Their Blog is Not Our Blog

What Not to Expect from List Rank Sell

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I was in junior high school when I first discovered heavy metal.  That day was one of those Eureka moments that changed me forever.  And every time I discover a new favorite band, I experience that first moment all over again.

One such occasion was the first time I heard “Sundown” by Fireball Ministry, a stoner rock band from Los Angeles.  The song introduced itself like a thunder clap, and its album, Their Rock is Not Our Rock, hung onto me like an old friend.

The album’s name, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Book of Deuteronomy, was inspired by a disdain for mainstream rock in the mid-2000s.  Its message was a shot over the bow, a statement of belief, and most importantly, a declaration of intent to be different than the rest.

The message was a shot over the bow, a statement of belief, and most importantly, a declaration of intent to be different than the rest.

 

Take note, competitors

This missive to our competition shares that same resoluteness.

In the world of eBay SEO, “the rest” is comprised of a collection of self-appointed gurus who have gotten used to being taken at face value — regardless of their lack of demonstrable expertise in the field of SEO.

These individuals have been pushing their ideas for so long and with such persistence, they eventually became accepted as legitimate.

The truth is, search engine optimization on eBay is the subject of a stubborn, misguided, pernicious mythology that, over time, has taken on a life of its own.  There’s almost no telling what you’ll find in the pursuit of eBay SEO knowledge.

But one thing you can be sure of:  Most of it will be wrong.

Our priority at List Rank Sell is to make it known that SEO on eBay is not only real, but that it’s also effective and measurable.

It’s what we do.

But the focus of this post, however, is what we do NOT do.

 

We do not copy other people’s ideas

Much of the readily available ecommerce advice on the internet provides safe “information” that neither informs nor creates controversy (the truth usually does both).

It is very easy to set up a blog and gain an audience by offering generic ecommerce “tips” based on nothing more than common sense.

Posts with titles like “5 Steps to Better eBay Sales” or “7 Strategies for Driving More Traffic to Your Ecommerce Store” can be effectively written by a $5-an-hour freelancer with no actual ecommerce experience.

And they’re everywhere.

Posts with titles like “5 Steps to Better eBay Sales” can be effectively written by a $5-an-hour freelancer.  And they’re everywhere.

In contrast, we never outsource our content.  And we certainly do not simply regurgitate mediocre content from other sources and then claim it’s our own material.  Our purpose is to inform our readers based on what we, ourselves, have discovered and developed as a leading force in the eBay SEO industry.

We want your trust, and we expect to earn it by consistently providing you with only our very best, completely original content.

 

We do not claim insider knowledge

It drives us batty when ecommerce “journalists” refuse to reference their sources and imply an insider relationship with eBay.

One so-called “expert” actually directly claimed such a relationship while, not once, but twice referring to structured data as “strategic data.”  Doing so was like a Lexus dealer misspelling his vehicles’ make, “Lexis,” and still expecting to be taken seriously.

Unlike all the “insiders,” everything we know and provide our readers and clients is publicly available and has been acquired through rigorous study and persistent testing.

 

We do not believe hearsay is legitimate news

Perhaps one of the most destructive forces in ecommerce is the treatment of rumors, rhetoric, and just plain seller angst as worthy of journalistic attention.

Seller posts on the eBay discussion boards are not legitimate news.  Popular Facebook group threads are not legitimate news.  Letters to an online “news” editor are not legitimate news.

We do not report pure hearsay ripped from forums and social media.  Our news-related posts are always vetted, verified, and, when appropriate, fully tested before they go live.

 

We do not coddle our readers

eBay has come a long way since its modest beginning.  Started in Pierre Omidyar’s living room over Labor Day weekend in 1995, “AuctionWeb” (eBay’s short-lived initial name) quickly developed into the largest and most popular online auction site in the world.

For many sellers who have been present since the early days, today’s eBay — a technologically advanced, structured data-driven, product-based, largely fixed price marketplace — is a source of great frustration and a target of angry, incoherent, conspiracy-fueled rants.

Our purpose at List Rank Sell is to educate and serve eBay sellers as well as the folks in the SEO community.  We want all of you to succeed.  If you are open to new ideas and willing to learn, then our website is for you.

But if you view eBay as a long-lost friend that betrayed you, you’re wasting your time here.

 

We do not know everything about eBay

Everybody’s an expert these days.  In the Information Age, a good number of people genuinely believe all they need to become an authority on a subject is to read some blog posts and watch a bunch of YouTube videos.

What these individuals fail to realize is that most “gurus” make their living simply by giving others advice.  Many of them have never actually done the thing about which they are providing that advice.

This is especially the case in the world of ecommerce.

We certainly do not claim to know everything there is to know about ecommerce, or even eBay itself.  For instance, when we need an API tool, we contact a participant in the eBay Developers Program.  Not only is that not our core competency, we just don’t know enough about it to create one ourselves.

When ecommerce agencies promise expertise in all areas of online selling, they are lying.  And by doing so, they are diluting the message of all such companies everywhere.

 

At List Rank Sell, we do one thing and one thing only — eBay-specific SEO.  It’s our genuine expertise.

And we do it better than anyone else.

Keep your chin up.

About Dave Snyder 25 Articles
Dave is Founder & Chief Analyst at List Rank Sell. He began his intensive testing and study of eBay SEO in 2010, which eventually grew into a full-service agency dedicated to the practice. Dave has developed a methodology that embraces traditional search as well as technical SEO specific to eBay. Previously, he led a successful career as a tax analyst representing Cook County property owners.