Just in time for the holiday selling season, eBay is providing sellers with a new analytics application to help you evaluate your listings.

The new app, called ‘Listing Analytics,’ is being rolled out this week and is free for all eBay sellers. It replaces the Search Visibility Tool.

When the app becomes available, you can subscribe to it by going to the Applications tab in your ‘My eBay’ and clicking the ‘Listing Analytics’ link. You’ll also be able to access the app from from your item page, Seller Dashboard and through Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro.

With this app you’ll be able to view data on your listings such as rank, title, format, impressions (the number of times your listing apppears in search), clicks (the number of times buyers clicked on your listing), views, sold items, watchers and sales.

You can view results by format and search results rank then see how your listings compare to the top 5 Auction and BIN listings for any given search on eBay.

When you search your active listings, you’ll get suggestions on how to improve your performance and be able to make changes right from the application. You can also get results for completed listings for the last 30 days.

As I write this, the app isn’t yet available  in my Applications list so I haven’t tried it out but it should be interesting to see the type of suggestions eBay makes for improving a listing. My assumption is that the tips will be the usual best practices – better titles, use item specifics, become a Top Rated Seller, offer free shipping, etc.

If you haven’t been using the Search Visibility Tool then this app will give you some interesting data and a better understanding of how your listings are performing.

For example, if you find that a listing of yours has a low click-through rate, it means that your listing isn’t appealing enough for potential buyers to click on it when it shows up in the search results.

If you have a good click-through rate, but a low sell-through rate, buyers are clicking on your listing but something about it is keeping them from making the purchase.

You can read more about the app here:

I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts after this app become available to you and you’ve had a chance to look at some of the data and suggestions for improvements -

Our message will come across loud and clear if we deliver it when our buyers are ready to hear it – not when we decide it’s time.

In addition, we need to make it easy for our buyers to access the information. Why make them work to get it?

I don’t like to be ‘interrupted’ with messages that I haven’t asked for and I don’t want to work to find out about a product or service.  I don’t think I’m alone in this.

So, what prompted this rant? An ever increasing amount of messages that want to me to work to follow-up on information I didn’t ask for.

FAIL #1 -

Want more clients and customers? We will help them find you by putting you on the 1st page of Google. Email us back to get a full proposal.

FAIL #2 -

Search Engine Marketing will increase your company’s online presence through comprehensive online marketing campaigns, targeted search engine optimization, and highly managed internet marketing promotions. Please reply to this email so we can send you more details.

So to Carrie, Marvin, Randall and all the others -

While your product or service may be of interest, I don’t appreciate being contacted in this manner. Please develop some type of relationship with me as I tend to do business with those I know, like and trust. If we tweet or I read your blog, I’ll know what products or services you offer and if I like what I see, I’ll gladly ask for information when I’m ready. But please don’t ‘interrupt’ me or make me work for it. Thank you -

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However, the most successful eBay sellers don’t just wait for buyers to arrive; they make things happen.

What do they do?

Besides learning how to optimize their listings for eBay’s internal search, they go outside of eBay and utilize the internet and social media to find qualified buyers to drive their own targeted traffic to their listings.

They have a marketing strategy. They know who their ‘ideal buyer’ is and how their products fill a need for that buyer.

They use social media to connect with those buyers and they develop relationships by communicating with them. Not selling to them …. communicating with them and developing relationships.

So what does that have to do with selling your products?

Think about the people who buy them. In many cases, they search online to find the item(s). If you’re highly visible in the search results, you have a good chance of making the sale. If you appear to be an authority or have gotten great reviews, a buyer is more likely to purchase from you vs your competitors.

Social media marketing can increase the visibility of your product and the recognition of your brand but it’s important to know several things before jumping into the social media world.

