Dont miss this free report Mr. John Reese released

   http://www.income.com/blog/category/special-reports/

Long Overdue Praise For PayPerPost    BY JOHN REESE

Posted: Wed, 09 May 2007 08:08:32 +0000

  As many of my longtime ezine subscribers already know, I love to travel.

Well, in the past 10-12 months I've done a lot of traveling.  I took trips to Japan, Scotland, England, France and Italy.

 And I finally made it to China for the first time.  Unfortunately, I got really sick and it ruined the trip.

I went on all those trips because I was feeling a bit burned out from all the business projects I had going on.  I desperately needed to get as far away from the computer as possible.  So I did.

While I was away I had a lot of time to think...  to figure out what was and wasn't making me happy in my life.  I did some serious soul-searching.  And as I previously wrote in my ezine, I decided to pick just one project and get out of the rest - to keep from going insane and to be able to focus on doing one thing great rather than several things fair.

As a serial entrepreneur this is something I have battled with my entire life.  There's never a shortage of opportunities and it's just too easy (especially online) to try and conquer multiple projects at the same time.  But it rarely turns out as well as it would have to just focus on ONE project.  So I had to make a major change...

That decision process led me to take my 'side business' of teaching Internet Marketing and to focus on helping as many people as I possibly could with it.  And that's exactly how Income.com came about.

But while I was traveling around the globe I still took time out to check email here and there as well as catch up on my favorite blogs and other news sources.  (Internet cafes rule.)

During the time I was away a major FIRESTORM of controversy hit the ‘Net.  Blogs all over the world were going crazy.  People were getting fired up.  Mainstream media outlets got involved.  It was nuts.  And it was all concerning one little startup company...

PayPerPost.

If you're not familiar with them, PayPerPost is an advertising network that pays bloggers to post ‘reviews' of products and services on their blogs.  Products and services that belong to the other side of PayPerPost's system, their advertisers.

I believe there were essentially TWO things that got people really heated over the launch of this new company...

1.  It was encouraging people to post ads within blog posts.  Many hardcore blog readers think of blog posts as pure content written by the author(s) that run that specific blog.  There are plenty of other places to display ads on a blog layout - on the sidebars, headers, and footers.  At least that's what the popular reaction was to this new business model.  Many said it was another form of "blog spam" regardless of point #2 below.

2.  The blogger was not required to disclose that they were being compensated to post the review.  It was left up to the blogger to decide if they should disclose that they were getting paid to post their review, or to just post the review and let their readers decide for themselves if they thought it was a regular content post or not.

Shortly after PayPerPost's launch, BusinessWeek ran an article titled, Polluting The Blogosphere.  In the article, Jon Fine basically rips PayPerPost a new one and more or less implies that the whole process is DISHONEST and poisonous for the Internet.  His harsh stance was based around the lack of required disclosure.

Many other bloggers chimed in and expressed their negative thoughts neck-snapping-reactions about how EVIL PayPerPost was for creating such a business model.  The majority of this negativity also focused on the disclosure (or lack thereof) issue.

Some of these bloggers were some of the most respected (and most visited) bloggers online - like Michael Arrington and Jeff Jarvis.

Once these "A-List" bloggers started bashing PayPerPost it couldn't get any worse for this little company.

Or could it?

Introducing... Jason Calacanis.  The self-appointed PayPerPost Bash-Fest Commander-In-Chief.  More on that in a moment...

Jason is an old school ‘Net guy.  He was the founder and editor of a magazine called the Silicon Alley Reporter.  It covered Internet and other new media companies in the NY area.  It was actually pretty solid stuff.  In the late 1990s, if you read SAR, Business 2.0, Wired magazine, and a few other trade journals, you had the entire Internet Universe well covered.

Jason co-founded Weblogs Inc. and sold it to AOL for $25 million.  He was also the GM of Netscape at one time.

I actually have a lot of respect for Jason.  As many of my ezine readers know, one of the traits I respect most is hard work.

The true hard workers are few and far between.  Most people just want to do the bare minimum.  And this is no exception when it comes to entrepreneurs - many of which never actually take much action.  They spend most of their time planning and dreaming.

Jason has worked very hard and has made some important contributions to the Internet industry.  I respect that.

But don't let Dr. Evil fool you.

Jason pretty much took it upon himself to try and rid the Internet of PayPerPost - and he set his sights on Ted Murphy, the Founder/CEO of the company.

