search engine by a substantial margin,

search engine by a substantial margin, a huge number of people find
their way to merchandise via Google, and many more via Google than
through the other search engines. Indeed, the number one Web marketing
technique is to get your website “found” by Google. Many
ecommerce business owners spend a lot of money to do so.
But you know something? The leads you get on Google for finding
merchandise online are mixed in with everything else regarding the
item for which you are looking. For instance, plug in Marantz PMD-
222, a journalist’s audio recorder for interviews, and you will get
reviews, public information, foreign language websites, research
results, and almost anything. If you just want to buy a PMD-222,
everything else but vendors that Google lists are just folderol. That’s
where Froogle comes in.
As this book goes to press, Froogle is still in beta, and you can try it at
http://froogle.com. It works amazingly well. What does it do? It simply
filters out all the non-commercial websites of a Google search. With
Froogle, you get only the vendors. It’s a powerful purchasing mechanism,
a new ecommerce phenomenon.
This is great news for buyers. You can find more, easier on Froogle.
But what about sellers? What does this new phenomenon do for sellers?
Surprisingly, quite a lot. You don’t have to have your website
found by Google. You can enter your catalog (items) directly into Google
via the Froogle data feed, and your items will be found by Froogle.
And it’s free!
Alas, what can we make of all this? In my most recent eBay books, I
advise people not to get a website (to go with their eBay operations)
but to get an eBay Store instead. (Remember, eBay outlawed a link
from an auction ad to a website soon after eBay Stores were introduced.)
For most small businesses, an eBay Store enables more efficient
marketing than a separate and independent website. eBay Stores
sell fixed-price merchandise. Using the Froogle data feed, you can