a great addition to your pantry.
OR
Example 2:
Title: ‘Royal Doulton 1920s shepherdess figurine’
Description: This lovely figurine was passed down to me from great-grandmother. I’m shifting to Alaska and can’t, sadly, give it the home it deserves. Will someone please give it a good home?
Based on the information provided, which one would you buy? Your sales copy on eBay is made up of two components: the title and the description. Both are equally important for attracting bids, but they each require totally different writing techniques.
Your title is essentially a brief description of 55 characters or less that gives the reader essential information about your item. The title is like a newspaper headline: it aims to give the most important information in the shortest possible space.
So exactly is it that makes a good title?
1. Frontloading
Frontloading means that the important words are at the beginning of the sentence. Newspapers practice frontloading all the time to grab people’s attention as their eyes skim over the page. eBay is similar in this respect. You only have a second or two in which to grab their attention.
This is an example of frontloading: ‘iPod 60gb new Black + free leather case’.
This is not: ‘Black new iPod + free leather case 60gb’.
Word order should be: Brand name, product, model identification, condition (if new or mint, otherwise not at all).
Word order for an unbranded item should have the most compelling characteristic first: for example ‘18 th-century grandfather clock solid wood with carved flowers’
2. Good keywords
Keywords are the important words - the ones people are most likely to search for. For example, if you are selling a 1950s metal wall clock, then good keywords would include ‘retro’, ‘metal’, ‘1950s’, ‘wall’ and ‘clock’. These are the words that you would use to describe it most accurately, and what people would be likely to search for.
In general, good keywords to include in your title are the words ‘vintage’, ‘antique’ and ‘retro’, plus dates, brand names, colors, model name, size and condition.
3. Facts
Spell out exactly what you are selling. For example, ‘5 piece vintage farm toy set’. This will capture searches for both ‘vintage toy’ and ‘farm toy set’.
4. Abbreviations
Use abbreviations to indicate extras such as free shipping and no reserve price. These help to entice people to view your listing, without wasting too many of your precious 55 characters.
There is a whole bunch of abbreviations that sellers use to indicate these extras, all the while only using up only 2 or 3 characters.
You want to say: |
Abbreviation: |
| Black & White | B&W |
| Buy It Now | BIN |
| Cartridge in the box | CIB |
| Certificate of authenticity | COA |
| Hard to find | HTF |
| Limited edition | LTD |
| Mint in box | MIB |
| Mint in Mint box | MIMB |
| Mint on card | MOC |
| Mint no box | MNB |
| Mint with both mint tags | MWBMT |
| Never been worn | NBW |
| No cover | No cover |
| New in box | NIB |
| No reserve | NR |
| Never removed from box | NRFB |
| New with tags | NWT |
| One of a kind | OOAK |
| Out of print | OOP |
| Still sealed | SS |
| Very hard to find | VHTF |
5. Spelling/ avoid capital letters
Don’t underestimate the importance of spelling! Your item may be practically invisible if your title is ‘Doir sunglases’ rather than ‘Dior sunglasses’. If the spelling is incorrect, then your item will only show of category searches, rather than regular searches. Grammar isn’t important (in fact it’s a waste of space in your title), but spelling remains essential.
Also, go easy on the capital letters - they just make your listing harder to read.
6. Don’t waste space
Don’t use up valuable space with meaningless words like ‘lovely, gorgeous, W@W!, L@@K!’, and so on. These will not help sell your item. They aren’t beneficial to search engines and they don’t tell a prospective bidder anything.
Lots of sellers on eBay use caps, bold and underline in their titles…whether they actually work is another question.
Everyone has their own opinions on font and background designs. Personally, I’m in favor of less is more when it comes to titles…
EVEN when eBay’s statistics show that using different text types results in a higher sale price.
Why? Well ask yourself why eBay might show these statistics. Not only does it charge extra for these features (so it’s in their interest to show positive results), but these statistics are skewed by power sellers (more…)