Jason has bashed Ted Murphy and PayPerPost at every opportunity he could find.  And he was downright brutal at times.

He was yet another blogger that had a huge issue with the optional disclosure policy of PayPerPost - i.e. their bloggers were supposed to police themselves and decide if they should or shouldn't add a "Disclosure Statement" on their blogs to clarify that their ‘review' posts were paid advertisments.

For the record, I believe these bloggers should have to post a disclosure statement if they are making posts that they are being compensated for.

And I actually side with Jason in his opinion that each of these paid posts should start with some sort of disclosure, even a small one, at the top of the post.  It's similar to the fine print "ADVERTORIAL" you often find in a magazine.

You know, that full page ad that looks just like the articles in the same publication; yeah, the hundreds or thousands you've probably glanced at and never even noticed that tiny "disclosure" and still to this day think it was a legit article.

If it's not perfectly clear that a blog post is a paid ad (or ‘review') then that actually could be a form of deception - because blog readers naturally expect to be reading content that isn't a paid ad.  And if their natural expectations aren't being met (especially without them knowing it) they are essentially being ‘tricked'.  It's a very fine line.

PayPerPost eventually changed their policies and now requires their bloggers to have a disclosure policy on their blogs.  It's not necessarily a disclosure within each post (unless the blogger chooses to do so) but it is a required, published disclosure on the site that states they are being compensated for some of the posts they are making.

Part of me (through this entire 'saga') wished that PayPerPost had launched their company with the disclosure thing in place to start with.  Then they wouldn't have had to deal with the huge backlash and negativity, right?

 BZZZZZZZZZZ WRONG.

I would bet anything that they still would have experienced the massive backlash and negativity.  It might not have been on the same scale, but it still would have happened.

Why?

Because many of the ‘complainers' were primarily pissed about...

...the concept of ADS APPEARING IN BLOG POSTS.

Or worse, an advertisement actually taking up an entire blog post.

Think about it... phrases like ‘polluting the blogosphere' and ‘the last thing we need is more blog spam' have absolutely, positively nothing to do with disclosure.

NADA. ZILCH. NOTHING.

It's a mindset, and a reference (even if a subconscious one) that screams...

"I Don't Want To See A Bunch Of Advertisements In The Form Of Blog Posts All Over The Internet!"

Can anyone honestly say that if PayPerPost (from the beginning) had all their bloggers start each post with the small text, "ADVERTORIAL" or "PAID REVIEW" that there still wouldn't have been a backlash against them?

A backlash was inevitable.

This is exactly what happens when someone creates a Disruptive Business Model.  And this is what PayPerPost did.  They shook up the blogosphere.

Hahahaha.  I'm sorry, I have to actually laugh outloud...

Blogosphere.

I crack up when I read or hear that term.  A lot of the blogger purists like to throw that word around... these are the bloggers that actually think they somehow live online in their own controlled universe. 

It reminds me of a great quote from Shawshank Redemption... when Red is facing the parole board at the end of the movie...

Red: Rehabilitated? Well now, let me see. You know, I don't have any idea what that means...I know what you think it means. To me, it's just a made-up word, a politician's word so that young fellas like yourself can wear a suit and a tie and have a job.

I think the same thing when I hear certain people (not all) throwing around the world blogosphere like it's this thing they govern or have ownership over.

Here's a little secret for those folks... it's just a made up word.

There's another major issue with some of the anti-capitalists and purists that were so quick to bash PayPerPost and their model... and here's a major NEWSFLASH they all need to realize...

IT'S NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS WHAT SOMEONE ELSE CHOOSES TO PUT ON THEIR BLOG!

Someone can make every post an advertisement AND have a non-stop Flash animation of donuts bouncing around their nav menu.  It's THEIR BLOG.  How dare they try and tell them they can't post paid reviews of products or fill their blogs with ads. 

They can do whatever they want!

It was like the implications were that PayPerPost was enslaving bloggers to make paid posts. 

And somewhere in the middle of all the heated discussion there was a huge FACT being overlooked... thousands of bloggers were willingly signing up at PayPerPost and were happy about participating.

Again, it's their blog, they can do whatever they want with it.  The Mighty Blogosphere doesn't get to decide what they should or shouldn't put on their blog.

Jane, a work-at-home mother with two small kids, writes a blog about bird watching and has the right to post anything she wants on her blog.  If she chooses to post a paid review on her site, or put more ads on her blog than Times Square, that's her right. 

