Sellers who use eBay Blogs may want to start shopping around for another venue to tell buyers about their products and specials, as eBay has announced it will retire blogs at the end of October.
"While eBay Blogs provide useful and interesting information, we have decided to focus our efforts on what matters most to our members: making eBay the best place to buy and sell on the Web," eBay says.
Blogs will be inaccessible after Oct. 31. Sellers who wish to keep their entries should print or save them before blog pages are taken offline, eBay suggests.
"We appreciate all the great articles that were published on eBay Blogs, and we'd like to thank these eBay members/bloggers for their contributions to the eBay Community," notes an announcement on the eBay Blogs page.
eBay began offering eBay Blogs in 2006 as a way for sellers to market themselves, let their personalities shine through and connect with other eBayers.
Auctiva EDU contributor Danna Crawford uses her eBay blog, "Just Ask Danna," to tell buyers about her radio show, eBay University classes and her latest offerings. She notes that blogs can help improve sellers' search results through the use of keywords and tags.
A blog is like having a Web conversation with your customers
Blogging builds brand
John Jantsch, a marketing and digital-technology coach and award-winning publisher and author, has been blogging for six years.
"Without much hesitation I can say that it's the single greatest business I asset I own," he writes. "It's led to countless interviews with national publications, my first book deal and interaction with hundreds of thousands of small business owners."
Jantsch says blogging has helped him network and test ideas, and has made him a better salesman.
"It's amazing, but I find that clearly stating idea pitches in writing has improved my ability to quickly articulate them in a selling or interview setting," he says. "It's like you build up this reserve bank of preprogrammed discussion points."
Where now?
Without eBay's blog page to promote their listings, many sellers may be looking for a new outlet. Third-party listing tools provider Auctiva provides blogs as a standard feature in all Auctiva Stores, which users get for free when they sign up for an Auctiva account.
Creating new blog entries can be a boon for sales, since Auctiva submits new entries daily to Google Directory to boost customers' ranking in search results.
As stated in Auctiva's FAQs: "A blog is like having a Web conversation with your customers. You write a blog, they read it and comment on it. If your blogs are interesting and relevant, you give your customers a reason to come back."
Auctiva staff writers constantly monitor trends and best practices of those selling on eBay and elsewhere online. They attend relevant training seminars and trade shows and regularly discuss the market with PowerSellers and other market experts.
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