Are you ready to Froogle?
| by Dan Thies Google has recently introduced a beta version of their Froogle online shopping search engine. Unlike their well known search service, Froogle attempts to provide a searchable index of online merchandise catalogs.In this short article, I'll describe what Froogle offers searchers, how online merchants can participate and offer a few simple tips to make the most of this new search engine.
What Froogle offers searchers
Froogle offers searchers three major features. These are a directory of products by category, a searchable index of online products and the ability to narrow searches by price range. Froogle attempts to display a price and product description for each item listed.
If you haven't taken a look at Froogle yet you can see how it looks at http://www.froogle.com or http://froogle.google.com
At the moment the search results are not sorted by price so it's likely that Google's famous PageRank system is responsible for determining which sites end up on the top at Froogle, at least for now. Searchers however can input a price range to narrow down their search.
How to get your catalog into Froogle
Google has already been actively searching the web, including many online product catalogs to build the Froogle database. For many online merchants there's a good chance that Froogle already has some products listed.
However letting Froogle search your site is not the only way, nor the best way to participate. Google also allows merchants to provide a "data feed" listing their products, descriptions, pricing and URLs. In a moment we'll discuss why this is important to you.
Google has been kind enough to provide instructions on getting your online
store listed in the Froogle index on their "Information For Merchants"
page located at http://froogle.google.com/froogle/
merchants.html
Note: at least during the beta test, Froogle is limited to those merchants doing business in US dollars, who take orders online and ship their products to customers.
How to profit from Froogle search
Since Froogle appears to favor the "big box" online retailers, it may at first appear that there isn't much advantage to participating. However my experience with earlier price-shopping portals like MySimon has given me a little insight into winning strategies that even the "little guy" can win with:
Tip 1: Control the content
If you spend just a little time surfing around Froogle you'll see very quickly
that some products have clear and enticing descriptions, while others seem
to be random snippets from the product page. Those with clear descriptions
are from the sites that have taken the time to give Froogle a data feed. It's
not enough to show up in the search, if the searcher doesn't click through
to your site.
It appears that Froogle allows merchants to make their product descriptions into miniature sales pitches. At the moment Froogle is just a beta test, but if it becomes a popular service it might well be worth engaging the services of a professional copywriter to create your product descriptions. If your online store isn't converting traffic into customers as fast as you'd like maybe it's time to do that anyway.
Tip 2: Leverage the price
Since you're providing Froogle with a data feed, you can set the price that's
displayed on Froogle. While you can't offer Froogle's visitors a discount
on everything, it makes sense to offer special discount prices (and special
product URLs) for Froogle within major product categories. For example - there
is a category on Froogle for "DVD Players" - offering a loss-leader
discount on a low-end DVD player will bring more visitors to your site when
they search that category by price.
It's a relatively simple matter to drill down into the Froogle catalog to find the names of the major categories your products will fall into. You'll also want to consider any common keyword searches that might occur, such as brand names. How many folks shopping for electric guitar strings are going to type in "guitar strings," and how many will type in "gibson strings?" Make sure your product titles and descriptions include brand names, if those brands have any value in your marketplace.
How to make the most of every Froogle referral
Doing a good job of building your data feed, with effective product names and descriptions will certainly bring you more traffic. Once you get them to your store there are three things you *must* do: close the sale, follow up on the sale and provide a reason for that visitor to start their shopping excursion at your store next time, instead of Froogle. This is doubly true if you decide to offer substantial discounts or even loss leaders to bring visitors to your website.
1. Upsell and cross-sell!
If your shopping cart software doesn't let you suggest guitar strings to someone
who's getting ready to buy a guitar it might be time to shop for a new cart.
If you can't show the person who's about to buy that $49 loss leader DVD player
why the $99 player is worth the extra money you're throwing profits down the
drain.
2. Get permission to keep selling!
When someone makes a purchase from you, capture their email address and ask
for permission to send them further special offers. Amazon probably brings
in more business by follow-up email than they do from any other source. A
personal email from a customer service representative will dramatically reduce
returns and increase the number of customers who buy again. The bigger the
sale price the more important this personal touch can be.
3. Offer sticky services and content!
If you sell 20 kinds of DVD players, providing reviews of them all and side-by-side
comparisons will bring people back when it's time to upgrade. The more useful
and impartial the information the better. There are plenty of ways you can
enhance your website to make it a better shopping destination.
Is it worth the effort?
Right now Froogle is just a beta test. Google might expand it, or they might shut it down at any time. The fact that Froogle takes no commission and charges merchants nothing should be a strong incentive for merchants to participate. Beyond that, I have learned not to underestimate the Google team. A few years ago Google itself was just a research project and now they control two thirds of all searches on the web.
Hopefully this article has given you a few ideas about how to compete on Froogle and other price-shopping portals. I welcome your feedback (you can email me at froogle@cannedhelp.com and I'd love to hear anything new you've discovered about Google, Froogle or any other search engine. I wish you success...
About the author
Dan Thies is the author of "Search Engine Optimization Fast Start," the ultimate beginner's guide to higher search engine rankings - available today at http://www.cannedbooks.com