Common Misconception with Video in Ecommerce

The most common misconception people have for internet audio and video applications are with their usage. More often, video with audio, or one of these alone, are viewed as materials for entertainment or leisure in the internet. This misconception is beginning to fade fast.

The most obvious reason is the way audio and video are used as teasers to wet the appetites of prospective customers. The best examples of all websites that use this method are the shopping websites. These websites that sell hot selling products will design their web pages in such a way that highlights of a whole movie are embedded within the web page. In this manner, they hope to persuade the browsing public, who view the partial material, to purchase the product. In simpler terms, a viewable movie trailer is added to the site.

For commercial vendor websites that primarily sell movies and music, video and audio utilities are an integral part of their marketing strategy. They understand that most people want to see and/or hear what they are buying. They know that using video and audio to show their merchandise to customers wins half the battle for them to get the customers to buy.

For websites that are focused on selling published materials like books and audio books, a few narrated passages or several sample chapters of the material encoded in audio files is a good way to encourage a customer to buy their product.
Furthermore, testimonials of previous customers have a better chance of being noticed than those that are just encoded in text. Most people usually go to a website for a specific reason. For example, one person wants to buy an independent video but he/she does not know which independent video vendor website to go to. This person will use a search engine to find what he/she needs. Once found, that person will go directly to the part of the website where the video he/she is looking for exists.

In cases like these, the home or welcome page is bypassed where, most likely, all of the testimonials are situated. With audio and/or video applications installed in the web site, the testimonials can be streamed to the customer automatically to whichever part of the website he/she is in. Of course, using audio/video streaming now to project your testimonials is a bit extreme at the moment. However, future technology will make audio/video streaming a material of lesser bulk in terms of data transfer. There will come a time when the whole internet can be browsed by vocal commands.

To get back to the subject at hand, the ability of being able to project your merchandise, testimonials, and other points you want your customers to be aware of, by using audio/video technology is limitless and powerful. A single video clip lasting around 10 seconds is no longer considered a huge burden as far as electronic data storage is concerned.

What can you, as an entrepreneur, place into a 10 seconds long video so that you can gain your customers’ trust or make them aware of your other merchandise? Now, 10 seconds is a relatively short time, but it is plenty enough time for people to convey several points of view. If a 10 second video is worth more that a lot of text writings, what more a video that is 20 or 30 seconds long?

Internet audio and video streaming technology is getting more and more sophisticated. All you have to do is look around you and you will see people watching videos and listening to music with their I-pods, MP3 and MP4 players. Incidentally, the best sources for their audio and video needs can be found on the internet. So, imagine all the audio/video data streaming, downloading and uploading around in the internet, and you will have a good idea of just how measly a 10 second video is in terms of today’s technology.

As I said, the use of audio/video streaming on the internet is a powerful marketing tool. However, the technology for it has matured enough in that audio and video files use more space from storage devices such as hard drives and I-pods. Already, hard drives of computers have transcended the megabyte barrier and are now storing gigabytes of data (one gigabyte = 1,000 megabytes).Thanks!

Make Money on eBay - Bad Feedback – What to do Next

You’ve been working to make money on eBay and things were going very well. Then the feedback came. It was from one buyer and it was negative. It might have said something like you didn’t communicate or the item was damaged and that the product you delivered was not as listed. That negative feedback will go right to the top of the feedback page.

You might ask yourself what negative feedback, whether earned or not can do to your business. The answer is a lot; and it won’t be good. In fact, almost instantly you will see sales plummet. The drop off won’t be subtle. It will be immediate and it will be intense. If you hope to make money on eBay then develop a plan of action that helps to minimize the likelihood that you will ever receive negative feedback.

Do everything in your power to over-communicate with prospective buyers as well as with the ultimate buyers of your listings. Don’t leave anything to chance. Explain what buyers can expect, what actions they need to take, as well as the timing for the steps that follow the actual auction. Over-communicating is a key step down the road to make money on eBay.

Always highlight potential issues. If an item is blemished, call that out in the listing and include a photo of the blemish. Don’t try to hide anything. eBay buyers are sophisticated and they set high expectations that sellers must meet if they hope to make money on eBay.

Be sure to examine your business practices periodically (And immediately if you are the recipient of negative feedback.). Look for changes that can be made to improve every aspect of your business. Focus on customer service and all of the steps that are involved with the actual transaction. Look for ways to provide value to customers. The time and effort that is invested in doing this will be key to achieving the goal to make money on eBay.

If you did receive negative feedback work to immediately address the issue. You will likely need to restart your business by listing very inexpensive items. Be sure to over deliver on all of your commitments and on the product itself. Expect that it will take time for your business to return to previous levels of performance.
Over time you can rebuild trust with positive feedback. Once that has been accomplished you will once again be on the path to make money on eBay.

To your eBay success!