First – Understand that your time is valuable. Develop a social media marketing strategy for your ecommerce business. Know your ‘ideal buyer’ and determine where they spend time online. Will you find them on LinkedIn or is Facebook where they tend to be? Do they read blogs, go to YouTube to get information or do the listen to podcasts? Do they congregate on Flickr or focus on social bookmarking sites like Digg or Stumbleupon?? You can spend an inordinate amount of time on social media sites but with a plan in place and an understanding of who you are targeting, you can focus your efforts and make your marketing cost- and time-efficient.

Second – Each social media site has its own ‘rules of conduct.’ Understand how each site works before jumping in full steam ahead.

Third – Know what you’re measuring so you’ll know if you’re getting results. Define your goals and take a snapshot of where you are now to use as your baseline.

Fourth – Social media is first and foremost about developing relationships. People are tuning out and ignoring marketing messages that are blasted to them without being asked for. BUT … if they know you. like what you have to say and you provide value to them, they’ll develop a level of trust and that’s when they turn to you to make their purchase.

All this is a very simplified explanation of social media marketing. Richard Brewer-Hay, Sr. Manager, Social Media Strategy, eBay Inc. and Chief Blogger at eBay Ink, understands the impact of social media marketing and has just introduced the eBay Ink Social Media Sellers Program. The hope is that this program “will help promote all of the great online sellers that are embracing social media tools as a way to augment their presence online, ultimately promoting their stores and sales.”

I am honored to be one of the first 6 people featured (click on the graphic below to see my profile) and to be in the great company of John Lawson , Danna Crawford , Kat Simpson, Walt Kolenda and Melinda Jackson.

If you have any social media questions, I’m happy to try and answer them. Please post them in the comments section of this blog or find us at our website, on our Facebook Fan page or connect with us on Twitter.

Chris is a 35-year business veteran who is a best-selling author, eBiz Talk Radio show host and author of hundreds of eCommerce articles & videos. Chris started with $500 which he turned into a $15 million business success. If you’re an eCommerce seller you may know one of his four businesses – WorldWide Brands, Inc.

In today’s podcast (Thu 6/10 at 2:00 pm EST), YOU can ask Chris Malta ANY question about your online business. Chris will answer as many questions as we have time for during this 30 minute interview.

Join us and take advantage of this great opportunity to ask YOUR eCommerce question to someone who’s been there and done it – with huge success!  Your question does NOT have to be about product sourcing. It can be about  anything related to your online business.

1. What can I sell online?
2. Where do I find suppliers?

To answer those questions, we’ve put together a 10 min screencast (see below) with enough information to get you started on finding profitable items to sell.

Then, in tomorrow’s ‘Tips From the Top’ podcast, Colette Marshall – product sourcing expert – will be joining us to cover ‘How To Source Products.’ She’ll talk about the different types of suppliers, the various types of sourcing and offer tips for success.

Of course there are always a few who just want to find a dropshipper so they can sell with the ’set it and forget it’ method. They want to find a product (usually iPods) and then sit on a beach and rake in the money. Unfortunately there are no get-rich-quick methods so if that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll be disappointed with what you find here.

What To Sell Online screencast:

One of my eBay students is trying to find the value of something he owns but hasn’t had much luck. I’m wondering if you can help.

This student has a Popular Science magazine from 1921 with Babe Ruth on the cover. Here is the info he provided:

Title: Popular Science Monthly

Date: Oct.21,1921

Vol 99 No. 4

Cover: Picture of Babe Ruth with bat in hand taking nerve & muscle tests at Columbia University

Feature Story: Babe Ruth’s Home Run Secrets Solved by Science. Article by Hugh S. Fullerton

Please let me know if you have any ideas on its value …. Thanks so much!

This weekend I took a class and the instructor talked about how successful people view their world in contrast to those who don’t experience success. I thought you might enjoy them plus it’s a good way to start the week!

According to Shiv Khera, author of “You Can Win,” most failures happen for the following reasons:

Lack of persist­ence. Most people fail not because they lack knowledge or talent, but because they quit.

Lack of conviction. People who lack conviction take the middle of the road. But what happens in the middle of the road? You get run over. People without conviction go along because they lack confidence and courage. They conform in order to be accepted.

