A real life example, in another business we sell boats and stuff.
Before I optimized: google results: Page 17
After I optimized: page 4
After I link to me from Ebay listing: Bottom of page 2 - right up there with the big boys
It makes a difference.
I also optimized my husband's violin school. Before that you couldn't find him ANYWHERE.
Now I can say to someone I meet, "Yeah, just google "Violin teachers" and he's right there near the top - you'll find him". And people do - that's where much of the business comes from - I don't even have to tell them the website name.
Another note that is kind of interesting. Most of our customers were Asian. They don't say "violin instructor" like North Americans, they say "violin teacher" - very important if that's what your target is entering as a search term. Nothing to do with t-shirts exactly but my point is: I have yet to put the dash in between t and shirt. I always enter tshirt. So optimize for both terms.
That's my 2 cents. You need to attack from all angles both on and offline.
__________________
I know almost exactly what I'm doing...
How do you go about doing a cube cart site? I do use the pay per click fron msn and google and I plan to sign up with yahoo soon. But how do I tweak my keywords and phrases? What about your short details about each product? Does that bit of info get index as well? I think it does, just not sure.
__________________ I'm getting closer to a new t-shirt.
A real life example, in another business we sell boats and stuff.
Before I optimized: google results: Page 17
After I optimized: page 4
After I link to me from Ebay listing: Bottom of page 2 - right up there with the big boys
It makes a difference.
I also optimized my husband's violin school. Before that you couldn't find him ANYWHERE.
Now I can say to someone I meet, "Yeah, just google "Violin teachers" and he's right there near the top - you'll find him". And people do - that's where much of the business comes from - I don't even have to tell them the website name.
Another note that is kind of interesting. Most of our customers were Asian. They don't say "violin instructor" like North Americans, they say "violin teacher" - very important if that's what your target is entering as a search term. Nothing to do with t-shirts exactly but my point is: I have yet to put the dash in between t and shirt. I always enter tshirt. So optimize for both terms.
That's my 2 cents. You need to attack from all angles both on and offline.
When you say you link to your Ebay listings how exactly do you do that?
Basikboy, I mean I list an item on Ebay and put a link to our website. Same as on Craigslist, Kijiji. I always insert my own code - I optimize my search terms within my Ebay code and especially in the listing title and subtitle.
We have found that this brings in traffic likes there's no tomorrow! Our Ebay listing will always rank before our website and when I do that, I always find our website ranking increases accordingly. Even if you don't sell anything on Ebay, that doesn't matter - it's purely for advertising. I use Craigslist as a vehicle for this also.
There's nothing like free (or next to free advertising)!
If I list a boat on Ebay and want to sell boat t-shirts - I get between 5000 - 10000 viewers a week, in addition to the other advertising channels! All boaters! That's thousands of people that just saw my product. Some of our items get into Ebay's most watched top ten items list and then the hits go totally crazy. Where else can I get that kind of action?
For you it might not be boats, but maybe you're a mechanic who sells tees on the side and you sell mechanic tool stuff, whatever works. List a tool, sell some tees.
It's not the only way to do things, of course. It's simply one venue.
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Ebay does not like that. If you read their terms on listing, you will see where they say you can list on your about me page only. When they catch you, they will pull your listing and maybe shut down your account. I'd be careful with doing that.
__________________ I'm getting closer to a new t-shirt.
Ebay does not like that. If you read their terms on listing, you will see where they say you can list on your about me page only. When they catch you, they will pull your listing and maybe shut down your account. I'd be careful with doing that.
This Is what I believed as well. I was also told that you have to be careful about how you go about posting your website with your about me page as well. Something like you cannot sell items cheaper on your site then on Ebay or you have to link Ebay on your site back to them?
Not sure about that one. But I can say that if the only thing they will do is shut you down, get that cheap promo while you can. If it's working, keep up the good work.
__________________ I'm getting closer to a new t-shirt.
eBay allows sellers to place only certain types of links within an item description. A link is any mechanism used to take a member off of the eBay site, whether static or clickable. This applies to any format used for a link that includes but is not limited to, text, images, logos or icons. Permitted links include:
One link to a page that further describes the item being sold in that listing
__________________
I know almost exactly what I'm doing...
How do you go about doing a cube cart site? I do use the pay per click fron msn and google and I plan to sign up with yahoo soon. But how do I tweak my keywords and phrases? What about your short details about each product? Does that bit of info get index as well? I think it does, just not sure.
Depends on which version of cubecart you're using. You should start a new thread for your cubecart related question though so that more people with cubecart knowledge will see the topic title. They may miss your question in this general thread about SEO.
Re: How important is SEO? 
