Archive for the ‘Comparison Shopping Engines’ Category

Jan

2013

AUTHOR

Michael McGinley

Tags

Comparison Shopping Engines, eCommerce 101, Pay Per Click Marketing

Understanding Amazon Product Ads

Wednesday, January 9th, 2013

Many merchants sell their items directly on Amazon.com, but did you know there is another great way to gain customers on Amazon.com without selling through Amazon directly?

Amazon Product Ads allow your products to show in search results. Customers can click on your products to go directly to your website. These don’t appear as annoying ads that online shoppers would overlook; they are more of a suggestion to customers of other products they may find useful on external websites.

While all the listings appear co-mingled in the Amazon.com search results, when you actually click to view the product, you may see a Product Ad or a Seller Central ad.

Amazon Seller Central/WebStore/FBA – The “add to cart” button appears which allows customers to checkout directly through Amazon (meaning merchants will be paying Amazon a revenue share percentage).

Amazon Seller Central

Amazon Product Ads – Rather than seeing the “add to cart” button, there will be a button that will allow the shopper to “visit this site” which will take the shopper directly to the merchant website. Here, the customer can complete their purchase using the store’s cart.

Amazon Product Ads

The great thing about Amazon Product Ads is the merchant does not pay a potentially costly revenue share percentage to Amazon, since the shopper does not checkout via the Amazon cart. The merchant does however pay a cost-per-click (CPC) for the listings, in place of a revenue share percentage.

Ads usually appear under the “add to cart” button of the product sold through Amazon. Amazon Product Ads also receive their own “product ads from external websites” section at the bottom of every Amazon Seller Central/WebStore/FBA listing page. Again, these don’t appear to look like ads, rather just shopping alternatives for the customer. This is a great way to increase exposure and sales too.

Amazon Product Ads On External Sites

But what about those Sponsored Links at the bottom of Amazon pages? Those are indeed PPC ads, generated and served from the advertiser’s Google AdWords account. Since Amazon is one of Google’s “Search Partners,” by default, all PPC ads targeted to the regular Google Search pages can appear on Amazon, eBay, Ask, and a host of other Search Partners Google has, although the search engine giant doesn’t disclose a full, comprehensive list.

Solid Cactus often recommends running PPC ads on the Search Partners Network because we typically see a very good return for most industries. Also, it’s great branding to have your store appear in Amazon’s Product Listings, in addition to Sponsored Links at the bottom of the page. Think about it: a user is more likely to consider you a leader in your industry after seeing your store name in several spots, as opposed to just one.

So, if you’re considering Amazon as a part of your shopping engine advertising efforts in 2013, don’t discount the value of the PPC ads at the bottom of the page as well. While often considered annoying, these ads do convert and will help your overall store branding, so don’t be afraid to consider it this holiday season.

If you’ve been discouraged from advertising on Amazon in the past due to the revenue share, consider Product Ads and PPC this year.

Posted in Comparison Shopping Engines, eCommerce 101, Pay Per Click Marketing | 1 Comment »

Aug

2012

AUTHOR

Jaclyn.Rudeski

Tags

Comparison Shopping Engines, Preparing For Google Shopping 2012

Leaving Google Shopping Is A Terrible Move For The Holiday Season

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out! The holiday season is right around the corner, yes, you heard right, the holidays. So, now is the time to take the proper steps to prepare your online business for the busiest sales months of the year. Year after year, online comparison shopping is becoming more popular and common among consumers. One of the biggest comparison shopping engines and players in this game is Google Shopping.

Many merchants are apprehensive about the new Google Shopping changes and want to back out from these changes rather than embrace them. Although, spending is now involved, the new Google Shopping is really a great tool to control where your products will be listed among the results.

Like most other paid engines, you can bid on your campaigns to control where you would like your products to be listed on Google Shopping. Previously, results on Google Shopping were based on relevancy which was almost a random drawing of products placed in results. Having more control over where products are listed will ultimately help your sales.

Also, since many merchants are backing away from the new Google, you must make sure you are staying on board! Competition will be dropping and you can possibly be the new best possible result for consumers. By leaving Google you are giving your competitors an advantage and breaking down their competition. So let them leave, and you stick around to find all those lost customers! Because this transition is happening in October this is the most important time to be sticking around and picking up all those lost shoppers.

