oduct, Shopzilla will show you how you rank with the other merchants that are in their database with the same product. In essence, they are giving you price competition data. Go through each and every product, noting the specific products that show your site as favorable. When you complete this exercise, you've identified which products you should include in your feed.

The next step is to modify your feed to only include these products. You may be thinking, this will seriously limit the number of leads that will come from this source. In fact, you want to limit the number of leads from the shopping comparison source to only those who will purchase. Conversion is the name of the game here, otherwise your advertising budget wi

As a new online store owner I was initially very excited by the prospect of bringing my products to the comparison shopping sites. It seemed like a fantastic way to be found and bring motivated buyers to my site and jump-start my new business. However, after a few months of pumping hundreds of quarters into the comparison shopping sites, the bills were mounting and I started to realize just how difficult these marketing channels really are.

I think the easiest beginner mistake is not taking the cost-per-click bidding process seriously. When I first uploaded my feed into 5 different comparison shopping sites, I was quite proud of my accomplishment. After all, it was quite a bit of work to get this data organized just right, following the specifications for each. However, what I needed to realize is that the real work was just beginning. Now that my data was in the site, and clicks were coming to me, the most important task was still ahead: Analysis and refinement.

To come right to the point, I believe that smaller merchants should seriously consider getting help using the shopping comparison marketing channel or avoiding them altogether for a while. The reasons for this are:

1) The very nature of the comparison shopping site means that price competition will be intense.

2) There are many large players who have invested significant time and money to have daily feedback on their channels with amazing specificity. They will have a significant informational advantage over the smaller merchant who does not have this data or lacks the analytic skills.

3) The bidding process is extremely confusing.

If after reading these three reasons for avoiding the comparison shopping channel you are still somehow interested in pursuing this strategy, here are a few ideas for you. Be warned though, they are labor intensive.

Start by putting as many of your products into the feed for a shopping comparison site as possible. We selected Shopzilla. Have the shopping site apply auto-bidding for your categories and monitor how well the site is able to put your products into the right buckets. For this to work, it's important that site correctly identifies your products. Most are using SKU numbers for matching, so be certain that your feed is populated appropriately. Be ready to spend some money with a relatively low return for the fist month. The best way to think about this is as an investment in market research $$. If used correctly, you should be able to make-up the money later based on the intelligence you'll gain.

After a few weeks have gone by, you need to set aside some significant time for analysis. The poor-man's analysis goes like this. Log into the Shopzilla site and go to their product manager. In an organized fashion, click through the categories one-by-one. If you have many products, this will take many hours. For each category, click on each product. When you click on the product, Shopzilla will show you how you rank with the other merchants that are in their database with the same product. In essence, they are giving you price competition data. Go through each and every product, noting the specific products that show your site as favorable. When you complete this exercise, you've identified which products you should include in your feed.

The next step is to modify your feed to only include these products. You may be thinking, this will seriously limit the number of leads that will come from this source. In fact, you want to limit the number of leads from the shopping comparison source to only those who will purchase. Conversion is the name of the game here, otherwise your advertising budget wil

ollowing the specifications for each. However, what I needed to realize is that the real work was just beginning. Now that my data was in the site, and clicks were coming to me, the most important task was still ahead: Analysis and refinement.

To come right to the point, I believe that smaller merchants should seriously consider getting help using the shopping comparison marketing channel or avoiding them altogether for a while. The reasons for this are:

1) The very nature of the comparison shopping site means that price competition will be intense.

2) There are many large players who have invested significant time and money to have daily feedback on their channels with amazing specificity. They will have a significant informational advantage over the smaller merchant who does not have this data or lacks the analytic skills.

3) The bidding process is extremely confusing.

If after reading these three reasons for avoiding the comparison shopping channel you are still somehow interested in pursuing this strategy, here are a few ideas for you. Be warned though, they are labor intensive.

Start by putting as many of your products into the feed for a shopping comparison site as possible. We selected Shopzilla. Have the shopping site apply auto-bidding for your categories and monitor how well the site is able to put your products into the right buckets. For this to work, it's important that site correctly identifies your products. Most are using SKU numbers for matching, so be certain that your feed is populated appropriately. Be ready to spend some money with a relatively low return for the fist month. The best way to think about this is as an investment in market research $$. If used correctly, you should be able to make-up the money later based on the intelligence you'll gain.

