Google's Froogle? Can you get your home and kitchen products listed?

Google's Froogle? Can you get your home and kitchen products listed?

As A Carico consultant, the first question you need to ask yourself is: "Where do customers shop?"

• Consumers frequent places that are familiar
• Consumers frequent places that are convenient
• Consumers frequent places with fair prices
• Consumers frequent places that are well advertised
• Consumers frequent places they ve shopped at in the past.

So what does knowing where customers shop have to do with the comparison shopping engine called Froogle? Well simply put; many people have been to Google or Froogle before, it's well promoted, and as always it is convenient. People are basically familiar with Google's various search engines and they trust this newer comparison shopping engine because it's backed by Google. While Google's Froogle doesn't price or sell anything themself, they do allow shoppers to hunt down good prices. Froogle has hit the consumer's nail right on its head.

It is obviously an exception to the old expression, "there's no such thing as a free lunch". At Froogle, if you're trying to get into a comparison shopping engine, lunch is on them. It's 100% free!

Let's start with a few facts about Froogle and then the 'feed' steps for listing your products or services in Froogle.

Info About Froogle

You can list your products on Froogle for free.
Unlike other online shopping sites, Froogle costs nothing. There's no spending account to set up and maintain. No cost-per-click. No cost, period.

At Froogle you control your product information.
Simply upload a new product feed at any time to ensure Froogle displays the most accurate descriptions and promotions for your products.

Froogle provides store ratings and product reviews.
Google's technology scours the web to identify relevant information about listed stores and products. This information is in the form of review 'snippets' from independent ratings sites.

Froogle is forever free to merchants who wish to participate.
Upload your product info (data feed) and you'll be listed overnight. The entire system is supported by 'Sponsored Links' which are paid advertisements Froogle displays along side the regular Froogle listings.

Home and kitchen products are great items to be ranked in Froogle.

Below are some recommended tips toward getting your home and kitchen products ranked in Froogle using their data feed system:

1. Sign in to the Froogle Merchant Center
   Create or use your existing Google Account to enter the Froogle Merchant Center.
   
2. Create an FTP account
   Set up your FTP account, which you'll later use to upload your 'product info' feeds to us.
   
3. Specify your feed's settings
   Set your feed's filename and other parameters.
   
4. Create and upload your feed
   Create a feed according to Froogle's instructions and upload it to them. Be sure to name your feed using the filename you chose in Step 3 (above).
   

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Technorati:
Carico | Froogle | Dan Hollings | cookware | kitchenware
Other recommended blogs:
Pharmanex | Pola Cosmetics | Pre-Paid Legal

Mompreneurs Might Find Carico A Good Match?

Mompreneurs Might Find Carico A Good Match?

Source: Direct Sales Association

According to the most recent statistics available from the Direct Sales Association, 79.9% of people in "direct sales" are women. Figure it another way and the guys total a paltry 20.1%. Many of the women in our industry (and customers we seek) are current or future moms. It's know wonder a new term has morphed from entrepreneurism and it called Mompreneurism.

Books by Mompreneur: Patricia Cobe Yes, you're reading it right. According to authors Patricia Cobe and Ellen Parlapiano, who trademarked the term "mompreneurs" and were recently featured in Time magazine and various other programs like Good Morning America; their mompreneurs online web site (www.mompreneursonline.com) draws millions of visitors each month.

In reading through the Mompreneurs Online web site you'll discover that they've interviewed hundreds of these "mompreneurs" working from home. Their interviews revealed that these goal directed women share certain secrets for their savvy web strategies. I borrowed a few points about mompreneurs from their site... below is a sampling of why and how mom-owned businesses are surviving and thriving on the web according to Cobe and Parlapiano:

• Money Smarts. Moms don't overextend their financial resources and are less likely to use outside funding during start-up. So they don't have to worry about venture capitalists pulling the plug on their businesses.
• Web Wisdom. Work-at-home moms understand that a dot.com name alone is not enough to power success. But the Internet can be a very valuable tool when used in conjunction with more traditional business strategies.
• A Natural Niche. Cyberspace opens up a wealth of business ideas, allowing moms to tap into their talents, skills and passions to create products and services for highly targeted audiences.

Perhaps you think Carico is a perfect spot for moms? Maybe you're hoping to attract these "mompreneurs" working from home to your site, blog, product or business? Or, maybe you already have lots of moms and a true mompreneurial spirit?

