When choosing a template for your listing look at the template through the eyes of your buyer.

A few things to consider here is most people browsing through auction site listings will not stay long on any particular listing unless it really interests them, being afraid they may miss a bargain on the next one they look at.

to keep the attention of these browsers and turn them into buyers you must first be able to hold their attention long enough for them to press the bid now or buy now button giving you a sale.

There are a few pet hates of browsers (buyers) on auction sites these are:

Templates that scroll on and on leaving you wondering if you'll ever reach the end of the page.

Very large heading graphics that take up half the screen forcing the user to scroll the page to read the description. Anything over 250 pixels high is to much for the heading graphic. Consider here the user who is using a 800 x 600 screen resolution, if your template heading graphic is 400 pixels high this is two thirds of the height of their screen resolution forcing them to excessively scroll the page.

A long winded description that goes on and on with what could have been said in a few words covering a couple short paragraphs.

Having to scroll the page more than twice to get to the photo's of the item, if photo's have been used in the template.

Animated graphics, while a little animation attracts the buyers attention to much can be a distraction and cause the buyer to press the back button very quickly. A little narrow animated glitter on the edge of the templates can focus the buyers attention to the centre of the template but if the animated glitter goes across the top of the template this will cause the buyers eyes to keep looking up away from the important stuff your description of your item. Also a little animation on one of the template images eg: welcome graphic or header is not overly distracting providing the image is not to large has limited animation and only appears once on the page.

Scrolling text, there is nothing worse than trying to read something that is moving across the page, have you ever tried to read a book while moving it from side to side. I have seen a lot of templates where scrolling text has been added to attract the buyer to view the sellers other listings or add them to favourite sellers etc. Do buyers actually read this scrolling text and do what they are told? The answer is "No" in short they don't even read it.

Flash, while flash looks nice it can be a headache to browsers on slow connections and those with slow computers. It is impossible to install the latest flash player plugin on some slower computers therefore these users would either not have flash installed or be using an older version that may not be compatible with the flash on your template. Some users prefer not to install flash altogether. The result of this is the page will hang in some cases causing the users computer to crash or will keep displaying the loading message but nothing happens. Flash is suitable for use on shop fronts and websites in limitation but not for an auction template.

If a browser opens a listing they are going to want to first read the description of the item then see any photo's if any in the listing and after this if they are still interested in the item read the terms and conditions. A good template will have the sections in order of: description, photo's then terms and conditions.

Another point here is background colours and fonts, if your template has font settings that cannot be changed by you the seller make sure these fonts are clear, readable and easily understood. Text colour's on dark backgrounds are best to be white, off white or pale grey. On light background dark coloured text is easiest to read. Avoid templates with bright coloured background that can make the text hard to read or distract from your item. Avoid using bright colours for the text also.

Template graphic design, depends on what items you are selling but a tip here is don't use your shabby rose template to list your sons BMX bike or your husbands Ford gearbox.

Looking professional also counts towards attracting browsers to not only buy off you once but to come back again and again. Think of your image on the auction site as similar to your appearance when dining out. Would you go to "Silk's Restaurant" wearing your old comfortable dressing gown and slippers? No, what would people say about you. Same applies to your auction listings, when choosing your template think of the image it will portray.

A short summary here on the don'ts of selecting a template.

In short of what we have covered.

• Avoid using scrolling text
• Avoid over use of animations and glitter
• Avoid templates with large heading graphics
• Avoid templates that have photo placements above the description area
• Avoid long scrolling templates
• Avoid bright colourful backgrounds
• Avoid flash and slow loading templates

You may ask here what's left to choose from?

When choosing your template.

Choose a design with an attractive heading image that is not over large, this will attract the buyers attention to the centre of the page, focused they are ready then to scroll down to read the description.

A compact style template is far better than the ever scrolling ones.

Choose a template with the description area above the photo placement area or where the description area and photo placement area are side by side. Buyers like to be able to see the photo's while reading the description or straight after reading the description.

If you like a bit of animation on your template choose one with a little animated glitter on the sides, heading image or another image in the template.

Choose a template that reflects what you sell not what you like. Think here of your image, a template that suits your products is better than one that doesn't. If you have to sell your husbands fishing gear consider buying a template more suited to the male than one with fairies and roses.

It's handy to have several different templates, if you sell women's, men's and children's clothing using a different template to portray each different category is far better than listing a man's jacket using a shabby rose template or a babies jumpsuit using a fishing template.

Choose colours and graphics that make your listing look professional and stand out from the other sellers. If your buyer has a pleasant experience they will be back.

If you are worried about the templates load time contact the template seller and ask if it would be possible for them to let you know the approximate loading time for the template or send you a link to a working online version of it.

A short summary of the Do's of selecting a template.

• An attractive heading image not over large
• Compact style template easier for the buyer to move around
• Description above or beside the photo area
• Limited animation without scrolling text
• Image your template to your business or products
• Consider having more than one template if you sell different items
• Subtle complimentary background colours and graphics
• Easy to read fonts and text colours

If you are not sure of the style of template you would like to use try a few free ones first, we have several free templates available for download here also other sites offer free templates like Isdntek we can supply our templates in Tagbot format to work with Isndtek's template automator software.