I bring this up because many online retailers fail to realize the full potential of such services.

I have approached many clients who are e-tailers, asking them if they'd like to set up a Froogle feed, or look at other shopping alternatives. And in many cases the answer is almost always the same:

"Froogle (or insert any other shopping engine name here) doesn't generate enough traffic for me to spend my time setting up and maintaining the feed."

Now here's what concerns me - a Froogle feed is free, and extremely easy to set up, especially if you run a store.

That's because it's simply a matter of exporting the data from your database in a feed that Froogle will recognize - what could be easier than that? It's not like you have to manually type in every entry - the process can be largely automated. So, if the time involved isn't an issue, what is?

Well, here's another typical response: "I can't afford to set up a storefront there - they always want way too much money."

Granted, some services do charge a commission on sales, but others, like Froogle are free. Not only that, but with a Froogle feed you can control the text that is displayed, as well as insert images and more. Why wouldn't you want to do a Froogle feed?

So then the last comment almost always seals the deal "Yeah but when I set up a feed I'm competing with the world. I can't afford to do that."

Well that isn't necessarily true anymore. Which leads to the recent announcement about adding maps to Froogle.

When one performs a Froogle search, they can refine their search by providing a location.

So, when I want to find an Xbox 360 for my son (yeah I know, they are impossible to find right now but lets say there are still a few out there) I will naturally turn to a search engine.

If I didn't use Froogle, and instead just go to Google, I get over 47 million results - way too many for me, and none of the top sites are e-commerce sites from which I can buy a 360. But if I do the same search on Froogle I get 3398 results. Better, and these are stores actually selling the console.

And as one would expect, they are from all over the place. However, when I refine my search to near Seattle, I get much less results.

Even a regular Google search returns almost a million results; however, the same Froogle search presents me with 201 results. Not only that, but I also get a map of the results along with pricing and brief descriptions.

Now, if I lived in Seattle, I could actually get driving directions to one of the many stores claiming to have Xbox 360's that are close to where I live.

And what did it cost Kmart or CircuitCity to display that listing there? Nothing.

What's the likelihood that I would buy an Xbox from one of them? Quite high, because I know that they will have them and I can see the price. I don't need to look anywhere else. And if I find they don't have it, I can go back to Froogle and get a list of a few more stores in my area that have it.

You see, as more and more people gravitate to the web to do their shopping, they are going to find out about places like Froogle. Places that can help them spend less time hunting and more time finding.

It is for this reason that more vendors should take advantage of services like Froogle. Not because they only generate 10 to 15% of the traffic that Google does, but because it has the potential to generate 10 to 15% more sales for you.


Rob Sullivan
Head Organic Search Strategist
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing

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