And she, or anyone else, that makes such a decision to flood her blog with ads should not be bashed for it.  Again, it's her right.

Move along, nothing more to see here.  Mind your own business.

And enough about this notion that blogs are somehow this MAGICAL thing online.  They aren't.  It's a freakin' piece of easy-to-use software that makes adding content to web pages easy.  Let's not forget that.

The Internet is made up of content created by its citizens.  It was the same in the 1990s and it's the same today.  It doesn't matter what tool they use to create it, or what label you put on it.

Whatever someone creates is THEIRS and theirs to do with as they please.  People need to respect that and just worry about themselves - For those so concerned about too many ads on blogs, that is.

If It's Really Only About Disclosure For Some PayPerPost Opponents And Not The ‘Model' To Create More Advertising On Blogs That They Truly Have A Problem With...

Where's the concern over the Multi-Billion Dollar Affiliate Industry?  It makes the blogosphere's potential disclosure issues a tiny spec of the Internet's realm of deceptive advertising practices.

How many thousands of Fake Review sites are online and promoting affiliate and CPA offers right now?

How many ‘non-disclosed' affiliate links exist on millions of web sites all over the Net?

How many millions of dollars (a day) are being exchanged through shopping comparison sites for arbitrage purposes?

And Why Aren't The Most Influential Bloggers Going After Google and Yahoo for non-disclosed uses of their PPC feeds?

There are millions of pages populating the Internet right now that users stumble upon and truly think is a ranking of the most relevant web sites for the topic they are searching for.  Too bad it's all PPC links where one of Google's or Yahoo's partners is earning their revshare on the click activity.

When an entire page is filled with sponsored listings from a feed a user no longer has a grasp on what's a paid ad and what isn't.

That's about as deceptive as it gets.

I'm certainly not defending PayPerPost's old policy of non-disclosure.  As I already stated, I believe full disclosure is a smart thing.

But my point is, how much time and energy was wasted on bashing some young startup company when there was no Evil Plan to destroy the blogosphere or anything even close to it?

There are now other companies with a similar model, like ReviewMe.  They are doing fine and others will surely follow.

I, personally, think PayPerPost is to be PRAISED for what they've done.  They took some major risks to bring their concept to market and truly rocked the boat in the process.

This is a good thing for the Internet.  I just wish more people would realize it...

It opens up discussions about formulating disclosure policies... best practices... and often results in new startups and new technologies being created that, ultimately, makes the Internet better.

Ironically, PayPerPost is located in Orlando, Florida and so are we.  However, I've never met (or even talked to or exchanged emails with) their founder and CEO, Ted Murphy.  I've lived in Orlando since 1999, but I have never crossed paths with Ted.

But I think I know the reason why...  to run into people you usually have to actually leave the house and get away from the computer.  Oh yeah.

In all seriousness, as far as Ted Murphy is concerned, I think the guy deserves some major recognition.  He truly deserves some kind of crazy award for his massive COURAGE.

Think about it... a young guy starts a company and ends up with people all over the Internet publicly bashing him... many looking for every excuse possible to tear down the company he's working hard to build... 

He's being constantly insulted...  and many of the industry leaders that I know he respects (and probably admires) are doing nothing but talking trash about him - as if he's O.J. Simpson.

So under tremendous public scrutiny for what he's trying to build what does Mr. Ted Murphy do?

He doesn't run from but he runs to everyone that challenges him to do an interview and talk about the situation.  I don't think the guy has ever dodged an interview.  I'd hardly say that's someone trying to hide something or purposely do wrong.  Clearly it's a matter of miscommunication on both sides of the fence.  It has to be.

And as for his worst critic of all, Jason Calacanis?

Ted got on a plane and flew to Jason's office to sitdown, face-to-face, with Dr. Evil himself...

And they recorded a video interview which is awesome - I highly recommend you check it out.

But talk about courage... how many people would have flown to their most vocal critic for a confrontation?  Not many.

As I previously said, I've never run into Ted here in Orlando.  But I did recently meet two of PayPerPost's employees when I was in San Francisco for Ad:Tech.

I spoke for awhile with Randy Mountz their VP of Sales.  He was very nice and very professional. 

I also met Britt Gustafson their Communications Specialist.  She, on the other hand, was extremely rude and unpleasant.  I'm only kidding, she was very nice.

