GoDataFeed's Top 10 Holiday Datafeed Optimization Tips

This holiday season, many shoppers are going to skip the malls and shop directly online. In fact, Forrester Research predicts online retail sales this holiday season will grow 12% to $44 billion. With the holidays right around the corner, it's the best time to increase your store's reach and visibility.

To help you optimize your product feeds in time for the holidays, the GoDataFeed team has compiled its Top 10 Holiday Tips for optimizing your retail product feeds:

1. Anticipate upcoming traffic and bid more aggressively on top performing categories on peak bargain-hunting dates: Black Friday in Late November, “Cyber Monday” after Black Friday, pre-holiday, early December and post-holiday, December 26th and January 1st
   


2. Take advantage of GoDataFeed’s Featured Merchant Offers--which include free merchant credits, free listings and clicks-- by Smarter.com, Become.com and ShopMania to expand your holiday promotions
   


3. If you’re not already submitting to Google Base--- Sign Up-- it’s free and you could be reaching thousands of shoppers
   


4. Create compelling call-to-action promotions in feeds that allow promotional messaging, i.e. Holiday free-shipping incentives, Price Discounts, Date-specific promotions that prompt buyers to shop by a holiday deadline, Gifts with Purchase
   


5. Where applicable, include the “Retail Price” or "MSRP" field along with the “Sale Price,” so customers can see their holiday savings
   


6. Deepen your product descriptions by adding recommended data feed fields like gender, color, size, etc…
   


7. Provide as much preliminary information as possible in the feed including shipping costs, tax rates and delivery date estimations
   


8. Consider advertising on Microsoft's Jellyfish/Cashback, which employs a Cost-per-Action model - you only pay for conversions!
   


9. During the holiday rush, make sure to filter out any out-of-stock products and submit your feeds on a daily or weekly basis to keep your data feeds fresh
   


10. Install GoDataFeed analytics to get instant feedback on your holiday feed campaigns to gain insight on your best performing shopping engines, categories, products and holiday promotions--to learn more about installing analytics, go to your merchant home page--under 'View Start Page' ->'Activate Analytics'
    
    

Want to optimize your feeds in time for the holidays? Contact GoDataFeed at http://www.godatafeed.com/ or call us at 954-472-3400 to schedule a tour of our datafeed management software

GoDataFeed Merchants Get $25 Credit at Become.com

For a limited time, Become.com is offering GoDataFeed merchants a sign-up bonus of $25 worth of credit. To take advantage of this promotion, enter the code: BEGDF208D during Become's sign-up process at: https://www.become.com/merchant/SignUp.aspx

Become's Feed Optimization Tips to Improve Shopping Site Performance

• Merchants should always provide images and categories; missing either component will result in artificially down-ranked listings
• Map as deep as possible into the Become taxonomy-- GoDataFeed has all of Become's categories built-in to its software
• The more unique identifiers one can provide, the better. Do not provide false unique identifiers just to populate the columns (e.g., 123456789 for UPC). If no data is available, leave the field(s) blank or omit the entire column
• Make sure the titles are clear and concise, while important keywords are placed at the beginning of the fields
• Bid up a minimum of one cent for a quick boost to surpass those bidding at the minimums
• Provide tax and shipping information when possible. If tax is not charged in one or more states, use “0” to indicate as such
• Free shipping can be indicated by entering “free” or “0” in the shipping cost fields
• Logo placement is free on Become! Use it to strengthen branding and to further call out your listings
• Update your listings as frequently as possible. Inaccurate pricing information will quickly harm conversion

Smarter Offers $50 Sign Up Bonus for GoDataFeed Clients

GoDataFeed recently caught up with Joanna, Account Manager with Smarter.com and in addition to offering new GoDataFeed merchants a $50 Sign up Bonus, she also shared with us Smarter's Insider Tips for Shopping Engine success:

