A Guide to Comparison Shopping
Last month at SES in San Jose I met an interesting guy by the name of Brian Smith at lunch. He explained that he ran a blog about comparison searching sites. I was skeptical at first because I did not see a clear revenue model, but after reading the site for a few weeks I have concluded that it is one of the best sources for information on comparison shopping.For those who don’t know, comparison shopping engines allow you to list your products and bid on keywords, much like traditional PPC advertising (see Shopzilla, Froogle, Yahoo shopping, etc.). Originally I started looking at comparison shopping because there is a limited inventory for keywords on existing products and we had already exploited about every tail term that we could think of with these traditional sources. We continue to use these engines because they actually produce a higher ROI (in some cases). The cost-per-click is typically higher than the cost-per-click on Google and Yahoo, but the traffic is more qualified because people are in the late stage of the purchase process - as a result, we have seen a higher conversion rate on some engines (beware: all comparison engines are not created equal).If you are an internet retailer and are considering new advertising opportunities, check out Brian’s blog and consider comparison shopping. It is so similar to traditional cost-per-click advertising that you won’t feel out of your element. Also be sure to consider the improved conversion rate before you write off comparison shopping too expensive based on the cost-per-click.
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[…] If you’re looking for new ways to advertise and your getting short on search inventory, I highly recommend that you check out comparison shopping. Make sure to keep a close eye on your accounts, however, because unoptimized campaigns can quickly get out of control. […]
Pingback by The Preston Blog » Refunds from Shopping.com — September 25, 2005 @ 8:25 pm
[…] The Preston Blog - An internet marketing blog for internet retailers skeptical at first because I did not see a clear revenue model, but after reading the site for a few weeks I have concluded that it is one of the best sources for information on comparison shopping. […]
Pingback by EveryDepot.com » — July 17, 2006 @ 5:02 pm
[…] The Preston Blog - An internet marketing blog for internet retailers skeptical at first because I did not see a clear revenue model, but after reading the site for a few weeks I have concluded that it is one of the best sources for information on comparison shopping. […]
Pingback by EveryDepot.com » Blog Archive » — July 26, 2006 @ 9:47 pm