After a few weeks have gone by, you need to set aside some significant time for analysis. The poor-man's analysis goes like this. Log into the Shopzilla site and go to their product manager. In an organized fashion, click through the categories one-by-one. If you have many products, this will take many hours. For each category, click on each product. When you click on the product, Shopzilla will show you how you rank with the other merchants that are in their database with the same product. In essence, they are giving you price competition data. Go through each and every product, noting the specific products that show your site as favorable. When you complete this exercise, you've identified which products you should include in your feed.

The next step is to modify your feed to only include these products. You may be thinking, this will seriously limit the number of leads that will come from this source. In fact, you want to limit the number of leads from the shopping comparison source to only those who will purchase. Conversion is the name of the game here, otherwise your advertising budget wi

icant informational advantage over the smaller merchant who does not have this data or lacks the analytic skills.

3) The bidding process is extremely confusing.

If after reading these three reasons for avoiding the comparison shopping channel you are still somehow interested in pursuing this strategy, here are a few ideas for you. Be warned though, they are labor intensive.

Start by putting as many of your products into the feed for a shopping comparison site as possible. We selected Shopzilla. Have the shopping site apply auto-bidding for your categories and monitor how well the site is able to put your products into the right buckets. For this to work, it's important that site correctly identifies your products. Most are using SKU numbers for matching, so be certain that your feed is populated appropriately. Be ready to spend some money with a relatively low return for the fist month. The best way to think about this is as an investment in market research $$. If used correctly, you should be able to make-up the money later based on the intelligence you'll gain.

After a few weeks have gone by, you need to set aside some significant time for analysis. The poor-man's analysis goes like this. Log into the Shopzilla site and go to their product manager. In an organized fashion, click through the categories one-by-one. If you have many products, this will take many hours. For each category, click on each product. When you click on the product, Shopzilla will show you how you rank with the other merchants that are in their database with the same product. In essence, they are giving you price competition data. Go through each and every product, noting the specific products that show your site as favorable. When you complete this exercise, you've identified which products you should include in your feed.

The next step is to modify your feed to only include these products. You may be thinking, this will seriously limit the number of leads that will come from this source. In fact, you want to limit the number of leads from the shopping comparison source to only those who will purchase. Conversion is the name of the game here, otherwise your advertising budget wi

. Most are using SKU numbers for matching, so be certain that your feed is populated appropriately. Be ready to spend some money with a relatively low return for the fist month. The best way to think about this is as an investment in market research $$. If used correctly, you should be able to make-up the money later based on the intelligence you'll gain.

After a few weeks have gone by, you need to set aside some significant time for analysis. The poor-man's analysis goes like this. Log into the Shopzilla site and go to their product manager. In an organized fashion, click through the categories one-by-one. If you have many products, this will take many hours. For each category, click on each product. When you click on the product, Shopzilla will show you how you rank with the other merchants that are in their database with the same product. In essence, they are giving you price competition data. Go through each and every product, noting the specific products that show your site as favorable. When you complete this exercise, you've identified which products you should include in your feed.

The next step is to modify your feed to only include these products. You may be thinking, this will seriously limit the number of leads that will come from this source. In fact, you want to limit the number of leads from the shopping comparison source to only those who will purchase. Conversion is the name of the game here, otherwise your advertising budget wi

oduct, Shopzilla will show you how you rank with the other merchants that are in their database with the same product. In essence, they are giving you price competition data. Go through each and every product, noting the specific products that show your site as favorable. When you complete this exercise, you've identified which products you should include in your feed.

The next step is to modify your feed to only include these products. You may be thinking, this will seriously limit the number of leads that will come from this source. In fact, you want to limit the number of leads from the shopping comparison source to only those who will purchase. Conversion is the name of the game here, otherwise your advertising budget will be gone before you know it.

The last step is to wait for your next feed to register in the shopping site and then reevaluate your bids. You now have a much shorter product list to work through, so the time requirements are much lower. Look at each product and make certain you still stack up. Keep in mind, many other merchants are doing the same thing (or have automated this somehow) and may react in a few days to what you've done. You will lose edge in some areas while gaining it in others. The key point is that you want to make your maximum bids in areas where you will get the buyer.

I know this sounds like a big effort. That's because it is. If you really think about it, or like me have to try it to believe it, you'll quickly realize that there is a ton of competition out there just like you looking for the same dollars. It is only hard-work and clever tactics that will ultimately set you apart.