Creating an effective online auction listing is a selling process like any other. In sales a successful sales person learns to read his customers, put himself in his shoes and get in his head to foresee how he should adapt his strategy to improve his chances of closing a deal with him. Advertising needs to do the same. By learning your target customer's mindset, effectively, you're able to position your product to succeed through an effective auction listing. This may seem like it's impossible to achieve, with all the segements and products that are available to sell.

But time and time again power sellers have demonstrated that focusing on niche segments, and good product knowledge, improves your success with online auctions dramatically. Only by analyzing others and learning about your segments needs and wants, can you effectively communicate to your market with an effective sales copy. So it's important to learn about your audience and find out as much as you can about them as well as the details and features of your product.

A great place to start is by looking at other similar listing. Look at the ones getting the bids versus the ones not getting them. Looking at sales histories to see what details seem to constantly be in place for successful auctions and which ones aren't. Visiting blogs and forums to see what aspects seems to be a major concern with your type of item, with your target audience, and what features are their most valued.

The time you take here to learn, will pay off by contributing in the creation of a listing sales copy offering greater convergence (an enthusiasm to take action) for your posted items. Create a simple sales page that is well documented and do not get carried away with distracting colors, animation, and any thing that takes away the focus on your sales copy. I see a lot of people trying to show off their HTML knowledge adding colors, graphics, and yes, sometimes some animation.

This doesn't provide any benefit to your listing and can in fact deter to promote your item because it fails to promote trust and goodwill. The actual page copy should breathe, so break complex sentences into shorter, clearer sentences that arouse the curiosity rather than satisfy it. Provide a text that reads well and provide readers a smooth transition that builds up their interest and demonstrates your expertise in the matter. Write compelling description by focusing on the desired benefits. Lay them out into heading and subheadings. Always support your claims with documented facts using real facts and numbers (like 6 instead of a half-dozen for example).

So as you trigger the emotional response to buy now, supply them with the logical reason's as well. Now that's a mouthful, so lay out your objectives and put your imagination to hard work into creating an effective sales copy, focused on providing a compelling call to action. Finish with a call to action. Unfortunately, many marketing letters don't end with a call to action.

You've build up all this desire and enthusiasm and you're not caching in. What do you want your readers to do? Now you've motivated people to want to take that next step, you need to show them that final step. Like "Bid now!", "Do this!", "Do that!" there are so many good examples, check other listing you will find lots of them.

Always keep in mind that this is all about building relationships and trust as you compel them to read on, get enthusiastic, emotional and finally getting them take action. Even if you're selling used garden tools, this will happen if your sales copy show's your, trustworthy, knowledgeable and a nice person to deal with. Always maintain a good standing, be fast at responding to questions, be clear in your responses to questions and you could be making a nice online auction income and have some fun at it too.

Author, Claude Bourgoin (MBA), is an auction seller and buyer as well as an online marketing consultant and a contributing author for his favorite auction site, dedicated to providing a quality online auction experience.