Randy and Britt are good people and I briefly brought up the whole "controversy" stuff.  I could see it in both their faces that they are pretty tired of the whole thing.  I could tell they just wanted to be able to focus on their jobs and work hard to help the company - and not have the distractions of people putting them down, etc. 

I think it's LAME to bash a company and it's employees that are simply working hard to build something they believe in.  Sure, you may not agree with what they are trying to do, but I think a little more sensitivity should be used when it comes to situations like this.

No one can honestly say that the team of hard-working folks at PayPerPost is doing nothing but sitting around and thinking about how they will carry out their sinister schemes to deceive Internet users and take advantage of bloggers.  Puhlease.

It's quite the opposite.

Look at their blog... look at their Rockstartup series. 

I've done my own research on the matter and all I see is a hard-working group of people that actually care about their customers.

It's obvious they are having a good time and enjoy being part of a 2nd family that they are creating at that growing company.

Thank you for reading this entire rant of sorts.  I guess, after meeting Randy & Britt in San Francisco, and having followed the entire saga during my travels, I just felt inspired to take a stand for their company.  After all, I gotta support the home team.  

But seriously, I thought a lot of the blog posts that were made against PayPerPost were a bit unfair and uncalled for.  I would never want to see this type of thing happen to one of my student's companies.  Or anyone for that matter.

I hope the Internet community never forgets that entrepreneurs are the ones that built and truly developed the Internet.  If we're so quick to judge the few courageous people that are willing to take big risks online to stretch the boundaries of known business models then we're doing nothing but hurting the progress of the Internet.

And it's also important to remember that the Internet will always take care of itself organically.  Its users ultimately ‘vote' and decide what survives and what doesn't based on the VALUE that is being offered to the community.  If it's a bad idea, it will be rejected.  If it's a good idea, it will thrive.

But that will always be decided by a community of CUSTOMERS and not by pundits.

SPECIAL NOTICE:

I want to make sure and state that I am in no way, shape, or form affiiated with PayPerPost.  I am not one of their affiliates, advertisers, marketing partners, bloggers, or anything else.

I was not paid one penny to make this post nor even given a free block of cheddar cheese in a complex barter deal.

I was also not coerced, threatened, or guilt-tripped into making this post.  Nor was I threatened with an ice cream cake plow which could certainly burn your nose hairs and cause a serious medical problem.

51 Secrets to eBay Success By Gisela M. Pedroza Sell like a pro, even if you're just starting out! These eBay experts share their top power-selling tips.



Whether you're about to start a business on eBay or are ready to take your existing business to the next level, we've put together 51 tips for successful selling on eBay from a panel of experts:

• Marsha Collier (eBay User ID: marsha_c), PowerSeller, eBay University instructor and author of eBay for Dummies, now in its fourth edition
• David Early (eBay User ID: 66cvette), PowerSeller and creator of MarketPlacePro, software that enables individuals to sell products and manage their businesses online
• Jim "Griff" Griffith, dean of eBay Education, author of The Official eBay Bible and host of eBay Radio
• Steve Lindhorst (eBay User ID: listingrover), instructor at eBay University, owner of a small business on eBay, and dealer assistant who helps car dealerships list inventory on eBay
• Christopher Spencer (eBay User ID: borntodeal), Gold Power-Seller and president of The Spencer Company, which has listed more than 80,000 items on eBay

Here are their secrets to eBay sales success.

Do Your Homework

1. Set aside a day to browse the entire eBay site. Use the eBay Navigation Bar as your anchor--it's located on the top of every eBay page. Make a note of the pages you'll need in the future, such as the "Services" page, which contains a treasure trove of tools and services. -J.G.

2. Get step-by-step guidance. Visit http://www.ebay.com/education/. It teaches everything you need to know to sell on eBay and offers interactive audio tours that show you exactly how to create a listing. -C.S.

What to Sell?

3. Sell what you know first. If you're into fashion, sell that; if you're into golf, sell golf equipment, and so on. -M.C.

4. Be observant. Watch for opportunities to obtain items (in quantity if possible) at a low price for resale. Often, they're right under your nose, such as merchandise your local retailer would liquidate. Make an offer to clear out the retailer's old or damaged stock. -S.L.

5. Don't start out with just one product or product line. An effective way to build a customer base on eBay is to offer at least two separate types of items, between which you can cross promote and drive customers from one to the other. -J.G.

