Brand Your Ebay Store with a Domain Name

There are millions of eBay stores trading around the world and it's almost impossible to imagine a need that cannot be fulfilled on the auction site nowadays. But many sellers fail to take a step back now and again to view the overall image and security of their business. So I thought I'd spend a few minutes outlining one of the cheapest and easiest ideas to follow in order to guarantee any eBay store trader's future.

What's the advice? Just two words... Brand yourself.

So what do I mean? When you brand your eBay Store it means you are stamping your identity on it. The idea being that your identity will become known, trusted and valued by regular visitors and buyers just as much as they value the eBay brand.

So how much will this cost? Well the single most important element of this branding of an online store will cost you less than $10 a year. Buy your own domain name.

For example, let's say you run an eBay Store selling ping-pong balls and you use the eBay ID PingPongPalace. Assuming it is available, buy the domain PingPongPalace.com and most registration companies will let you instantly forward traffic arriving at that domain to your eBay Store address. So now, instead of advertising eBay to your prospective customers, you can start advertising PingPongPalace.

Why is this so important? Well, over time it will build up your presence on the wider internet outside of eBay. This could lead to significant amounts of natural search traffic arriving from Google or Yahoo on your store's doorstep. If that wasn't enough incentive, just think about what the future holds a moment.

Will you always be relying on eBay for your shopping cart solution? Will eBay increase fees in future forcing you to reconsider how you trade? Will an alternative venue offer a significantly better store solution for you in future? At the moment most eBay store sellers would probably answer "I don't know" to those questions. Well, if that's the case, trading with your own domain name allows you to consider all the various options in future. It puts you in control.

For instance, let's assume you decide to switch to eBid because you see their stores are much better value. You place your inventory on the shelves of your new store there and, when you're ready, simply switch the forwarding address that your domain points to. If eBay were to suddenly hike your fees to the upper atmosphere then you can instantly take your loyal customer traffic with you to your own independent website or alternative store venue. The alternative would probably be months of trying to establish your identity again elsewhere and begin building up your customer base all over again.

So, for less than $10 at a domain registration site like GoDaddy.com, you can start selling to the entire internet including eBay, protect yourself from your landlord in case they turn aggressive and allow yourself the pleasure of choosing if and when you wish to move your store.

I cannot think of a better single use of ten bucks if you are serious about making a living online using eBay type stores. I also practice what I preach as my own online store. although located at eBid, can be found at NameAwareness.com.

Will I be trading on eBid in fove years time? I don't know. But I do know I will be trading at the same address!

The author is a moderator at Pheebay Auction Forums.