I've finally worked it all out!!!

mrs_sparrow

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Is this true? Are you saying Google will only cache sites that do advertising for them?

If this is true, the almighty Google has lost it, and other search engine's results will gradually start to become far more interesting and representative than Google's.

Yes, I used to get a good 80 orders a week from my website - I did not have to sell on eBay. paid ads came in and sales ended from that day. Then I ended back on eBay and look where I am now.

If you search for something I sell - branded clothing - the only sites that appear in Google shopping are Very, Littlewoods (same company), Debenhams and the other big high street stores. None of the smaller retailers get a look in.

mrs_sparrow

RFW wrote: »

Ask them to call you. They're mostly well informed and helpful. The only time I've dealt with an idiot on Amazon CS was as a buyer. You need pre approval for clothing but not sure of what you need for that.

Busy day the last 2 days but I am now verified, I am listing my first items tonight on Amazon.

mrs_sparrow

RFW wrote: »

Google changed their requirements for search earlier this year. It works better for organic searches (ie sites that update and post a lot) rather than ones that engineer links, one of the areas Ebay fall down on.

I send my items up and, what happens, is it removes the links from the previous upload, and then loads them all in again. I've had one sale in the last month. And one from a private off site/ebay sale customer that buys from me and has a permanent discount code because of that. I've just downgraded my site as I cannot justify paying the money I was.

mrs_sparrow

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

You can still be found, but way down the results.

The solution is making daily changes.

I am talking about Google Shopping.

I can put in something that I sell and, despite my links being upload and approved, my store does not appear on the 'Google Shopping' results page.

As an example - I sell a 'Panache Isobel bikini' on both my website and on eBay (different colours on each site), if I enter that term Google shopping neither my website, nor my ebay store, appear in the search results. If you go to the left of the page you can see the list of sites that have been picked up as a seller and if you drop the list down by clicking 'more' I still do not appear on there.

However, I have noticed that other big eBay sellers and their websites do not appear on that list either.

Why is that??

mrs_sparrow

giantmutantbroccoli wrote: »

Adwords aren't that expensive to run however, especially given that you can pre-pay and set your daily budget and your maximum cost you'll pay per click. You're already paying eBay, if you're going to give up eBay why not pay adwords instead?

Because the £60 monthly store cost does not even compare to the £1200 a month that Google 'recommend' I pay. Their 'suggested' CPC is 34p. I have tried to put a lower amount but, for whatever reason, they will not approve my ad with my lower amount. To be frank, I do not have that kind of money to play with. £60 a month is going to get me £2 a day credit with Google.

£10 a day credit is £300 a month. However, you are not guarenteed that someone will buy from you on CPC so you could spend that money and not get a single sale. I guess it depends on how rich you are.

I've had my website for years and the community over there is well aware that you have to pay if you want exposure.

However, if you pay you will be given priority in the search results. This is true whether people choose to believe it or not, but it depends on what you sell - there are 2000 companies selling what I sell, I am at the bottom of a very long list.

giantmutantbroccoli

£ 1200 a month?! I don't pay that much and some of my keywords are £2 a click! Have you tried phoning adwords for advice? They were very helpful to me when I first set my account up. There's a lot you can do to make the most of a small budget- picking more specific keywords which less expensive, for example, or using rules to concentrate your budget into a few days when you know people usually buy more.
Your monthly spend on ebay fees would include selling fees as well as shop fees, would that give you a bigger budget to work with?
There is a lot of useful advice available online for free that can help you with seo. I have had quite a bit of success with tactics that didn't involve spending money, so it's not simply a matter of paying Google to turn up higher in results.

ballisticbrian

Yes, I used to get a good 80 orders a week from my website - I did not have to sell on eBay. paid ads came in and sales ended from that day. Then I ended back on eBay and look where I am now.

If you search for something I sell - branded clothing - the only sites that appear in Google shopping are Very, Littlewoods (same company), Debenhams and the other big high street stores. None of the smaller retailers get a look in.

I hear you, and I feel very strongly about this. The day that a few big corporations run the world will be the completion of what we see already occurring ; a modern day form of slavery.


This is why it was so wrong that ML sold this site to a corporation.


We the public need places to speak up about this.


Small business is actually a bastion of freedom and the internet is also a technological revolution of power to people. The day a big corporation (Google) turns to represent the (minority) big corporations, and not the people, they are putting nails in their own coffin. Why? Because the free market dominated by the power of people will always eventually over power attempts to constrain that market and therefor to me, what you describe google doing is the very start of it's demise.


Is anyone speaking up about this?

mrs_sparrow

giantmutantbroccoli wrote: »

£ 1200 a month?! I don't pay that much and some of my keywords are £2 a click! Have you tried phoning adwords for advice? They were very helpful to me when I first set my account up. There's a lot you can do to make the most of a small budget- picking more specific keywords which less expensive, for example, or using rules to concentrate your budget into a few days when you know people usually buy more.
Your monthly spend on ebay fees would include selling fees as well as shop fees, would that give you a bigger budget to work with?
There is a lot of useful advice available online for free that can help you with seo. I have had quite a bit of success with tactics that didn't involve spending money, so it's not simply a matter of paying Google to turn up higher in results.

I sell 1500 products (and that is without the clearance, you can add another 2500 onto that), the competition is very high in the market I sell. Ridiculously high. There are no real specific keywords for what I sell, apart from the obvious ones and they have a 'recommended CPC' of £6.86.

I have tried setting a CPC allowance of £2 a day - the same as my ebay store price - but it has been refused. Have I called them? No, I don't have the time as I am moving over my stock to Amazon and, as a sole trader, I also have to have a life.

I have decided I am tired of working all possible hours for no money so I am putting little effort in - I will list it, if it sells, it sells, if it doesn't it does not matter as I have enough to pay the bills out of my personal money. I figure I have a month of work now to get my site, Amazon and eBay listed and then I am just going to let things run as they are.

My eBay sales used to be £1200 a week or more - this week, £199 and I have MORE items for sale today than I did back then.

I would not include the monthly fees (which have whittled down to very little now anyway) as when you sell something on eBay, yes you have fees, but you are guaranteed to take in some money - on Google, you are not as you get charged for the click, whether they purchase or not.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

ballisticbrian wrote: »

the internet is also a technological revolution of power to people.

The internet is the opposite, it appeases the masses by letting them express their worthless opinions to the world thus convincing them that they have a voice, when really no one is listening.

Modern day slavery is already here and as long as the world is based on greed and owning as much as possible (which ultimately comes down to fulfilling our desire for power), it always will be. It's simply a part of our nature and nothing will change that, certainly not in our lifetime.

mrs_sparrow

ballisticbrian wrote: »

Is anyone speaking up about this?

How? By not giving them the money they want? Then yes, I am.

Same as eBay, I am downgrading my store - however, have to keep some stuff listed on there as I have nowhere else to sell it.

I am still trying to get my head around Amazon, LOL. I am half way though a listing with variants.

I see no-one selling one of these particular items that I sell on there, however, on eBay there are 20-30 people competing for a sale. Fingers crossed!!