RON: The last thing I want to touch base on regarding eAuction platforms is to entice your users to write more content in their description. Give them guidance, give them help toolbars, give them a three-minute video of how to write a proper description that can drive more traffic. Possibly add a word counter, so if you've got up to 500 words available in a long description or 1,000 words in a long description, put a counter in there. So, when they copy and paste their one paragraph of 78 words in there, they can see this nice big box and it says, “78 of a thousand words consumed,” and you can tag it red and go, “Guys, you don't have enough content,” because typically they don't know what they don't know.
They might think they've written a perfectly good comment. “Hey, used couch for sale,” right? They're used to using something like Craigslist, “used couch for free, come get it today or it's gone.” That's all they're ever going to write. They put up a picture of it and somebody comes and grabs it, right? Because there's such a low threshold on something free.
But a high-paid eAuction, especially for a high-dollar items in many types of online auctions, if I can't physically hold it, see it, or test drive it, I want lots of pictures, close-up pictures, detailed descriptions. I want a picture of the VIN, I want a picture of the number on the block so I can double-check that the motor is actually out of that car. I want a picture of the chassis VIN, so that I know the chassis hasn't been replaced. I want a picture inside the back of the trunk so I know that there's no rust down in the trunk where the water usually sits. You want more information because you're making a decision on something that you can't physically touch and see because it's an eAuction, and can’t do your own third-party audit or inspection like you could have with real estate property.
So SEO in my book is a heck of a lot more than just SEO. The SEO part of it, the search engine optimization part of it, is driving the traffic to the eAuction platform site. The conversion part of it is ensuring that the proper amount of information answers all of the questions for a prospective buyer so that they can make a decision to start bidding on that item.
You're really writing for two audiences, and most of your users that come and write information for their eAuction listing are not going to know this. So, it's really up to you to ensure the proper guidance, the proper training, the proper video, the proper help tools, the proper onscreen guidance to help ensure that they follow or adhere to best practices.