Sellers Rally For Charities

People sell to make themselves some cash. Period. But I want to tell you about some that are selling their wares, holding auctions and donating items to raise cash for some very worthwhile causes.
First up is a benefit concert and silent auction at the Eastham Elks Club on McKoy Road in Eastham, MA. to raise money for a trust for Keahlan Mullen. Keahlan lost his Mom, Rosalie Muce, in a car accident on February 27 in Falmouth, Maine. She was a hospice nurse who volunteered frequently for the eHope Foundation. Muce also received the Women's Opportunity Award from Soroptimist International in 2003.

Here is the press release on this event. I hope everyone who can attend ot help out in this cause will.

Cape Cod Musicians Rally to Raise Funds for 11-year old Proceeds from Concert, Auction will Benefit The Man Eats Fish Foundation for Keahlan Mullen05.01.2009 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Pandiscio, 508.432.6675; carefactor@comcast.net
EASTHAM, Mass. – On Cape Cod, musicians create one of the most vibrant and tight-knit groups of people. And on Sunday, May 17, scores of these artists will join with the community at large to celebrate the life of Rosalie Muce, and to raise funds for a trust for her son, Keahlan Mullen.
Muce, a native of Harwich and 1994 graduate of Harwich High School, was killed in a car accident on February 27 in Falmouth, Maine. She was a hospice nurse who championed community-based care, and volunteered frequently for the eHope Foundation. Muce also received the Women's Opportunity Award from Soroptimist International in 2003 for her community service efforts.
On May 17 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., a benefit concert and silent auction has been planned at the Eastham Elks Club on McKoy Road in Eastham.
“We’re going to try to raise some money for Kealahn's future,” said Michael Pandiscio, a coordinator of the event. “We thought we would do something nice; something good in such a bad situation.”
Several local businesses have already donated items and services to the silent auction, and additional donations can be made by e-mailing carefactor@comcast.net, or calling 508.432.6675.
Music will be provided by local favorites Care Factor Zero, with special guests and former founding members Nick Muce and Tim Taylor, and by Big Rhythm Wine – A Grateful Dead Experience. All of the proceeds will go toward founding and funding the Man Eats Fish Foundation. For more information, visit http://www.bigrhythmwine.com/.

Second is the Bonanzleup St Jude Charity auction on June 1, 2009. All items where donated by Bonanzle.com sellers and all proceeds is going to St Jude's. This is an event everyone can attend for it is a "LIVE" online auction with bidding in the chat box in the Bonanzleup Mobile Booth and the bids called LIVE on the air by AuctionWally on his weekly podcast of Brainstorming Bonanzle. This is a very fun and exciting way to participate in an online auction and with the proceeds going to such a great cause, I encourage everyone to tune into this. Items are up for viewing now so stop in and check them out.

Third is an update on John colderICE Lawson's "Chest For The Breast" auction. John raised over $2000 for the cause with the big prize winner of the T-shirt space on the shirt John will be wearing to the ECMTA/PESA conference in Atlanta, Ga June 3 & 4 being Galleria Gifts.
Melinda paid $760 for the privilege of having her logo printed on a shirt to be worn by John at the Pesa conference. John being the podcaster, video blogger and well known ecommerce personality that he is , Melinda's Ad is going to be seen by many!
John also made several video blogs wearing Shirts with others logos on them as well for this Charity. Go see colderICE in action!

This is just a very very small list of many sellers who donate their wares and time to help others. I hope you will visit their sites, attend their events, and help them help others.

Later.....Renagade

Forums... Are They Just Playgrounds Now?

Forums. All the marketplaces have them, and they are suppose to be the place sellers mingle on, the veteran sellers touching base with each other, welcoming the Newbies to the site, and offering help when needed. Unfortunately this is not always the case. Forums can become toxic places, full of fun and games, snarky comments, and general B.S. that makes it impossible for people to find answers to problems. Don't get me wrong, I love to have fun just like anyone else, but when I need an answer to a problem, I hate having to wade through pages of the "Whoo Hoo" "Fun" threads to find anything of value. ALL forums don't start out this way....but as the site grows so does the forums and unfortunately, not everyone is mature enough to realize the forums are public for all users, not their private playground.

I recently tried addressing this issue on Bonanzle, after being contacted by several who said they hated to bother me but could not find get a good answer in the forums, and they knew I have constantly stated "my door is always open" to anyone. The response was great! Many of the "old tymers" that have been on site since the early days responded, saying "If anyone needs help,...feel free to contact me!"