Whatever the case, mothers in business at home are an important niche and your marketing campaigns can target these moms. Moms are both a consumer and a business force to be understood and admired.

With any luck, your home and kitchen products will be just the thing these mompreneurs are wanting? Now, let's continue (below) with more tips in our series on techniques to assure a successful PPC search engine campaign. Maybe you can get some moms clicking!

Search engine marketing tips:

• If your product or service is something that can be related to a locale, like a city, state or region you may be able to find some ripe tomatoes in phrases like: 'retirement homes in Florida', 'Mississippi flat rate phone service', 'herbal sunscreen for southwestern sun', 'indoor air filters for Los Angeles'.
• Discover more keywords by narrowing down to extreme specifics. People can be VERY specific when they search. Use names of months and years like '2004 tax savings', 'May flowers', 'Christmas of 2005' or 'September back to school supplies'.
  
  Let's say you are marketing a broad line of herbal products... why not get a list of all herbs (there may be thousands) and use that list as a keyword list. Maybe your product doesn't contain every herb on the list, but people searching for any ONE herb specifically may be interested in others. Try specific model numbers, makes and designs if your products are sometimes referred to this way: 'Epson stylus CX6400', 'Apple G5', etc.
• Add adjectives to your keywords like: big, purple, new, cheap, affordable, soft, aromatic, healthy, etc.

How to Reach Out to Mompreneurs

Here's one way you can be compelling and relevant in reaching out to these "mompreneurs" working from home:

SOCIAL SYSTEMS: Social system technology is a new and exciting technology comprised of blogs, tags, photos and the sharing of many other things. Find ways to connect like-minded women. Use technology if you can. Being a mompreneur can be isolating, so business owners are eager for information, resources and social connections.

Review my last several blog posts for many more 'tip-set' in this series of PPC search engine tips.



For additional tips visit:
Internet Marketing Tips for Carico

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Technorati:
Carico | mompreneur | mompreneurs | mompreneurism | entrepreneur | PPC | pay per click | Google AdWords | Dan Hollings | cookware | kitchenware
Other recommended blogs:
Pampered Chef | PartyLite | Petra Fashions

Home and kitchen products are great items to be successfully marketed using a pay per click search engine campaign

Home and kitchen products are great items to be successfully marketed using a pay per click search engine campaign

The name Carico is derived from the words "Character in Company" and they place great emphasis on:

• Unique quality products not available anywhere else.
• Outstanding values and savings.
• Personalized customer service.
• Exceptional lifetime warranties.

From air filtration, to cookware and tableware; from juice extraction to crystal and china, Carico stands behind their products.

As A Carico consultant you know your product and you've set your goals. Your web page, site, or blog is up and you're pondering methods to get visitors.

Can your home and kitchen products be sold using a pay per click search engine campaign or not? This is question number one, right? But equally important, can you implement a campaign that creates more solid customers than cost?

Good news, the answer is: "definitely yes."

Tips, Tips, Tips... They just keep on coming!

• Expand your keywords by asking your spouse, friends, neighbors, relatives, existing customers and strangers to look at your web page and offer their keyword suggestions. In this phase you cannot have too many cooks in the kitchen.
• Put your biscuits in the oven and watch'em rise... That is, use web based 'keyword expanders' and research tools to expand your keywords beyond what you can come up with on your own.
• Remember, searchers may type in something that describes your product, but more often than not they will be typing in words describing their problem. If your product or service solves, fixes, heals, masks or even distracts them from their problem, you want those keywords on your list.
• "In-house" keywords (those used frequently by others in your industry or business) are often the most costly because lazy business owners don't often think beyond their own nose. The result is these limited keywords get bided-up sky high. Customers on the other hand seldom search using "in-house" keywords. Your goal is to find keyword niches popular with customers but less popular with your competition.

Looking for more search marketing tips? Check my posts from previous weeks for more ideas and strategies.


Check back next week for the next in this series of pay per click marketing tips...


Technorati:
Carico | PPC | pay per click | Google AdWords | Network Marketing | Yahoo Ads | Dan Hollings | AdWords | cookware | kitchenware

Google or Yahoo or Both? PPC Advertising for Carico.

Google or Yahoo or Both? PPC Advertising for Carico.

When comparing the primary pay-per-click search engines, you might be challenged to figure out which is best for you. The top two are Google and Yahoo. It's a good idea to start your search engine marketing strategy with a small budget, spreading it out over a few different search engines to experiment and see where your target market may be lurking.

