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Kids and Online Marketers

by: Tom Dean

Kids and Online Marketing

I�m sure many online marketers have kids and they often come over to the desk when you are busy working online to ask questions like �what are you doing dad/mom� etc.

How many of us actually tell them what we are doing or better yet show them?

I have been guilty of being �to busy� to answer questions or saying not right now daddy�s busy.

All this changed the first time I actually took the time to explain to my daughter just exactly what I was doing.

My daughter has some �challenges� that I won�t go into here but the result of me explaining a little bit of what I do and why to her has been no less than inspiring to me.

She took an interest in this whole marketing thing, especially wondering why people buy things and what makes them buy one item instead of a similar one.

We have had lots of conversations about this and looked at lots of products and ads, everything from tv, ebay, online sites and even the wso�s on the forum. We�ve discussed Christmas and observed the transformation of stores and tv ads during the holiday season.

She has learned a lot about.

* Integrity and honesty in promoting a product and many of the various ways to get the attention of the viewer.

* How a buyer that feels fooled or cheated won�t be back and will tell people they know not to buy from you.

* Wanting to belong to a group� � she was sitting next to me when I signed up for the Alliance forum and witnessed first hand how building anticipation and exclusivity can work.

* Selling something you are passionate about - how it won�t seem like work and you will probably have a better chance of success when the passion you have for a product show�s through.

Soon all these evening conversations and lessons lead to Stephanie wanting her own website to sell something from.

First she needed some money to launch her site. At the time I was an active power seller on ebay. Her little brother Thomas James was really into Bionicles (a toy) and was always cruising ebay looking for a deal on the latest Bionicle. One night we were at Wal-Mart and as usual in the Bionicle section with Thomas. The little toys were on sell at less than half price. Stephanie suggested that we could buy them and sell them on ebay. We did, we bought them all and sold almost all of them at retail or above. She helped design the ad and suggested posing some out of the boxes for pictures and was involved in the design of the auction ad. Enough was made to start her website. More ebay auctions followed to raise a few more dollars.

After some discussion Stephanie decided what she wanted her website to be about.

She decided on:

* The pet niche � an area she is definitely passionate about (three dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, fish and turtles make their home with us).

* She picked out several private label products and click bank products to promote.

* She chose the domain name freepettips.com

* She bought the website to use a starting point for her site (she picked it out from ebay for $25). You can see the beginnings here. http://tomdean.net/Pets (it�s not finished this is just the starting point) but it will be up and running soon on her domain.

Her site will be online soon and will include private label products about dog care, click bank products, resell rights products for dog/cat recipes, articles, adsense, and two of her very on products written for her but based on what she wanted them to include. One is on buying and caring for hamsters the other is on guinea pigs and includes plans for the guinea pigs home and an outdoor guinea pig play box. Of course I will be the one to finish up the site and get it on the web but the concept, product selection, chosen design and her products were all decided on by her. Think of all she will be learning from this process that she is involved with every step of the way.

Many of her own graphics will be used on the site and in the products. She went from coloring graphics with crayons (her other passion) to drawing them in a paint program using a pen mouse that she purchased from her ebay proceeds.

All of this from dad just answering some questions and deciding not to say �I�m busy right now�.

I know we all get busy and stressed especially when that site is just not working out or your latest mailing didn�t do much for you. But take some time when the little one ask what you are up to. You may be surprised by how much they are really interested in what you are doing and how much your time means to them. You will also be surprised with what they can teach you if you just listen.

* My daughter is 11. She is currently taking art class and learning to draw online with a mouse pen using photo impact and ms paint along with getting her website ready to launch.

Tom
(A proud dad)

About the author:
Tom Dean publishes the Viral Marketing Newsletter.
You can get Free Templates-Tools-Headers Complete Websites at his website

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Getting Great Deals on EBay
by: Lorraine Venner

I love getting a deal. I try to smell them out from miles away. I love frequent garage sales, flea markets, closeouts, and more -- but found that I could much better by simply buying through online auctions - if I shop carefully.

Getting a deal out of EBay auctions is an art. Buying from auctions can be a costly proposition or a very economical option depending on your tactics. Buy wisely by learning from my (sometimes costly) experiences.

1. Is the Seller Trustworthy?

Both EBay and Yahoo auctions have seller ratings. Read these and their associated reviews. If the seller has a great rating from buying and a poor one from selling, you probably don't want to buy from them. Look at both praises and complaints as they may or may not apply to what you are bidding on.

2. Read the Description Throughly

It is very easy to read what you want to see in an Ebay auction rather than what is actually written there. Read both what is in the Ebay description and what is NOT in the description. Often your mind will want to fill in details with what is your dream interpretation. You need to re-read the description until you find out whether what you are searching for and what the seller is selling match.

* Used or New?

Is the item you are buying used or new? If it doesn't say new, you are most likely buying something that is used.

* Real or Fake

Is the item you are interested in "real" gold, sterling silver or pearls? For example, a description saying: "gold necklace for sale" does NOT say 14 kt gold or 18kt gold. That most likely means a gold COLORED necklace which may or may not have actual gold metal. This also applies to pearls as many call plastic fake pearls simply "pearls".

If the seller is selling beads, those beads could be plastic, glass, stone, scrap metal, crystal, chips, wood, clay, gemstone or some other material.

* Item Details

Does the EBay description really say how much you are getting, how long the item is, and quality of the item? Selling by the pound can be a great deal - or a horrible deal.

* Beware of Hidden Costs

Look at shipping and handling costs. I've seen many penny auctions that have $13 or more shipping. Some auctions even have handling fees.

* How Fast Will it Ship?

I've been seeing a fair amount of auctions that note that the product will ship in 2 months or that shipping time is 2 months. If you are buying for a particular holiday, be sure that you will get the item in time.

3. Is it a Bargain For You?

Many times an EBay auction will say that the items are "worth $XXX". In many cases, that price is inflated. Often you can find similar items much cheaper tah "$XXX" at normal stores. (However, the auction price may still be cheaper than you can by elsewhere - it really helps to know how much you usually pay for items!) If you are only interested in some of the items in an auction, adjust your bid to reflect how much you are willing to pay for just those items unless you plan to sell the rest as that is how much you would pay for it elsewhere.

4. Auction Fever

Compare prices on the net at the same time to avoid overpaying. Know that usually you can get the item later elsewhere. Wise buyers know to walk away when the price is higher than the item is worth to them.

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