5 days in and I got my first eBay commission via BANS
July 12, 2008
So I started setting up a couple of BANS sites on my newer blogs that actually discuss product-related topics.
It seemed a natural fit.
I talk about products.
So why not point people to relevant product links on eBay?
I did this at the beginning of my 90 day internet marketing plan and voila, five days later I got a commission for $5.56 from eBay.
For those not familiar, BANS is a really cool tool that is under $100 and gives you an unlimited license to create eBay affiliate stores.
There are many uses for a BANS site that make it a wise investment.
Here’s a couple ideas for you:
BANS Use #1: Parked Domains:
Usually if you buy a domain and just let it sit on a typical GoDaddy parked page it looks something like this:
GoDaddy and other domain registrars do this when you don’t point a domain name to your own hosting company. It usually happens by default.
But it sucks.
Why?
Because (1) You’re not making any money with it, and (2) GoDaddy is making money by serving their own advertisements, getting backlinks to their domain registrar services, and building their own traffic.
On your dime!
Forget that. Build your own folks. You can do it in less than an hour. If you have done some keyword research, you will undoubtedly have a couple of domain names that you want to use but simply don’t have the time now. Instead, use your BANS software to create YOUR OWN parked page and deep six the GoDaddy one.
Here’s an example of a parked page I built:
What you see there (July 2008) is the DEFAULT installation of BANS software. It literally took me all of about 20 minutes to set it up. Coincidentally, this is also the site from which I received my $5 commission.
Once I add the promotional copy on the homepage and the subsequent category pages (BANS lets you customize EACH category page) I will have a keyword rich, useful site for people interested in lap steel guitars. (I’m a musician so music-related keywords is a niche I am always interested in learning.)
BANS Use #2: eBay Affiliate Store
This is how many people use BANS and it is what it is ideally suited. You can build a complete turnkey affiliate store simply by plugging in your eBay affiliate ID.
I have a sheet music site that I am slowly working on, and you can see it evolve now. Click around and notice how the categories are written with SEO-friendly URLS and room for total customization of the category text:
(As of July 12, 2008 the site is still in it’s generic install mode. By the end of July there should be a highly customized sheet music site.)
Why Am I Excited About A Measly $5?
Mainly because I haven’t even started driving traffic to my sites yet. I have only had a total of 60+ clicks and I snagged a sale.
I am fully confident this is going to go gangbusters soon when traffic starts moving towards those blogs more.
In the coming weeks I will begin offering some of my strategies for driving traffic to the BANS sites. In the meantime use the links below to get your sites setup so you’ll be ready to put these strategies to good use.
- Build A Niche Store Software:It’s under $100 and it also has an unlimited license - which means you can use it over and over again on any number of sites. (Update: I didn’t even know this when I bought it, but the site also says when you own the software you get free updates for life. I am a new BANS user and never used the old version, but apparently this new version is MUCH improved over the previous.)
- Register at eBay: Chances are you already have an eBay account. If not, the link listed will take you to the eBay Registration Page.
- My parked domain site using BANS software: lapsteel.org
- My sheet music site: iLiveMusic.com
Posted in Internet Marketing
July 16th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
That’s some good information. Thanks! I hadn’t heard of the BANS before, but I will check it out. I haven’t re-signed as an affiliate with eBay since they switched from CJ, but this may be something worth considering signing back up!
July 17th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I’m glad it helped DCR. I’ll be providing a BANS and 90-Day Plan update soon and will offer a few more tips. Thanks so much for stopping by. One thing I like about the new eBay partners program is the almost real time reporting (I say almost because I think the reports run every few hours - I haven’t researched the ACTUAL numbers). You don’t need to wait til the next day to see what your sales were - which can be a boon for $$$ if the reports show something is selling hot.
Thanks for stopping by!
July 31st, 2008 at 10:37 am
[...] ourselves and push our writing skills to the limits. I have been writing a ton of articles for my BANS sites and have developed a good rhythm for writing articles quickly. I want to practice writing [...]
August 2nd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Interesting indeed. I’m going to try this out since I have a dozen or so domain names not doing anything. Thanks for the tip!
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:24 pm
OK…I splurged and got my first site up and running. I’m still waiting on my eBay affiliate application to go through, but the BANS software was a breeze to set up. I’m going to spend some time figuring out all the options now. Thanks again for the recommendation — I hope this works out!
The store is here: http://wxgeeks.com/
See you on Twitter.
Will