Neglected Characteristics of an Effective Resume
"Never neglect details. When everyone's mind is dulled or distracted the leader must be doubly vigilant." – Colin PowellAs with any endeavor, one does not excel over the competition without attention to detail. When it comes to making a career move, being "okay" just won't cut it. Middle of the pack, and even "pretty good" is a recipe for failure. If you decide to compose your own resume, attention to detail is going to be necessary if you are going to be the last man or woman standing. To assist with this, here are some areas of resume writing consistently neglected by novices … and even some profes

Got a Great Business Idea? You May Have More Resources than You Think
Do you have a great idea for a business but don't know where to start? You may be surrounded by help and not know it!Starting your own business has suddenly become the hot thing; perhaps it's the relative insecurity of jobs now as opposed to a decade or two ago, or perhaps it comes from the need to supplement your regular income, or a desire to be your own boss. Maybe it's that the government has finally figured out that 85 percent of newly created jobs come from small businesses, and not giant corporations. For whatever reason, suddenly encouragement to start a business of your own is everywhere.Do you feel like your eBay auctions are being ignored? Want more bids on your auctions? Even though there are 1.5 Billion page views per month on eBay you still have to do a few things right in order to get customers to check out your auctions.

Here's a top 10 list of reasons why some auctions don't get noticed and don't get bids:

PROBLEM #10: You are in the wrong category.

Every time you put something up for sale on eBay you are forced to choose a category. Choosing the wrong category can cause you problems. While your auction will still "go live" if you choose the wrong category, it won't get as much attention as it would if you had used the correct category. Also keep in mind that occasionally eBay will even end an auction that is listed in the wrong category.

While it's true that most shoppers on eBay use the keyword search feature of eBay to find what they are looking for you must be aware of the fact that more and more shoppers are using the category search feature when shopping. This means you need to have your item in the correct category when setting up your auction.

TIP: To quickly determine what category to place your item in simply search for items similar to yours on eBay and see what category was used by the other sellers. The assigned category of any auction item is always at the top of the listing auction just below the ten digit item number.

PROBLEM #9: Your auction is unappealing to the eye.

You don't have to be an artist with a college degree in marketing to have success on eBay, but you do have to be mindful of the appearance of your auctions. Being mindful of the overall color scheme and appearance of your ad you will improve your final results.

If you don't use HTML or pictures in your auctions you need to take the next step now. There are many eBay sellers who still use simple text in their product descriptions, and many do have success, but they stand to lose business if they don't adapt.

Also, if you begin running more than two or three auctions at a time you will see the value in using an auction management service like "Listd.com" to manage your auctions and keep them all looking great with minimal effort.

PROBLEM #8: You aren't making it immediately obvious what you are selling.

There are many things that can be said under this heading, but let's just list a few pointers.

-For nearly any item you are attempting to sell you'll need a nice photo in your listing. That's the best way to make it very clear for your customer what item is up for auction. The "How to add photos" tutorial on eBay is a great place to start if you are unfamiliar with what it takes to add photos to your auctions:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/photo_tutorial.html

-Be descriptive in your listing and tell the reader IMMEDIATELY what they are buying. After you've given a short description of your item list the features/flaws etc.

-DON'T use cute animations or musical special effects in your auction listings. Not everyone has a cable modem or DSL connection! Too many graphics in your auctions will cause the auction to load slowly on many computers with slower Internet connections. This will almost certainly make you miss out on potential bids.

PROBLEM #7: Your feedback rating on eBay is too low or too negative.

If you are new to eBay and still have a (0) next to your eBay ID it means you don't have any feedback yet. You can get some feedback

in mind that occasionally eBay will even end an auction that is listed in the wrong category.

While it's true that most shoppers on eBay use the keyword search feature of eBay to find what they are looking for you must be aware of the fact that more and more shoppers are using the category search feature when shopping. This means you need to have your item in the correct category when setting up your auction.

TIP: To quickly determine what category to place your item in simply search for items similar to yours on eBay and see what category was used by the other sellers. The assigned category of any auction item is always at the top of the listing auction just below the ten digit item number.

PROBLEM #9: Your auction is unappealing to the eye.

You don't have to be an artist with a college degree in marketing to have success on eBay, but you do have to be mindful of the appearance of your auctions. Being mindful of the overall color scheme and appearance of your ad you will improve your final results.

If you don't use HTML or pictures in your auctions you need to take the next step now. There are many eBay sellers who still use simple text in their product descriptions, and many do have success, but they stand to lose business if they don't adapt.

Also, if you begin running more than two or three auctions at a time you will see the value in using an auction management service like "Listd.com" to manage your auctions and keep them all looking great with minimal effort.

PROBLEM #8: You aren't making it immediately obvious what you are selling.

There are many things that can be said under this heading, but let's just list a few pointers.

