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Founded by entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar in 1995, eBay was one of the first auction sites on the web. In fact, its original name was AuctionWeb. Fast forward over 25 years later. As you can see from the eBay statistics below, the site has become a global marketplace connecting buyers and sellers online.

Perhaps you’ve bought things on eBay, but now are exploring how to start an eBay store or simply becoming an eBay seller. We show you the potential opportunity. Follow along as we explore eBay seller stats, company facts, and volume figures you need to know.

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eBay History Facts

eBay has had a fascinating history from humble beginnings to roaring success.

A story circulated that founder Pierre Omidyar had created the website just to help his wife collect Pez candy dispensers. But It was later found out that the story was fabricated.

Following are some interesting eBay history facts:

• The first item listed on eBay was a broken laser pointer that Canadian Mark Fraser bought with an intention to fix it because he couldn’t afford a new pointer.
• Chris Agarpao was the first employee Pierre Omidyar hired to process the mailed check payments. And he is still working for eBay.

Pierre Omidyar founded eBay as a hobby. But after seeing the site’s growth, he quit his day job to focus on the site solely. Jeff Skoll joined eBay as the first president in 1996, and the site touched the $7.2 million sales mark in 1996.

Here are some additional facts about eBay, which might interest you:

• Initially being operated from home, eBay rented its first office at 1025 Hamilton Avenue in San Jose, CA in October 1996.
• First called AuctionWeb, the site was officially renamed eBay in September 1997.
• eBay made its first acquisition in 1998.

The company listed shares on NASDAQ under the symbol EBAY in 1998 and expected to fetch a share price of $18. Contrary to the expectations, the share price reached $53.50 in just one day.

Following are some more eBay history facts you may find of interest:

• The company introduced the ‘buy it now’ button in 2000, which allows users to buy products instantly.
• It launched global shipping programs in 2012 to help US sellers ship more easily to international buyers.
• eBay launched a price-match guarantee for eligible deals in 2017

Fast forward to 2020, eBay is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The company keeps growing, just having completed a record quarter under the leadership of eBay CEO Jamie Iannone, who was appointed in April 2020.

eBay is a good corporate citizen and serving the community with full dedication and honesty. And it was quick to terminate some of its top executives charged for cyberstalking a publisher.

Recently eBay agreed to transfer its classified business to Adevinta for a total consideration valued at approximately $9. 2 billion.

eBay Statistics Overall

So do people still use eBay? The answer is a resounding yes, as confirmed by various reports. eBay today is a global online marketplace, reaching record numbers. eBay and its brands have a presence in 190 different markets.

eBay is truly global. Here are some insights from eBay’s annual report:

• 59% of eBay revenue comes from international operations.
• The company has 13,300 employees globally out of which around 6,600 employees are located in the US.

Following are commonly asked questions about eBay statistics:

How Many People Use eBay?

There are 183 million buyers on the eBay marketplace globally. And there are 1.6 billion live listings on eBay. So you can understand that millions of people use eBay globally.

Are you curious about the US leading online marketplace according to sellers?

The answer is eBay. According to Statista, eBay got 6.53 on a 10-point number scale.

How Many Transactions Does eBay Process?

The site reached a $25 billion Gross Merchandise Volume (GMV) in Q3 2020.

Gross Merchandise Volume is the total value of all successfully closed transactions between users on the platform.

With a big number of new sellers continuously adding to the platform from around the world, GMV is poised to grow further. This means eBay’s percentage of sales volume among online marketplaces will also increase.

You can check eBay GMV from 2006 to 2020 here.

What is eBay’s Revenue?

eBay revenue in Q3 20019 was $2.083 billion, and eBay’s Revenue for Q3 2020 is $2.606 billion, a 25% increase from Q3 of 2019, as reported by eBay.

Where are eBay Sellers Located?

Most of the top eBay sellers are located in the US. The rest are based in other locations.

Look at the following data to get an idea of eBay sellers’ location:

• United States (28.2%)
• United Kingdom (28%)
• Germany (16.5%)
• China (13.2%)
• Australia (4.2%)
• Others (9.8%)

The United States has the largest number of eBay sellers.

eBay Stats: Listings and Sellers

Savvy sellers know that listings make or break a sale. Among best practices, they streamline their businesses by using a good listing app (see: eBay listing tools). They also know that how they list their articles matters to success, so they save time through eBay listing templates. What’s more, they keep tabs on various eBay reports to know the best prices.

And they understand the facts and figures like the following:

How Many Items are Listed on eBay?

There are around 1.6 billion live listings on the eBay marketplace.

The number suggests that eBay is one of the leading marketplaces. And the number of listed articles on the site is around 7 times the number of eBay buyers. This means there are more products then buyers. As a result, you will have a competitor or competitors even if you think you have unique offerings.

So it becomes imperative to optimize your eBay listings to improve rank in product search on eBay.

What are the Average Listings Per Seller?

There is an average of 268 listings per seller on eBay.

As a non-store eBay user, you will get up to 200 free listings every month. Beyond that, eBay charges $.35 per listing.

However, if you subscribe to any of the eBay store packages, you will receive more free opportunities to list your articles.

How Many Items on eBay are New?

80% of items sold on eBay are new, and the remaining 20% of sold articles are old, according to an eBay press release.

eBay also launched the Certified Refurbished program. Under this program, a buyer can purchase refurbished products directly from the brand with a 2-year Allstate warranty.

The company launched the Certified Refurbished program under the following five categories:

• Laptops
• Portable audio
• Power tools
• Small kitchen appliances
• Vacuums

Are Most eBay Items Fixed Price or Auction?

