In our last reseller e-mail we gave you tips on how to market your online jewelry reselling business. This week, we would like to continue with this theme and give you a few more valuable tips on how to market your online business reselling Bidz jewelry with banner advertising.

Banner Advertising
A banner ad is a form of advertising on the Web. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to your website.

The Web banners you create should function the same way as any traditional advertisements are intended to function: notifying potential consumers of your jewelry products and presenting reasons why the consumer should buy your jewelry.

• Once you have set up successful SEM campaigns, try buying some display advertising.
• A good place to start is Adbrite.com. Once you have gone through the initial simple setup, managing your account is very easy. With Adbrite you only pay for clicks.
• Another great place to start banner advertising is Turn.com. It also has an easy account setup and management system. With Turn.com, you can either pay for impressions, clicks or for buyers.

Where Can I Get a Designer for My Banners?

• Hire a freelancer at Elance.com. Be specific with what you want in your banners and communicate that with your freelancer.
• Or use this software (Free Trial) to quickly design professional looking banners yourself.

In our last reseller e-mail we gave you tips on how to start your own e-commerce business. This week, we would like  to give you tips on how to market your products.

Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing (or SEM for short) is key for having a successful online business reselling jewelry. Starting off with Google Adwords will not only help you learn SEM, but will make it easier when you open accounts with Yahoo! and MSN.

Google Adwords

• Easy set-up. No cost for an account.
• Start advertising to your customers for as little as $0.10 per click.
• Text or banner ads. There is no need for a designer! Use Google’s Display Ad Builder to create your banner graphics.
• Google offers great tutorials to get you started and also offers a complete look at how their tools can help your business grow.
• Google also offers free webinars. From writing more effective copy to marketing on YouTube, you will be sure to pick up some really useful tips here.
• Google Adwords Editor – Save tons of time managing your Adwords campaigns with this desktop application. You can download your entire account to your computer and then upload any changes.
• Once you have fine tuned your Adwords account, you can export your keywords to your Yahoo! and MSN account.

Yahoo! Search Marketing

• Text ads – no designer needed for banners.
• Import your Google Adwords campaigns.
• Get a $50 credit when you sign up (Yahoo! may expire it at any time)

MSN Search Advertising

• $5 to get started.
• Import your Google Adwords campaigns.
• Over 40 million unique users on their search.
• Define your target market and set your ad budget.

Setting up an online store isn’t too hard, especially if you have done the research and know where to start. We would like to give you a few pointers and make you aware of some things to look out for when selecting a shopping cart solution for your jewelry reselling business.

Monthly and Other Fees

Some shopping cart solutions have monthly fees, such as transaction fees and exceeded bandwidth fees. By being aware of those fees and keeping them at a minimum, your bottom line won’t be affected too much.

Shopping Feed Submission

Does your shopping cart support automatic listings to third party shopping marketplaces such as Google Product Search, Price Grabber, NexTag and Shopzilla? Not only is having a tool like this great, it will help increase your store’s visibility across these marketplaces with a click of a button.

Inventory

How many products can be uploaded to your store? Some shopping carts limit the number of items that you can have in your store at a given time. Make sure you select a cart that will give you enough room to grow.

Marketing Tools

Just having a shopping cart alone will not help you make more sales! You will need very specific Internet marketing tools to help you attract and communicate with new prospects, clients and affiliates on a regular basis to ensure your
jewelry reselling business is a success and grows beyond your financial dreams.

Look for a shopping cart that includes a mailing list program, an e-mail broadcasting service, ad tracking tools and statistics, an affiliate program and the ability to use custom forms & opt-in boxes to collect visitors e-mail addresses.

What support do you get?

Some solutions provide free 24/7 technical support, while others require you to pay for a yearly support or a pay-as-you-go program.

Payment Processing Options or Payment Gateways

With a payment gateway you can enable real-time order processing in your online store by acquiring a “merchant account” in a payment processing company. Most major payment gateways are compatible with many shopping carts. Take a look at Authorize.net, Cybersource and PayPal.

Recommended Shopping Cart Solutions:

Yahoo! Store:

• $100 credit with Yahoo! Search Marketing
• $50 Google Adwords credit
• $50 free traffic from Shopzilla
• Automatic submission to Yahoo! and Google
• Monthly starting Price $39.95

eBay ProStores:

• Monthly starting price $15.95

Amazon:

• Monthly fee $59.99

Volusion:

• Export Feeds to Third Party Shopping Marketplaces
• Free trial 14 days
• Google adwords credit
• Hosting Included
• Month to Month, no term contracts

Miva Merchant :

• FedEx, UPS, USPS shipping calculation
• Automatic updates