6. Spend time on eBay browsing outside your normal categories. Find out what's hot at http://www.ebay.com/sellercentral/. -S.L.

7. Become a Trading Assistant and sell other people's items for a commission. As a Trading Assistant, you won't have the expense of building inventory, and you can build your business on eBay very quickly without having to spend a lot of capital. -C.S.

8. Take some calculated risks. Being too careful can cost you. Do a little research on eBay, and trust your gut when you find potentially salable items. -S.L.

9. If you're not familiar with the product you're trying to sell, educate yourself before you write the description. If you describe the item incorrectly, buyers may be leery of bidding. Even worse, buyers could decide not to bid on any of your future items if they're under the impression that you don't know what you're selling. The more correct information you have and use, the more credible you'll become in the buyers' eyes. -D.E.

Getting Set Up

10. Become a verified member of eBay through their ID verification process. Getting verified will help get you past a lot of the restrictions placed on new sellers. -C.S.

11. Choose your ebay user ID wisely. Pick a name that's descriptive, easy to remember and instantly identifiable with your niche. Your user ID will become your business identification--the name that people in the eBay universe will learn to search for when they want to buy your products. -D.E.

12. Create a second user ID for your eBay business. As long as each user ID you create is sent to a separate e-mail address, you can create as many user IDs as you want. So if you decide to start selling car accessories in addition to Hummel figurines, you might choose another user ID that would be more pertinent to your new product line, such as "Mustangsrock" or "Supeduphotrods." -D.E.

13. Organize. If you're selling from home, set up a dedicated space with areas for inventory storage, packing materials, photographing and, of course, a desk for your computer and printer. The best businesses are orderly and organized. -J.G.

14. Set up a designated area within your business used only for photography. You can use household lighting and inexpensive cloth or paper backdrops. -J.G.

15. When taking pictures of the items you're selling, choose a camera with good macro-lens and auto-focus features, and make sure it easily interfaces with your computer. Get great lighting tips from eBay community boards. -C.S.

Create Your Listing

16. Listings formatted with HTML look more professional than plain, unformatted text. Use the HTML editor built in to both eBay's "Sell Your Item" form and eBay's free Turbo Lister. With the HTML editor, you can format description text quickly and easily. -J.G.

17. When you write your title, don't use all capital letters. Uppercase and lowercase letters are easier to read and will help people quickly see what you're selling. -M.C.

18. When creating your listings, provide a complete and specific item description with as many clear, detailed photos as possible. You cannot over-describe or overrepresent your item. Not sure what information to include along with your item description? See the next tip. -J.G.

19. Clearly list your terms and conditions, as well as shipping, returns, warranty and guarantee policies. You can use an existing template to help separate the terms and conditions into sections and highlight them with bullet points, so people can read them easily. -C.S.

20. Develop a listing schedule. Before you place a listing, consider the best times for starting and ending an auction for your particular product. For example, if you had American flags to sell, you would probably want the listing to end several days before the Fourth of July, rather than just after it--thus allowing you enough time to ship your product to your buyers in time for the holiday. If you're working in a niche area, pay attention to the days and times your items do the best, and start keeping a listing schedule. Then stick to it. Your clientele will learn when you list items, and you will get much better results from your listings. -D.E.

21. For advanced users, use Seller's Assistant Pro. It will help you put your listings together offline, then load them onto the site using its bulk-loading feature. There's a free trial, then the service costs $24.99 per month. -C.S.

While You're Selling

22. Feed the frenzy. You can feed a bidding frenzy on your item by using a low opening bid price and no reserve, which should attract more bidders at the outset. The more people bidding on your listing, the more likely that two or more of them will get drawn into a personal bidding war. At that point, winning the item becomes almost as important as the product they want to buy, and these bidders might eventually pay more than they intended to pay to beat out the competition. This can lead to you getting much more for your product than you expected. -D.E.

23. Don't get stuck in a rut. If an item isn't selling as well as it once did, take a look at your photos, title and description to see if they can be freshened up. -S.L.

24. Just because you're moving merchandise on eBay doesn't mean you're making a profit. If you can't sell an item with enough of a profit margin, it's probably not worth your time and effort to sell that item. -M.C.

25. Once you are notified of a sold item, you should promptly respond using the eBay check-out system. Give buyers an invoice with their total including shipping (which you can calculate using eBay's shipping rate calculator). -C.S.

