You probably have a few
Build A Niche Stores under your belt, but I wanted to show you how I go about building my
Niche Stores. It starts in the setup portion of the admin section. The store details section in the image to the left shows the number 2 in the category number. This is how I start all stores. This lets me build store pages one by one and be selective on what I want to build my store around. I want nothing left to default, because eBay sellers are lazy and will not properly list there items in the right places of category or sub category numbers. After getting this initial setup done, I move on to creating individual store pages. This is done by clicking on Store Pages button in the admin section and then Create Store Page Link.
The image to left is where the magic is done. I usually use the master category of where the bulk of the products are listed in as the sub category will likely cause you to miss out on displaying some great items. By using the master category number you are not limited to people putting items in the wrong sub categories. By using the search query section I can drill down into all sub categories including the master category to pull listings that meet my needs. I made an early post on the
eBay search commands and I suggest you use it. Another thing this will force you to do is create your own link title and link url for your page as well as having to create your own meta tags. This will make each store page unique as well and will ensure the surfer is finding the right product matches to meet their searches. Too many times people will continue to set up new stores by using all of the default settings and category trees and I really think you are shooting yourself in the foot by doing this. Another plus to building this way is that you are less likely to be affected by category number changes made by eBay. It still could happen if they change a parent category number, but not as likely. You can also add store pages at will if a new product or a higher demand for an item starts showing itself. You may also see in your traffic stats that people are finding your store by a specific search term, you could then quickly add a store page very quickly by using this process. I highly suggest you get into this habit of building your store pages going forward as I truly believe it gives you more control throughout your
Build A Niche Stores.
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You probably have a few Build A Niche Stores under your belt, but I wanted to show you how I go about building my Niche Stores. It starts in the setup portion of the admin section. The store details section in the image to the left shows the number 2 in the category number. This is how I start all stores. This lets me build store pages one by one and be selective on what I want to build my store around. I want nothing left to default, because eBay sellers are lazy and will not properly list there items in the right places of category or sub category numbers. After getting this initial setup done, I move on to creating individual store pages. This is done by clicking on Store Pages button in the admin section and then Create Store Page Link.
The image to left is where the magic is done. I usually use the master category of where the bulk of the products are listed in as the sub category will likely cause you to miss out on displaying some great items. By using the master category number you are not limited to people putting items in the wrong sub categories. By using the search query section I can drill down into all sub categories including the master category to pull listings that meet my needs. I made an early post on the eBay search commands and I suggest you use it. Another thing this will force you to do is create your own link title and link url for your page as well as having to create your own meta tags. This will make each store page unique as well and will ensure the surfer is finding the right product matches to meet their searches. Too many times people will continue to set up new stores by using all of the default settings and category trees and I really think you are shooting yourself in the foot by doing this. Another plus to building this way is that you are less likely to be affected by category number changes made by eBay. It still could happen if they change a parent category number, but not as likely. You can also add store pages at will if a new product or a higher demand for an item starts showing itself. You may also see in your traffic stats that people are finding your store by a specific search term, you could then quickly add a store page very quickly by using this process. I highly suggest you get into this habit of building your store pages going forward as I truly believe it gives you more control throughout your Build A Niche Stores.
15 comments:
Please tell me if I'm understanding this correctly. So you put a 2 in the category box under Store Details so that it won't prepopulate, and you are forced to create store pages one by one, right? In essence, you aren't saying you want two categories, but it simply prevents the script from pulling in everything from one main category right away?
(Also an FYI: a couple of times you refer to the images on the right, but they're on the left. Maybe it's just my browser?)
Bunny, Everything you stated is correct, down to the images being on the left. I had right on my mind I guess. LOL
Yes, this forces you to build your own pages as you see fit. This is very effective in building perfectly tailored niche stores.
If only I could learn my left from my right now!
Hey,
I love your blog, I am also working on a bunch of bans stores, and I have read about 75% of it.. and Reading your posts keeps me motivated. Plus I am learning lots.
I am doing the PPC approach (and I am getting pretty good at that), but I often think I should be working more on seo.
I have a question for you.
If you buy an old domain (with backlinks) and 301 it to your bans store... Would this help?
Keep up the good work
Depends if it is associated with the niche or not. Why not build a store on that domain? That makes more sense . I am not a fan of 301 a domain to another domain, especially if it has backlinks and traffic built in.
Cool beans here, very helpful, thanks a ton soggy :)
Dave: Your blog has become a must read. I think you've been posting a lot more lately and it's all been good.
I'd like to reiterate what soggy said: Custom pages are probably the most important part of building a store. It's a crucial part of the optimization that includes title tags, meta description, etc.
Cool. I think I'm starting to get it. :)
Great blog!! This is number 1 on my Google reader.
But I think I'm doing something wrong. The first part is exactly like your screen shot.
The second part: I created a new store page and entered 10 for Per Page, a master cat number, a single word Search Query, a Seller ID.
(I'm setting up a site for a power seller and want just their items) Save it and view it.
The page shows 4 items. I know they have 77 in this category. If I take out the seller id, I get all right items from all sellers. Replace the seller id and I'm back to just 4.
So I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
DUH!!
I just found that they only 4 auctions in that category. All the rest are BIN.
Am I correct in assuming that BANS doesn't pick BIN's?
Roy,
Are you sure the search term you are using is in the title of all the BINS? I am guessing as I do not know exactly what you are trying to accomplish without seeing it.
Here's what I'm trying to do.
I'm creating a custom store page for each store cat a power seller has.
Each store item title has at least one common word. Such as: 'Doll Clothes for Bitty Baby'. A custom store page with a search word of Bitty and the seller's id displays all of the appropriate items.
They also have dozens of items in the same store cat with Bitty in the title, however, these are all BINs.
I've tried check the Buy It Now Items Only option. But no items show up. I believe this came up on the BANS forum and someone had mentioned that BANS doesn't do BINs.
Just did a search and came up with:
http://buildanichestore.com/members/viewtopic.php?t=12344&highlight=bins
It looks like BINs are not part of the ebay RSS feed.
Thanks for the response on the buying old domains... I should have been more specific
Do you think it
would it be better to buy 8 niche specific aged domains (with some nice backlinks), and point them all to my main bans store in that category, hopefully making a run at the SERPS.
Or launch 8 new stores and see what sticks.
Hey buddy, just tried that out with putting a 2 on the setup tab of my bans admin. It is working fine including the content pages but my store pages aren't showing up anymore. Any particular reason for that behaviour?
Manuel Merz. once you change it to 2 on an existing store, it lets you populate your own store pages. once you removed the category number those pages are dropped. remember that bans is dynamic database driven. i suggest my method on new stores going forward.
I've just discovered BAN's and this forum. Thanks for all the info.
I'm considering buying the BAN software and starting the journey to building affilate eBay sites.
What would you think of developing around the domain "OnlineTicket.com" which gets 20-30 unique type-ins per day- with 40% coming from Tailand and Asia.
Thanks and see you guys soon and much more often.
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