Ever wanted to research your competition’s prices to make sure you are competitive online? In the past the only way has been to visit each website in turn to checkout the price against your own.

Now Google has added more enhancements via filters to the main search engine which makes this research a doddle.

FIRST – have a look at the standard Google search engine view for any product…….

SECOND – click on the “More Shopping Sites” filter in the left hand column

Check out the lists of products and prices available for all your key online competitors. You can easily see what prices and options are available online for your customers.

This is a very powerful search tool not just for your own research but for customers to check out prices across the online options more easily. However, I wonder how many customers will actually click on these filters and make use of the extra functionality provided by Google. Even if customers don’t use the filter, then it’s still very useful for your business market research!

Have fun……

Google shopping or Google base is a free service offered for eCommerce website owners to upload their product information for free.

Website browsers can find quick information about products on the SHOPPING tab or directly from page one of Google. This is a great tool which can provide excellent additional coverage for your products online.

Below are 5 reasons to upload products to Google:

Reason 1   – it’s free and easy to setup if your eCommerce software supports it

Reason 2   – increases your coverage on the search engine of exising keyword phrases

Reason 3   – can be used to cover alternative keyword phrases which you don’t cover from your website

Reason 4  – can put your product on page one of Google when your website product page is struggling to be there

When people click on the Google shopping option they often see a grid list of 20 products, with bigger images and no text about the product. In the past the only option was a list of 10 products per web page with a short description. So make sure you checkout how your products appear so you can adjust your upload accordingly to make the most of what Google has to offer.

Any good eCommerce online website solution should provide integrated Google product uploads directly from your content management system. Have a look or ask your website provider and start uploading products for free onto Google.

Phew! April has really been an exciting month for me and I now have my own online shop live selling great, stylish kids hats for toddlers to early teens. Been great fun selecting the suppliers for the online shop, taking photos of the hats and loading all the stock onto the website.  I now have a full range in stock for both girls and boys.

Website is another one on the open source Magento platform and this time I implemented it myself. Been a steep learning curve but I’m pleased with the results. Now need to start building up the traffic and making some sales. Some hot sunny weather for the bank holiday weekend would also help ……..

Well, been a really busy time recently completing all the final testing and preparation to launch the new Airways Airsports website specialising in online sales of Paragliding, Hang Gliding, Paramotoring and Microlighting Equipment. Pop across and check the website out at shop.airways-airsports.com.

Website has been developed on the new open source Magento software and is based on an off the shelf template to control design costs. Also implemented a sexy loyalty points system as well to support the business’ unique marketing campaign where they reward customers for both buying from them and for flying cross country on their equipment.

Many thanks to all the businesses who attended my spring seminar on “How to Increase Website Sales” mid-April in Matlock. It was good to see both some familiar and some new faces attending the event. Everyone was busy scribbling down notes and ideas to implement on their online shops! So I hope to see great things from their websites over the next twelve months.

Watch this space for the next planned free seminar to help your online business grow.