Google receives more traffic than most comparison shopping engines, especially other free ones, so you will be reaching a much larger consumer base by staying on Google. Also, just to get your products out there Google accepts penny bids on the Product Listing Ads, so you wouldn’t have high placement but you would still have the chance to be found in the results without spending nearly anything.

Another great thing about the new Google Shopping is the promotional text feature. This will really come in handy for the holidays! Promote a hot item you sell, free or fast shipping, etc. This is a great way to grab the attention of shoppers and make your products stand out about the others.

I hope I’ve persuaded you to stay on board with Google Shopping. Google’s Shopping engine is the most important one to be on especially for the holidays. We hope you have a successful and profitable holiday on Google Shopping!

Posted in Comparison Shopping Engines, Preparing For Google Shopping 2012 | No Comments »

Jul

2012

AUTHOR

Michael McGinley

Tags

Comparison Shopping Engines, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click Marketing, Preparing For Google Shopping 2012

How Nice Will Google Shopping & Google AdWords Play Together?

Tuesday, July 10th, 2012

Are you one of the many merchants apprehensive about the Google Shopping changes coming in fall? You aren’t alone but we are here to help. Google Product Search was essentially a “set it and forget it” proposition. Most merchants would feed products and never really check into Google Merchant Center to evaluate performance. After all the listings were free.

Sure, it’s reasonable to be concerned that what was once free will now cost you something. It will also require a more detail oriented focus to optimize Product Listing Ads on Google Shopping compared to the current Google Product Search. In fact, the new Google Shopping will require two pieces. First, feeding products to Google to be available to use with Product Listing Ads. Secondly, you’ll need to create, manage and optimize the paid ads. Google Shopping is really a hybrid of a traditional Comparison Shopping Engine and a pay to play ad service.

Though the changes can be daunting, we feel they will ultimately benefit merchants by leveling the playing field.

We’ll be doing posts frequently as new information becomes available for strategy and implementation. Today’s blog post the first of a series to help you through the changes.

Step 1: Check the Google AdWords guidelines!

The first thing you should do is be aware of Google AdWords guidelines. AdWords is pretty strict when it comes to what you can and can’t promote on the Google Search, Search Partner and Display Network pages, whereas Google Shopping has typically been less stringent on what you can and can’t promote.

Now that all listings for Google Shopping will be funneled through the AdWords platform, it’s important to begin familiarizing yourself what is and isn’t allowed to be promoted.

Here are some areas we’ve identified where merchants may run into problems:

Healthcare/Medicines: This is perhaps the most troublesome industry for Google AdWords, because (it seems) many merchants are flagged inappropriately for selling “drugs” or “medicines” that aren’t approved. Case in point: a merchant selling vitamins and supplements that have ingredients similar to drug names may be flagged, even if the products don’t contain drugs.
To get such products approved through AdWords, you may need to call the Google Helpline at 1-866-2GOOGLE. As of right now, Google AdWords doesn’t have a spot in AdWords Editor, the offline editing platform PPC Specialists use, to request exceptions to show PLAs, so calling the 866 number is the best way to go.

Other reasons for healthcare/medicine exclusions may be that a pharmaceutical product or supplement makes a claim that can’t be substantiated, may actually contain dangerous ingredients, may be a non-certified pharmacy, and more.

For more information on what is and isn’t allowed to be advertised through AdWords, visit this page on the Google Help Center.

Tobacco Products: Now available for sale on Google Shopping, cigars, cigarettes and the like aren’t allowed in AdWords, so merchants selling those kind of products may want to get more aggressive on other paid engines. Products such as cigar flasks and holders are still fair game in AdWords.

Other prohibited categories Google has mentioned in updates (some of which were previously allowed in Google AdWords) include: vehicles; guns, ammunition and knives; tobacco and cigarettes; traffic devices; products relating to casino and gambling; products or digital goods that require additional software installation in order to be purchased; and products bundled with service plans.

