I just wanted to refresh your memory about some of the amazing prizes that the winner of the KwikStart MMO Contest will be getting.
The Niche Store Builder
You will be getting a copy of BANS that, in a nutshell, allows you to quickly (very quickly) create an ugly web site with real time eBay auctions. You get commissions from any money spent from the customers that you refer to eBay. And you can get up to $35.00 for any new customer that you refer. Realistically, you will get $25.00 per customer unless you send a lot of volume. But $25.00 is still a great chunk of money for a referral.
Ugly BANS Sites
OK, the sites really aren't that ugly but they all look the same! There are some default templates but they aren't very appealing, especially after seeing 1000's of sites that look the same. When the owner of The Niche Store Builder found out that I was having a contest and needed a BANS theme he offered up a great package to the winner. He values the package at a whopping $689.00!
BANS and Wordpress
I have a few HUGE beefs with BANS (I'll be yakking about them in future posts). One major drawback is that BANS is a site on it's own. That may not be a bad thing to some but to me I like to use Wordpress for just about everything that I do. There are tons of reasons why but I won't get into it in this post. I would love to be able to have BANS running along side a blog. But, like I said, it's a site all it's own.
A Better, Cheaper BANS Solution
There are two solutions. One, which I wish I would've known about before purchasing BANS...is to use phpBay. I'll dedicate a post to it shortly. It's an amazing tool and cheaper than BANS. They sell a product that integrates into Wordpress. Awesome! Plus you can run auctions from multiple countries on the same site (or blog) which you can't do with BANS.
Solution #2 is to attach a WP blog to your BANS site. I don't really like this solution because I would want it to match the look and feel of the BANS site. I don't know of any services that sell matching BANS/Wordpress themes and I'm not much of a designer myself.
Well...that is what The Niche Store Builder is giving the winner of the KwikStart contest! He will be providing a matching BANS/Wordpress theme. I haven't heard much from him since the contest started. I emailed him asking him specifics but I haven't got a response. All I know for sure is that he will providing the matching theme. If necessary, I will be doing the install so don't worry about that.
Example
Here is an example of one if his SEO optimized BANS templates that has also had a matching WP template applied: Fine Designer Shoes.
I've never heard of The Niche Store Builder blog before starting this contest so I don't know too much about it. I do know that they offer lots of tips and tricks for getting the most out of your BANS sites.
Here's a little excerpt from his about page:
"The Niche Store Builder is dedicated to providing superior services around the Build a Niche Store eBay affiliate software application. We have one simple goal - Satisfy all website visitors and valued customers one step farther than they would expect! That single goal is easily achieved due to the dedication and interest, shared by all of us involved in making the Niche Store Builder a success."
Check out his blog for some great tips for using BANS. Specifically...
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June 20th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I have been building a cheap (in fact free!!!) and easy alternative to PHPBay and BANS. It’s not intended to replace but hopefully will give the people the option to push ebay auctions without having to shell out any cash.
The theme is in it’s first test phase here: http://easygolfauctions.com/
Let me know what you think? The auction pages build themselves based on the tags assigned to a specific page.
Forests last blog post..TONs of prizes easily up for grabs with the Market Leverage Affiliate challenges
June 20th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Awesome…way to tap into the eBay API…looks good from what I seen. How can people get their hands on it?
I forget to mention in the post that there is a free version of phpBay (scroll to the bottom of the page to find it) also available. It has it’s limitations but it’s still really slick and really easy to implement.
The full version has really advanced functionality, is easy to use, integrates into Wordpress (or not, up to you)…allows you to display auctions from multiple countries, unlimited use…and is priced just right….
Thanks for the comment Forest…although I would have liked to have heard more from you before dropping links
June 20th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Ahhh sorry about that!! I just found your blog yesterday and was reading this post and thought it related!!!
I am literally just starting on the testing but…… it may be useless if the free version of PHPbay is any good, I’ll check that out too.
So I hope to be releasing the theme in the next few weeks to anyone who subscribes.
Forests last blog post..TONs of prizes easily up for grabs with the Market Leverage Affiliate challenges
June 20th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I still thinks it’s a good idea…if I understand it correctly..
There’s no plugin right? It’s part of the theme…no muss no fuss…add tags to your posts and BAM you are running a BANS-ish site…is that right?
It seems like a very very simplified way to implement this strategy. It’s a great idea but I think it caters to a different type of user…which is cool…I say go for it…
Are there any restrictions…like can you remove Garry’s links from the bottom?
Let me know if you decide to go with it. I’m working on a BANSCaseStudies site and that type of theme (script) deserves a spot on it.
Thanks Forest
June 20th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Hey thanks for the encouragement… yes it’s pretty much straight out of the box. You have to install a plugin to allow tags on pages and add your ebay tracking number to one text file and off it goes. Everytime you want to create a page with an ebay auction you just select the ebay page template.
I may try and create a post template too, so you have the option of using it in pages or posts.
I’m just waiting to populate my test site with more articles and get it indexed and then I can see if it gels well with Google.
Forests last blog post..TONs of prizes easily up for grabs with the Market Leverage Affiliate challenges
June 20th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
very cool idea…once it’s ready be sure to come back and post a comment
June 20th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I really like the BANS/blog integration. It seems like it would really help with google as I have read that BANS can have a hard time indexing on it’s own after a while…though haven’t used it so not sure.
There are also a couple other ebay+wordpress addons besides phpbay (though from what I have read phpbay is probably the best of the bunch).
One is bayrss which is the same idea as phpbay but also has amazon integration so you can have ebay and amazon items on a page/post and such.
And another I saw recently is a free plugin that looks like it is coming along great so far: http://www.itsgottabered.com/wordbay/
DotDrivens last blog post..contest galore!
June 20th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Hey DotDriven…
Thanks….Yeah I should have looked around more before spending money. I made my money back in 7 days so BANS was definitely worth it but still.
Thanks for the link…I’ll check it out
June 21st, 2008 at 4:06 am
I took a look at WordBay…from what I read it seems that all settings are global. phpBay is still the winner (for me) since you can change settings on a per page/per post basis…
I’m going to check out bayrss tomorrow…