Learn to buy and sell antiques and collectibles

Review of BayRSS eBay Affiliate Plugin For WordPress

Back in January I put together a new website called mytintoys.com. It's just a very simple blog with pictures and histories of some of my tin toys. After each history, there is an affiliate link so readers can see the same toys on eBay.

If you aren't familiar with eBay's affiliate program there are two ways to get paid:

The first one is by getting someone to open a new eBay account and then bid or list something on eBay. This pays $25 to 30 depending on the number of new users.

The second way eBay pays you is for generating buying bids. You get 50-75% of the fees from the first purchase a bidder makes after you send him to eBay. They have to purchase something within seven days.

More information about eBay's affiliate program.

Now that I've explained how you can get paid, back to my review of Bayrss.

A few weeks ago, I found a WordPress Plug-in called Bayrss that puts eBay auctions and their gallery images right into the blog. (WordPress is the blogging system I use on the site. A plug-in is a add on module.)

Thinking having pictures of live auctions would result in more clicks than the text link I already had, I added Bayrss to the website. I then went back and changed all the previous articles so they'd have pictures and eBay affiliate links.

That was on August 29th. Three weeks ago.

Since then my commissions have increased by 400%.

In that time, I have added additional posts, and gotten a little more traffic during this period so the whole increase is not from this plug-in. I can't tell what portion of the increase is due to Bayrss, but I am sure it's having an effect.

A positive effect.

I like Bayrss so much I am finally rebuilding Train99.com with WordPress and this widget. I am going to build a single page for every single train in my collection, and add pages for every train I sell on eBay.

I am sure this will result in a huge increase in my eBay commissions. That's why I am willing to spend the time on it. It doesn't take very long. A few minutes to take a picture, and a few minutes more to write a description of the item.

With Bayrss you keep all the revenue unless you specifically set it up to do revenue sharing. I don't do revenue sharing because my toy niches don't have enough people in them to benefit from it.

Bayrss will also put links to books on Amazon onto your blog, but I don't use that either.

I have found a few ways of using Bayrss though.

The simple way where it shows eBay auctions below the posts. Bayrss updates the auctions automatically so when one ends a new one replaces it.

Another way of using it is to write about something you're selling on eBay, and have the system show your auction. Then once your auction ends, edit it so it shows other auctions. The edit is as simple as changing the keywords in the tag on the edit screen. To show a single auction you use the eBay item number. To show multiple items, you use keywords.

In both of these methods I am using long tail keyword strings. This means I am seeking to get search engine rankings for phrases with two or more words.

For example I have a page about a toy fire truck made by Schuco. If you search on Google for "toy fire truck" or "Schuco," you probably won't find my site.

However if you search for "Schuco fire truck" on Google, my site comes up first. That is true whether or not you use the quotation marks.

These longer phrases get fewer searches, but are much easier to get higher search results. Just use the phrase as the title, and once or twice in the post. Then get some links to your site from other websites and you'll get good results.

Build enough of these pages and the traffic from search engines will add up.

On Train99.com I am using manufacturers name and model numbers. This is where the majority of my traffic comes from anyway. I only started the rebuild a few days ago, but already I have the top position for "Lionel 820" on Google. Try it without the quotes. Then look at the page - just two pictures and a short history gets me the top slot on Google.

I have over 500 different numbered trains I can write articles about. Those are just the collection items. I also have a constant stream of other trains I sell on eBay. I already take pictures of everything I sell on eBay, how much extra work will it be to write a description?

Not much.

I am testing some other ways of using Bayrss on my blogs, and will surely share more information during the coaching sessions and possibly in the newsletter.

One thing I didn't like about Bayrss is it adds nofollow tags to all the links in your posts.

A nofollow tag tells search engines not to count the link as a vote of confidence when assigning ranking to web pages. I want the search engines to count my links. Maybe not the affiliate links to eBay, but surely the links to other pages on my blog, or pages I choose to link to on other sites. Some of those sites are mine!

I sent a note to the builder saying I didn't want my links to use the nofollow tag and he built a version that allows you to specify whether or not nofollow is added.

That's quite neat. The builder is responsive to feedback and helpful. When I put Bayrss on the first blog, I had problems and he spotted the fix immediately. I like that.

So often you don't get support at all. This guy answers his emails and is helpful.

If you collect or specialize in one type of collectible on eBay, building blogs with descriptions of your collection and affiliate links to similar eBay items is an easy way to get some commissions.

If you already have a WordPress blog set up I strongly suggest getting this plug-in.

If you don't have a blog yet and are thinking about it, don't buy Bayrss now. Set your blog up first.

I have a report that explains how to set up a WordPress blog and how to get traffic to your blog, but I need to do more editing on it. I'll try to get it done in the next few weeks.

Here's a link to Bayrss

Terry

I use MyTinToys as a case study during the Thursday coaching sessions. Information about the coaching sessions.

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Terry Gibbs has taught over 7,000 people how to make a good living on eBay. Terry's most recent eBay instruction manual is The Auction Revolution . The Auction Revolution is your guide to eBay and beyond. Here on Iwantcollectibles.com, you will learn about buying and selling antiques and collectibles, and about eBay.