Does anybody know whether it is worth using Google Ad Words to promote my eBay Store?

[jenniferpaisley]

I would like to know if anybody has used Google Ad Words to promote their eBay Store.  I do not want to spend the time and money on it if it doesn't make any difference.  Also, how would I know if it was working?  Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Jenny

[clarry100 · Accepted solution]

Yes....

Last September we spent $125 on it.

$25 was our money and the $100 was a Google bonus for joining. Just as well!

We observed no change in our sales at all.

And of the sales we did make we messaged quite a few customers to see how they found their items.

Not a single one got there thru Google Adwords.

So we think it is useless for eBay promotions.

We think that those who want to find something on eBay will go into eBay and search using their Best Match (for what that is worth). And if they are looking for something outside of eBay they will Google search.

We could clearly see our ads showing up right at the very top of the search results.  We even asked several friends across Australia to do a test search for us and they could see our ad right on top.

So no doubt about how it worked but it did not generate a single sale that we could see.

We are currently developing our own web site and when we launch that we will try it again to see if our theory above is correct.

[digital*ghost]

You might want to take my response with a grain of salt because I've never used Google Adwords to promote my store, just searched frequently (daily) for items using google, and for the most part, I ignore the ads in my results - mainly because if I'm using google, I want to search all of the web so individual stores / items don't interest me until I've looked at a general overview of available options and prices.  

eBay items will show up in a google search regardless, though perhaps not quite as prominently, and if it's a common item or generic terms were used, the link will often be to an eBay search using the same keywords rather than a specific listing, so I personally think unless the budget allows for some advertising expenditure that may not yield worthwhile results, then optimising titles, SEO via keywords on store pages and categories, as well as little things like naming images with relevant keywords (helps with google image search) would be a better investment (as in, it will cost you a bit of time to research and implement).

[amber-eyed-girl]

Digi makes a good point about naming your images with practical search terms. That works.

Also, when you get your website up and running, clarry100, put the website (or eBay store name 🙂 ) across the bottom of the image, discreetly, so people can see it but it doesn't get in the way.

[jenniferpaisley]

Thanks for your advice.  Re naming images, say I was selling a Billabong Bleached Grey Moby Trucker Hat.  Would I put that entire description on the image, or just part of it, say Bleached Grey Moby.  Or else, would it be better to put the link to my eBay store?  Just trying our a few new things to get better sales.  Any more advice appreciated.

[jenniferpaisley]

Thanks for the advice.  Will consider putting eBay store link and also image description across bottom of images.

[amber-eyed-girl]

Best to personalise your pics so people can see easily where to get the item, if they want to buy.

So store/main search words 🙂

[digital*ghost]

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@jenniferpaisley wrote:

Thanks for your advice.  Re naming images, say I was selling a Billabong Bleached Grey Moby Trucker Hat.  Would I put that entire description on the image, or just part of it, say Bleached Grey Moby.  Or else, would it be better to put the link to my eBay store?  Just trying our a few new things to get better sales.  Any more advice appreciated.

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I use primary identifying details that people looking for that item are likely to use as search keywords, and it's just a matter of changing the file name so that your images are identified by key details rather than the generic numbering system most digital cameras etc use . It's handy for two reasons - one is so that they're more relevant in google image searches (though item title and words used in the description also helps with that), and the other is because I save all images (either to the computer or external hard drive), and naming them means I can find them quickly and easily again by searching all image files with a keyword or two rather than scour thousands of pictures.

I name all images of the same item by group (so they all have the same name, but are assigned numbers at the end in sequence to differentiate), then for clothing use brand, item type, colour and / or other distinguishing features. With the hat example, I'd use all the keywords you mentioned, plus throw in the material if it was something like 100% cotton or wool, as it doesn't really matter how long the file names are. It's not the kind of thing that's going to make a huge difference to visibility and sales, but it only takes a sec to rename a file, helps keep things nice and organised, and every little bit helps. 

[davewil1964]

All my pics are the book title. Culled for 'the', 'and', 'a'....

I have no idea whether or not my sales are generated from Google searches, member searches, title searches....

Nor do I care. I sell second hand books into a crowded market, so I doubt my pic titles have anything to do with my sales.

[digital*ghost]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Nor do I care.

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I'm not surprised, considering it's likely very few people use google image search when shopping for books. I reckon many books would probably sell almost as easily (if not just as) without an image at all (judging by the many that do with a stock pic on SH books that has a disclaimer the cover may not be the same etc), so I can understand why the topic at hand isn't wholly relevant to you.

Fashion items on the other hand?   😉

Nothing wrong with recognising different products require and benefit from different methods, including taking a few moments to check popular search methods and factoring them into your day-to-day admin.