Poor self-esteem. Poor self-esteem is a lack of self-re­spect and self-worth. People with low self-esteem are con­stantly trying to find them­selves, rather than creating the person they want to be.

Try new approaches. Per­sistence is important, but re­peating the same actions over and over again, hoping that you’ll succeed won’t get you any closer to your ob­jective.

Define the problem better. Analyze the situation: What do you want to achieve? What is your strategy? Why didn’t it work? Are you view­ing the problem correctly? For example, if you need money, you have more options than increasing revenue. You could cut ex­penses. Think about what you’re really trying to do.

Don’t label yourself. You may have failed but you’re not a failure until you stop trying. Think of yourself as someone still striving toward a goal and you’ll be able to main­tain your patience and persev­erance over the long haul.

Today’s ‘Tips From the Top’ podcast guest was Jonathan Yates of fflap.com.

Jonathan is an author, entrepreneur, professional speaker, innovation specialist and founder of fflap.com – a collection of tools and services designed to help online sellers use social networks as a platform for their business success.

During the call Jonathan shared several of his favorite business tips and talked about freesourcing when running a business on a shoestring. His unique perspectives put a new light on traditional approaches.

Jonathan also talked about his newest venture, fflap.com – how it works, how to use it in your eBay business and the Four Golden Rules of fflap.

They are:

1. Don’t spam your fflaped messages
2. Personalize your messages to appeal to your followers
3. Fflap BIN listings for immediate sale
4. Create a loyal Twitter following with meaningful, relevant content

You can hear all of Jonathan’s tips and learn more about fflap.com by listening to the 35 minute interview:

Be sure to check out fflap.com. You may even win a great prize in the Daily Draw!

While preparing for our upcoming mini-series ‘What To Sell Online & How To Source It’ I made a very cool discovery!

eBay has a page on its site where you can see what the ‘hot’ items are. It’s called eBay Pulse. The big surprise is that there’s now a NEW Pulse page with lots of great info!!

Like the ‘old’ page, the new one shows the ‘Popular Searches’ and like before you can drill down by category. However, the ‘Most Watched’ items list is gone and so is the ‘Largest Stores’ section.

What’s been added is AWESOME!

There’s now a ‘New Popular Searches’ section, a ‘Biggest Movers’ section and an ‘Internet Pulse’ section that lists keywords based on what popular blogs are writing. You can also filter results to go back in time and see information from from 2008 to the present.

Here’s a screenshot of the ‘old’ Pulse:

And here are screenshots of the ‘new’ Pulse:

BTW – Our ‘What To Sell Online & Where To Find It’ series starts the week of May 24th. Subscribe to our blog or join our Facebook Fan page to get the details.

UPDATE: I’ve been informed by Janelle Elms that this Pulse page isn’t exactly ‘new.’ Apparently it was released in 2008 as a replacement for the original Pulse but eBayers didn’t like the change so they reverted back to the original page & now both versions are available. Live and learn!

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike Michalowicz – serial entrepreneur, blogger & author of ‘The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur’ – on our ‘Tips From the Top’ podcast.

Mike has launched 3 multi-million dollar companies, starting the first one when he was 24 years old and the most recent one at age 35. His business philosophy is based on the idea that it’s possible to start a business with very limited resources and doing it that way can, in fact, work to your benefit.

Mike was very generous in sharing his knowledge & experience. Two of the most creative tips focused on how to advertise your business if you have no money.

Mike also spoke of how beliefs and focus impact your business, the 3 sheet strategy (a prosperity plan, a quarterly plan and daily metrics) which is essential to grow your business and how to use blogs and social media.

Do check out Mike’s ‘Toilet Paper Entrepreneur’ website where you’ll find information on his book of the same name, his Entrepreneur’s Startup Checklist and a very informative and entertaining video blog called ‘On A Roll.’

You can get all the tips shared today by listening to the complete (39 minute) interview here:

And the reviews of this podcast are in: