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If you sell specific products through a shopping cart on your site, you qualify as a shopping-driven website. Here we cover how to register yourself with the shopping search engines by register your products with lots of specific product listings. We also include a list of directories that will only include you if you are a shopping-driven website.
Basic advice on having a shopping search engine merchant account:
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Whatever you do, don't ignore a merchant account after taking the time to set it up. No matter what you sell, your merchant account will require upkeep or get cancelled. Out-of-date listings are a big no-no.
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When ads are for specific products, link directly to the product page. Two clicks is one too many.
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Check statistics often. If a merchant account was set up properly but is costing more than it is making, dump it. Shopping search that doesn't pan out right away probably never will – it's not like the regular search results. Patience is not a virtue in shopping search.
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Most of all, keep your own counsel. We try to list just the stable, well-known sites, but buying a listing to show up where you want today might not work tomorrow. Keep checking that the listings you are paying for really display where you want to be, and try not to invest too heavily in any one place.
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Listings with shopping search engines and directories are rarely free. If you don't know whether this is a good marketing avenue for you, try a free one first, like Froogle.
As of November 2005, and according to HitWise the shopping search big shots (and their shopping search percentages) are:
- Shopping.com with 18.38%
- BizRate with 17.35%
- Yahoo! Shopping with 14.39%
- Shopzilla with 13.60%
- Froogle with 8.49%
Read full article here
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