Most eBay items are fixed price. In fact, 88% of products sold in product categories on the eBay marketplace are marked Buy It Now product categories and don’t require bidding. Only 12 % of products are sold via auction.

Many of those who are thinking about starting an eBay store have the wrong impression that eBay mostly sells through an auction. The above eBay statistics prove this incorrect.

Promoted Listings: What Percentage are There?

Around 16% of listings are promoted listings.

There are 250 million promoted listings, according to eBay data. With 1.6 billion active listings on eBay, this gives us the percentage that are promoted.

Like most online marketplaces, competition is fierce on eBay. You will not move the needle without marketing, even if your prices are low.

eBay sellers implement various marketing services, such as:

• Email marketing
• Content marketing
• Creating websites to promote their eBay stores.

Promoted eBay listings are a popular way for eBay users to grow their online businesses. And the numbers prove it. Promoted eBay listings gave eBay sellers $186 million in revenue for Q3 2020.

How Many eBay Stores are There?

There are around 790,000 eBay Stores, according to Marketplace Pulse.

The number is not surprising considering the benefits eBay store subscriptions offer. If you’re serious about selling online across different countries, having a store on eBay com helps a lot.

eBay store subscriptions will enable you to position your store in different markets aggressively. This is because eBay Store subscribers receive a host of tools to grow sales.

You can get more information about the benefits of having an eBay store to grow your business here.

What is the Number of eBay Top Rated Sellers?

The number of eBay top-rated sellers worldwide is 100. And these top-rated business owners are scattered in different countries, including the US, UK, and Germany.

Here are the numbers by country, according to Marketplace Pulse:

• UK (48)
• US (27)
• Germany (20)

The top-rated program is launched by eBay to promote business owners who are doing exceptionally well on the eBay platform. Qualified top-rated sellers receive multiple benefits to boost their eBay sales.

eBay Trends About Products

To be a successful business owner on eBay, you have to know what sells best on eBay, and find a good source of merchandise at a low enough cost to turn a profit.

• If you sell collectibles or vintage items, be sure to identify the best flea market items to sell on eBay. If you are creative and prefer to sell your own handmade goods, read: Craft Ideas to Sell on eBay.
• Since most product listings involve new goods, many aspiring online sellers will need access to wholesale or overstocked items, or discounted retail goods. More and more sellers use an eBay inventory management system to keep track.
• Make sure you have the money to buy inventory in bulk for peak times. In August of 2020, eBay launched a program to offer eBay capital loans to sellers, in partnership with LendingPoint.

Here are other insights, trends, and facts to take into account:

What are the Top Selling Products on eBay?

The top selling products over the past 6 months include perfumes, stamps, tuning products, auto parts, vitamins, and herbal supplements, reported eBay.

Not sure about which category to choose on eBay to start selling?

Here is the best selling category list:

• Home and garden
• Health and beauty
• Garden and Patio
• Toys and hobbies

Look at the following insights to know what happens on eBay every minute:

• 32 vitamins and minerals are purchased.
• 6 women’s perfumes are bought.
• 15 lawn mower parts and accessories are purchase.

How Many Mobile Transactions are There?

More than half of all transactions on the eBay platform are viewed on a mobile device prior to purchase, according to eBay.

With such a big number of users accessing their mobile phones to view transactions, it becomes important for you to make all items listed mobile friendly on eBay. Doing so will help you get more items sold.

As the mobile app is easily available on both the App Store and Google Play, people use both the mobile app and the website to access eBay on mobile devices.

How Many Products Have Free Shipping?

70% of all items sold on eBay come with free shipping in the US.

As active buyers prefer to buy things that include free shipping, a big percentage of eBay offerings in the US include this perk.

If you also offer free shipping along with competitive prices, you’re more likely to succeed on eBay.

Holiday eBay Stats

Shoppers love eBay for the Holidays! If you are looking to find active buyers this holiday season, check out these statistics from eBay to grow your business.

• 72% of buyers will shop online more than they did previous years.
• 1 in 3 users will buy things of value between $1000 to $3000 this holiday season.

Whether you are selling locally or your customers are scattered around the world, the holiday season is likely to boost your growth rate. This is because 76 percent of users say that online shopping has become easier. So the number of users buying things online during the holidays will grow.

Bonus Tips

As you review the above eBay stats, make notes of what will help you beat your competition. Sometimes knowledge is all it takes to do better than competitors.

Research and consider alternatives involving the eBay ecosystem. For example, some entrepreneurs decide to go into business providing services to other sellers. Read: How to Start an eBay Drop Off Store.

Finally, watch costs closely. Whether it’s saving a few dollars on the best shipping tape, or remembering that eBay takes a 10% cut out of every item sold — even small expenses add up when you do thousands of transactions. Mark up your merchandise to account for eBay’s 10% listing fee, other fees, and miscellaneous costs. After all, the name of the game is profit. You can get more information about the benefits of having an eBay store to grow your business here.

Image: Depositphotos

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More in: Statistics

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In helping celebrate Black History Month, Facebook along with its other brands, Instagram and Messenger, are using the platforms to raise black voices and businesses.

Throughout February, Facebook is creating these experiences including #BuyBlack Shop Collections. This will allow consumers to easily find and buy from black-owned businesses directly.

This follows Facebook’s #BuyBlack Friday during the holiday shopping season. With that campaign, Facebook says 15 million people tuned into the live event show and supported the merchants. The company is looking to have the same success this time around with #BuyBlack Shop Collections during Black History Month.

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#BuyBlack Shop Collections

With 80 black-owned businesses taking part in the collection, consumers can choose from a wide range of retailers. From men’s and women’s wear to jewelry, cosmetics, books, specialty drinks, handmade products and much more.

Instagram’s @shop account will also spotlight black-owned small businesses during the same time with a series of shoppable posts. Instagram will publish #Buy Black Guide to be featured in the Shop Tab on Instagram.

#ShareBlackStories is another Instagram multi-channel call-to-action to support and inspire the black community in the US. Throughout the month it will be hosting workshops and other virtual community-focused moments for Black creators publishing new creative tools. This will be in the Instagram Camera and stories visible on @instagram, @creators, @design, @shop and @instagramforbusiness.

Continued Support From Facebook

Another key point to highlight is Facebook will continue its support beyond this month with initiatives to help black-owned businesses, creators, and nonprofits. In June of 2020, the company committed an additional $200 million and since has awarded grants to over 10,000 Black-owned businesses in the US.

Facebook Elevate and Generation Black will strive to reach 1 million black and 1 million Latinx and Hispanic members. This three-year effort will offer the community training in digital skills and disburse 100,000 scholarships to black learners.

The help to nonprofits is responsible for donating $10 million to 36 such organizations in the U.S. These nonprofits were nominated by Facebook employees and selected with guidance from expert advisors. Some of the organizations receiving the funds include All Star Code, Management Leadership for Tomorrow and the Shriver Center on Poverty Law.

Furthermore, Facebook will provide $20 million to some 400 local nonprofits serving black communities, with a preference for black-led organizations. In the past four years, Facebook has spent more than $1.1 billion with diverse-owned US businesses through its Supplier Diversity program.

Images: Facebook

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ZOHO started its current Email Marketing Basics Webinar series with how to write effective copy and building and maintaining your list. The next webinar is titled Automating and Monitoring Your Campaigns, which are key skill sets to optimize your email marketing efforts.

As you increase your email list, automating your workflow is key to managing the hundreds or thousands of emails you will acquire. ZOHO, is going to teach you how to create automated email marketing campaigns to streamline your customer acquisition process. You’ll also learn about managing your sender reputation score, as well as key email marketing metrics to track to make sure your emails are performing as well as they can.

You can attend the Email Marketing Basics: Automating and Monitoring Your Campaigns webinar on February 17, 2021, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST. You will need the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, or Opera browsers.

Register Now

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Featured Events, Contests and Awards

WEBINAR: Email Marketing Basics: Building and Maintaining Your List
February 17, 2021, Online

Learn how to build, segment, and nurture your email lists in order to improve engagement and retain quality campaign subscribers. In this webinar you will also gain a better understanding of GDPR, avoiding spam filters, and the importance of keeping your lists clean.

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WEBINAR: Email Marketing Basics: Automating and Monitoring Your Campaigns
February 24, 2021, Online

Learn how to build, segment, and nurture your email lists in order to improve engagement and retain quality campaign subscribers. In this webinar you will also gain a better understanding of GDPR, avoiding spam filters, and the importance of keeping your lists clean.

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Email Marketing Basics Webinar: Automating and Monitoring Your Lists
February 24, 2021, Online

Learn how to create automated email marketing campaigns to streamline your customer acquisition process. You’ll also learn about managing your sender reputation score, as well as key email marketing metrics to track to make sure your emails are performing as well as they can.

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WEBINAR: What Business Structure is Right for You?
April 28, 2021, Online

Picking a business structure is usually the first big legal decision for a new business owner and one of the most confusing. However confusing, it is an essential step to protecting your personal assets from any liabilities of the company. In this webinar, Nellie Akalp CEO of CorpNet.com, will share insight on business entities to help guide you to the best decision for your new venture.

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WEBINAR: Best State to Incorporate
July 28, 2021, Online

Some say Delaware, others say Nevada while someone else may say your home state. What is the best state to register a business in? What if your business is expanding into new territory? At what point should you Foreign Qualify? Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, will go in-depth to answer these questions and more in this webinar.

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WEBINAR: Steps to Start Your Business
October 20, 2021, Online

Starting a business can be an exhilarating time, where everything seems full of potential and purpose. But navigating the logistics of launching a business can be daunting. In this webinar Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, will outline the steps necessary to legally start a business and get up and running on the right foot.

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More Events

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• ProductWorld 2021
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• Free Thought Leadership Webinar!
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• Chief Data and Analytics Officers, Financial Services: Live 2021
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• Digital Marketing World Forum – North America Online 2021
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• Power BI in 2021
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• HR Benefits Conference, April 2021
  April 7, 2021, Las Vegas, NV
• TECHSPO New York 2021 Technology Expo (Internet ~ Mobile ~ AdTech ~ MarTech ~ SaaS)
  April 15, 2021, Online
• DigiMarCon Mid-Atlantic 2021 – Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conference & Exhibition
  April 26, 2021, Philadelphia, PA
• DigiMarCon At Home 2021 – Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conference
  April 28, 2021, Online
• Sitecore CMS in 2021
  May 1, 2021, Online
• DevOps Engineer in 2021
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• DigiMarCon New England 2021 – Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conference & Exhibition
  May 6, 2021, Boston, MA
• Marketing Analytics Summit North America – Virtual Edition 2021
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More Contests

This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends.

You can see a full list of events, contest and award listings or post your own events by visiting the Small Business Events Calendar.

Image: Depositphotos

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With -13,000 jobs in December, small businesses ended the year on a low note. But the rebound in January, with 51,000 jobs, is a step in the right direction according to the ADP National Employment Report. And it is good news as the pandemic continues to drag on.

