Putting unrelated keywords into an ad is just a waste of your time – and the potential buyers – and makes it harder to sell your unwanted item

Selling is a competition. However, as we all know, anyone who tries to cheat in any competition, race or test of knowledge often gets tripped up. If they’d put the same effort into preparation in the first place, they’d be true winners.

The same goes for people who place ads with incorrect information, thinking it will help them sell the item.

There seems to be the misunderstanding amongst a small amount of sellers that somebody looking for something else will want to buy their product if they see it. Therefore, they spend time cramming unrelated keywords into the short and long descriptions of their ads.

But this isn’t helping either the buyers or sellers – we know most DoneDealers come to the site with something specific in mind. For example, someone searching for a Mercedes is not going to want to buy a Micra. If they click into an ad that is for something they don’t want, most DoneDealers will just click back out.

Keep it accurate

The best advice for anyone placing an ad on DoneDeal is to have an accurate short description – people decide what to click on in milliseconds. Remember, even if they click in to an ad and see that what’s actually for sale isn’t what was advertised in the short description, they’ll click back out of it very quickly. Putting a lot of effort into incorrect words is not going to convert into a sale.
There’s no benefit at all in cramming an ad or a description with inaccurate keywords. There’s an even easier way to get people’s interest!

Get your headline right

What buyers want is an accurate short description to help them decide if this is what they want. Short descriptions should tell potential buyers what you are selling. Use commonly used words for the item, as well as the brand, make or model. If there’s room, you can add in anything else that is relevant – the important word here is ‘relevant’. Think back to why you bought the product in the first place as this is also going to resonate with a buyer.

Use lots of imagery and information

You have to ensure that you use the space in the long description to explain in detail what you are selling. It is also worthwhile to upload photos or a video. Most people will have made up their minds what they want to buy based on your description. A short, badly worded sentence that contains no useful information is not going to help you sell. It may result in enquiries from people who aren’t actually interested in the product – but if you’d put the right information in at the beginning, you’d get calls from genuinely interested buyers.

You DoneDealers have done it again! Well done to one and all, as we have managed to raise €23,822.10 for this wonderful charity.

Kevin popped in to meet Fiona & Ger at their office in St. Luke’s Hospital, Rathgar on Tuesday to present the cheque.

Fiona gave Kevin the grand tour of St. Luke’s Hospital and explained some of the facilities and treatments provided for cancer patients in their care. St. Luke’s Hospital is a warm, friendly and comfortable environment for patients and their families and Fiona explained that the money raised by DoneDealers will go a long way to helping The Friend’s of St.Luke’s Hospital continue their excellent work.

So, once again DoneDealers, give yourselves a huge pat on the back. Well done and thank you!

Please let us know if you have any suggestions or comments on our charity month by leaving a comment below.

So a few weeks ago, you might remember we released a new version of DoneDeal that contained a section tab as a sidebar.

Lots of people checked it out and gave us some great feedback. After carefully reading and considering all the feedback, it became obvious to us that the section tab worked great for some but not so great for others.

Ego bruised, we brushed ourselves down and looked at how we could improve the design for everyone, young and old, techies and non-techies.

So today, we can announce a new and improved version that we believe that will work better for everyone. Once again your feedback shaped the new look, so if you have any more thoughts, please let us know.

 

All the way back in January, you DoneDealers voted for me to train for a mini marathon.

Well I got my runners, picked my charity and registered for the Flora Mini Marathon taking place in Dublin and the June Bank Holiday Monday.  I’ll be sure to take lots of pics of the big day!

The charity I picked to walk for is A Little Lifetime Foundation.  This charity is possibly not as well known as some charities, but the cause is one that I think has touched more of our hearts than we realise.

A Little Lifetime Foundation (formerly Isands) is a voluntary organisation, founded in 1983 by a group of bereaved parents whose babies died before or at birth (stillbirth) or some time after birth (neonatal death) offering support and help for parents and families.

Every penny for this great charity will be greatly appreciated and go to a really meaningful cause.  If any of you DoneDealers would like to donate to this great cause, you can do so here and I will personally owe you a HUGE hug for helping such a great cause!

And that’s another year’s Eurovision over with!  Thanks to all you DoneDealers for entering our Eurowinner competition.

We had a really great response to this competition and now it’s time to put you all out of your misery and announce this months WINNER!

Well here goes, a HUGE congratulations to

John Mc Loughlin from Doon, Co. Limerick

John, you’re Nintendo Wii bundle will be en route tomorrow, happy singing!

And now for our 10 runners up:

Kelly Niland, Kilkelly, Co Mayo
John O’Sullivan, Lucan, Co. Dublin
Peter Round, Glenties, Co Donegal
Kevin Dunne, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
Marie Gibbons, Belmullet, Co. Mayo
Marie McGee, Ballymahon, Co. Longford
Lagle Kova, Skibbereen, Co.Cork
Gina Shellard, Ferns, Co. Wexford
Paul Cleary, Lucan, Co. Dublin
Jim Murphy, Newtown Road, Wexford

There’s 10 runner up DoneDeal goodie bags, including t-shirts on the way out to you!  Be sure to use your t-shirts in our monthly T Spot Competition!