A suggested approach is to begin viewing the wonderful tutorials and flash overviews offered by Google and Yahoo. Below are samples, you'll find others at Google and Yahoo:

Sponsored Search: Flash Introduction by Yahoo
http://searchmarketing.yahoo.com/rc/srch/tu_srch.php
Yahoo sponsored search overview.

Google AdWords: Bidding and Ranking
http://services.google.com/tutorial/bpr/bpr.html
How to improve your AdWord rank and manage your PPC costs.

Understanding your AdWords Billing Statement
http://services.google.com/tutorial/billing/billing.html
How to review your monthly Google AdWords invoice.

Next, We'll Review How Google and Yahoo Deal With Your Bids...

Yahoo Sponsored Ads

• Yahoo adjusts your bid to 1 cent over your next lowest competitor. Thus, if you bid $3.00 per click, and the next highest bid is $1.95 per click, you will only pay $1.96 per click.
• Yahoo allows you to see who you are bidding against and what they are bidding, so you know exactly where you will rank, and how much you will pay.
• Yahoo's maximum bid is $999.99
• Yahoo's minimum bid is $0.10

Google AdWords

• Believe it or not, Google never reveals what you will pay per click. Thus, if you bid $3.00 per click, you will pay anywhere from $0.05 to $3.00 per click.
• Google does not allow you to know how much your competitors are bidding per click.
• An advantage with Google is that you will rank higher if your click-through rate (CT rate) is better (a CT rate is the ratio of clicks on your ad to the number of times your ad is shown). Thus, you may have a better rank than your competitor, even if he or she bids more than you (because of your CT rate).
• Google's maximum bid is $100.00
• Google's minimum bid is $0.05

New Google AdWords keyword status changes: Simplified keyword states and quality-based minimum bids.

NEWS: Google announced in early August 2005 that they will simplify their keyword status system and introduce quality-based minimum bids, giving us more control to run all keywords we find important.

Google' New Policy

Each keyword will now be assigned a minimum bid that is based on the quality (also called Quality Score) of your keyword in your account. If your keyword or Ad Group's maximum cost-per-click (CPC) meets the minimum bid, your keyword will be active and trigger ads. If it doesn't, your keyword will be inactive and will not trigger ads.

Previosly, keyword statuses were called normal, in trial, on hold, and disabled. Under the new rules, this will be replaced with active (triggering ads) or inactive (not triggering ads). No more slowed or disabled keywords if no do not have a minimum clickthrough rate (CTR) threshold.

Tips, Tips, Tips... They just keep on coming!

Pay-per-click advertising tips for the Carico consultant continue below:

• When cooking-up your keyword phrase list, use an extended "keyword discovery" phase. Your competition, like you, will do basic keyword research. You can only beat them if you take it to the next level, and that won't happen in the first day. Having a large number of targeted keywords in your campaign is a side effect of an extended period of brainstorming, discovery, research, or whatever you want to call it.
• Not very wood with gords? There is a hidden target market of quality visitors who type in incorrect spellings of what they are looking for. Site owners often overlook this. In a recent 30 day period on a major search engine at least 108 people where searching for a 'buisness'? Hundreds more were searching for: 'vitiamins', 'vitimans' and even 'vitamens'... You can bid on misspellings and have very little competition on the search results page.
• Assume that at least half your keywords will be rotten eggs, that is, no one will ever look for them and end up at your site. Because there is no extra cost to add as many keyword phrases as you can think up, treat them like biscuits and bake-up as many as you can... 100 or more keyword phrases for each destination page you list in any PPC search engine.

Last week I posted the another round of search engine marketing tips and yet more in the weeks before that. Check previous weeks for more ideas.


To make certain you don't miss this series of PPC tips, you might consider subscribing to my RSS feed.


Technorati:
Carico | PPC | pay per click | Google AdWords | Network Marketing | Yahoo Ads | Dan Hollings | Sponsored Ads | Contextual Ads | AdWords

Carico? What's the public's impression?

Carico? What's the public's impression?

Have you ever thought about the public's perception of what you do?

Carico

The name Carico is derived from the words "Character in Company" and they place great emphasis on: Unique quality products not available anywhere else. Outstanding values and savings. Personalized customer service. Exceptional lifetime warranties. From air filtration, to cookware and tableware; from juice extraction to crystal and china, Carico stands behind their products.

Do you know if customers already think this about Carico?

That's an important factor in any search engine marketing campaign; you might best think through this issue at the outset (as you are preparing your keywords, your ads, and your landing page) what the majority of visitors already 'have heard' about you and the home and kitchen products you offer. You might consider playing it safe and assume they've never heard of you. That's always the safe bet.

If you're selling iPODs or something very well known, you can approach things much differently. Less time explain 'what' you've got and more time explain 'why' they should buy from you.

If your selling something that people consider a common commodity (vitamins, shoes, cosmetics, telephone services, etc), then you must differentiate your product from the other seemingly similar items the public might associate you with.

Much of these consumer 'mindset' challenges must be worked out by setting up 'mindset adjusters' (fancy phrase for good educational content snippets) on the page they hit immediately after clicking your ad; so before you start any attempts to generate traffic, jump into your customers shoes and take a stroll over to your landing page.

Search engine marketing strategies:

So as promised, below you'll find this weeks installment of search engine tips...

• Remember that with PPC campaigns, you are not sending search visitors to a site, you are sending them to a web page (called: a destination or landing page). You must discover keywords and set-up ONE page at a time.
• Remember that people search by typing in more than one word:
• The 7 most used word phrases in search engines according to OneStat.com:
• 2 word phrases 32.58%
• 3 word phrase 25.61%
• 1 word phrases 19.02%
• 4 word phrases 12.83%
• 5 word phrases 5.64%
• 6 word phrases 2.32%
• 7 word phrases 0.98%
• Start your "keyword discovery" process by visiting the destination page you intend to send your search engine visitors to. Put on the 'reading glasses' of a customer and look at your page through their eyes.
• Ask yourself this: "What keywords might a person type in a search box where when they arrived at this destination page, they'd say 'BINGO' this is what I was looking for?" Find these keywords and you've discovered your best keywords.

Check back over my last several blog posts for many more sets in this series of PPC search engine tips.


To make certain you don't miss this series of PPC tips, you might consider subscribing to my RSS feed.


Technorati:
Carico | PPC | pay per click | Google | Network Marketing | mlm | Dan Hollings | internet marketing | Contextual Ads | AdWords

FadSense for fashion with Geo Referencing! Serve up contextual ads to passersby as you stroll about town?

FadSense for fashion with Geo Referencing! Serve up contextual ads to passersby as you stroll about town?

Maybe it's a bit spooky thinking Google is tracking you all around town, but it sure beats having the FBI on your tail. I'm still sorting this one out in my head. Could something like this really be in our future? FadSense?

Don't miss this: Google FadSense™

As A Carico consultant, you might be wondering why I'm talking about a futuristic contextual AdSense (AdWord) program like FadSense. It's partially because it's funny, but more importantly, it's because I feel the type of advertising we have been discussing here at my "Internet Marketing Tips for Carico" blog, is critical to your future. What I'm hoping to teach you are skills and tips that will not only work for Google today, but for any similar type advertising in the future. Google FadSense, real or not!

To summarize the core of our current discussions, we want to know:

• How to find keywords related to your products and services.
• How to determine "tags" that help categorize your content.
• How to prepare your marketing campaign from the ground up.
• How to track your traffic, results, and advertising ROI (return on investment).
• How to create a destination or landing page that works.
• How to write effective ads.
• How to use the internet effectively in any marketing campaign.

My Continuing Tips To Help You With Carico...

In my last few blog posts we have hammered away with dozens of valuable tips. This week we continue.

• Forget stupid characters. We are talking search engine listings (not eBay) so cool the clever punctuation it L@@KS stupid!!!!!!!! Don't make SOME words CAPITALIZED; it looks like you're shouting desperately for business. Respect the people who read your search engine listings.
• People are by nature often interested in things like 'saving money', 'making money', 'curing something', 'striking a deal', and getting anything of value that is 'free'... but be careful. The addition of such self-interest phrases in your ad copy may skew your clicks upwards while leaving your sales flat. If you're tempted to try such phrases... test, test, test... while keeping an eye on your bottom-line.
• Bluntness works: 'Refinance 4.5%', 'Viagra $39', 'No Interest VISA', etc
• These are the type words that appeal to searchers: more information, complimentary, love, youthful, safe, new, benefit, gain, money, happy, glad, proven, guarantee, resource, fast, results, discover, how you, how to, your, yours, you'll, healthy, natural, magic, secret, comfortable, save, proud, secure, solution.

Looking for more search marketing tips? Check my posts from previous weeks for more ideas and strategies.


Check back next week for the next in this series of PPC tips... Until next week, happy PPC campaigning...