According to Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, the impact of the pandemic seems to be affecting large companies now.

In the press release, Ahu says, “The labor market continues its slow recovery amid COVID-19 headwinds.” Adding, “Although job losses were previously concentrated among small and midsized businesses, we are now seeing signs of the prolonged impact of the pandemic on large companies as well.”

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January 2021 ADP Small Business Report

Not surprisingly, the positive job gains are coming from the service-providing sector. This as more cities across the country start to open restaurants, bars, and other service-related businesses. Overall the service sector is responsible for a total of 57,000 jobs. However, the good-producing sector was responsible for a loss of 6,000 jobs, bringing the total down to 51,000.

The 51,000 jobs are split almost evenly between very small (1-19 employees) and other small (20-49 employees) businesses at 26,000 and 25,000 respectively.

 

Franchises Also Made a Recovery

Franchises didn’t end 2020 on a high note either, with -5,300 jobs, but January came in with 10,700 jobs. The biggest winner is the auto parts and dealers sector/industry capturing the lion’s share of the jobs at 8,600. Restaurants came next with 5,500 jobs and real estate at 200. Accommodations, business services, and food retailers all lost jobs.

National Employment Report Also on the Plus Side

From -123,000 to 174,000 jobs, the national numbers for January are also a reason for some optimism. Just as in December, midsized companies with 50-499 employees carried the load with 84,000 jobs in January. Small and large businesses brought in 51,000 and 39,000 jobs respectively.

The service sector led the way with 156,000 jobs. Education and health (54,000), professional and business (40,000), and leisure and hospitality (35,000) were the winners.

In the goods-producing sector, construction delivered 18,000 jobs and manufacturing added another 1,000 jobs.

Images: ADP

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Solar energy is a fast growing industry. So companies need to work hard to stand out. Tron Solar has managed to do just that. In fact, the business has been rated as the top solar provider in Illinois. Learn how they’ve been able to stand out in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.

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What the Business Does

Provides solar energy.

Services include solar sales, solar EPC, electrical services, roofing, and restoration.

Business Niche

5-star service.

Tron Solar is currently the number one ranked solar company in Illinois.

How the Business Got Started

After a big move.

Operations Manager Landen Myers told Small Business Trends, “In 2018, our CEO moved to Chicago on his last chance to build a vision revolutionizing what a solar company is.”

Biggest Win

Being recognized as part of an exclusive club.

Myers says, “The Clickfunnels Two Comma Club is a club for those who have generated at least 1 million dollars in revenue through the use of Clickfunnels(lead generation).”

Biggest Risk

Handling the whole process in-house.

Myers explains, “Hiring required talent including electricians, engineers, and installers. Doing all of this without going into debt. Solar companies have a large upfront investment to acquire customers and take them through the solar process, this is because funds are not received until project completion (60-90 days).”

Lesson Learned

Dedicate time and resources to sales talent.

Myers says, “This is because we put so much into creating the best operations in the world. Our sales did not have the structure to continue to grow as our operations did.”

How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000

Savings.

Myers adds, “We have endured on the principle of ‘save when it’s good and save when it’s bad.’ This is where that extra cash would go.”

Company Motto

Work hard, play hard.

When the company first started, the team lived in close quarters. In fact, four people packed into the CEO’s basement.

Myers says, “We ran the business out of this house, conducting sales meetings, operations, and interviews. We embrace the mentality: work hard, play hard. This has created a passion driven environment that thrives off of this mindset”

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Image: Tron Solar

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No one understands the needs of entrepreneurs more than those who have started multiple businesses. Together, Tripp Kuehnis and Julie Vails have started 15 small businesses through the years. One of them is The Mahalani, an oceanfront resort in Bali. But when COVID halted their operations, they pivoted to help other business owners instead.

Now the couple also runs Pluck Business Solutions. The company aims to help other entrepreneurs gain efficiency through tech tools like Zoho One.

Their business journey hasn’t been linear. But it has led them to plenty of insights that may be helpful for other businesses. Read about the company and the couple’s entrepreneurial tips in the Spotlight below.

What the Business Does

Help small businesses be competitive in today’s digital market with powerful & integrated technology.

Pluck Business Solutions offers big business technology to micro and small businesses offering a low cost suite of 40+ integrated, mobile software solutions for websites, sales, marketing, retreats, social media, accounting and more. We help clients customize the tech solutions that work for their specific needs and further support their growth with tech support, virtual assistance and social media management.

Business Niche

Offering completely custom solutions for solopreneurs who need to rapidly build their online services end to end.

The company partners with Zoho One. So they can provide the entire suite for clients. But they can also offer plans that just include the one or two software products that each business needs.

How the Business Got Started

Pivoting due to COVID-19.

When the pandemic hit, operations at The Mahalani stopped. And Julie, a physician, got called to the front lines. This may have slowed some entrepreneurs. But they didn’t quit.

Instead, they took the opportunity to help others in the business world with Pluck Business Solutions. This allows them to offer the software solutions they found useful in their operations to other entrepreneurs.

Biggest Win

Helping clients improve efficiency.

The couple began using Zoho One about a year and a half ago. Since it helped them improve efficiency so much, they wanted to help others do the same.

Vails says, “I love the fact that I get to help other people. I am a firm believer in not reinventing the wheel.”

Biggest Challenge

Finding the right business tools.

Before jumping into entrepreneurship, Vails worked in healthcare. There, she used software like Microsoft Teams and QuickBooks, which were not especially agile or customizable. These tools carried over to the early days of the couple’s business journey.