Ship It

26. Once the buyer has paid, arrange for shipping as soon as possible. Make sure you pack the item securely. For more tips on packing and shipping, check out eBay's packing and shipping community help board. -C.S.

27. Be reasonable with shipping and handling costs. These costs often make the difference for buyers choosing between your listing and the competition's. One sure way to get buyers to move on to another listing is to bait them with a low price and then spring high shipping and handling costs on them. -S.L.

28. Have a regular shipping day or days. State those dates in your listings so people know when to expect their packages. -S.L.

29. Use the built-in postage service from PayPal, the eBay company that allows you to accept online payments from credit cards or bank accounts. The service allows you to purchase postage and print labels from both UPS and the USPS using your PayPal account; it's a big time-saver. -C.S.

30. Schedule courier pickups through the USPS website--it's free, and your regular mail carrier will come to get your packages. All you have to do is pay the postage, and you won't have to wait in long lines at the post office. You can even insure the packages without having to go through a lot of hassles. -C.S.

31. Once the item is shipped out, track the package and make sure it has been delivered. Follow up with a quick e-mail to the buyer, asking for feedback and whether the item was satisfactory. -C.S.

Customers First

32. Provide prompt, punctual and courteous responses to any questions your customers might have. People will probably want to do business with you again if they receive a pleasant response from you. -C.S.

33. Never forget that the customer is king. When in doubt, always think like a buyer. If you do, you will be able to better anticipate what buyers want and plan your business accordingly. -J.G.

34. Treat your customers like you would treat guests in your home. Be kind and understanding. Be willing to help them when there are problems. -S.L.

35. Eliminate the roadblocks to selling your products. If a buyer wants to use PayPal to buy your product and you can't accept a PayPal payment, that's a problem. It's a roadblock to selling your item, making a profit and moving on to the next sale. Take down the roadblocks! This is my golden rule of retail: Make sure customers who come in the door have a way to pay, and customers who leave have a smile and a full shopping cart. The point is simple--sell your item, collect the money, and ship the product. -D.E.

36. Communicate as soon as possible with all buyers who e-mail you. If you make a mistake and something's not sent when it should have been, let the customer know the truth. Don't ignore questions or complaints. -S.L.

37. Schedule time once a week for posting feedback--no more than 15 minutes. You have to do it to be successful. Create a couple of generic feedback statements, such as "Great buyer, quick payment, great trans," check the spelling, then cut and paste these generic statements into your feedback submissions. People don't care what you say, as long as it's positive. -D.E.

38. Leave emotion out of feedback. Keep it strictly business. -S.L.

Money Matters

39. Use QuickBooks or other accounting software to help you keep your books in order for yourself and for your tax specialist. QuickBooks allows you to input your inventory and gives you reports telling you your average profit per item, as well as how many items you sell each week. The program also gives you statistics, your markup and a lot of other helpful data. -M.C.

40. Open a premier or business PayPal account. Many buyers limit their eBay shopping to those sellers who offer PayPal. Using PayPal makes tracking sales, invoicing and bookkeeping much easier. -J.G.

41. Pennies count. Keep track of expenses. The difference in listing fees between starting an item at $9.99 and at $10.00 is 25 cents. That adds up to $25 if you're listing 100 items per week. Also pay attention to hidden costs like shipping supplies and postage. -S.L.

Competitive Edge

42. Once you've settled on regular inventory, use eBay keywords, a pay-per-click banner advertising service, to draw people into your store. See https://ebay.admarketplace.net/ebay/servlet/ebay. -M.C.

43. Watch your competition. Search them out on eBay. Follow their sales. Determine their best business practices, and adopt them. For example, if your competition is offering goods similar to yours at about the same price, consider driving customers to your items by offering free shipping on some or all of them. -J.G.

44. Don't be afraid to put some items away and wait for your competition to sell out. Profits definitely rise when you're the only source of a popular item. -S.L.

45. Cultivate your customer database--it's a gold mine. You can use it to market any of your new items directly to qualified customers. For example, you could send a monthly newsletter to your database to describe your new products or to give these customers discounts. But before you proceed with any marketing campaign using your buyers' e-mail addresses, be sure you understand and comply with the national spam laws. -D.E.

46. Cross-promote with your e-mail signature. It should read something like "If you need additional products or services, please visit my Storefront at storefront.com." -D.E.

Growing Your Business

47. Don't open an eBay store until you've had a number of transactions on the site and you're comfortable with the way eBay works. -M.C.