It was titled : "OLDER BONANZLERS!- United to help! - NEWBIES! Look here for help! "- but unfortunately that thread is now GONE from the site. as I said ALL forums unfortunately have the problem children that seem to be allowed to run amok, causing havoc whenever and however they please.

This is NOT just a "Bonanzle" problem.....this is an everywhere problem...and alot of times it is the same ones stirring the pot, no matter where you look.

One thing Bonanzle has going for it is there is a group of sellers that do care about the site and helping others learn the ropes. Two of them truly shine out as leaders in the help department, and that is Walt aka AuctionWally and Phaedra of attheboutique. With their weekly show on talkshoe , Brainstorming Bonanzle , they ,along with their guests, offer countless tips to all sellers. Phaedra also has one on one booth consultations .

Bonanzle also boasts a spot on a new talkshoe show, "The River, The Ranch, And The Bay" (ie the Ranch part). Tune in and check out Kat and her fine lineup of co-hosts and guest as well for some good info.

Now if you are needing some quick answers between these shows.... check out ANY of these sellers on Bonanzle.... They are ready and willing to help out anyone needing alittle help:

http://www.bonanzle.com/bookbrowzers

http://www.bonanzle.com/MinuteBearTrading

http://www.bonanzle.com/momspennies

http://www.bonanzle.com/halfcenturymark

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/pugs

http://www.bonanzle.com/jacksplace

http://www.bonanzle.com/Blazey

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/gypsygirl

http://www.bonanzle.com/R_U_Christian

http://www.bonanzle.com/starshinin

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/EclecticDealer

http://www.bonanzle.com/wallyh

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/ibbysjewels

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/SusansBooks

http://www.bonanzle.com/jamiro

http://www.bonanzle.com/mistycreekwest

http://www.bonanzle.com/Countrystore

http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/southwitch

http://www.bonanzle.com/AnnappleBonanza

http://www.bonanzle.com/stuffyouneed

http://EclecticAve.com

http://www.bonanzle.com/Debinnova

http://www.bonanzle.com/skywalker_track

http://www.bonanzle.com/bleumoonsattic

http://www.bonanzle.com/brightestblessings

I know there are more willing to help..... but Like I said, unfortunately forums can be a playground for the few...and was not able to get a full list before they deleted the thread.

So the moral of the story is this....you wanna play??? go ahead and jump into the forums. You need help?? tune into a couple of fine talkshoe shows ...or go knock on the door of one of the ones listed here....Good people who only want to help....

Anyone else want to help?? What say you? Are Forums helpful or just "Playgrounds"?

Later..............Renagade

Fear Not The Spiders

Its Known as SEO .... Search Engine Optimization. And if you want to be found on this crazy place called the web, you need to learn it. Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other send out what the call Spiders to crawl the web, looking for good things to bring back.

Google and other search engines are strange. Trying to figure out what it is they want in a website is sometimes like throwing darts blindfolded. I have been at the top of their lists...and have been at the bottom and everywhere in between. But just how can one improve their ranking? I have discovered a few things that seem to help.

1. FRESH content.

This excites the spiders like a wolf around raw meat. so add new items often. New listings, new blog posts, a new picture, SOMETHING anything to get them smelling the fresh blood.

2. Tags.

Tags ARE important for blogs, pictures, etc for they tell the Search Engines in shorthand what it is all about. Like this blogs tags.

3. Attributes

Ahhh Now these little things are great! But can be tricky to use. But they will tell those spiders what the item is and help your customers find them in a search.

4. Pictures

For some STRANGE reason, they love to see pictures. So post a few in your blog, be sure you have some on your web page, and include them in your item listings.

5. Be Keyword aware.

Keywords ARE great, especially in Titles and the first 100 words or so of anything. The Spiders love simple and presence. They will pick up on "Red Hat Size Medium" before they will "Beautiful Fancy Hat" But at the same time will not like it if you are just using the buzz words like " ruby red eBay cap hat ladies men children's". If they think you are spamming they will dump you, So be careful to stick to the facts, Jack!

6. Changes

Google and others like to mix it up! Sometimes just the simplest changes work to trick them into thinking that everything is new. So redo your bio, change a picture, color, rearrange layout just a little and see.

