In these 55 characters you have include strong keywords to make sure you are returned in as many relevant searches as possible. Plus you want to persuade prospective bidders to click through to read your auction page.

In effect the title is the heading of your advertisement.

Fifty five characters isn't much when you consider what the title has to achieve.

1. Bidders will use eBay search to find auctions matching their requirements. As you may know, by default eBay's search facility only checks auction titles for the presence of the keywords input by the searcher.

So, the title has to contain keywords which bidders might use to locate auction items such as yours.

(Just in case you weren't aware, eBay's auction search takes no account of capitalization. So a search for madonna would return titles which included madonna and Madonna - and indeed mAdonna, if someone's finger had slipped when typing the title in.)

2. And, assuming as a result of the search your auction has been returned in the list along with many others, the title now has to persuade the searcher to click through onto YOUR auction description page - your sales pitch.

So, in your 55 character title what you're looking for is a mixture of:-

a) Keywords b) Powerful influencing words c) An outline of your item.

Well, that sounds easy, doesn't it?

One of the determining factors in assessing the weight to give to each of those three elements is the item itself.

Branded item with model ID In this instance the title is all about the specific item. Bidders who will be interested in this item will know the make and model they're after.

For example:

Aiwa HV-FX5850 6 Head Nicam Hi-Fi Stereo VCR

There is no need to expand on this title, unless to add the word NEW as appropriate.

Unbranded item with no obvious model ID The vast majority of auctions will be like this. There is no standard brand, model or reference number, so you need to describe the item yourself.

As an example, I was recently selling a tool set for use on mobile phones. This is the title I went with:

Torx Hex Mobile Cell Phone Tool Set - NEW

Mobile cell phones is a "hot topic". To work on a Nokia (the most popular make) mobile phone requires a torx screwdriver.

I added NEW, as it is still one of the most persuasive marketing words you can use.

Named item If you have a name to latch onto, this can bring plenty of keyword hits. For example, anyone interested in Hank Marvin and his musical instruments would find this auction through eBay's search.

Rare Hank Marvin autographed guitar STUNNING

Note the use of a couple of power words to encourage the viewer to click through to the auction page.

Additional tips on auction titles

1. Capital letters Many people on eBay now create their full auction title in capital letters. This advice is given in several of the established "how to sell on eBay" books. Capital letters do have one significant advantage over lower case - they're larger and therefore take up more line space. So, with all capitals, your auction title is more likely to run to two lines on search returns, giving your entry a bigger physical presence on the screen.

My own opinion is that a mix of capital letters and lower case is a slightly better option. Your auction title will take up more space than all lower case, but it allows you to give emphasis to selected words.

2. Use of underscore If you use underscore between words, rather than spaces, this will make your title physically longer - and therefore look bigger than other peoples'. This is because eBay uses a PostScript font where the underscore character is longer than a space.

3. Power words to optionally use sparingly in titles Be aware that searchers will not normally key in words such as those in the list below. But where a title is returned in a keyword search results list, and it contains one of these influencing words, you could get more click-throughs to your auction description page. Here are some of the

Stunning Limited edition Unique Rare New One-off Exclusive Distinctive Dramatic Striking Vivid Unusual Handsome Beautiful Vibrant Brilliant Mint Exquisite Perfect Quality

Use power words selectively and appropriately in your title, bearing in mind your item.

4. Unusual characters Don't be tempted to use characters in words such as L@@K or save $$$$ or **** see here ****. First of all, it's usually a waste of your precious 55 characters limit and conveys nothing. Second, who searches on 4 $ signs or 4 asterisks? Also, in my mind it portrays the seller as someone slightly suspicious, perhaps unprofessional, who isn't confident enough to let their words do the talking. Finally, think now as a bidder, do you react positively to this kind of device or not? I know I don't.

5. Be creative There are opportunities to think creatively about your item. For example, if you're selling a device which is a nasal hair trimmer, there's not much more you can put in the title is there? Well, whilst the item is primarily advertised as a nasal hair trimmer, it is also useful for trimming ear and eyebrow hair.

So the title could include the words "nasal hair, ear and eyebrow trimmer". This way your entry will be in the results of people searching for nasal hair trimmer, ear hair trimmer and eyebrow trimmer.

If you've room in your 55 characters therefore, think "outside the square" and try and appeal to groups of potential buyers who may not necessarily have been the immediate target for your item. (The torx hex tool set mentioned earlier is another example of this)

6. It's not an English exam Writing titles is difficult enough without having to worry about grammar. Don't be too concerned that your title doesn't "scan", or tell a story. Remember the objective with titles is to be returned on searches, and then to induce a click-through to the auction description page.

Here's an excellent example of an auction title - it contains strong keywords, and also uses humor to tempt the reader onto the auction page.

ANTIQUE BRASS BELL-PULL "You rang m'Lord?"

By the way, it worked well. At the time of writing the auction was still open. The item had a starting price of 99p (50c), and is now at £117 ($240), having had 18 bids and 240 auction page views.

Spend as much time as you can on your auction titles. It is your best chance of being found by bidders amongst those 1 million other items on eBay.co.uk or 10 million items on eBay.com.

Having decided on your title, the next element is a sub-title.

This is an optional facility which allows you to show more information about your item. If you use it, whenever your auction is returned in searches or is listed via a category listing, your sub-title appears directly under the auction title.

As the name implies, sub-title provides you with a special area to add information about your auction item. You can use this in any way e.g. to mention some specific term or condition such as a moneyback guarantee, or to add further details about the item itself.

Within sub-title, you have the same size limit as the item title i.e. 55 characters.

The downside of sub-title is that it is not searched when a bidder enters keywords into eBay's standard Search Box. For searching purposes, eBay treats sub-title as being part of the auction description.

Also, it is a fixed fee facility. This makes it a more attractive option the higher the value of your auction item. For low value items you will need to weigh up carefully the additional cost of this facility against the likely increased exposure i.e. click-throughs to your auction page.

I hope this article outlining the considerations for auction title creation proves useful to you in your eBay activities.
About the Author

Brian McGregor is an eBay and internet entrepreneur. He recently created the 'eBay Master Class' for eBay sellers. For your free copy, please go to http://www.workwinners.com/ebm-request.htm