Just about every business will tell you that advertising is a necessity. The only way to sell a product and attract customers is through advertising. When selling on eBay, however, the task is somewhat different.

On eBay, there is only one opportunity to advertise your products, and that is via your auction title and your auction description.

Most buyers on eBay find the product they are shopping for in one of two ways. They either do a keyword search, or they navigate directly to the category of the item they are seeking.

Although this appears to be two chances for the item to be found, in practice by far the most common way eBayers use to locate items is through keyword searches. You therefore need to take the time to think about the keywords to use in your auction title and item description.

The number one tip for writing effective titles and descriptions is to be specific.

For example let's imagine three different eBay sellers are offering an identical item. They are all selling the same item, which is a Nokia 8800 mobile phone. Seller A lists the item using the following title, "Brand new mobile phone". Seller B lists the phone using the following auction title, "Nokia 8800 mobile phone". While seller C uses the following auction title, "Nokia 8800 Camera mobile Phone w Radio".

Given these examples, seller C will typically experience the most visitors to their auction page. They have created the most precise auction title.

Let's see what happens when a buyer does a search...

If a buyer comes along and simply types "mobile phone" into the search engine, all three auctions will display.

If the buyer types "Nokia 8800" then only sellers B and C will have their auction page displayed in the results.

If the buyer types in "Nokia 8800 camera", only seller C's auction will be returned.

So, as you can see by being more specific about the item that is being sold, the seller can capitalize on the natural search results.

One way you can uncover good keywords to use in your auction title and description is to do a search yourself for the product you are selling.

For example, if you type in Nokia 8800 into the eBay search box, at the top of the returned list you will see a "Related Keywords" list . These are keywords that eBay is suggesting as possible search terms relevant to Nokia 8800. Any of them could be good high traffic keywords to use in the title of your auction.

So, a little research before creating your auction can pay dividends. And, make your auction title as specific as you can be. And don't forget to make use of eBay's "Related Keywords" facility.