Writing to Be Found

Writing titles is not for selling and not necessarily for marketing. It’s not copy writing. It’s for getting found by the eBay search engine. That’s its sole function. (Of course the striving to get found is itself a marketing technique.) Consequently, titles are much easier to write than copy for auction ads.

Simple and Direct

What does a title for one of your products need to do? A few important ideas should prove useful. The title should:

• Completely identify the item

• Contain appropriate keywords for the eBay search engine

• Indicate whether the item is new, and if used, indicate the condition

It’s that simple. Don’t try to make it more complicated. Notice that I didn’t say the following:

• Attract attention

• Hook prospective buyers • Start the sales process

Indeed, the need to use hype is a misconception that many eBay sellers—and not a few eBay authors—make. They ’re mistaken or not clear about the purpose of the title.

Let’s say you are selling a FastAction XT-90 digital camcorder, a well known brand and model. Prospective buyers get to the list of digital camcorders via the eBay search (i.e., keywords = digital and camcorder) or by working their way down through the category tree to the subsection Camcorders. If a potential buyer is looking for a FastAction XT-90, you want him to be able to immediately spot your title in the very long list of titles for camcorders.

The following title says it all:

FastAction XT-90 digital camcorder new

A prosepctive buyer can skim the list quickly and spot this title easily. You’ve done your job well. Once prospective buyers have found your ad, they will skim or read your ad copy. That’s where you make your sales pitch.

Anything that detracts from potential buyers finding your auction ad easily will result in fewer bidders and ultimately lower sales prices. For instance, look at some of the following titles:

FASTACTION XT-90 DIGITAL CAMCORDER NEW @WOW@ Fabulous Digital Camcorder*** !!! XT-90 great FastAction digital camcorder in the box!!! FastAction camcorder - award winning - new

The first is in all caps, which is hard to read. The second uses characters that interfere with skimming. In addition, it doesn’t say much that’s concrete. It doesn’t even include the brand or model number. The third is difficult to read due to the exclamation marks. “FastAction” and “XT-90” are separated and reversed and defy quick skimming. And what does “in the box” mean? It probably means new, but it could mean used but put back in the box. The fourth doesn’t identify the camcorder as being digital or by model number. Someone looking for a digital camcorder could assume that it’s an analog camcorder and would not be interested in it. “Award winning” is OK for an auction ad but not for a title; it doesn’t help identify the product. These titles will cost you potential buyers.

There’s no reason to make an art out of writing titles. They are straightforward. Just identify what’s for sale using words that potential buyers will use to search.

Keywords

And let’s have a few more words about keywords. If the title does not contain the appropriate keywords for an item, it won’t work well no matter how well it is written and typeset. eBay buyers search for items on keywords. You need to determine what the keywords are for an item and include them in the title. Using the proper keywords is by itself a productive maketing technique, particularly when you do it routinely for all your auctions.

Often the proper keywords are identical to the descriptive words you use to provide information on your product.

Perhaps you can’t spend a lot of time researching keywords when you sell just one item once. But when you plan to sell an item regularly, or when the item is a big-ticket product, you need to spend time figuring out what keyword(s) will sell the item best. Sometimes this isn’t as easy as you want it to be, but it’s worth doing. If a prospective buyer can’t find your item through normal eBay searching, your item might as well be nonexistent.

Getting found is the first step in the sales process. If your product doesn’t get found, nothing happens.

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