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By Greg DiFalco
3. Branch Out Only to a Few New Advertising Venues
We’re right smack in the middle of the online retail holiday season right now, so there’s no time to lose! There’s only money to lose. We recommend you do not expand to unknown, or previously untested advertising sources at this time. However, we do recommend you consider branching out to Google Product Search (also known as Google Base, or Froogle), as well as Yahoo Products. Google signup is free, while Yahoo charges by the click.
The latter 2 advertisers are called comparison shopping engines. Basically, you generate a feed (spreadsheet) of basic product information (product name, description, price, URL, etc.) and submit to these sites so you can then see your products listed alongside other vendors. You’ll quickly understand the importance of remaining price-competitive because very frequently your product listing could get completely lost amid the multitude of other listings on Google Product Search and Yahoo Products. This is why you should also keep your prices competitive and you should load up your product descriptions with keyword phrases that best describe the product. This will at least help improve the click through rate of your listings.
We don’t recommend expanding to brand new advertising venues right now simply because online “window shopping” is at its highest point in the year. Those other comparison shopping sites that charge you per click might prove expensive, yet unprofitable. Especially now, users are looking for the best bargains, so while you might see a spike in traffic, you won’t necessarily see a spike in sales. Increasing the budget to known advertising sources is the way to go here rather than trying new things. Wait till January for that.
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