I have had mixed results from using Google adwords and shopping comparison sites to promote my products on my website. In case you are not familiar with shopping comparison, these are websites that list products like (iPods, gps, cell phones, etc…) and compare different prices from different websites for the end user to find the best and lowest price.
These Shopping Comparison websites charge a pay per click (ppc) like Google adwords, however, in my own experience, most shopping comparison sites charge you a fixed minimum of $0.50 – $0.8 per click. So what are the differences of using search comparison websites vs. Google adwords?
Shopping Comparison website
- Less Click Fraud than Adwords
- Gives the customer a chance to see an image of what you are promoting before clicking
- Most shopping comparison websites have partnered websites in which your listed item will show up on their partnered websites and their partnered sites etc…
- People are starting to use these shopping comparison websites as their first place to find great deals on a product there’re looking for since they can easily compare prices with other
websites. - All shopping comparison websites have a feedback / review system on each merchant where the customer can check a website’s feedbacks from previous customers.
- Shopping.com will list your items on eBay’s website since they are now owned by eBay.
Google Adwords
- With Google Adwords, you can adjust your bid on keywords as low as you want, unless the keyword has a minimum requirement. When I sold iPods, the most I paid for “iPod nano” was$0.15, which got me over 300 clicks per day on that 1 keyword alone.
- Google also has many partnered websites in which your ad will appear, such as Amazon.com, Aol.com, ask.com etc…
- One of the best things about adwords is you can choose to appear only on google.com + all of their partnered sites, or just appear only on google.com
- Most of my Google ads will appear on search comparison websites anyway, mostly at the bottom of their listings.
- Google will reward you if your CTR (Click through Rate) is high, which will cost less on your keyword bids.
- Google Adwords has a broader place on the internet, so your ads will appear in much more websites than just listing in shopping comparison sites.
- Google Adwords gives you more control over your ads, cost, and placement.
- Most Search Comparison websites rely on showing up on the first page of Google, but you can appear on the first page with fewer bids on your keywords.
The Top Search Comparison Websites
- Shopping.com – expensive , less competition , high conversion, appears on eBay.com , and other partnered sites
- Pricegrabber.com – Average price, more competition, medium conversion, appears on msn shopping, dealnews.com….
- Nextag – Decent price, less competition, high conversion rate, easy feedback system….
- Bizrate / Shopzilla.com – Low Price, medium competition, and low conversion rate…..
In Conclusion of this subject
I have showed you the differences with adwords and shopping comparison websites. In my opinion, the better of the 2 would be adwords. I always had better conversion rates and high ROI (Return on Investment) using adwords.
My conversion rate on shopping comparison websites would usually be $20 -$30 per sale, on items I would normally profit $10 – $15 on. My best success comparison sites were Shopping.com and Nextag.com with Nextag resulting in a better ROI than shopping.com.
Please feel free to share your own experiences with Adwords and Shopping Comparison websites.
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Really it seems that comparison shopping will be the only thing left in the world of online shopping. Its so reliable and perfectly attuned to what a consumer wants.