-For nearly any item you are attempting to sell you'll need a nice photo in your listing. That's the best way to make it very clear for your customer what item is up for auction. The "How to add photos" tutorial on eBay is a great place to start if you are unfamiliar with what it takes to add photos to your auctions:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/photo_tutorial.html

-Be descriptive in your listing and tell the reader IMMEDIATELY what they are buying. After you've given a short description of your item list the features/flaws etc.

-DON'T use cute animations or musical special effects in your auction listings. Not everyone has a cable modem or DSL connection! Too many graphics in your auctions will cause the auction to load slowly on many computers with slower Internet connections. This will almost certainly make you miss out on potential bids.

PROBLEM #7: Your feedback rating on eBay is too low or too negative.

If you are new to eBay and still have a (0) next to your eBay ID it means you don't have any feedback yet. You can get some feedback

umber.

PROBLEM #9: Your auction is unappealing to the eye.

You don't have to be an artist with a college degree in marketing to have success on eBay, but you do have to be mindful of the appearance of your auctions. Being mindful of the overall color scheme and appearance of your ad you will improve your final results.

If you don't use HTML or pictures in your auctions you need to take the next step now. There are many eBay sellers who still use simple text in their product descriptions, and many do have success, but they stand to lose business if they don't adapt.

Also, if you begin running more than two or three auctions at a time you will see the value in using an auction management service like "Listd.com" to manage your auctions and keep them all looking great with minimal effort.

PROBLEM #8: You aren't making it immediately obvious what you are selling.

There are many things that can be said under this heading, but let's just list a few pointers.

-For nearly any item you are attempting to sell you'll need a nice photo in your listing. That's the best way to make it very clear for your customer what item is up for auction. The "How to add photos" tutorial on eBay is a great place to start if you are unfamiliar with what it takes to add photos to your auctions:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/photo_tutorial.html

-Be descriptive in your listing and tell the reader IMMEDIATELY what they are buying. After you've given a short description of your item list the features/flaws etc.

-DON'T use cute animations or musical special effects in your auction listings. Not everyone has a cable modem or DSL connection! Too many graphics in your auctions will cause the auction to load slowly on many computers with slower Internet connections. This will almost certainly make you miss out on potential bids.

PROBLEM #7: Your feedback rating on eBay is too low or too negative.

If you are new to eBay and still have a (0) next to your eBay ID it means you don't have any feedback yet. You can get some feedback

auction management service like "Listd.com" to manage your auctions and keep them all looking great with minimal effort.

PROBLEM #8: You aren't making it immediately obvious what you are selling.

There are many things that can be said under this heading, but let's just list a few pointers.

-For nearly any item you are attempting to sell you'll need a nice photo in your listing. That's the best way to make it very clear for your customer what item is up for auction. The "How to add photos" tutorial on eBay is a great place to start if you are unfamiliar with what it takes to add photos to your auctions:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/photo_tutorial.html

-Be descriptive in your listing and tell the reader IMMEDIATELY what they are buying. After you've given a short description of your item list the features/flaws etc.

-DON'T use cute animations or musical special effects in your auction listings. Not everyone has a cable modem or DSL connection! Too many graphics in your auctions will cause the auction to load slowly on many computers with slower Internet connections. This will almost certainly make you miss out on potential bids.

PROBLEM #7: Your feedback rating on eBay is too low or too negative.

If you are new to eBay and still have a (0) next to your eBay ID it means you don't have any feedback yet. You can get some feedback

scriptive in your listing and tell the reader IMMEDIATELY what they are buying. After you've given a short description of your item list the features/flaws etc.

-DON'T use cute animations or musical special effects in your auction listings. Not everyone has a cable modem or DSL connection! Too many graphics in your auctions will cause the auction to load slowly on many computers with slower Internet connections. This will almost certainly make you miss out on potential bids.

PROBLEM #7: Your feedback rating on eBay is too low or too negative.

If you are new to eBay and still have a (0) next to your eBay ID it means you don't have any feedback yet. You can get some feedback and experience by buying anything (and paying for it) or by selling some in demand items. In order to gain the trust of the massive "eBay family" you need to complete a few basic transactions. Each transaction offers you the chance to get and give feedback to the other party.

Too much negative feedback is a HUGE red flag to experienced buyers. I've written entire articles about the power of eBay feedback. A low or bad feedback record does scare away potential customers. Protect your feedback!

PROBLEM #6: Your item simply is not in demand.

Before selling anything on eBay check the completed auctions that were selling the same item you are considering selling. See what the final bid price was on the successful auctions. This will help you know what results to expect.

If you are trying out unique ideas on eBay (things that no one else is trying to sell) it's quite possible that nobody will want your item!! This is a painful thought I know, but it does happen! If you've re-listed an item a few times and it's not getting any attention it's time to move on, or adjust your marketing strategy.

I suggest you put a hit counter in your auction so you can see how many people are visiting your auction. If you are getting a lot of traffic but no bids it's likely that taking care of #2, 3, 7, 8 or 9 from this list will solve your problem.