Technorati:
Carico | PPC | pay per click | Google | FadSense | AdSense | Sneakers | Dan Hollings | internet marketing | Fashion | Contextual Ads | AdWords

On this date... Google Inc. Closed Its Doors, After 118 Years Searching for Answers.

On this date... Google Inc. Closed Its Doors, After 118 Years Searching for Answers.

What started as a collaboration between two Stanford University graduate students in computer science in 1995 and grew to become the "five-and-dime" of pay-per-click search engines, pulled the plug on the last server on this date in Mountain View, California. It's a story of a future time that could be soon, or beyond our horizon.

If anyone back in the late 1800's or early 1900's had been thinking ahead to the future of Woolworth Corp., it's unlikely they would have ever predicted that the famous five-and-dime would be a line item on a "Today in History" script published to millions of readers across this thing we call the internet.

Yet today, has I opened my RSS News Reader, there it was. I can recall shopping at the five-and-dime as a kid. It was the "best" store in town. Just like Google; the best. Now, its history. Perhaps the best is not good enough?

What a day (historically speaking)...

Remember "five and dime" stores? The nickname referred, for a time (until the prices went up, of course), to the price of items in some of the United States' most popular retail outlets. On this day in 1997 - After 118 years, the Woolworth Corp. closed its last 400 five-and-dime stores.

Could this happen to Google? Well, yes. If the thought of Bill Gates over throwing Google interests you, read this Fortune Magazine article: Search and Destroy. For now however, it's all fantasy thinking as the titans of search (Google, Yahoo, & Microsoft) battle it out in cyberspace.

People searching for information on the Internet are driving some of the fastest-growing profits on the Web, whetting advertisers' appetites by signaling what they want. By typing in search terms, users are also sending advertisers a clear message about merchandise they might be interested in buying, and search providers like Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news), Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) MSN are cashing in. (Source: Reuters 2005)

Good news for the Carico consultant

The Cost Per Lead using Pay-per-click is Cheap Compared To Other Ads

In a news story from Reuters (2005) there were some interesting stats comparing search to other forms of advertising using a cost per lead comparison. Citing Piper Jaffray, he says the cost to acquire a lead is $8.50 for search, $20 for yellow pages, $50 for online display ads, $60 for e-mail and $70 for direct mail. Cost for television leads were not covered. There's little wonder why search is gaining so much attention from advertisers.

According to Jeff Saville, "It's a marketer's dream tool because we can monitor it in so many different ways and watch the effectiveness of it." Jeff is a marketing manager with Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Nasdaq:DECK - news)

Are there dangers or flaws in search advertising?

• An estimated 5 percent to 20 percent of clicks are believed to be fraudulent -- the result of people clicking on ads to drive up advertiser costs or to make a profit for Web site publishers who get a cut of revenue.
• Certain campaigns fail because they are ill-conceived or unsuited to the medium.
• Some worry that new advertisers are rushing blindly into paid search and inflating key word prices -- a concern underscored by WebTrends data.

Adding all this up, we come to two conclusions: 1) It pays to get good at pay-per-click advertising if you plan to do business online and 2) we may only have 118 years left with Google :-)

More tips for your PPC campaign:

• On the subject of ad copy (the words which will comprise your numerous different listing titles and descriptions) we can sum it up briefly: RELATE your listing to the keyword the searcher has typed, SPARK curiosity in their minds to encourage a visit, be TRUTHFUL, be BRIEF, be CLEAR, don't HYPE, and FILTER out bad clicks.
• FILTER OUT BAD CLICKS? Yes, if your product is NOT for certain searchers, be clear upfront before they click. Example: If you bid on the keyword 'herbal shampoo' because your product is an herbal dog shampoo, make sure your ad copy reads: for dogs, pets, or animals. If you only fulfill orders in Canada, state this upfront in your listing ad copy. There is no need to pay for a visitor click if you cannot service a particular customer's needs. Use words to filter out bad clicks.
• There are many good resources to help you with ad copy, writing, and knowing what to say about your product. We recommend the eBook by Kim Klaver, "If My Product's So Great, How Come I Can't Sell It". Click here for a complimentary 'Mini-edition' of this eBook.

Check back over my last three blog posts for the first, second and third set in this series of PPC search engine tips.


To make certain you don't miss this series of PPC tips, you might consider subscribing to my RSS feed.


Technorati:
Carico | PPC | pay per click | Google | marketing tips | search | Woolworth | Today in history | online advertising