More eBay Tips

I’ve picked up so many bargains that it goes without saying that I am a BIG fan of eBay. One of my favourite eBay sections is Books, Comics and Magazines. I do a lot of reading and will often find a book for a fraction of the price it would cost in a shop.

But it pays to remember that not every item on eBay is sold for a bargain price and sometimes, when there is competitive bidding, an item will even fetch more than the retail value. So it’s always wise to check up on an item’s worth before entering your bid.

My preferred method is to run a search at Amazon and then check out both the Amazon retail price and also the ‘new and used’ section. Quite often I’ve had a pleasant surprise and found a brand new copy of a title at a fraction of the price.

Of course, you should always add on the cost of postage and packing when determining if you’ve found a bargain or not as there are still some sharks out there who will take advantage with inflated costs.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Recently, I was contacted by the owner of a work from home website offering me what on the face of it appeared to be a joint venture opportunity. I read the proposal and admit to being quite interested in getting involved – all I had to do was distribute an eBook with my affiliate links embedded in it, and in return I would receive a good percentage from every reader who signed up for the members only website. As I have several ways of making eBooks available it sounded like easy money, so I sent off a quick email with a couple of questions about terms etc.

It is now nearly a week since I sent the email and I have yet to receive a reply.

Now I know there could be a thousand genuine reasons why there was no reply, but it strikes me that if I am to trust this person to pay me for my efforts then some communication would be in order. After all, they went to the trouble of drafting a personal email in the first place, so it shouldn't be so difficult to respond to my questions.

But regardless, I think there is something to be learned from this experience. With such an overwhelming number of get rich quick scams on the Internet it is easy to get suspicious of the intentions of others. So whether making or receiving a JV offer, it is imperative to gain the trust of your prospective partner. Regular emails and prompt replies can go a long way to achieving this. And above all, make sure you put your money where your mouth is and deliver!

So, was this an attempt at another scam? Or simply a breakdown in communication? Answers on a postcard please...

The Secret Gold Hidden In Articles

Do you have a money-making website? Have you ever even considered setting up your own money-making website? It's really not that difficult and it is a great buzz when you see the profits adding up. There are different ways of going about it, you could set up a site to sell products, or earn commission from helping to sell other people's products. But after the initial excitement of working out your money-making idea and then putting it into action, the problem arises of how to get traffic to your website. You can simply use pay-per-click advertising to get traffic, but the expense can exceed any profits you might make, and there are cheaper and even free alternatives...

One of the best ways of promoting your website is to submit articles on the subject of your website content. There is more than one benefit to this; your name becomes familiar as an expert in your field, and your website link gets seen and clicked on. If you have written a particularly good article, then other webmasters will pick it up and use it on their website or perhaps in an ezine; meaning more people will see your name and click on your link.

Naturally, the more articles you submit and the more places you submit to, then the more exposure your website link is going to get (with the obvious increase in traffic to your site!). But submitting all of your articles manually eats away at your precious time and keeps you away from adding fresh content or hot new products to your website. It's a catch 22 situation; obviously you need to promote your business, but you also need to grow it too.

The good news is that there are services that will submit your articles for you to thousands of different article directories. You upload your article once, and then watch for the traffic that arrives at your website as a result. Easy! But as we all know, any service that makes life easier has a price to pay, and article submission services are no exception. One of the best I have found though is Article Marketer which even offers a free (albeit reduced) service. I have used it with excellent results, so have no difficulty in recommending it.

So, in conclusion; if you want to increase the traffic to your website, then consider articles as a way of promotion, oh and don't forget to check out Article Marketer to make the job a lot easier.

Free Memories You Can Share

I love my digital camera.

Compared to the days when I had a 35mm SLR with assorted lenses, flash unit, filters and accessories, the ease with which I can carry it about is fantastic. It fits snugly inside my pocket and I don't have a huge sack full of accessories to take with me just in case the circumstance arises where I might need one of them. Plus I don't have to send my film off for processing before I can see the results of my labour. I can preview shots at the scene and then upload them to my PC for more critical viewing as soon as I get home. Isn't technology great?

There is one drawback though... It's not as easy to share my efforts with friends and family as it used to be when I had a nice wallet full of prints. Ok, I might have been accused of being a photography bore on occasion as I passed around the results of my trip to scenic Skegness or wherever, but the accessibility of prints is without question. I've tried printing my digital photos at home, even using the glossy paper and everything, but the results never seemed quite right.

I decided then to investigate the best ways of getting my digital photos professionally printed, and being the cheapskate that I am I also wanted a low cost service. Obviously my first point of call was to search the Web for "digital photo prints" - I also limited the search to UK sites so that I didn't end up with millions of results for services in far flung continents. After checking out the sites of several of the results I decided on a company I recognised from my 35mm film days as a low cost mail order processing firm.

The process was simple; I uploaded my pictures to their website, chose the quantity and size of prints, and then paid with my debit card via a secure payment page. As I was a first time customer I also qualified for 20 free prints (an unexpected bonus!) too. Two days later I received the prints in the mail - the quality was perfect, and I am a very satisfied customer.

So if you have a digital camera, and mourn the demise of photo prints, then use your favourite search engine and find yourself some free memories you can share!

Achieve Your Desires By Scoring Goals

Do you have a desire? Silly question I know because everybody has desires, just not the same ones. Of course there are many that most of us share like those old clichés of health, wealth, and happiness. But there are some that are exclusive to a certain group of people. For example; a musician may desire to play at the Albert Hall but have no interest in constructing his own website. But enough rambling, it’s time I got to the point.

Ask any successful person how they achieved their success and the answer will invariably be along the lines of first identifying the desire, and then achieving that desire by breaking it down into a sequence of smaller steps to be accomplished along the way. Only when these smaller steps have been identified and mapped out can the journey of achievement truly begin.

Sometimes the desire can seem monumental, perhaps even appearing unattainable. But just as conquering the highest peaks, or running a marathon begins with the first step and is followed by the second step, so too does the achievement of desire. If you can visualize the outcome, you can plan a strategy to achieve it. The strategy may have to be adapted along the way, but without it you achieve little.

The secret of achieving your desires then is to identify the steps you need to take - these are your goals and you should write them down. Sort them into long term goals and short term goals, like tasks you can achieve today, within the next week, this month, this year, and so on. Then work on what you can do now to accomplish one of these goals. When it is done you can tick it off the list and move on. Take time to congratulate yourself too because you just scored a goal!