•Manage Bids either by category, or better yet product level
•Remove products you know do not perform well on CSE’s (low margin, high ticket items)
•Remove Out of Stock products
•Refresh and update your data feeds as often as you make changes to your website
•Make sure your account is funded- Smarter.com has a Continuous Payment plan to avoid any downtime
•Use the MPN or UPC code to better compare with other merchants
•Write a product name that identifies the product by the common usage name-- i.e. pants, not slacks, shirts not blouses
•Ensure your store profile is completed fully and up to date, including name, location, phone numbers, customer service hours & contact info, shipping information, return policy
•Use any and all optional relevant data fields, including Coupon Field, Promotion Field, etc.
•If you change your data feed, make sure to contact your shopping engine representative immediately to avoid any potential issues
•Evaluate and optimize your product pages for a favorable and informational shopping experience

"It’s important to incorporate these best practices into your marketing initiatives. The deeper understanding you have of the options available on each engine, such as Smarter.com – the greater the chance of a successful marketing campaign," said Joanna.

$50 Sign Up Bonus for GoDataFeed Merchants
GoDataFeed clients who sign up for a Smarter.com account today can receive a $50 bonus towards use on the Smarter.com site.

GoDataFeed Data Feed Management Solution Now Integrated with eBay Stores

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA – July 24, 2008 – GoDatafeed.com, provider of affordable data feed management and optimization services, today announced that it is seamlessly integrated with eBay stores, helping its retailers promote their products on multiple comparison shopping sites including Shopping.com, Shopzilla, NexTag, Google Base, PriceGrabber and many more.

“We are very excited to provide eBay merchants with an affordable and innovative solution to diversify their marketing efforts on the comparison shopping engines,” said Ro Grosman, GoDataFeed’s President and Founder. “Savvy eBay merchants realize the importance of ‘spreading their eggs’ through multiple channels and our seamless eBay integration increases their marketing toolset and enhances their ability to reach more shoppers looking for their products.”

By combining their eBay marketing efforts with multiple comparison shopping sites, retailers can significantly increase quality traffic to their site-- while maintaining their eBay presence. Research[1] indicates that online retail sales are expected to reach $212 billion in 2009 and exceed $270 billion by 2010, and 75 percent of online shoppers buy products they research on comparison shopping sites.

Giving merchants the ability to optimize their feed is a key element in shopping channel success. GoDataFeed’s software has all datafeed templates and categories built-in, making it easy to optimize and customize feed campaigns to all major shopping channels at a flat subscription rate of $75.

To help eBay merchants get started , all GoDataFeed plans include two free feed setups and a risk-free, $0.99 trial for the first month. In addition, GoDataFeed offers free analytics and unlimited support with all its data feed management plans.

In addition to eBay stores, GoDataFeed is also integrated with Yahoo! Stores, Volusion, ShopSite and AmeriCommerce platforms. GoDataFeed’s feed management plans cater to all merchants, from new retailers who are just starting out to large search engine marketing firms with multiple retail clients. Learn more datafeed marketing and GoDataFeed’s plans.

[1] Source: Forrester Research, Inc., Cambridge, MA, US eCommerce: Five-Year Forecast And Data Overview, October 12, 2006

Maximizing Comparison Shopping Site Marketing

Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs) have become increasingly important for merchants looking to increase sales, enhance exposure and build brand awareness online. They help attract more motivated buyers to their site and boost conversions through more targeted product advertising.

Whether you’re a shopping site veteran or just starting out, we at GoDataFeed put together a list of tips to help you get the most out of shopping site marketing:

