This section focuses specifically on different types of cross-promotional links to be placed in regular auction listings that are intended to drive traffic to your eBay Store. Please carefully consider each link type, and decided for yourself which ones would benefit you the most. Please also be sure to understand the eBay Links and Keyword Spamming policies as you craft each link. The Link Structure sub-section explains how to build the primary URL for each link type by following a few easy steps.

1) Link to a specific store fixed price item

If you would like to draw attention to a specific item in your store, this type of link will do it better than any other. It's used most effectively if you sell multiples of the same item. When linking to a specific store item, one must be sure not to violate the Key Word Spamming policy.

Link Structure:

1)	Go to the desired store listing page
2)	Copy the URL found in the browser Address field

Listing Strategy Example: Imagine that you have 12 copies of the latest Star Wars DVD. Create a regular auction listing starting at $0.01 with no reserve for 10 days. This listing is intended to generate as much excitement as possible. Your store would have a store fixed price listing containing the remaining 11 DVDs with a reasonable Buy It Now price. In your auction item description, create a link to your store listing with the following text message - "Want to buy this DVD now? - click HERE". Or you could say, "Why wait until the auction ends? - buy this DVD now."

2) Link to a customized store category landing page

This link is perfect for targeting clusters of similar items. It is probably the most versatile and effective of all the link types. A storeowner must first think carefully about how they want to cluster their items, and to give their custom category a good name. [Custom Categories = Clusters] Clusters can be based upon many different factors: genre, size, brand name, and maker to name a few. Make it easier for shoppers and collectors to buy from you by saving them time, and directing their attention to custom categories where they can find items that are very similar to the one in the present auction listing page.

Link Structure:

1)	Go to your eBay Store, and click on the desired custom store category
2)	Copy the URL found in the browser Address field

Listing Strategy Example: Imagine that you sell a large variety of women's clothing and accessories -- one of your specialties is handbags. Also imagine that a woman is shopping for a nice handbag on eBay, and comes across one of your Kate Spade auction listings; but, it's not the right style. If you provide a link to your general store landing page, they might get lose interest. By providing a link to your designer handbag store category from your auction listing, the buyer may get excited about another handbag, and make a purchase.

This strategy can be applied to all your auction listings that fall within a particular cluster. So if you also specialized in women's scarves, each of those auction listings would have an appropriate link to your scarves store category.

3) Link to a store landing page

eBay automatically provides 2 links on every listing page to the seller's store landing page. One appears at the very top, and the other at the very bottom. You could also strategically place another link within your auction description. This is a good general-purpose link that exposes buyers to all of your store custom categories [clusters].

Link Structure:

1)	Go to your eBay Store
2)	Copy the URL found in the browser Address field

Listing Strategy Example: Many storeowners don't emphasize their store landing page links enough. They often say something like, "Visit my eBay Store", using the same font size and color as the rest of the item description. You can improve the effectiveness of this link by increasing the font size, or changing the color of the text. You could also insert your store logo into the description, and link it to your store landing page.

4) Link to an About The Store (aka About Me) page

If you decide to develop your About Me page to the point where it becomes more valuable real-estate than the store landing page, use the following link.

Link Structure:

1)	Click on the "me" icon next to your UserID
2)	Copy the URL found in the browser Address field

Listing Strategy Example: Some storeowners have developed exceptional About Me pages. With a good understanding of HTML code, and with the help of an HTML-editor program, a seller can replicate all the primary features found on the store landing page in their About Me page. They can also control the look and feel of the page much better than the automatically generated store landing page. At this level of sophistication, it makes more sense to use the About The Store link in auction listing pages.

5) Link to a "View Seller's Other Item" page

Recent changes to the formatting and functionality of the "View Seller's Other Item" page have elevated the general visibility of all store fixed price items. Now, if a buyer clicks on the Buy It Now tab, they can quickly see all of the seller's store items. Unlike before, the Seller's Other Items page now displays Gallery thumbnail images. The inherent value of the Gallery option for store fixed price items increases with this added exposure.

This is another general-purpose link comparable to a stores landing page link because it shows the same list of items. It does not contain the other store landing page features including: the internal search box, logo, and custom categories. It can be thought of as a simplified version of your store landing page.

Link Structure:

1)	Go to any of your listing pages, and click on the "view seller's other items" link
2)	Click on either the All Items or Buy It Now tab depending on your preference
3)	Click on either the Price or Time column header links if you would like to change the sorting view
4)	Copy the URL found in the browser Address field

Listing Strategy Example: Many storeowners don't apply enough emphasize to this link; and they convey an incomplete message. The old-style messaging that is often used says something like, "See My Other Auctions". A more accurate message would omit the word "auctions", and say something like, "See All Our Other eBay Listings." A seller can give more emphasis to this link by increasing the font size, and changing the color of the text. A special graphic could also be used to draw people's attention.

6) Link to a pre-canned title & description key word search page

This is a very precise and extremely powerful link. It combines the advantages of the specific item (#1) and the custom category (#2) links. This link type can be used to direct shoppers to a cluster of items that share an identical set of key words. The link is built using the Search Stores functionality on the core search page. By using this function, the seller can a) search for specific key words, b) include all regular auction and store items, c) and control the sorting view.

Link Structure:

1)	Click on Search in the main navigational bar
2)	Click on the Search Stores tab
3)	Enter the appropriate words in the Search Title field
4)	Click on the View Results pull-down menu, and make the appropriate selection
5)	Click on the Sort By pull-down menu, and make the appropriate selection
6)	Click the Search Store button
7)	Copy the URL found in the browser Address field on the resulting page

Listing Strategy Example: Extend the scenario used in #2, and image that in addition to handbags and scarves, you also specialize in bras. Your inventory includes a wide variety of styles and sizes. In your store you could have a custom category called "Bras - Size 34, 36 & 38". Now image that a woman is shopping on eBay for a bra, size 36C, and comes across one of your auction listings. You could assist this shopper by providing them with a link to a pre-canned title & description search for "bra 36C". By connecting a shopper to a cluster of items that share the same key words, you may be able to generate multiple orders.

7) Encourage Adoption of Favorite Stores Links

You can develop some repeat business through your auction listing pages by encouraging buyers to add your store to their Favorites list in MyeBay. Since some buyers may not be aware of this particular feature, it could pay-off in the long run to present them with the option. While the "Add to My Favorite Stores in My eBay" link can be found at the top of every store page, there's no reason why you can't add this link to each of your regular auction listing pages too. In fact, it's encouraged, and it's really easy to do. If you utilize templates to create your listing pages, or your own custom HTML code, be sure to add the following link.

Link Structure:

The primary URL follows. In this case, place your eBay UserID after the "=" sign.

Link

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