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pugdog
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Dec 19, 2004, 6:19 AM

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Product Data Feeds	Can't Post

What product data feeds do you use on your site, and how do you use them? Do you pull data in real time, do you import into your links install, what do you cache, etc.

loxly
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Apr 3, 2005, 4:16 PM

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Re: [pugdog] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

What product data feeds do you use on your site, and how do you use them? Do you pull data in real time, do you import into your links install, what do you cache, etc.

I need to visit here more often :)

I use Commission Junction, Shareasale, and Linkshare network feeds, and several indepentant affiliate program datafeeds, a few are GoCollect, Allposters, and Art.com. Currently I use the DataImport plug in from ultranerds to pull in my feeds, I have just mastered the Allposters Plug in and will shortly try the GoCollect and Art.com ones.

Currently I use a variety of scripts from different places to create static pages, would like to move all to Linkssql to blend similar products, allow searching etc.

I don't pull any in real time, except Amazon, which I use a cgi script for. The rest I pull as needed, each network supplies them in a different way and in a different format. However, all the feeds from one network have consistent set up. So the 400 feeds from Commission Junction have the same file set up, but the fields are filled in my the merchant and some fields will be blank in one feed and populated in another.

Almost all feeds need "cleanup" or tweaking before being imported in the database.

If you have specific questions feel free to ask :)

Debbie
http://coolcraftsites.com/directory
http://coolpetsites.com/petlinks

rocco
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Apr 5, 2005, 1:59 AM

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Re: [loxly] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

Do you pull in data from the feeds everytime you do a build or do you import this data once only ? Reason I ask is: I'm thinking about using search feeds as an additional income stream although I don't want my link order changed every time I do a build as I have many reciprocal link partners who monitor their links in real time.

Secondly, sorry to be a bit direct here, but are you really making much money from your search feed sites ? Looking at your Alexa, you don't appear to have much traffic. I'm being direct here because I, like other business-minded people, want to know what works and what doesn't as quickly as possible. It takes a lot of time and energy to build a site and it's important that there's a well thought out plan on building traffic and PR. Once this is accomplished, the site *should* make money whether search feeds, paid listings or other forms of advertising are used.

Maybe those who make serious money from link directories stay quiet or maybe there are few. My JV partner and I are not there yet but we have action plans in place to get there as quickly as possible and we are making good progress. The real challenge is to build PR and traffic. After that, making money should is the easy part.

Interested to hear the thoughts of others on this.

Regards,
Peter

Andy
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Apr 5, 2005, 3:27 AM

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Re: [rocco] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi,

I believe Debbie uses "Datafeeds" rather than the additional search results like SearchFeed.com, etc.

We've got a site here, http://www.myukshopping.co.uk, which does a similar thing. It imports products from buy.at, and we build them into our system, every couple of days.

Regarding making money from SearchFeed.com, etc ... sure thing. I personally don't make a huge amount from them, but I know people who are earning as much as $20,000/ month from SearchFeed.com, by intergrating them into the directory pages (above normal listings).

Its all fun and games... but once you have it figured out, its all automated.. and doesn't really require any kind of user interaction. It just keeps making money =)

Cheers
Andy
Programmer/Designer/LinksSQL Freak Cool

http://www.ultranerds.com
http://www.imagesql.com

rocco
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Apr 5, 2005, 5:13 AM

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Re: [Andy] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

Interesting. Thanks for your comments.

And Debbie, your sites look fantastic. Didn't mean to be rude with the comment on your Alexa, I just wanted to make a general point about where the focus on making money should be .....i.e. building traffic.

Regards,
Peter

loxly
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Apr 5, 2005, 10:35 AM

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Re: [rocco] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

My Alexa rankings have never been great, Alexa is NOT a good indication of a site's traffic or earning potential. My sites make enough to pay the bills AND allow me the freedom to travel. I do not have a "job" other than affiliate marketing.

And Andy is correct, my income comes from product datafeeds, and from Google Adsense. I need to look at adding SearchFeed results possibly. However since many of the searches on my sites are product focused and I make money from the sales, I may *not* want to use SearchFeed :)

Back to the traffic issue, there is raw traffic, which is what Alexa supposedly (don't even get me started on how bogus their results are anyway) tracks and ranks, and there is TARGETED traffic, which is what my sites are optimized for and what I get. I don't want all the joe smoe traffic looking for porn at my sites, I want people looking specifically for craft supplies and art at Cool Craft Sites, and people looking for animal related stuff at Cool Pet Sites. My CTR rate is good, meaning I don't get much trash traffic.

Back to datafeeds, I have access to over 700 merchant product catalogs (aka datafeeds) and have probably 30 or so up. I update some of them more frequently than others and use the UltraNerds DataImport plug in. I am starting to use the Allposters plugin (added complete poster catalog to 2 sites in the last 36 hours) and the GoCollect plugin (will be doing this today on also 2 sites); and will be looking at the other data plug ins later in the week. They will be instrumental in my site building and updating strategy, hopefully making it easier and more feasible to update more frequently.

What I still need, and is not available from *anywhere* is a data import script that will import from a large feed (like allposters, art.com, gocollect, joann.com and misterart.com) and pull out keywork related items. ie Cats. I would like to be able to run a script that will pull out all the items in a feed with cat, cats, kitten, kittens, a few more keywords and have them added to the product database I have created. THAT would be the bomb. The future of affiliate marketing is the niche sites, not necessarily the shopping mall. Targeted sites with content and products. Feeds *sometimes* have categories that I can pull out and use, but most often they do not. GoCollect for instance does not have a category for animal related products, only by manufacturer and subcategory. Joann.com has no clue what I am talking about when I say to them I want all the cat cross stitch stuff :) That is what I see as the next step in what a data import script is needed to do.

Phew, and all that *before* I've had my coffee! :)

Debbie
http://coolcraftsites.com/directory
http://coolpetsites.com/petlinks

rocco
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Apr 6, 2005, 3:08 AM

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Re: [loxly] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks for sharing that Debbie. It's all encouraging to hear. I agree with you that *targeted* traffic is important, we just need to find ways to gets lots of it.

We are finding that an active reciprocal linking strategy is boosting our traffic and our PR. With boosted PR, we get higher rankings in the SERPS and more people are wanting to link exchange with us. End result is more traffic and we are starting to get promising results.

I'm still slaving away as a "paid by the hour" programmer but we have a number of niche sites in the works and I plan to do this fulltime within the next 6 to 12 months. My JV partner is already in internet marketing full-time, it's been a relatively recent start for me.

Interesting you talk about importing keyword focussed data, this is part of our strategy too and I'm in the process of developing scripts to pull in targeted links for niche sites. (Will get back to that after I'm moved our sites to GLinks 3.)

Currently, we are looking for an *initial* alternative to Links SQL+plugins for kicking off new niche directories as the combined startup costs are prohibitive if we want to kick off say 10 sites in tandem. We can move to Links SQL once these sites become profitable. Anyway, that's a topic for another day.

Regards,
Peter

(This post was edited by rocco on Apr 6, 2005, 3:11 AM)

loxly
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Apr 6, 2005, 8:13 AM

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Re: [rocco] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

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Currently, we are looking for an *initial* alternative to Links SQL+plugins for kicking off new niche directories as the combined startup costs are prohibitive if we want to kick off say 10 sites in tandem. We can move to Links SQL once these sites become profitable. Anyway, that's a topic for another day.

My *plan* for this is to initially have customized category templates and have 9 of the urls point to subsections of the main installation :) Requires forethought and organization :) Then breakout successful sections to their own installation.

Debbie
http://coolcraftsites.com/directory
http://coolpetsites.com/petlinks

rocco
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Apr 12, 2005, 3:48 AM

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Re: [loxly] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi Debbie,

Interesting idea. For us though, we want to build up reciprocal links and PR from day 1 and want to keep the URLs constant so as to avoid losing PR and upsetting link partners unneccessarily. I assume all the URL's will change when the breakout happens.

Regards,
Peter

loxly
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Apr 12, 2005, 9:01 AM

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Re: [rocco] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

The base urls that point to the sections will be the ones used for link partnering and will be the urls that will earn page rank. In thinking about this further, the urls that point to categories will be "entry pages" that will have the index page only for that category onsite. Like I said, this is still in the planning stages, but planning on working on this more this week. I am thinking about using a CMS front end for the niche sites...

Debbie
http://coolcraftsites.com/directory
http://coolpetsites.com/petlinks

pugdog
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Apr 18, 2005, 7:59 AM

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Re: [loxly] Product Data Feeds [In reply to]	Can't Post

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The future of affiliate marketing is the niche sites, not necessarily the shopping mall. Targeted sites with content and products. Feeds *sometimes* have categories that I can pull out and use, but most often they do not.

I've been saying that, literally, for years!

Sounds like we should get together on some of these ideas, since they are things I have been striving towards.

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