48. When you do open an eBay store, be sure you take advantage of eBay's cross-promotion tools. These tools allow you to choose which merchandise is featured in your store, so you can choose items that might be of interest to somebody already buying one of your listed items. -M.C.

49. Once you become a PowerSeller, consider using a service like Endicia.com, which allows you to print your own postage and delivery confirmations on one label and gives you a separate expense line for your postage. -M.C.

50. Don't limit yourself to buyers in the United States. Many brands that are popular and easy to come by in the United States are practically impossible to get elsewhere. For example, a friend of mine bought some OshKosh B'Gosh baby clothes at a local garage sale and sold them on eBay to an eager mother in Australia for a nice profit. And I bought model airplane engines that are made in Germany at a local swap meet and was surprised to find my biggest demand for these engines came from buyers in Germany. -D.E.

51. Remember this simple rule for non-U.S. buyers: Don't accept foreign currency; specify that you'll accept U.S. dollars only. If a buyer sends you $20 Canadian and you were expecting $20 American, you just lost about $8, depending on the current rate of exchange. Always specify "U.S. funds only." And consider the additional shipping charges that may apply before you agree to ship the product outside of the country. -D.E.

  Dont miss this great report by John Reese Owner of Income.com

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: Can you tell me the difference between a copyright and a patent? Also is that something I should let a lawyer handle for me?A: A wise man once said, "The biggest difference between a copyright and a patent is the number of lawyers it takes to do the paperwork." There is a point to be made there, mainly that if this wise man had paid his attorney to copyright that tidbit of wisdom I probably would have had to pay him five bucks to use the quote.

Copyrights, trademarks and patents are similar in that they are designed by law to protect your rights of ownership, but that's where the similarity ends. A copyright protects a creative work; a trademark protects a brand or company identity; and a patent protects an invention or process.

A copyright protects the rights of anyone who creates an "original work of authorship." A copyright owner has the exclusive right to reproduce the work; prepare spin-off works based on the copyrighted work; and to sell, perform and/or display the copyrighted work in public.

Copyright protection is afforded to eight categories of creative works: literary works (the written word); musical works (lyrics, music, melodies); dramatic works (plays, scripts, screenplays); artistic works (pictorial and sculptural), sound recordings (LPs, CDs, audio tapes); choreographic works (dance, pantomime); audiovisual works; and architectural works (blueprints, designs, renderings).

An original work is automatically copyrighted the moment it is put into a fixed format such as a paper copy or recording. In other words, once you put your original story in writing or make a recording of an original song, your copyright is automatically secured. From that moment on your work has copyright protection for your lifetime, plus 50 years after your death.

Registering a work with the U.S. Copyright Office is not required, but since it is relatively simple and inexpensive to do so, I advise that you register a copyright for each work you wish to protect. Also, your copyright must be registered in order to take legal action against someone who might infringe on the copyright in the future.

You can register a copyright without the assistance of an attorney. Simply visit the U.S. Copyright office website at http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ and download the appropriate form. Complete the form and send it in with a $30 nonrefundable filing fee. This must be done for each individual work you wish to protect.

A patent is a form of protection granted to an inventor that protects his invention in the United States for up to 20 years from the date of application. Patent law states that, "whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, composition of matter, or any new and useful improvements thereof may obtain a patent." Owning a patent gives you the legal right to stop someone else from making, using or selling your invention (or one that's very close to it) without your permission. However, proving that someone is infringing on your patent is often difficult and usually requires a trial to settle the dispute.

Since the first U.S. patent was awarded in 1790, more than five million patents have been awarded. The patent office receives more than 230,000 patent applications every year and I can tell you from personal experience that a turtle on Prozac moves faster than the patent process. Patents can take several years, truckloads of paperwork, and considerable legal fees to obtain. The cost of obtaining a patent can run from $500 for a simple design patent to $50,000 and more for a complex utility patent. However, if your company has a truly patentable idea, you would be wise to invest the time and money required to secure your rights. A good patent can be a valuable business asset.

While you can file a patent yourself, I strongly advise that you use an attorney since a naively written patent application often isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Just recently my attorney did a patent search for me only to discover that a patent for a similar product was already in place. However, due to the ineffectual language of the patent application, the patent was practically impossible for the owner to enforce.

Good news for me. Not so good news for the wise man who wrote his own patent.

Here's to your success!