7. Link Backs

Here these to can be tricky. They love links...but hate those that are not relevant. Where you place links to your blog, website etc should be places that pertain to what your blog website etc are all about. Or at least have some relevance to them.

This is just some of what I have figured out...and have worked on this weekend doing to this blog, and my website: www.2wolves.com , my Bonanzle booths: www.bonanzle.com/renagade and www.bonanzle.com/RenagadesRelics .

I would LOVE to hear some of YOUR suggestions...What is good for SEO??

(commenting on Blogs is good for SEO too! LOL)

Later...........Renagade

Some places for great information on this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta_tag

http://base.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=78170

http://websitehelpers.com/seo/

WOW!.... Now THATS a SEXY Billboard!!

John...Big, Bad, John "ColderICE," Lawson is now the "Sexiest Billboard" you will ever see.

John has generously donated space on his chest to Breast Cancer Research. John will be auctioning off the ability for ANYONE to custom design a T-Shirt with their Company's Logo or slogan that he will wear at the Ecommerce Merchant Summit 2009 in Atlanta, GA . And trust me, not only will it get alot of exposure there, but people will DEFINITELY see your logo. John is a strapping guy with a nice broad chest...plenty of space for any logo. He also has a commanding presence with a wonderful personality and a head full of knowledge that makes people want to engage him.

The eBay Giving Works Auction will start on Monday, April 27th and ends on Monday, May 4th. The auction winner will be announced live, by Podcast host and auctioneer Mr. Auction Wally, during the weekly “Brainstorming Bonanzle” radio podcast show.

This just goes to show you ... John "colderICE" Lawson is a Big, Big Man....with a Big, Big Chest that houses a heart of pure Gold.

Anyone who would like more information on the ..please visit ColderICE at 3rdpoblogs.com

and help John "Sell His Chest to Save The Breasts!" (and get a peek at this guy too!)

Thanks John....You SEXY Billboard, You!.............Renagade

PS Brainstorming Bonanzle is set up to take donations to help sponsor a "Brainstorming" T-Shirt that John will be wearing during one of his video Blogs...If you would like to donate please Visit Brainstorming Bonanzle . A GREAT way for Bonanzlers to show their support of the show, of colderICE, and the Cause! Just use the Donate Button and tell them its for Breast Cancer!

Fun's Fun but B.S. is B.S.

Ah... the favorite phase my Dad always used when things got out of control. It was also used when it was time to cut through the B.S. and get down to business. And I am starting to see that more sellers and Businesses need to heed the phrase....especially in the eCommerce world.

Online Selling is a business, and sadly there are too many people that are not treating it as such. With the economic downturn and soaring unemployment rate, many people are trying their hand at selling online. These same people, now at home, suddenly find themselves without the human interaction that the "real world" job market gave them. So when they find a marketplace with a friendly forum they join in. New friendships are formed and a whole new world becomes available. This is good, this is fun...but there is a point when the "Fun" becomes "B.S.".

Instead of learning skills to help them grow their new found business, they start joining into the games and B.S. threads that many of the forums have.....and that sadly too many of these marketplaces condone ...even encourage. Yes, it can be fun to play along in a " Three Word Story" thread....or "name that tune" and everyone deserves those fun breaks from listing and promoting. Where it crosses the line is when the games start affecting the entire site....and in turn, the bottom line for all sellers.

John "colderICE" Lawson is the host of a great podcast titled "B.S. Walks when Money Talks " Anyone who has tuned into John, seen any of his Video Blogs, read any of his articles, or have had ANY dealings with him know, this guy is a fun loving person! BUT, John is also a serious seller......VERY serious. And he makes the sales. Not by "Playing games" but by having fun and "knowing the game". Believe me, he has achieved his status NOT by any selling game on any site...but through hard work, quality items, and knowing that Selling IS a business... and although you should enjoy what you do, it is not a game.

Now I am NOT trying to tell anyone HOW to conduct their business and if you just want to play around, normally that would be fine. But when the fun and games start affecting MY business and MY bottom line, I am going to speak up. And since the games and craziness is picked up by Google and other search engines, not every customer out to buy something is going to think it's cute, and not only will they not take the selling venue seriously, they may not view any of the sellers on such venues as serious sellers.

Most sellers online ARE taking treating their business as it should be. As a BUSINESS. And the serious sellers KNOW that "Fun's Fun but B.S. is B.S." because "B.S. Walks...When Money Talks" .

What think you?

Later...........Renagade