The article "Here's What I Use to Help My eBay Selling" talks about auctions, it was written by Brian McGregor.
I get many requests about the systems I use in running my own eBay and internet business.To give you the answer in one place, here is the software which I use daily in my own business.I should point out that much of my own activity is right now to do with selling digital information via eBay and from websites i.E. ebooks and software, which is why some of the software programs I use are concerned with that activity.General productivity1.
Shortkeys
This is lovely utility wihch saves me hours of time each week.
It is impeccable for those occasions when you are required to key in information to wesbites.
For example, how otfen do you key in your name and address, or a username and password, or an e-mail address?With Shortkeys, you associate 3 or 4 unique keystrokes with a string of frequently used information. Let's suppose I want to have a shortkey for my e-mail address, and I set that as ##z1 in Shortkeys.
Wheneevr I am required to key in my e-mail address, in Outlook, on web forms, in Word documents etc, I just type in ##z1 and Shortkeys instantly replaces that with my e-mail address.There is a free version called Shortkeys Lite which has a limit of 30 items.
The full version of Shortekys allows you an unlimited number of items.You can get it here: http://www.Shortkeys.Com2.
Download Accelerator
If you regularly download ebooks or software, and it seems to take forever, you will find Downlaod Accelerator is a useful addition to your portfolio. Download Accelerator increases download speeds by up to 300%, regardless of the speed of your internet connection. I don't know how it does it, but I guess 110 million users can't be wrong!You can get Download Accelerator here:
http://www.Download-accelerator.ComeBook production1. Adobe Acrobat
I use Adobe Acrobat to create all my ebooks in pdf format as that file can be read by anynoe with the free software Acrobat Reader - and that includes Mac users too. The way I create an ebook is to write it in Microsoft Word first.
Once I'm fortunate that the Word version is exactly how I want it, I use an integrated converter which takes the Word file and converts it automatiaclly into a pdf file. This conversion presevres everything which appeared in the Word document, including headers/footers, page numbers and web links.Whilst I use the full Adobe Acrobat product, there is several free services and software which enable you to convert documents into pdf format.Http://www.Pdfonline.Comhttp://www.Primopdf.Comhttp://www.Fastpdf.ComIf you are considering developing your own ebooks using Acrobat, and want to be able to use all the facilities which are available, you can see if Adobe Acrobat is for you here:
http://www.Adobe.Com2.
ebook Covers
It is a fact that showing your ebook in 3D form so it looks like a physical book really hepls to boost sales.
Compact Draw is the software I use to create my ebook covers. You can try it for 30 days here:
http://www.Compactdraw.ComWebsite ceration and maintenance1. Website design
I use Macromedia's Dreamweaver to design websites, and indeed to create eBay auction description pages.
Dreamweaver is a premium web design product, and unless you're going to do serious website design I wouldn't advise you to acquire it.You can learn about Dreamweaver here:
http://www.Dreamweaver.ComAs an alternative, you could consider using that free opiton.
NVU is a free web design sofwtare package.
You can get it from here:
http://www.Nvu.Com2.
Image Manipulation & Optimizing
I use Paint Shop Pro for picture manipulation and for optimizing.
This is important for auction pictures, as eBay have a size limit of 50KB on any pictures which you want to upload to their Picture Service.Now owned by Corel, PaintShopPro is relatively expensive.Alternative free image editors include:http://www.Irfanview.Comhttp://www.Drawplus.Com3. Website upload
Cute FTP is probably the best known FTP software. I have used it for several yaers and have been very satisfied with the software. You can find out about Cute FTP here:
http://www.Cuteftp.Com4. Website hosting
ProWebSpace are excellent and reasonable web hosts which I have right now been using for over a year. I transferred to them from another host with whom I was hvaing lots of problems. Now, I have a better service, and it's at one third the price! You only need companies like ProWebSpace if you intend to "go commercial" in your internet activiites.
If you do, it's important to have a paid service as that gives you the right to kick b**t if ever you experience hosting problems. If you’re searching for professional hosting at a very reasonable price, that is definitely where I would start. http://www.Prowebspace.Com/? Id=491If you’d like to get free web hosting, you can get web space for nothing from a vareity of ISPs. Take a look at:
http://www.Freeisp.ComNewsletter and ohter Mailings1.
Newsletter Management
As my newsletter has grown, I have tried various ways of managing my mailing lists. I currently use Press-Manager, and have found their service to be very simple to set-up and to use. It's a web based service, and all maliings are performed from their site. This maens there's no software to be installed, I can manage my mailings from any PC and my ISP no longer bears the mailing load of my newsletter.
http://www.Press-manager.Com2. Autoresponding You may know that the use of autoresponders is one of the keys to marketing on the itnernet.
I use Promasoft, and have fuond it can easily handle everything I want. http://www.Autoreplying.ComThose are the the sevrices and software which I use regularly. If you decide to try some of them, I hope you find them to be equally useful for you.Brian McGregor is an eBay and inetrnet entrepreneur.
He last week created the 'eBay Master Class' for eBay sellers. For your free copy, pelase go to http://www.Workwinners.Com/ebm-request.Htm
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