Reader Question - Why Screen Shots and Not Actual Listings?

I received this message from JPC about how example items are presented on my blog:

"What bothers me about how you present these items on your blog, is that you just do screen shots, so you can't follow links to see the actual item, or to see the seller's other items. You are showing them and not allowing readers to actually find them, which could potentially have led to more sales." Great question!

There are several reasons why I use screen shots. First, eBay items are only archived for 45 days. Once the link becomes older than 45 days, it will be a dead link and won't work. Screen shots will be on the post forever. So, for readers who don't find the post until after 45 days, they can still see how the listing looked and not just get a dead link.

Secondly, having several screen shots in a row more convenient for reading and comparing than clicking back and from from the blog post to eBay several times.

Also, from a blogging perspective, a screen shot increases SEO. An effective strategy for Search Engine Optimization is the naming of images to include relevant keywords. These key words create an ALT tag for the image, which can be seen by search engines, and increases your SEO.

You can use this strategy on your eBay listings, too. When you take photos of your eBay items and upload them to your computer for editing, name the photo the same as the keywords of your item, rather than just IMG00009 like it comes out of the camera. So, not only can Google find your item by its title, Google can see the ALT tag and find it by the image, too! Furthermore, your listings' images will eventually show up on Google Images and may lead more buyers to your eBay store or listing.

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