Converting BANS Sites to the eBay Partner Network

I hate to admit this, but I still haven’t finished converting all of my BANS sites over to the eBay Partner Network (EPN). I meant to have all of them converted well before now, but with the death of my father and the entire family coming down with strep throat, things haven’t worked out as planned. Sadly I’ve only converted about 20% of my sites so far.

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How to Succeed with AdWords

A lot of people lose their shirts with AdWords. Well here is a method that can give you a much higher chance of converting into profits (although you can still lose your shirt if you spend more on advertising than you can afford):

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BANS 3.0 Tips and Tricks

Here are some helpful tips and tricks you can employ on your sites that use the Build a Niche Store 3.0 software:

Add a Privacy Policy
Not only does Google give your site more PageRank if your site has a privacy policy, but it’s actually required under both the Google AdSense and Commission Junction terms of service. So if you use either on your sites, you have to have a privacy policy.

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Writing Ads for USFreeads

If you have an account with USFreeAds, or have been considering getting one, you’ll want to check out Rochelle’s instructions for writing ads for USFreeAds. They’re slightly focused on BANS and the eBay affiliate program, but you can easily adapt the instructions for any type of ad.

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BANS Mod - Move Sitemap to Footer

Here’s an easy mod for Build a Niche Store 3.0 that removes the Sitemap link from the left or right navigation column, and places it in your footer instead:

1. Log into your admin area and go to the Content Pages tab.
2. Select Off beside

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BANS Mod - Default to Advanced Search

I recently developed my first mod for the Build a Niche Store 3.0 software. The mod makes the advanced search options visible by default. Here’s what I mean:

The image above shows the normal search that shows up Read more

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Getting Inbound Links to your Site

Mark from the Build a Niche Store Empire series recently posted about getting inbound links to your site, otherwise known as backlinks. In the post, Mark lists some excellent, high quality ways to get inbound links (which the search engines love). Here are a few more ideas that I’d like to add to the list:

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February BANS Update

Here’s my Build a Niche Store status update for February:

• I just got a check in the mail from Commission Junction for $97 and change.
• My pending balance is $29.42 and climbing. At least this is over the $25 payment threshold, so I’ll be getting another check next month.
• I created another new BANS site around

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BANS User Forum

Until this moment, I would have said nothing but positive things about the BANS user forum. I really have learned a ton there, and it’s a huge bonus that’s included with the Build a Niche Store software. Unfortunately, I just had my first bad experience there…

Now some may think this is ticky-tacky on my part, but someone wrote a long post about a recession and whatnot, and they had to throw in some jabs about the war in Iraq. I responded in a not-so-subtle manner that there were better places to talk about that stuff than the BANS forum. As expected, the response back was how it was posted in the “general discussion” board, and they had the right to talk about it.

I’m sure they’re probably correct that they have the “right” to talk about the Iraq war there, however having a “right” to do something isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. I mean, I have the right to be a jerk, but if I exercise that right… well that just means I’m being a jerk. See what I mean?

Enough digressing…

Maybe I overreacted, but I really don’t want to talk about politics or anything like that at a place like the BANS forum. I checked, and there are over 19 million forums that show up on Google that deal with politics. Certainly these would be better places to talk about such divisive topics. And I realize it was just one comment in one post, but where does the slippery slope end? Should we talk about Democrats versus Republicans, religion, abortion, class warfare… where would it end?

So I wrote back and basically said “goodbye.”

Did I overreact? I don’t know, maybe… probably… But the thread also made me realize that I was spending way too much time posting to that forum… time I should have been spending developing my affiliate marketing business. Time I could have used to build new BANS sites, optimizing and promoting them. Time I could have used to build up this blog (where I can truly help people).

So I think it’s a good thing this happened, because it made me realize I was spending too much time posting to the forum, and not enough time taking action on my business. Which leads me to a valuable lesson I’ve already learned in the past, but apparently keep forgetting…

Take action!

It’s so easy to get caught up watching another “how to” video… or participating in the “affiliate marketing forums”… or “learning” or “experimenting”…

Let me say unequivocally that there is nothing wrong with any of those activities. However if all you do is watch, post, learn, experiment, then you’re not taking action to further your business. There always comes a point where the learning has to stop, and the doing has to begin.

That time has come–yet again–for me.

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Build a Niche Store - Getting an Edge Over Your Competition

Here’s a great trick for getting an edge over your competition using your Build a Niche Store sites…

1. Go to Google Alerts and enter in a search term for your niche. For example, if your niche was the “Nintendo Wii” then your search term might be “Nintendo Wii” or maybe even just “Nintendo.”
    
2. Next tell Google what types of alerts you want. “News” is good if you just want to see news items relating to your niche. “Blogs” is a great way to stay updated on the latest blogging activity surrounding your niche. “Comprehensive” gives you everything. Just pick one and try it, you can always change it later.
    
3. Next tell Google how often you want the alerts. I suggest you choose either “once a day” or “once a week,” again depending on your own preference.
    
4. Finally enter in your e-mail address that you want Google to send the alerts to.
    

Now here’s how this gives you a jump on your competition…

Let’s say that Nintendo is coming out with a brand-new controller for the Nintendo Wii. It’s not out yet and won’t be released for a few months, but Nintendo has announced it early in order to start creating buzz. This controller is going to be hot, and you’re going to want to feature it on your BANS site once it comes out and there’s auctions for it on eBay, won’t you?

Well why wait! Do some keyword research or at least take your best guess on some good keywords for the new product (the actual product name itself does wonders) and create a new store landing page on your site for it. Configure it as though there were auctions for it on eBay, even if there aren’t any at the moment. Maybe even put some text on the page with information about the product. In the example I’ve been using, you’d go to Nintendo’s site and get information on the controller and add it to your store page.

Now here’s what you’ve just done… you’ve just created a keyword optimized store page on your BANS site for an upcoming product. Do you think the search engines are going to notice that? You bet they will. So when the product is actually released and available on eBay, you’ll already have an established store page that’s been indexed by the search engines. This gives you an advantage because the moment the product becomes available, you’ll already be positioned to get organic search engine traffic. In addition, as people search for the product before it’s released, they have a good chance of finding your store. Imagine… someone interested in the specs for the new upcoming controller finds your site and then orders something.

If you really wanted to take this up a notch, you could include an opt-in form inviting visitors to join your mailing list to get notified the moment the controller is available for sale. That way you can reel them back in when there are sales to be made, and you’ve just obtained a new lead for your mailing list that you can use for e-mail marketing.

Hopefully you can see the possibilities here, and maybe even come up with some creative ideas of your own. The point is that if you utilize Google Alerts to stay informed on the latest news and buzz surrounding your niche, you can use that knowledge to give yourself an edge over your competition.

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