• Optimize Your Product Feeds- In a nutshell, to optimize your feed is to provide each engine-- and ultimately your target shopper-- with as much accurate, up-to-date and detailed product information as possible **before** they click over to your site- this includes product titles/descriptions, high quality images, complete price information, merchant profile, user reviews and relevant keywords/search terms
• Maximize your Attributes- Include as many relevant required, optional and custom fields (i.e. color, gender, size, etc...) as possible about your products- merchants can even add seasonal, sale or coupon attributes to your data feeds, if they apply
• Name Your Products Appropriately- use common search terms that shoppers are familiar with to find your products
• Categorize your products in the most relevant location for each shopping site
• Submit Fresh Feeds to ensure product data is accurate, in-stock and reflects correct pricing information
• Customize Feeds to Each Engine- one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of shopping site marketing is that each shopping site is unique and you should tailor your feeds to meet each CSE's requirements.
• Maximize Your Resources - Take advantage of each shopping sites' merchant resources. Some shopping sites, like PriceGrabber, have dedicated Account Managers for each merchant to help with the feed setup process; Become is a shopping engine that lets merchants post their store's logo at no cost.

Measure Results- then Modify

• Begin with a Strategy- have specific, measurable sales goals to ensure your feed campaigns are effective and profitable
• Monitor Listings- routinely review performance reports, looking at profit margins for each product to determine which products and engines are performing well and which products need to be tweaked or removed
• Proactively manage bidding -review your products' performance and place higher bids on best sellers, place lower bids on average sellers, and place zero bids, if applicable, on the lowest sellers-- pay attention to peak sales and seasonal item trends
• Manage your CPC budget- ideally, your best-selling, high-margin products should always be visible and you should aim to increase your budget during holiday and seasonal promotions
• Minimize click costs by removing inactive, out-of-stock or unprofitable products- it may also help to manage bids on a product or category basis to reduce click costs
• Spread your Eggs- you may want to test different feed campaigns, based on price, brand, sale campaign or category, for instance, to see which products and engines perform better

As comparison shopping online has grown, the number of shopping portals and shopping site models have also evolved:

CPCs, CPA & Free Models
Today, merchants can choose from the Cost-per-Click Model, offered by a majority of the shopping sites, as well as Cost-per-Action or Cost-per-Sale that charges merchants per sale (commission-based), such as Jellyfish, now known as CashBack, --a model that is becoming very popular with many merchants. And, of course, there are the free shopping sites, such as Google, TheFind and MSN Product Live-- which we recommend most merchants start out with.

Specialty CSEs
Shopping sites are also getting more specialized-- today, there are a number of niche sites dedicated to wine, electronics, books, baby products and those that target a specific demographic, like theFind, which is popular with the female demographic. These sites can increase product/store exposure through more targeted product placement.

Going Social
As shoppers surf for products online, they are also looking for user reviews and buying guides as well as positive feedback and ratings about the store they're shopping from. Merchants should take advantage of shopping portal "user review" programs, if available, because many times, a shopper will pay more to buy from a store that has higher merchant ratings.

For more information on effectively managing data feeds or outsourcing the entire data feed management process, visit http://www.godatafeed.com/.

About GoDataFeed
GoDataFeed is reshaping the delivery of product feeds to the major comparison shopping channels with an innovative solution that properly and effectively automates, optimizes and analyzes the data feed management process. GoDataFeed empowers online retailers and search engine marketers by providing an affordable, time-saving solution to increase traffic and visibility on more than 40 comparison shopping sites and affiliate networks.

Serving online retailers, hosting and search engine marketing firms, GoDataFeed strives to meet the individual needs of each merchant and exceed customer expectations. GoDataFeed’s staff provides one-on-one customer service to meet the unique demands of each company and works with each client- from setting up customized feeds to implementing tracking—to ensure feeds are delivered properly and are driving motivated buyers to their site. GoDataFeed also caters to companies who wish to delegate the entire data feed setup process through its fully-managed plan.

GoDataFeed’s software engineers and marketing specialists have developed ecommerce solutions for online businesses since 2000. Responding to the popularity of comparison shopping channels, GoDataFeed’s team combined its collective knowledge of best ecommerce and shopping channel marketing practices to create a single, user-friendly application to manage the product feed process. The GoDataFeed team has been quoted by retail industry sites including Practical eCommerce, Ecommerce-Guide.com and Small Business Informer.

