Selling on iOffer Part 7: Store Policies and Profile

In addition to listing your items, uploading your items to Google Base, and promoting your items, your iOffer profile and iOffer store policies are more useful than you think.

If you've heard of search engine optimization, then you'll know what keywords and phrases you put on those pages can do to your store. If you don't know what I'm talking about, please read on to see how your store can have better search results rankings.

Go to your Edit My Store and Edit Profile pages on iOffer.

Here, you should fill in as much information as you can in the available spaces about your store (description, welcome message, etc.).

Use SPECIFIC KEYWORDS & PHRASES.

Type in item categories, item keywords, anything you think others will type in to find your items. This is a basic understanding of search engine optimization. If you have specific keywords and phrases on your pages, new buyers typing in those keywords will be more likely to find your store as opposed to another seller's store who didn't give any clues to search engines like Google and Yahoo on what their stores are about.

The more keywords you let search engines know, the better they'll treat you. Try to keep them towards the top of the page as well.

Selling on iOffer Part 6: Promote Your Store

Did you upload your items to Google Base yet? That should be the very first step you take after listing your items.

Then it's time to promote your iOffer store. Start off with these iOffer promotional tools:

Store Widget and Profile Banner

A widget is sort of a custom advertising box for your store. It's very easy to set up, and you can post it all over the web (blogs, profiles, emails, web sites, etc.). Just post it and you're set; you don't need anything else. Profile banners work the same way, so start posting!

iOffer Community Clubs and Events

One of the better ways to expand your online presence is to interact with people. Join some iOffer clubs and participate in the discussions to get your name out there. Attend the live events to make friends. Your items will be automatically featured in events.

These tools should be a good start to your self-promotion. Remember, the more work you put into it, the better results you'll get in driving in more traffic to your store.

Selling on iOffer Part 5: Google Base

Once you have listed a few, or a bunch, of items, it's time to let the rest of the world know that you're selling on iOffer. That's where Google Base comes in.

What is Google Base?

Google Base is a free Google service that helps you publish virtually any kind of information -- be it your latest riveting screenplay or a listing for your slightly dented 1989 Honda Accord -- on Google Base or other Google properties.

Your item will fall into one of several categories based on its content. This category determines which Google property will display your item. For example, your screenplay and robot schematics may appear on Google Base, and your humble Honda may appear on Google Product Search.

According to many experienced iOffer members, sellers must do some self-promotion. If you don't do anything, Google Base is the single, one thing that you MUST do. This little feature will get you the traffic you need to your store.

So once you have items ready, use this iOffer Tutorial to upload your items to Google Base.

Also, members of the Seller Central club will kindly help you through the entire process.

I will talk about other promotional tools that you can and should use to advertise your new iOffer store.

Why iOffer? Free Tools and Features

Why should people use iOffer? I've compiled a list of reasons why I started using it:

1. FREE listings

2. FREE seller store

3. FREE picture uploads

4. FREE multiple web addresses that link to you

5. Non-Auction Format
Making offers and negotiating with buyers and sellers make me feel like I'm shopping in person, rather than trying to make the highest bid in the last 5 seconds of an auction.

6. Mr. Grabber
It lets you transfer your items over from eBay, Overstock, and Sell.com. You can also transfer your eBay feedback rating so your buyer/seller reputation is intact. The best part is it's also FREE.

7. Store Widget
You can easily customize a widget for your store and post it all over the web, for FREE.

8. Group Offers
When you make an offer, you can make the same offer to other sellers who are selling similar items. Whoever accepts your offer first gets the deal. This seems like I'll get what I want quicker as a buyer, and probably a better deal too.

9. Events
It's sort of like a chatroom where people can get together and mingle away, while promoting and selling their items. How cool is that?

10. Live Notice
I thought this was a neat feature. I'm sure many sellers are online all the time, and this feature will pop up messages in your face when you sell an item or someone asked a question about your items or anything like that.

11. Community
I like this part the most. I mean, everything I've listed so far are awesome, mainly because they're all FREE, but as a newbie, I like how the members at iOffer are so nice and easy-going. They have hundreds of community clubs and I can guarantee that you will find some sort of help in any club.

Wow, sorry didn't think my list would go that long. And sorry that you had to read through everything. I'll try to add some pictures next time to even out the text/image ratio.

Am I missing anything else? Feel free to make comments and add some other features that I may not have found yet.

- iOffer Dude