Many sites built with phpBay Pro use the wise tactic of making Wordpress look like a website, not a blog. Part of this tactic includes making your home page not display posts, but display a static page (I’ll share a few ways to do this in later phpBay Tips).

Once you make your home page, it should have keyword rich content (at least 200 words) and some product images. But there’s one other thing your phpBay Pro site should have on it’s homepage: at least one ebay auction result.

This may seem obvious to some, but I can’t tell you how many phpBay sites I see that have phenomenal looking homepages, but don’t have any ebay auction results there.

Why do you need an eBay auction result on your homepage?
It’s simple. You want to entice the “bouncers” to click right away. The bouncers are the people who browse sites quickly and typically scan the homepage and leave (reflected in your home page’s “bounce rate” if you have Google analytics). But with a phpBay site, you never want anyone to leave without clicking on an ebay auction. You want to plant as many ebay cookies as possible.

Having an auction on your homepage entices the bouncers to click by showing them an amazing deal right away, so they don’t have to browse your pages to find it.

How to display ebay results naturally
Sometimes it’s hard to get ebay auction results on your home page in a natural way. The way I do it is I typically create a sub-head titled “featured items” and then display 2-3 ebay auction results in column view.

(To set the column view, change the 15th parameter to the number of columns you want to show. For example [phpbay]ipod, 3, 345345, case,,,,,,,,,,,3[phpbay] would display 3 ipod results side-by side, excluding the word “case”. Note that I made up the category number in field 3. This only works in phpBay 3.0).

Also, make sure you display your auction results above the fold, or as close to the fold as possible. The idea is that you really want to get people to click. So don’t burry it.

Other tips to increase homepage clicks
Another god way to entice people to click is to set the auctions on the home page to display lowest price items first. This is even more effective when you remove the “bids” from the template, so all the user sees is the price, and not the fact that it’s so low because it has zero bids. I’ll write a post on how to remove the bids in the next week.

To show lowest price items first put a “3” in the 13th parameter:
[phpbay]ipod, 2, 345345, case,,,,,,,,,3,,2[phpbay]

Lastly, if there are multiple models of your product, make sure you display the most popular model. It may take a few minutes of research, but if you know your niche, it should not be hard to find out this information.

Keep in mind that having phpBay auctions on your homepage will help you dynamically change your homepage content as new auctions display. this will have some SEO benefits.

Well, there you have it. A super easy way to increase your clicks on your phpBay sites.

Create some fake content and auctions
I start by creating one fake post with a phpBay auction in it. And then one fake post with Greek. I do this just so I can test themes and see how they will look with content and phpBay auctions.

What to look for in a wordpress theme for phpBay
Don’t just pick any theme. You need to think about what niche you are promoting and who your audience is. I wouldn’t use this theme to sell motorcycle parts. Ok, maybe that’s obvious.

But I also wouldn’t use this theme to sell golf stuff. “But it’s a golf theme!” you say. Who cares? The number one thing I look for in a theme is that I can make it look like a website and not a blog.

You need to make your phpBay site look like a store, not a blog with auctions on it. Just because there is a theme with a golf ball on it doesn’t mean it is good for selling golf balls on eBay.

When people search for products, they want to come to a legit looking store. If you look like a blog with products on it, people will leave immediately.

Look for Wordpress themes with phpBay store potential
What is phpBay store potential? First, a clean layout. Not big clunky sidebar headers and tons of crazy graphics all over the place.

Second, look for a theme that will go well with your product. How do you know if the theme will go well with what your selling? Well, you have to use your imagination a little. Try to visualize your products on that page. It may not look great with the default theme options, but what if you changed the header by adding a product image? What if you changed the colors a little? That’s what I did when I used this theme on my discount golf ball site.

Third, look for a cool area to feature auctions on the home page. I always try and show at least one auction result on my home page (more on that in a later post). My fender blues junior site has a section for that. You’re theme doesn’t have to have one, but it’s a nice feature.

Fourth, look for a theme that is SEO friendly. This is a huge one. Since we will be trying to rank organically for our niche, an SEO friendly theme is a must. You won’t know if a theme is SEO friendly by just looking at it, but if you know where to look, you can get SEO friendly wordpress themes.

The best place for an SEO wordpress themes is Court’s SEO Wordpress Themes. Court takes regular themes and beefs up their SEO.

Another good place is Blog oh Blog free wordpress themes. These themes tend to be made with SEO in mind, plus there are some great looking themes here.

Try a few themes
I tend to download 4-5 themes and then switch between them in my admin panel. I look at how the auctions show and if the site looks “store enough”. If I need to change the header image to get a better idea, I’ll do that. But the hope is that you get an idea before you spend lots of time changing your theme

Soon I’ll talk about what plugins you should install off the bat on your phpBay site. I’ll even post them here to download.