She said operations at the time were disjointed and cumbersome. She adds, “I would describe our business process as simplistic, and not in a positive way.”

When they found Zoho One, that all changed. They loved having a user friendly, customizable CRM and access to multiple tools in one place. They also found that it really helped them improve relations with customers.

She says, “The original goal was to know the customer, and it is definitely helping us do that.”

Lesson Learned

Value privacy.

Vails says, “Because I’m a physician, privacy is really critical.”

Luckily, this is one of the areas that Zoho really focuses on. The company doesn’t collect or sell data or even use it for advertising. And Vails believes this increases the value of the products.

She says, “It’s a nice reprieve to not have ads everywhere you go. And enhances the professionalism of the product.”

In fact, the privacy aspect, especially the ability to set permissions and access, impacts their Pluck clients as well.

Vails explains, “Many of them have proprietary agreements. They don’t want anyone stealing what they built or created. Zoho has so many features that allow business owners to share only what is necessary with their remote teams.”

How The Business Has Changed Since COVID-19

Dramatically.

Unfortunately, operations at The Mahalani are still at a standstill. But Zoho still allowed the couple to manage relationships with customers.

Vails says, “When I got called to go do front line physician work, I was still able to take great care of our customers from my phone remotely.”

For now, they’re focusing on bringing the solutions that have helped them so much to other entrepreneurs. And Vails says that operations at Pluck are going well as the company achieves that goal.

Images: Pluck Business Solutions, The Mahalani

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In terms of Return on Investment (ROI), email continues to deliver the biggest bang for your dollar. And in order to get started on your email marketing, you first have to build and maintain your list. The latest webinar from Zoho is part of its Email Marketing Basics series, which by the way are free.

This webinar, which happens to be the second in the series, is titled Building and Maintaining Your List.  According to Zoho, you will Learn how to build, segment, and nurture your email lists to improve engagement and retain quality campaign subscribers. The webinar will provide insights into General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with the goal of giving a better understanding of the regulation. You will learn how to avoid spam filters, and the importance of keeping your lists clean.

Email Marketing Basics: Building and Maintaining Your List, will be held on February 17, 2021, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST.  Have the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, or Opera browsers and you will be ready to join in.

Click the red button and register now.

Register Now

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Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Email Marketing Basics Webinar: Writing Effective Copy
February 10, 2021, Online

Want to write impactful email marketing copy that utilizes your unique voice? Join this webinar for tips and tricks! Learn how to establish your brand’s voice, hone in on your goals, and get some campaign ideas.

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WEBINAR: Email Marketing Basics: Building and Maintaining Your List
February 17, 2021, Online

Learn how to build, segment, and nurture your email lists in order to improve engagement and retain quality campaign subscribers. In this webinar you will also gain a better understanding of GDPR, avoiding spam filters, and the importance of keeping your lists clean.

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WEBINAR: Email Marketing Basics: Automating and Monitoring Your Campaigns
February 24, 2021, Online

Learn how to build, segment, and nurture your email lists in order to improve engagement and retain quality campaign subscribers. In this webinar you will also gain a better understanding of GDPR, avoiding spam filters, and the importance of keeping your lists clean.

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WEBINAR: What Business Structure is Right for You?
April 28, 2021, Online

Picking a business structure is usually the first big legal decision for a new business owner and one of the most confusing. However confusing, it is an essential step to protecting your personal assets from any liabilities of the company. In this webinar, Nellie Akalp CEO of CorpNet.com, will share insight on business entities to help guide you to the best decision for your new venture.

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WEBINAR: Best State to Incorporate
July 28, 2021, Online

Some say Delaware, others say Nevada while someone else may say your home state. What is the best state to register a business in? What if your business is expanding into new territory? At what point should you Foreign Qualify? Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, will go in-depth to answer these questions and more in this webinar.

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WEBINAR: Steps to Start Your Business
October 20, 2021, Online

Starting a business can be an exhilarating time, where everything seems full of potential and purpose. But navigating the logistics of launching a business can be daunting. In this webinar Nellie Akalp, CEO of CorpNet.com, will outline the steps necessary to legally start a business and get up and running on the right foot.

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• AMA: Incorporation
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• ProductWorld 2021
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• 5th Advancing Project Controls Summit 2021
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• Free Thought Leadership Webinar!
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• Social Media Strategies Summit | Virtual Conference
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• Chief Data and Analytics Officers, Financial Services: Live 2021
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• Power BI in 2021
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• HR Benefits Conference, April 2021
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• TECHSPO New York 2021 Technology Expo (Internet ~ Mobile ~ AdTech ~ MarTech ~ SaaS)
  April 15, 2021, Online
• DigiMarCon Mid-Atlantic 2021 – Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conference & Exhibition
  April 26, 2021, Philadelphia, PA
• DigiMarCon At Home 2021 – Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conference
  April 28, 2021, Online
• Sitecore CMS in 2021
  May 1, 2021, Online
• DevOps Engineer in 2021
  May 1, 2021, Online
• DigiMarCon New England 2021 – Digital Marketing, Media and Advertising Conference & Exhibition
  May 6, 2021, Boston, MA
• Marketing Analytics Summit North America – Virtual Edition 2021
  May 10, 2021, Online

More Contests

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Everybody wants a piece of Apple these days. And I’m not talking about iPhones, iPads, Macs or any other device consumers love them for. The folks coming for Apple aren’t folks, it’s companies like Facebook and Google because of the changes Apple is making to allow consumers of apps running on their Apple devices to have more control over the data that gets created from them using these apps.