GoDataFeed.com Releases its v2.0 Data Feed Management & Optimization Software

Simplifying Product Feeds to 40+ Comparison Shopping Sites

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA – June 19, 2008 – GoDatafeed.com, provider of affordable data feed management services, announced today the launch of the newest version of its Web-based application that helps online retailers list their products on multiple comparison shopping sites.

“GoDataFeed v2.0 helps clients maximize shopping site marketing efforts and optimize their product feeds for each engine through features that validate feed accuracy, customize campaigns and categorize products in the best department for each engine,” said Ro Grosman, GoDataFeed’s President and founder. “Our software simplifies data feed management and enhances product placement, giving online retailers more tools to increase quality traffic to their site from multiple comparison shopping engines.”

Forward-thinking online retailers and search engine marketing companies enlist the help of data feed management services, like GoDataFeed, to reduce the time and resources spent preparing and submitting product feeds to multiple shopping sites.

“GoDataFeed 2.0 gives you precise control of your feeds so that you can improve your shopping engine rankings and sell more products,” said Alan Townsend, Chief Technical Officer for StuffedAnimals.com and Puppet.com. “GoDataFeed 2.0 is the ultimate solution for managing, optimizing and updating your shopping comparison engine feeds automatically.”

After comprehensive research and development, as well as feedback from existing GoDataFeed users, GoDataFeed’s v2.0 software helps online retailers:

• Optimize Product Listings with dynamic categorization tools that let retailers customize feeds and merchandise products in the best department for their products
• Validate Feeds against each shopping engine's requirements to ensure product data is accurate and complete prior to submission
• Preview Feeds in Real-Time- as changes are made to product data
• Customize Feed Campaigns for sale, holiday and free-shipping promotions or to add third-party tracking tokens
• View Real Time Analytics- of product and engine performance

To get merchants started, all GoDataFeed plans include two complimentary feed setups and a risk-free, $0.99 trial for the first month. In addition, GoDataFeed offers free analytics and unlimited support with all its plans.

GoDataFeed Plans
GoDataFeed’s plans cater to all merchants, from new retailers who are just starting out to large search engine marketing firms with multiple retail clients:
- Self Managed Plan- US $75.00 a month, per store for unlimited shopping engines
- Starter Plan- US $50.00 a month, per store for 3 shopping engines
- GoDataFeed-Managed - US $250.00 a month, per store for online retailers and marketers who wish to delegate the feed setup process to the GoDataFeed Team

Read more about about GoDataFeed’s plans. Their “Data Feed Tip Sheet” is also available on their site, at http://www.godatafeed.com/.

Increasing Conversions on Comparison Shopping Sites

While there is no “magic” formula for increasing conversions on comparison shopping sites, there are some steps merchants can take to improve the quality of the feed to impact their conversion rate:

• Fill in as many fields as possible in each shopping engine- in the GoDataFeed system, you can hover over each field to view each engines detailed description/example
• Titles and descriptions - make them clear, concise and accurate
• Categorize products in the best location for each shopping site- GoDataFeed has all data feed categorizations built-in, so you can view which categories best fit your product lines
• Customer Reviews can seriously affect conversions so make customer service a main priority
• Price Matters- it may be a good idea to include tax and shipping on the comparison shopping engine so that the consumer knows the exact price once they click over
• Check your Links- make sure your product and image URLs work properly -- check that the re-directs are valid, working links that link to the actual product page for the product clicked as opposed to a homepage
• High quality images- it is important to give consumers a good idea of what the product actually is when the image is enlarged, prior to clicking over
• Improve and optimize all relevant landing pages, especially for sale or holiday items
• Increase Ranking of Best Sellers- increase your maximium bid slowly -one or two cents in the beginning- then monitor performance and see if it pays to bid higher.
• Maintain Fresh feeds- While a customer might be pleasantly surprised if a lower price is returned following a click-through, conversions may decrease if a higher price is returned or worse yet, the product is unavailable.
• Remove low performing products- GoDataFeed's Performance Analytics lets you monitor which products are selling and which are not-- use this feedback to exclude low-performing items.
• Take advantage of each CSEs features-For example, PriceGrabber's offers dedicated Account Managers for every merchant and Become displays merchant logos free with each listing

The idea is to provide shoppers with as much relevant information as possible prior to the click-through, leading to a good user experience and a more qualified lead. GoDataFeed has all of the fields and categories built-in for each engine, so merchants can see descriptions and examples of each shopping site’s data feed requirements.

