Q:Why didn't my item sell?

While talking to new ebayers, I hear this question a lot.  I have decided to write a series of guides to help the new (and maybe some not-so-new) sellers.

This guide will focus on the title.  Your title could possibly be the most important 55 characters of your entire listing.  What I have here is what I consider to be the four things you must keep in mind when writing a title.

1. Think like a buyer.  If you wanted to buy something like the item you are about to sell, what would you type in the search box?
For example, you may have some shirts to sell.  Just like going to the store, your potential buyers may not have an exact shirt in mind - they want to browse.  So, on ebay browsing would consist of using the search.  Most people would type in their size, the type of shirt, and possibly a brand name or color.  So these would be important to include.
Example of a bad title:
2 Nice Short Sleave Shirts (YES this was an actual title I found - not only vague, but misspelled)
Example of a good title:
2 Womans Short Sleeve Shirts Med Brown, Large Denim M L
Notice how I found room to put Med and M, Large and L, along with the colors - this is because people search in different ways.  Somebody looking for a large shirt may put in the word large, while someone else may put in L.  Somebody else may be looking for a womans denim shirt.  Put as many applicable key words in your title as you can.  Avoid things that no one will search for.  I have yet to find someone who actually searches for "LQQK" or "WOW".  You may not always have room to put in everything you can think of, so you must decide which term or word people are most likely to search for.

2. Punctuation is not necessary.  In a title, a comma or exclamation point can take up valuable space.  If you have a lot of items, it is more important to put as many words in the title as possible then to make the title read like a sentence.  You have plenty of room for sentences in your description.
Example of a bad title:
Lot of 15 Romance Novels by Best Selling Authors.
Example of a good title:
15 Romance Novels Books Nora Roberts Sandra Brown +
You can't possibly fit 15 different titles or author names in the title, but putting a couple will bring in browsers who like that particular author or may be searching for a particular book.

3. Spell check.  We all typo(yeah, even you!) There are actually websites dedicated to finding misspelled words in titles so buyers can find things and get good deals since no one else is finding these items.  It is a good idea for buyers, but sellers are losing money like crazy because they rush through and don't double check their title.

4. APPLICABLE keywords only!  Nothing irritates a buyer more than searching for a Coach bag and getting a list of "Coach inspired", "Not Coach" or "Looks like Coach".  Not only will it not help in your sales, it is against ebay policy.  Even if it wasn't against policy, go back to rule number 1 - think like a buyer.  If you were searching for one thing, and ended up with a list that had the word in the title preceded by the word "Not" - wouldn't that annoy you?

Now, repeat after me.
I will think like a buyer, and spell check my titles!
I will use all the space available to me, and fill it with applicable keywords!
I can write a title that would sell salt to a slug!

Thanks for reading my guide.  Please take time to vote YES if you feel this is helpful information.