In response to this move, companies providing ad platforms that use that data collected by mobile apps to connect businesses to prospective customers are feeling the heat, and reacting in a variety of ways. Google announced earlier this week that it will stop collecting Identifier for Advertisers (IDFAs) for the iOS apps that currently use it for advertising purposes, once Apple’s new policy goes into effect. This will allow Google to avoid showing Apple’s tracking permission prompt in its iOS apps.

But it’s Facebook that has been the most visible and vocal proponent of Apple’s policy change, taking out a full page ad in the New York Times, stating that this move would adversely impact millions of small businesses who use digital advertising platforms that run off of the data created by consumers using apps to connect with prospects in a cost-efficient manner. There is even speculation that Facebook might eventually sue Apple for anticompetitive practices.

But are these moves by the tech titans about protecting customers? Or protecting small businesses? Or their own profits and business models? Considering roughly 98% of Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising, where pretty much all of Apple’s revenue comes from selling devices and services. Or does the reasoning behind their positions and moves even matter, considering what’s at stake in terms of how customer data is used?

With all that hanging in the balance, I had a really interesting conversation on what Apple’s move (and Facebook’s response to it) could really mean for small businesses and the consumers they seek to engage with. Raju Vegesna, Zoho’s Chief Evangelist and a leading proponent of customer data privacy rights, and marketing technology expert and industry analyst Anand Thaker, joined me to discuss the issues at length on a recent LinkedIn Live conversation. Below is an edited transcript of a portion of our conversation. To hear the full conversation check out the embedded SoundCloud player.

Raju Vegesna: When I first saw the ad, ironically on New York Times, the first thing that hit me was, “Damn, these guys are endorsing Apple. This is a testament to Apple doing the right thing.” That was the first thing that I felt, because now when an advertising company, and of course Facebook is an advertising company, complains that the new rules imposed by their platform restricts their advertising, then the privacy side of it is done right.

So, there are two angles here. Facebook is taking the small business angle, but Apple is taking the consumer angle. And the consumer is also the consumer for small businesses. Which means, I think Apple is doing certainly the right thing here. It’s actually a simple choice. You pay them for when you buy a product or service, you’re paying with money or you’re paying with data, in either case you’re paying.

Now, what Apple is doing is forcing the apps to ask users to decide how they want to pay. “Do you want to pay with your data or do you want to pay with money?” Currently users don’t have a choice. Apple is saying they need a choice, and I like that option better. Currently it has been an open season of tracking, and now the restrictions are coming in. And the restrictions never existed on the website back in the day. Thanks to GDPR and others, now the vendors or website owners are asked or required to ask users permission on whether they can accept certain cookies, mandatory cookies versus tracking cookies and whatnot. But that option never existed to apps, it was restricted to websites. Now Apple is taking that, bringing in the new option of asking the user whether they can be tracked within the apps. The entire concept is the right move.

I would go one step further and say, every vendor should do it, even for web apps. And currently it is an open season when it comes to web app tracking. And I fully support that model of providing, of letting the user pick the way they want to pay, pay with money or pay with the data. And I think we’ll have to see how this evolves, but end of the day, it is about giving users the choice, that choice that they never had in the past.

Anand Thaker: It’s an incredibly complex situation and not just because of the companies, but how do we as a society decide that we want to dictate that engagement. And there are a lot of stakeholders involved that we can all empathize with. We can empathize with the coffee shop owner that spoke about, “We’re just trying to survive. We’re trying to figure it out.” Facebook happens to be a platform that works for us. And if Apple restricts or creates some gates that we have to follow or maybe more overhead, it could be a challenge.

Apple has been around for decades, and they have always built around what their community wants from them. And they have learned over and over again, what backlash feels like, particularly days of when Jobs departed Apple many years ago, and then he returned, and there was some of the culture they set up from the beginning. But that’s one of Apple’s greatest strengths, is ensuring that people adore Apple because they recognize the consumer or the customer’s preferences in how they do things.

Normally Apple is one to be, “Let’s go for what makes it easier for people to do,” whereas they’re taking a very much of an approach, “We’ll, take something… We’ll add some gates in here because we believe the statement of the importance of privacy regarding customer data.” But again, those numbers really tell everything about why each has taken the stance that they’re taking, even with Facebook heading right into what will potentially be more political and policy discussions they’ll have in front of Congress as they start to settle in and after COVID starts to navigate its way into some level of normalcy, whatever that might look like.

And Apple has already taken that stance some time ago, and now they’re starting to institute this over time. So, it’s not… I just want to share with everybody, this is not easy because there’s so many very important people who are involved, and that’s not including Facebook or, and Apple shareholders or the people that work there, it’s really these consumers and how we want to engage ourselves. What’s important to us to do that.

Brent Leary: Does it matter that Apple may have ulterior motives? If the end goal or the end result is better protection for customer data privacy, does it matter if Apple tends to benefit more than, and may even hurt their competition? Or is it just, it’s the right move to do it because it’s the right thing? Whoever wants to take that.

Raju Vegesna: I think if you’re listening to Apple’s maybe alternative motives and whatnot, end of the day, Apple knows their customers. Take me, I pick Apple because I respect the fact that they respect privacy. And that is the reason I stick with a Mac or an iPhone, and I don’t use any other browser other than Safari. Again, all of these because there’s a privacy angle in there. That doesn’t mean that Apple is right all the time. In fact, I sometimes question their privacy stance itself because they cannot run an ad network like Search Ads that they do, and then claim privacy because inherently, that conflicts with the business model. The moment you do ad network, while it is completely based on tracking an app, you cannot say they are privacy friendly and they respect user privacy, and then run an ad networking [inaudible 00:07:03], and try to make money.

