Shopping Comparison Engines Will Boost Sales

Customers viewing results on a comparison shopping engine are twice as likely to convert into sales. That means if you haven't already submitted your site and products to the web's top shopping comparison sites, you're missing out on a ton of high-converting traffic.

Essentially, shopping sites are mini SEARCH engines that put shoppers in touch with a wide variety of products. Shoppers can search by product category or keyword to bring up a list of products from a variety of merchants. Many shopping engines allow searchers to compare characteristics such as price, product ratings or customer reviews.





Chances are you've landed on one of these sites before, if only by accident. In fact, a majority of shoppers find shopping engine listings while searching on regular search engines such as Google.

The big search engines love these shopping portals because they're:
• Loaded with millions of frequently updated product listings
• Chock-full of keywords
• Valuable to visitors because of their comparison and review features
Because shopping-engine listings rise to the top of the general search engine rankings so quickly, a shopping site can be your pipeline to a top ranking for your top keywords and products--without doing any of the extensive optimization work yourself.

However, it's not enough to submit your products blindly to each site. According to Shopping.com, the top three listed merchants get 50 percent of all clicks, so the higher in the appropriate listings your website appears, the better.

So how do you get your products to the top? Well, each shopping site uses a different set of criteria to list products, so you'll need a unique strategy for each one. The good news is there's only a handful of strategies to learn.




Let's take a look at your top shopping strategies:
• Pay for an enhanced listing. Some shopping engines, such as Nextag.com, will allow you to pay your way to a top listing. The ones that charge you based on the cost per click usually give you the option of paying more for each click to appear higher in the results. Others will allow you to pay a flat fee for top billing or to display an advertisement for your products across their networks.
• Compete on price. On shopping sites such as PriceGrabber, Shopping.com and Shopzilla, the products with the lowest prices appear at the top by default. Other sites allow users to sort listings by price even if that's not the default. So in a highly competitive area, you may want to discount your product to attract shoppers. These lowest-price shopping engines work best if you're selling collectibles or hard-to-find items; otherwise you're competing against the likes of Walmart, Sony and Office Depot.
• Boost your merchant/user rating. At sites such as Yahoo Shopping and Shopping.com, your merchant rating increases as you attract more customers and get glowing customer reviews for your site and products. The higher your merchant rating, the higher you'll appear in the listings. So encourage your customers to review your products and website for you. If that doesn't work, offer an incentive.
• Optimize your product listings for relevant keywords. Shopping engines such as Google Base and MSN Live Product Search display listings based on their relevance to keyword searches. You upload your product listings to shopping sites through data feeds. These provide fields for you to describe your product in detail. It's essential to optimize your data feeds if you want your listing to appear when someone searches for what you offer.
Each shopping portal has different allowances when it comes to how much information you can include, so read the fine print.
Check out search engine for search engines tips.

Bad Credit Is Coming! - Signs That You Are Approaching Bad Credit

Many people in the United States today have bad credit, and the numbers have continued to rise. It isn't just those who are lazy who end up with bad credit. Many hard working people who are well meaning end up in situations where their credit is ruined. The best way to avoid this is to look at the different warning signs that can indicate that you're headed towards a situation where your credit can be destroyed.

If you don't have medical insurance, this is one sign that you're headed towards financial trouble. Statistics show that a large percentage of people who end up with bad credit are those who have outstanding medical bills. As the cost of healthcare continues to increase, getting sick or hurt could put you in debt that is difficult to get out of. If you don't have health insurance, it may be time for you to get it. If you are maxing out your credit cards, this is another sign you are headed towards bad credit.

Credit cards are a key factor that causes many people to end up with bad credit . Their high interest rates combined with late payment fees and universal default can make them a nightmare for people who don't use them properly. It is best to keep your credit card balance as low as possible. Only use your credit card when you absolutely need it. Always pay your bill on time and avoid maxing out your card at all costs. Many people also make the mistake of using the equity in their homes too much to pay for expenses.

While using the equity in your home can be a good idea for those who want to remodel their kitchen or bathroom, they should be used cautiously. Before you use the equity in your home, make sure you will be able to make the monthly payments with ease. You want to avoid situations where you could default on your payments. Living paycheck to paycheck or not having adequate savings is another sign that you could end up with bad credit. It has been shown that about 40% of American families have less than $1000 saved up.

This is alarming for a number of reasons. First, if you get into an emergency, you will have little money to protect you. This will leave you open to using a credit card or payday loan, something you want to avoid. This will get you into a cycle of debt that is difficult to escape from. The chances that you will get behind on your payments and ruin your credit are dramatically increased.

Because of this, it is important to start saving money if you're living paycheck to paycheck. Get rid of bills that you don't need. Saving money is an important part of building wealth, and if you're living paycheck to paycheck, you're not getting ahead financially, even if you make a large income. If you are only paying the minimum balance on your credit cards, it will be difficult to pay them off. It may take as long as 30 years to pay off your cards, and you could end up with bad credit if you stop making your payments.

Another thing that can lead to bad credit is co-signing on a loan for someone else. Even if you have good credit, the person that you're co-signing with may not. If they decide to stop making payments on the loan, you will be held responsible because you signed for the loan as well. It is best to avoid co-signing for a loan at all times. If your home or car has been foreclosed or repossessed, this is a factor that can also cause your credit to be ruined.

Check out: bad credit for more information