NicheBlaster.com

This page describes the various scripts available on NicheBlaster.com. I will be updating this page as I bring more tools online. It should be fairly clear on how to use each tool based on the form fields on the script page, but this page is intended to provide more detailed descriptions of what exactly each tool does and the basics for using it. I may also use this page to host release notes for each tool provided it doesn’t get too cluttered. I also welcome any and all comments, criticism, and suggestions for the tools on this page. That will assist me in improving these tools not only for you, but also for myself.

ePN Research and Keyword Tool

This is one of the first scripts I coded, after a basic RSS to HTML script to display ePN listings on Web pages. It started out simply as a keyword scraper for ePN PPC campaigns. I’ve found it very useful in collecting long-tail keywords based on product specifics such as model numbers, style, vintage, etc. This extremely relevant for most items listed on eBay.

You simply enter a keyword (only required field) and optionally select a top-level eBay category, minimum price, and “tail length” and let ‘er rip. The script will then return a small sample of the items found in the ePN RSS feed for that keyword search as well as scrape the titles for up to 100 listings in the feed. The scraped titles can then form the basis of a targeted keyword list for that niche. The “tail length” option limits the total number of words returned in the scrape. However, I find it best to leave this set to “unlimited” in most cases, at least initially. This is due to the practice by most sellers to keyword stuff the titles of their listings.

The research portion of this tool is a recent addition – actually implemented as I was readying the script for publishing here on the blog and now after playing with it for a bit, I’m finding it to be the most useful feature of this tool.

• You can tweak your search phrases to produce highly targeted results. After selecting the most appropriate eBay category, experiment with the “Min. Price” parameter to eliminate unwanted cheaper items in your listings. You can also add negative keywords to the eBay search. Simply add a negative sign before each keyword you wish to exclude. Just be sure to leave a space between all words: apple iphone -cases -skins – this search will return Apple iPhone listings minus anythings with “cases” and “skins” in the listing title.
• As a “Hot Item Finder”, you can click on the “View More RSS Listings” button and see a page of up to 20 listings. For all auction style listings the bid count is color coded to give you a relative idea of the “hotness” of a product niche. The is also a “View All Completed Listings On eBay” link at the bottom of the main results page. This will take you a search results page on eBay and show the competed items. The more items listed in green with a high bid count, the hotter the item tends to be on eBay.
• You can use this tool to help generate an ePN RSS Widget URL to use in your own scripts. Tweak the available parameters until you get the desired listing results and then copy and paste the RSS Feed URL into your own script.

Check out the ePN Research and Keyword Tool

ePN Report Tool

This is perhaps my favorite tool to date. I use it everyday to view what visitors to my ePN links bid on and sometimes win on eBay. It lets me know if my campaigns are targeted enough based on winning auctions and BINs, which helps immensely with appeasing the ever mysterious ePN QCP algorithm. The really cool part of this tool is seeing at a glance what the bidded items are – no more having to extract the item ID and then going over to eBay and punching it into the search box. I’ve found more than a few sweet eBay niches from some of the untargeted items people sometimes bid on.

Check out the ePN Report Tool