So, Apple is no saint either, but at least among the vendors that currently exist, they have a customer base that is picking them based on their privacy stance. And this is yet another move that helps them keep that current status.

Anand Thaker: Yeah. Their future growth is defined by their culture and what they prioritize. We live in a day where, how you publicly stand as a company, defines whether, what kind of audience you’re going after. And there’s no necessarily good versus evil kind of situation. It’s more of what kind of choices, again, back to the choice of where, which audience are you going to go after? I want to remind folks, I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to empathize what it’s like to be a small business, to try to start up a store, start up a website, honestly it’s been a while. And I’m a bit embarrassed that I’ve had people certainly hired who were far better at it than I am, do a lot of stuff for the ventures I’ve had in the past. But I think it’s incredibly important that there’s going to be so many people who really need to be able to go online. And one of the reasons that so many people can start businesses today is because it is easy to do so.

And I’ll commend obviously, there’s a whole community because it’s one of their core ventures, and I’m not doing this for, to play, certainly to just speak to the community or just kind of enhance everything. It’s true, and there are a lot of other, “I don’t need to code things. I don’t need to necessarily build so many things. I don’t have to have as much technical knowledge, and I can start a business, and I can get going, as long as I have a good idea and I understand how I want to start to engage with these customers.” So, being able to streamline this is very important. And I think both of them are taking two different stances on that front as well, about how do you want to build your business or enhance your business moving forward. And that’s also a different conversation than just, is your privacy policy better than the other ones as well?

Brent Leary: Oh, so let me take the other side and say, what about Facebook and their stance from the small business perspective? We heard from the small business guy, particularly in the current time where a lot of small businesses are struggling to survive. Is this the right time for Apple to make a move like this? Because it is already a tough thing right now, small businesses are going through, adding this onto it at this particular time. Is that something that we should take into consideration and say, “Hey, this might be a good thing in the long run. Maybe we shouldn’t try to do it right now”?

Anand Thaker: I’m sure there’s going to be research from Apple that says Apple’s route is the better way to go. Right, quality over quantity. And then there’s going to be Facebook’s research, which will generalize to say, quantity is better than quality. But I don’t think we really know which way will really enhance a small business who is struggling. Again, Apple has been very good at making things incredibly easy, regardless of what new gates or new obstacles, not obstacles, but new policies that they put into place. Yes, they get criticized, they address them, and they push forward. So, if Apple does make it straightforward in a way for small businesses to provide that permission-based capacity, if you were in love with the brand and you’re in love with your local coffee shop, you’re probably going to go through those no matter what. And if anything, you’re probably building a level of trust in that capacity.

Now, is that the same if a business decides to go to Facebook? Are you bad business because you go to Facebook? It’s not necessarily the case because you could still treat the data that you have in a certain way. So, I almost take it as, is it the platform’s responsibility or how much of the responsibility falls on the platform to enable these small businesses to address their customer data privacy, the way that they would like them to. Is Facebook going to even offer opportunities for someone to say, “You could opt in or out,” and by default maybe say, “Well, you just assume you’re on the Facebook platform, trust Facebook”? And then obviously vice versa with Apple where, “Hey, we’ve got these permissions that you’re required as a developer, but if they love your stuff, they’re going to get through it and we’ll try to make it as seamless as possible while still informing your user base about what’s being collected and how it’s being used.”

Raju Vegesna: And make no mistake, this is not about Facebook standing up for small businesses. It is about money, period. It is about them keeping their revenue and increasing their profits, period. And if that means using small businesses to communicate that because it resonates well, and that’s essentially what’s going on, let’s cut to the chase. Okay. And then it is not about free as in freedom, it is about free as in a business model. And that is also what the discussion was about in the ad in the New York Times. They seem to confuse between the both frees, and maybe deliberately so, but that is the direction Facebook is. And also, there are a lot of businesses that will also claim that the ad prices went up. And interestingly, during the same time, the state of Texas files a lawsuit against Facebook and Google about colluding, and that may have resulted in prices.

Then I’m sure you can find a lot of case studies about advertisers who are paying a lot more and who may have lost business because of those increasing online digital advertising, because of probably monopolies that are there in the industry. So, there are other aspects of it we should not ignore in here as well.

Anand Thaker: If I could respond real quickly to that, right. Not to say that I defend Facebook by any means, right, by stating this, but again, as a small business owner, and I know you know this as well, just because I know I’ve heard you evangelize, I’ve read many of your things. And obviously empathizing with small business or people who are not even ready to be in small business who need to survive on being able to leverage technology. Sometimes it needs to be achievable to even accomplish that. And if unfortunately, or fortunately, if Facebook is an easier route, yes, you’re right. Perhaps Facebook is using that as a business model choice and growth choice with their positioning and Apple’s doing the same thing. And that’s where the war is happening with this that’s coming up.

But a lot of small business users, they don’t really have a lot of understanding about all of these, the nature of a lot of these things. And it’s unfortunate that they’re using small business as an example about why their position matters, but at the same time if we look at the flip side of the coin, they really don’t know. And so, are you going to really fault a company or a small business or a solopreneur or someone potentially surviving or growing to not use Facebook because of their choice or not use Apple because of their choice. They’re going to pick what’s going to be best for them in how they approach moving forward, so. But, yeah. Yes, all of this is about money, right?

Again, go back to those numbers which were striking. You’ve got one company that makes money off nothing but ads, and then, almost nothing but ads. And then you’ve got another company who produces products, which certainly has data components to it. And Apple has had its shellacking for data matters in the past, perhaps why they’re taking these positions as well, but they’re just different business models. And Raju, to your point right there, it’s the way that they’re going to decide to make money while being able to create a competitive situation for the other party.

Brent Leary: So, what role does Apple have in … Let me rephrase it. So, small businesses, we know, we just, part of the survey, you’re looking at just the small business segment, a lot of them don’t have customer data privacy policies to begin with, let alone enforced them and really deal with it. I don’t think customer data privacy has been one of the things that they have focused on in building a business. A lot of them right now is just survival. And I think you see that in some of those testimonials. It’s like, “Hey, we’re trying to survive over here, forget about the customer data privacy stuff.”

What role does the government need to play in this to help put some structure around this? Or what role does a company like Apple have in helping businesses make this transition to this opt in model? Because I think in the long run, yeah, this has to happen, but how many companies have to get hurt or left behind? Is there a way that that doesn’t have to happen? Is there a way to minimize that, so that yes, customer data privacy is withheld up, but small businesses in particular don’t have to be martyrs for it?

Raju Vegesna: The regulation comes through later. Does the government has a role to play? I believe so. And as you’ve seen in the past, it comes in at a later point. Just like you’re seeing a, do not call list, pop up, we need a, do not track list, that consumers should have an option to be there. And once it is there, everyone, but no matter who it is, should respect that do not track list. And that is something that, end of the day, gives the power to the consumer. And now, we know that it doesn’t exist. And now, without that, now it is up to vendors to take a stance on this. And over a period of time, when enough vendors take a stance, and the government will eventually come with it. And of course, there are some governments that are more proactive than others, but, so government certainly has a role to play.

And because there has been significant abuse on the privacy and the tracking part of it, it is important for vendors like Google, in this case, Apple, or others to step up and show the path. Otherwise, it becomes… It goes to a stage where the success of the tracking companies or maybe the technology companies will lead to the detriment of the internet. People will no longer trust the system. And that will hurt us all in the long run, if we don’t put things in place.

Anand Thaker: Yeah, I agree. Government’s going to have to … Once you impact everyday lives, and it’s kind of accelerated because of the elections that have occurred, particularly in the United States where a lot of the data models, the customer data usage has been … That trust has been broken severely and very publicly, right. And impacting publicly in a way that was very shocking. A lot of people did not realize that maybe your loyalty card that you might be signing up for has an incredible amount of data, or maybe we knew it and we didn’t care because it didn’t matter because we got something for it, or we got something useful out of it. But now, when people feel like data is being used in a way that is manipulative, or trying to influence us ways that we don’t like, then that’s when it … Obviously that’s going to become a problem.

And that’s when governments typically step in, or government entities, or watch out groups, or different types of groups like this will start to step in. And we’re going to see that even more so, especially in the coming years. When Facebook and Google decided to fight some of the antitrust laws that are coming on, I guarantee you, straightforward of that is going to be all deflected into the data of it because both of them, well, Facebook more so than Google, certainly has a challenge with that … They’ve backed themselves into, “Advertising is where we make all of our money.” So, they’re going to defend that position to a degree. We’ll end up finding a middle ground, somewhere where consumers will be happy with it and/or be content with it, or have to be happy with it.

And businesses, or the platforms will come to some level of agreement about what the right gates, or privacy matters that you would need to… Policies you would need to implement will satisfy any kind of mandate. So, usually governments play sort of a referee in a lot of this, or watch guard groups tend to do this. And we’ll see some sort of middle ground that no one’s going to be happy with, 100% happy with, but it’s going to take, as I see it and as you follow technology, we always do this in waves, right. We come in and we see someone push the boundaries, then obviously someone has to step in and take it. So, we’re in another round of that from robocall days as well.

This is part of the One-on-One Interview series with thought leaders. The transcript has been edited for publication. If it’s an audio or video interview, click on the embedded player above, or subscribe via iTunes or via Stitcher.

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For small business Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a challenging digital marketing task. While most SEO experts agree that there are a large number of ranking signals, links are not yet dead according to an infographic by DIRJOURNAL.

Good linking remains an important component to building your website. To rank websites, businesses need links- high-quality links. But surprisingly 94% of websites do not even have a single external backlink.

There are many ways for the website of your business to get links, but not all links are equally effective. Here quality pays off in the long term, and there are large differences in link elements that make some links more valuable than others. This includes anchor text, URL factors, clickability, and whether they are follow or no follow links.

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Links Still Matter

Links help Google to associate your website with other concepts and attributes in the niche. According to SEMrush four of the top eight ranking factors are related to link signals. These include total referring domains, total backlinks, total referring IPS and total follow-backlinks. On average Google’s top organic search result has 3.8 times more backlinks and 3.2 times more referring domains.

Linking alone does not guarantee success. Link building and technical optimization are the best combinations for effective SEO tasks. Other non-link related SEO strategy includes direct site visits, the amount of time visitors remain on the site, pages per session, and bunce rates.

How to Build a Better Link Profile

A good link profile requires three key elements: trust, diversity and relevance. Creating great content can help deliver these elements. Long-form content can help get your website 77% more links than short articles. The lure of social media prominence might not always get you the desired results. Having your content shared across platforms is only effective if your strategy incorporates link building as well.

Familiarity matters more, high ranking sites need approximately four times more referring domains for popular keywords than for less common keywords. Your content should also help provide answers to common questions that visitors are looking for. Try to develop ‘Why … ? posts, ‘What … ?’ posts and infographics get more than a quarter (26%) more links than videos and how-to guides.

Image: dirjournal.com

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