For this entry, we surveyed a handful of our supported engines, including PriceGrabber, Become and Jellyfish-- now known as "Cashback." According to the NY Times article "Microsoft Offers Rebates to Shoppers Using Its Search," the new program focuses on searches for products to be bought online, which Microsoft executives said account for roughly a third of search queries and a majority of search advertising revenue.

Recently Released: Online Retailer Shortcuts: Automating Product Feeds to Multiple Shopping Sites

Read recent article on GoDataFeed

GoDataFeed Now Seamlessly Integrated with Volusion 5.0 Stores

Good News Volusion Merchants!

GoDataFeed now makes it fast and easy to submit your products to multiple shopping engines.

As part of our commitment to simplify your data feeds, GoDataFeed now retrieves product data directly from Volusion 5.0 stores.

GoDataFeed also supports Yahoo! and ShopSite stores- and continues to expand supported eCommerce platforms.

GoDataFeed's Performance Analytics also helps you track and manage your products and shopping site profitability. Read more about GoDataFeed's features.

You can consolidate your shopping feeds using one interface that works across multiple engines, including Google Product Search, Yahoo! Shopping.com, NexTag, Shop.com, Become.com, Pronto.com, and many more shopping channels. Want to know more? Contact GoDataFeed today.

Tips for Tracking Real-Time Sales & Clicks with GoDataFeed

At GoDataFeed, we often get asked- "Which shopping engines are the best ones for my products?"



Although there is no right answer for any one category or merchant, our answer is always the same-- track your sales and clicks using GoDataFeed's Performance Analytics and you'll be able to follow which engines are bringing you more traffic as well as which products are your best/worse sellers. So on to our top "Performance Analytics" questions...



What will Performance Analytics track?

GoDataFeed’s Performance Analytics gives you real time statistics on orders, total clicks, revenue, profit and ROI information from each shopping site as well as product-level data. Performance Analytics will also give you Cost-per-click estimates, if you plug in your CPC values in GoDataFeed's Category Mapping section.



Why Track Performance?
Quickly identifying your top and bottom-selling products is crucial to measuring the effectiveness of your campaigns and your store's performance. Using real-time feedback from Performance Analytics can help you make better informed decisions to increase conversion rates and improve overall sales. This feedback will help you:

1. Determine the best performing shopping sites for your store


2. Focus on optimizing your best performing products


3. Reduce ad costs by excluding your lower performing products from your product feeds

So what does it take to install Performance Analytics?

It's easy-- just install a couple of lines of java script on a couple of pages on your site-- the landing and conversion pages- test your tracking and then start seeing which shopping sites and products are generating clicks and sales.



You've installed Performance Analytics- what's next?

After you've installed and tested Performance Analytics, can optimize your feeds by removing the unprofitable, low-margin items with GoDataFeed's Product Filter while optimizing by focusing efforts on the best performing engines and products.



Tips for Analyzing your Campaign's Success:

• Define how you will measure your campaign’s overall return on investment and conduct ongoing, routine analysis of your comparison shopping engines


• Set benchmarks by comparing monthly and quarterly figures


• Identify which categories and items generate the highest revenue


• Assess keyword trends in your top revenue-generating categories and items and determine which ones are driving traffic to your site


• Determine which comparison shopping engines customers are using to find your site and generating revenue


• Monitor costs and revenue received from each shopping engines’ click-through and conversion rates and modify your campaign accordingly

GoDataFeed Merchants-- you can download the Instructions directly from your Home Page in the GoDataFeed Application-- under the "Analyze Results" section. If you need assistance implementing Performance Analytics, or still have more questions, please email us at customerservice@godatafeed.com.

