I own a small auction site and I want to drive auctions for domains, SEO services, and other digital products to it. Just like eBay hosts these kinds of auctions, I want to do the same. I see value in these types of sales. This is an area I am unsure of so I figure why not ask here. I know I could use adsense, and build links, but I don't want to SPAM forums or blogs either. Is there a consolidated area to advertise this particular niche so people would start using it? It's entirely free. I just would like to see it used more. Since this isn't really marketing a website but rather an area of a website would you market it the same way? Are the particular places to reach out and say please list your services "here"?
Offer value to those putting their product up for auction, be able to articulate the value and advantage of using your service, and then get this information to your target audience. I would focus on a small number of power sellers who have numerous products they want to list. Early on it will take a lot of work to convince people to join, but once you have a critical mass it should start rolling on it's own. Good luck!
I would agree with this and thank you for responding. I think the biggest issue I have is locating the target audience. Also what value beyond free could I offer? Do SEO and domain sellers like something versus another thing?
The two main tactics I would use when marketing a site like yours are press releases and yes - forums. If you do not have the time to network on different boards and make good quality posts, then hire someone to do it for you. You are going to want to let people know that you have a valuable resources and how they can benefit from using it. It always helps if you work on establishing good PR for your domain. This will make your site more popular, appear higher in SERPs, and increase the likelihood that people will see your site and sign up to use it. Auction sites are about reputation and traffic. The more quality traffic you drive to your site, the higher your reputation will become, and in result you will get even more traffic.
UcheO, thanks for recommending this. I will look into those kinds of services to help get this off the ground. Looks like the domain did drop from a pr3 to a pr2 so I need to pick it up there as well. Glad I asked the question because I was a bit lost.