Now that your E-commerce website is up and running, you need to bring in targeted traffic in order to generate sales. This is done through advertising (both online and offline), search engine optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click campaigns (PPC) and also shopping comparisons websites like Shopping.com, PriceGrabber.com and Froogle.com

So what is Froogle? Froogle, or now called Google Product Search, is a free shopping comparison website built by Google. It is free to sign up and it allows you to upload a feed of all your products to its database. Once it has been approved, potential customers who are searching for things to buy on Google Product Search will be able to browse and find your products. They are shown a thumbnail, the price, and a small description of each product. If they are interested they can click on the product and be taken directly to your website where they can purchase your product. Froogle is definitely not the biggest or the best shopping comparison website out there, but its biggest advantage is that it’s free. Once you set up your feed, all you have to do is re-upload it every 2 weeks into Google Base, which stores all your product information. Froogle is a great way to get free traffic, increased exposure, and also generate more sales.

How to Create a Froogle Feed Using Miva Merchant

In order to upload your products to Froogle’s database, you need to create a “feed” of all your products. This is just a text file that is formatted so it can easily be uploaded into Froogle’s system. This feed can be created using the Template Data Feed module. Once installed, it comes preconfigured for Froogle, Yahoo, Shopzilla, and Google Sitemap. All you have to do is edit some simple settings and it will automatically generate a feed that is nicely formatted to Froogle’s specifications.

The module will provide you with a link to download your feed of products. Save it to your computer for later use.

In order to upload your newly created feed, you need to create a free account with Google. Go to https://www.google.com/accounts/Login
to create a Google account. If you already have a Gmail account or any other Google account you can just login.

Once you have successfully logged in, click the My Account link at the top right of your screen to take you to the My Account home page. It should look like this:

In order to get our items into Froogle, we need to add them to Google Base. This is Google’s huge database of information. Click the Google Base Link under My Services. On the next page you will see that there are three ways to upload products. Because we are using a feed, click on the Bulk upload link.

This will allow you to submit your text file of products to Google. Since you probably have never used Google Base before, you will need to register a new bulk upload file. Click the link and follow the instructions on the following pages. It will give you some instructions on how to format your file, but since our Template Data Feed module already does this for you, you don’t have to worry about it. Please note that the module only uses the required fields when creating the feed. Google allows you to add optional additional fields which give customers more details about your products. Feel free to use these additional fields as needed by editing the settings in your template data feed.

Once your file is uploaded you are ready to go. Keep in mind that when you upload a new file it will take about 24 hours to become active in Froogle. Also, Google provides you with detailed tracking information about your products which tells you how many page views each product had and also how many people clicked through to your website. Always monitor these stats as they will provide you with valuable feedback about your products and also the success of your Froogle feed advertising.

Your Froogle feed will expire in 30 days from when you uploaded it. I like to re-upload froogle feeds every 2 to 3 weeks just to be safe.

In order to find out if your Froogle feed is generating any sales, you should have a field at checkout where you ask your customers how they found you. This will give you some feedback as to how well Froogle is working for you.

If you want more detailed tracking stats, you can read “How to Track Froogle Sales Using Miva Merchant’s Built in Affiliate Program” - Coming Soon.

About the Author: Brennan Heyde is an e-commerce consultant working in San Diego, Ca. He specializes in online marketing and SEO for e-commerce.  Have a struggling e-commerce website? – Contact Brennan today for a site analysis.