GoDataFeed Adds Amazon's Newest CPC Program, Product Ads

Good News Merchants-- GoDataFeed now supports Amazon's new Cost-per-Click program that brings buyers directly to your site by displaying targeted ads for your items on select Amazon.com product and search pages:



Amazon's Product Ads and are accepting merchant applications for the following categories:

• Electronics & Computers
• Home & Garden
• Tools
• Toys
• Kids & Baby

Interested in advertising on Amazon's Product Ads?

1. Sign up and set up your account by contacting Ford Harris at Amazon:
Phone: 206-266-5584
Email: fordh@amazon.com

2. Setup your Amazon's Product Ads feed on GoDataFeed, schedule and submit.


If you need more information, contact us to get Amazon's Product Ads Overview.

GoDataFeed Adds Dealio- List Products Free

GoDataFeed Adds Dealio - A Great Dealio for Everybody

We're always on the lookout for the great shopping portals and opportunities for GoDataFeed eTailers and came across Dealio. Although still in Beta, this comparison shopping site seems promising.

So What's the Dealio?

- Absolutely free product listings
- Online Retailers can post Coupons and Hot Deals
- Dealio's Toolbar helps over 2.5 million shoppers search all websites for deals

Learn more about becoming a Dealio merchant.

GoDataFeed's Valentine's Day Marketing Ideas

We're only 10 short days away from Valentine's Day-- the good news is, most gifts are purchased a week before, giving you just enough time to put together a Valentine's Day marketing initiative.

We at GoDataFeed are sharing our Marketing Tips for the most romantic day of the year.

Valentine's Day Marketing Tips:

• Promote this Week! OneUpWeb's Survey says the busiest shopping days are Feb 5th and 6th and keep in mind that most make their purchases online from the office
• Countdown the days to V-Day, reminding shoppers -particularly guys- how crowded and overpriced the Malls are
• Use Shipping Cutoff dates in your email and website promotions
• Promote your Gift Cards or eGift Certificates- the perfect gift for the clueless or the impossible-to-shop-for
• Email customers your store's "Most Romantic Gifts"
• Offer Free Shipping -if you purchase by a Valentine's Deadline
• On Your Site/Email Newsletter- Feature a Gift Guide- for Him/for Her

What to market this Valentine's Day?

• Making Memories- Picture-related items such as digital cameras, photo frames and video items
• Electronics--more than half of women surveyed by Discover Card's Valentine's Shopping Survey said they'd buy their man gadgets
• Kitchen and food items- isn't the way to the heart through the stomach?
• Anything in Pink or Red
• Personalized items
• Gift Cards

Using GoDataFeed's Product Filter for Seasonal Campaigns

Remember, you can use GoDataFeed's Product Filter to narrow down specific items in your feed for seasonal campaigns, just insert the criteria you want included in your feed.

If you need help with this feature, just shoot us an email at customerservice@godatafeed.com.

More Reasons to Love GoDataFeed

GoDataFeed Seamlessly Integrates with ShopSite and Yahoo! Stores
If you have a ShopSite or Yahoo! Store- GoDataFeed automatically imports your product data for submission to the comparison shopping sites. Some clients have been sharing the love about GoDataFeed with Lexiconn -- read more on their newsletter at http://support.lexiconn.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=256.

WebDex Teams up with GoDataFeed
"Partnering with GoDataFeed allows our clients to easily market their products to companies such as Shopzilla.com, NexTag, PriceGrabber, and many other comparison shopping engines, complementing our SEO and internet marketing efforts," said Stephen Gonzales of WebDex. "GoDataFeed simplifies product submission and provides analytic features to determine their best sellers as well as the best performing shopping sites for their store." ...read WebDex's full press release at http://www.promotionworld.com/news/press/080204WebDexTeamsup.html

Happy V-Day!