While we’re staying up on updates as they become available from Google, the best thing you can do now is watch your Product Feed. Make sure nothing is being disapproved. Check your email inbox to ensure you haven’t received any store-specific notifications from Google yet.

And the fun part: Keep checking your listings on Google Shopping to see if you’re competitors are still showing. Our guess: many are about to back out because this change can be scary without the right system or support in place. Don’t back out—let us help!

Posted in Comparison Shopping Engines, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click Marketing, Preparing For Google Shopping 2012 | 1 Comment »

Jul

2012

AUTHOR

Jaclyn.Rudeski

Tags

Comparison Shopping Engines

Comparison Shopping Engines For Your Business & Budget

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012

Would you like your products in front of the people most likely to buy them? Of course you would! If you are not on Comparison Shopping Engines (CSE) now, you need to get on them as soon as possible! Shoppers who are looking on Shopping Engines are further along in the buying process and are usually ready to make their purchase when they come to a CSE. Sometimes knowing which CSE is best for your store can be a challenge, but worry not, because we’re here to help!

All comparison shopping engines are not created equally. There are “free click engines”, which include Bing and The Find. Then there are a great amount of pay-per-click engines. Currently, Google Shopping is free, but will be pay-per-click by October 2012. It’s always a good idea to put all of your items on free engines. Even though they have less traffic than other CSEs they provide you with a great, free way to expose your products. What do you have to lose?

Here are our top ten picks for CSEs, with #1 being our most recommended:

Google
Shopping.com
Nextag
Shopzilla
Amazon Product Ads
PriceGrabber
Become
Bing
Pronto
The Find

We rated these channels based on traffic, sales, return on ad spend, and other key metrics. Using our experience managing Shopping Engine Services for eCommerce merchants, we are able to give you some insight on each engine. If you are submitting to engines yourself, consider these snap-shots when choosing where to invest.

Google – Google definitely brings the most sales and clicks to your store, which was great because they were a free engine. Now as they’re transitioning to a paid engine, it will be important to carefully watch clicks and sales to make sure you’re profiting. Mostly all products do well on Google; apparel, electronics, home and garden, etc.

Shopping.com – This engine receives high traffic and has more of a female demographic, aged 35 years and older. Items, such as apparel, home décor, and furnishings do well on Shopping.com. Shopping.com is also partnered with Ebay and Bing Shopping, so your listings may show up on both of those sites as well.

Nextag - Nextag is almost a straight split between male and female shoppers. Products, such as electronics, tobacco, sports fan apparel and memorabilia, and some home and garden products, such as lighting do best on this engine.

Shopzilla – Shopzilla provides strong traffic mostly from females, 35 years and older. Shopzilla offers a free BizRate survey that is placed on your confirmation page, and will prompt customers to fill a survey out after their purchase. Their ratings will show across Shopzilla, BizRate.com, and Google. This is a great additional service because shoppers love to see the product ratings when making buying decisions. In addition, the ratings from the survey can help you to improve your overall site and customer service.

Amazon Product Ads – APA are a great way to make your products visible to online shoppers. While customers are browsing Amazon they’re shown “ads” or suggestions from external sites which connect them to your store. Amazon product ads are have some stringent product restrictions. For example, apparel is not permitted to be sold through this engine, as well as car accessories, books, etc. Items in categories, such as grocery, jewelry, shoes and watches require approval by Amazon.

Pricegrabber.com – Pricegrabber receives good volume in clicks and traffic, but not as many sales as other engines. You may end up paying more than you’re earning, unless you take advantage of Pricegrabber’s hidden treasure, the penny bid. You can bid items at $0.01. They won’t show up as high as others, but the click cost will be minimal while still providing exposure and sales.

Become.com – Become sees less traffic than other engines, but does converts sales at a fair rate. One huge plus the merchant help service from Become. They respond to emails in a timely manner and are always very willing to help. Rather than filling out a form and waiting for an answer, each account is given an account manager that we can contact in case of an issue while managing your account.

Bing Shopping – As mentioned earlier, Bing is partnered with Shopping.com. This partnership has had some negative impacts on Bing Shopping. Shopping.com results are favored over regular (free) Bing results. Bing is still a free engine though, so you can only profit by being listed. Just make sure not to rely solely on Bing for traffic.

Pronto.com – Pronto sees significantly less traffic than the other engines, but will still bring in some sales. While their site is very shopper friendly and has a great set up, not many shoppers know of this engine.

TheFind.com- Last on our list is The Find. The Find is a free engine that is a growing presence among shoppers. It isn’t near the volume of some of the more established engines, but it is free, friendly, and growing. What do you have to lose?

We hope that gives you a better understanding the many Comparison Shopping Engines, and helps you make the decision on where to place your items online for customers to shop. Remember to check your prices and shipping to make sure that you’re competitive with the other merchants on the channels you choose. This is a big factor to shoppers, and a primary factor when they are about to make a purchase.

Posted in Comparison Shopping Engines | 1 Comment »

Jun

2012

AUTHOR

Michael McGinley

Tags

Comparison Shopping Engines, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click Marketing, Uncategorized

Six Reasons Why New Google™ Shopping Is GOOD for eCommerce Merchants

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

Google’s recent announcement on their plans to convert Google™ Shopping from a free Comparison Shopping Engine (CSE) to a paid service has created concern and confusion for many merchants. While the initial reactions have been mixed, there is an opportunity to increase sales to your store by using Product Listing Ads.

In business, you often hear the phrase “You have to pay to play.” Basically, that’s what Google is saying. Every time your Product Listing Ad is clicked, you will have to pay a cost-per-click.

Product Listing Ads (shown below on the right) are expected to replace current results on Google Shopping by October, so don’t wait to get up-to-speed on what is in the works.

Examples of Product Listing Ads are on the right. Currently, images, product information and prices are pulled from the Google Merchant Center Product Feed and the promotional text is pulled from a Google AdWords account. The new Google Shopping will soon contain Product Listing Ads all over the page and advertisers will have to have an AdWords account to show the images.

Here’s why Google Shopping as a Paid Product listing ad service is a good option for Merchants:

1. Many merchants may elect not to participate in these new changes.

Many of your competitors may choose to not participate in this change, giving you a chance to get ahead of your competitors.

2. Merchants will now have more control over where their products show up in the Google Shopping results.

Instead of relying on Google to decide where your products will be displayed, you will now have bidding power to control your products’ placement. Google will still base searches on relevancy in conjunction with bid optimizations. This means that merchants will have the ability to potentially show up in top spots where they may not have been before.

3. Promotional Text

Creating a promotion to include in your Product Listing Ads will motivate shoppers to click on your ad, drive sales and make your ad stand out. Say something such as “Free Shipping with Code: dad10” or “Made in America; Support Small Business!” to really engage shoppers. Merchants are now able to create their own promotional text. In the past, Google pulled the text from your data feed, which did not give you a chance to create your own promotion.

4. Select Best Performing Products

You can start as big or small as you’d like! You don’t have to target all your products on Google Shopping anymore. Now that it’s a paid model, you can select your best-performing products, brands or categories in the beginning to see which are the best performing in driving new sales.

5. Leverage Google’s Integration of PPC with Google Shopping

Use this change as an opportunity to dive into the Pay-per-click (PPC) realm. Maybe you’ve only advertised on Google Shopping before, but never actually showed targeted ads on Google’s search result pages. To use Google Product Listing Ads, Google needs you to open an AdWords account and begin using Product Listing Ads. There are a lot of eyes on PPC text and image ads on Google.com, Google’s Search Partners and the Google Display Network. Start using targeted keyword phrases and ads to capture qualified traffic in those places, too. You’ll likely find out there are a lot more customers who want your products, but never used Google Shopping before, and will now find your products easily.

6. An incentive to try it now!

Google is offering a discount to incent merchants to try out Product Listing Ads. The offer is 10% off clicks for the remainder of 2012. This is an awesome incentive since it will last through the holidays’ high volume season. But hurry, to obtain this offer, merchants must sign up by August 15, 2012.

Of course, if you have questions as you sort through the process, the Internet Marketing team at Solid Cactus is here to help, so don’t be shy.

Happy Googling!

Posted in Comparison Shopping Engines, Online Marketing, Pay Per Click Marketing, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »