Unless you’ve been living under a rock or in a cave the last decade, you’ve undoubtedly noticed the increasing prevalence of mobile devices that are able to access to the internet from just about anywhere. Next time you’re at a movie theater wondering why so many people pay $12 to sit in a dark room with hundreds of other people just to surf the internet, maybe you should be wondering whether or not they’re looking at your auctions and, if not, why not?
Remember that, while eBay does have a mobile site that will attempt to automatically optimize your listing for mobile devices, you’ll want to make sure that your listing will handle the conversion properly. Also, newer devices come installed with full-featured browsers that operate the same as they do for desktop and laptop PC’s. You’ll want to make sure your listings show up properly on these devices as well.
The most important part of optimizing for mobile devices is the same as it is when creating listings for access from any other type of device: getting eyes on your listing. Step one to accomplishing this is ensuring it gets found when searched for, and that means having a good auction title. The key is to switch your thinking into buyer mode. If you were looking for what it is you’re selling, what would you search for? Include these terms in your auction title.
Now that you’ve got the title taken care of, thereby getting people to your listing, you want to focus on professionalism. Since eBay’s mobile site automatically attempts to optimize your listing, you get left with just text. Since that’s almost all a mobile user is going to see, you want to go the extra mile in making your description free of grammar mistakes, misspellings, and other errors. And let’s not forget to upload a nice image via eBay’s sell-your-item form.
Remember that eBay’s mobile site will strip out a majority of any HTML you use in your item description. This includes images that you are attempting to display. As such, it’s important to upload at least one image via eBay’s sell-your-item form. Since that will be the only image displayed on eBay’s mobile site, make sure it’s a good one.
Keep in mind that slower internet access is common with mobile devices. Because of this, you’ll want to be mindful of the code you use. Try and keep your HTML code clean for fast loading. Be mindful of coding techniques that might increase load times and avoid using high-resolution images when possible.
Since mobile users have the ability to access your auction from anywhere, you are going to want to make sure that you are checking in on questions that may have been asked by potential buyers. The faster you reply to their questions, the more likely your item will receive more bids.
Finally, consider using the “buy it now” option. This way, your buyers will be able to purchase your item right away and pay through PayPal, thereby satisfying the on-the-go attitude of your typical mobile-device user.
We have really just begun to scratch the surface of how to best optimize your auction listings for mobile-device users. If you really want to get into it, start accessing your listings from your own mobile device. By viewing your listings the same way your potential buyers do, you’ll gain greater insight into how to improve your listings for those kinds of buyers.
Stu Lisonbee is a former eBay employee and PowerSeller who shows you proper strategy for selling on eBay and even reviews the top eBay dropshippers for you.
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