Everyone has his or her own view of eBay. To some, it is a great opportunity to get a bargain. For others, it has given them a chance to start their own online marketing business selling on eBay. Because of the fantastic success and growth of the auction site, it now offers owners of any online business an excellent opportunity to increase traffic to your web site.

It is amazing that many marketers just do not realise the potential of eBay as a tool for traffic building. The method that I use is very inexpensive but can attract considerable extra traffic to my website.

First of all, I create or buy the resale rights to an e-book. I then submit it for auction either as a downloadable digital product or transferred onto a CD. To increase the traffic to my web site, I include several links to it from within the product. The people who actually win the auction and buy the book, of course, will be the only ones to see this.

But with a successful auction, you could have one or two hundred people actually viewing your listing. And you want to tell them about your web site. This you can do by using the eBay About Me page facility. This allows you to tell visitors to your auction about yourself and your products. More importantly, you can include links to your own web site or affiliate programs.

Although there is a small me symbol in the listing that visitors can click on to be taken to your About Me page, you will need more than this. In your listing, mention the About Me page and encourage people to go to the page. In fact, I usually place links at the beginning, middle and end of the listing.

Once the visitor arrives at the About Me page, you can offer them up to 3 web links. I use one of these to link to my web site and the others I direct to a couple of affiliate sites of mine. 

If you are actually selling physical products through eBay or the other online auctions, you have another opportunity to promote your site. Include a letter or flyer with the item giving details and the URL of your web site. 

Another useful ploy that you can use is to e-mail successful bidders a couple of days after the sale. Ask them if they are happy with their purchase and offer them a free report or bonus as a thank you. All they have to do to get this freebie is to e-mail you requesting the gift. And then you have another opted in member for your list.

About the author: Dave Bromley is a writer and online marketer who publishes a monthly newsletter UKAuctionline and free 6 part mini course on buying and selling on eBay.