Simplify An eBay eCommerce Online Business

Danna Crawford

Automating your business online can help simplify a marketing plan. Many people that know me know how I speak a lot about simplifying this and simplifying that. I’m a strong believer in simplifying everything I do, including: Job Housework Family Online Time This thought process started back when I was in college. A good friend of mine sent me a letter with a tip that has stuck with me forever. My good friend “Lee” was giving advice about attending college and he made a comment for me to work hard and *simplify *my study habits. That thought process has stuck with me to this day and I am thankful that I had a friend that cared enough to give me some good solid advice which helped set the path for a successful future! After today …

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Simplify An eBay eCommerce Online Business

How to Market Yourself on eBay

Danna Crawford

I’ve had a few people ask me, ‘Danna, what do you sell on eBay?’ I give a smile while I answer the question, ‘I mostly sell myself on eBay!’ People will look at me kind of dumbfounded when I answer their question but the truth is, I am selling my consulting services on eBay! Many businesses overlook the possibilities of selling themselves on eBay. There are many different avenues of selling yourself on eBay depending on your services. A good way to get started is to think of how you could write an advertisement or a commercial for your business. Then condense that commercial into an eBay listing. EBay is not only the world’s largest online marketplace; it is also the world’s largest online marketing place! EBay is a brilliant tool f…

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How to Market Yourself on eBay

Please take another look

Michelle Lambert

Well hello all. I have some good news and bad news to report. Hurray for Miva : ) that’s for sure. I’m now very confident in the consistency of our server. I must give kudos again for the ease of transition and am now hitting myself over the head’ WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG???? Ahhh hindsight, always so crystal clear.
Now, I’ll tell you more good news. I know you’re on the edge of your seat.. we’ve paid most of our bills this month from the business and not our household accounts! Well, all but one small one. But we’ve had enough cash flow to almost break even this month, and I can breathe again. I can sleep again. And I can even hear a little bit of calm in Lee Ann’s voice, which although you don’t know her, is all but a miracle as a result…

Giving your customers what they want…ATTENTION

Kara English

In my business I expect the best, no exceptions. This goes for my business partner, my family and anyone that I do business with. That may make me seem like an awful person. I’m really not that bad. I just figure if you are going to put forth the effort, why not do the best that you can. When we started our business we knew what would make us stand out from our competition. It would be our US: our service, our attitude and how we would treat our customers. I know I blog about customer service a lot, I think that is because as much as SEO, email marketing, etc. is important to a the success of a business, SERVICE, the best service, is what keeps your customer coming back to you again and again. Right now over 30% of our business …

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Giving your customers what they want…ATTENTION

Little Entrepreneurs

Kara English

The other day my kids approached me and informed me that they wanted to start their own online business. They have a fantastic idea so I figured what the heck; this will be a great summer project. We sat down and brainstormed over lunch, and before I knew it we had been talking for over an hour. I was amazed at their ideas, their creativity and their passion for their idea. Watching and listening to them reminded me of my early days when I was building our first website. Before I knew it they had come up with a brand, a domain and a very basic business plan. We are now in research mode and the kids still haven’t lost sight of their goal. Since I started our business I have dealt with the guilt of being home, but feeling like I’m n…

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Little Entrepreneurs

Between a rock and a hard place

Michelle Lambert

I apologize for dropping out of touch for a bit. We’ve been in a very hard spot. We’ve been consulting with our lawyer and considering our options with Aplus.net. I REALLY didn’t want to have to move to that step. But what am I going to do when I can’t get my server to stay up and reliable? My website was down last weekend! And has been intermittently since my last blog. What am I supposed to do when Lee Ann and I are paying our business bills out of our households because my website won’t load? How do I pay my bills or even afford to move my website? I know if I was reading this blog on a regular basis I’d say ‘pull the site already!’ If I was on the outside of this looking in it’s so clear what needs to happen. So I’m going to try to …

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Between a rock and a hard place

Free Education and Networking (and I didn’t even leave the house)

Kara English

I apologize I haven’t been blogging a lot here on Practical Ecommerce. Our busy season has begun and of course I am in the never ending quest to keep up with the business, my kids, the house etc. etc. I wanted to blog about something that I experienced this weekend. I know many of us are work at home Moms or work at home Dads. I also know we all feel alone in our quest to run our business and balance our families. Many of our peers think we have it “easy”, and that because we are home we have the time to clean house, get the laundry done and of course prepare a healthy homemade meal each night. How many of you are laughing right now? If you are like me the laundry is piled on the floor screaming for attention (I swear its alive an…

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Free Education and Networking (and I didn’t even leave the house)

Someone throw us a life preserver.. We’re going down!

Michelle Lambert

It’s my server.. my server!!! I can’t believe what I’ve been through for the last few days.. I should really say the last three months. I was having some pretty significant lag times on my site, specifically my Miva pages. I’ve blogged over the last few months that things are slowing down, and we needed to put our thinking caps on. I assumed that this business was failing because of me and my lack of ingenuity. Maybe, to some degree, that’s true. I’m never without fault. But sometimes my optimism kicks me in the butt, and I don’t see what’s right in front of me. I just don’t see the obvious. That my server was keeping folks from shopping my site. I opened a ticket in November with my host, Aplus.net. We have a shared hosting plan for…

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Someone throw us a life preserver.. We’re going down!

Preparing for the Holiday Season

Kara English

With the holidays coming up fast I thought I would blog about something that happened to me a few months ago and how I plan on applying this experience to improve my business. Last Spring at the end of the school year my kids and I went shopping for teacher gifts. Our first stop was the local florist. My kids really wanted to give their teacher some flowers. They had big dreams of very large bouquets and arrangements. I had a budget. Not only was it the last week of school, it was also Memorial Weekend and Graduation for all of the area high schools. Busy times in our small town! As we shopped around the clerk approached me and asked if she could help. I explained that I was looking for teacher gifts, maybe a small flower arrange…

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Preparing for the Holiday Season

Things are looking up : )

Michelle Lambert

We have some new life to speak about.. THANK GOD! We have new customers coming into the site and things are looking up. I can’t believe I get to write that… things are looking up : ) When you start to lose your business it really throws you into a funk. And when subsequent attempts to revive don’t work.. an even bigger funk!
We’ve had over a year of that. Could this be a trend? I don’t even dare to type it. Our mailing list has grown, and that most definitely is why. I made the subscribe section more prominent on the site and in the weekly email I send out. Whenever we see an upturn I never want to trust it, even if the traffic is increasing by a very significant 25% off of our direct mail campaign. So not only are they subscribing,…

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Things are looking up : )

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