Affiliate Datafeed Services - For Content And Profit.

Adding a product showcase or storefront to your website with merchant-provided tools and resources is as easy as 1-2-3.

If you've never worked with a datafeed because it all seemed too complicated, then don't worry... those days are over, and good riddance! In the bad old days, you had to pay someone or buy some software to turn a raw datafeed into something that you could use.

Today there are free tools that let you quickly create new pages, or even an almost compete website, with hundreds & thousands of products, and you can do it with just basic HTML skills, no programming needed.

This article will show you some datafeed providers that do most of the work for you. For some, all you need to do is add a line or two of code to an existing (or new) page. For others, it's simply a matter of uploading a folder with five or ten .php files and you're all set.

Of course, you'll still need to customize the pages to match your website and maximize the SEO, but it's not very hard, and after the first few it's a piece of cake.

  Why Bother?

One major benefit is the time you save. Why add a thousand product links one-by-one when you can add a single line of code, or upload a few files, that will do all that automatically? Also - aside from sale or coupon links, updates are seldom needed, so you can pretty much ignore it and concentrate on driving traffic.

Another benefit is that you can customize and integrate them seamlessly into your website, providing up-to-date content and interactive services for your visitors. They can browse, search and sort products, often from multiple data feeds.

Higher conversion rates may be the greatest benefit. Your website will show the product descriptions, photos and prices... which gives you the chance to pre-sell the item before your visitors even click. That click takes the visitor to the product sales page, and all that's left is for the merchant to close the deal and make the sale.

One last Big Benefit: Lots of merchants are using these services, and more are jumping on the gravy train every day. And, with only one exception, they provide these services to affiliates For Free.

The major networks (LinkShare, Commission Junction, etc.) provide datafeeds for affiliates, but you still need a service or software to turn them into webpages, and they aren't free. (unless you produce a lot of sales).

  Notes For Using These Free Feed Tools

Details vary, depending on what service you are using at the moment, but they all do the same basic job. Once you are a member of a merchants affiliate program, you simply put in your affiliate ID, choose some display parameters, (colors, fonts, width, items per page, etc.) and click "Get My Code".

You'll usually have three output code choices:
  Dynamic PHP Storefronts
  Dynamic JavaScript Storefronts
  Static HTML Storefronts

The PHP option offers the most benefits: It is the most flexible and the output is search engine friendly. If your host offers PHP support, (most do) then this is the way to go.

The Javascript option is the easiest to use: If you aren't comfortable customizing PHP files or if your host won't support it, then Javascript is for you.

The Static HTML option is the most labor-intensive: If you don't mind updating it regularly and checking it carefully for errors, then the SEO benefits of all that HTML may be worth the effort.

Some merchants also offer a complete website template: just customize and upload, and you get a more-or-less totally automated website (Depending on how much customizing you do).

Customize your pages. There are just too many variables for customizing to go into all the 'how-to' details, but at the very least you do need to make the pages match your website. It is also a very  good idea to add a few paragraphs of related text for the spiders.

Note: if you use a javascript-driven datafeed on your pages, it is imperative that you add at least a couple hundred words about it! Spiders can't read the javascript output, so you'll need to describe the merchant and/or the products for them, while adding the appropriate keywords to the text in a natural manner.

  Where Do You Find These Things?

Many merchants who offer free datafeeds also offer some sort of an "Instant Page Builder" tool, sometimes in-house, but most often managed by one of the companies listed below.

AffAction   AffAction is fairly new on the scene, offering an assortment of datafeeds, dynamic template webpages and an easy page creator for about ten merchants.

AffSolutions   AffSolutions offers a static HTML product showcase creator as well as a javascript-driven dynamic showcase creator for about fifty merchants.

FeedShare   FeedShare has been doing this for quite a while, they have about twenty merchants using their store builder.

GoldenCAN   GoldenCAN feeds are a bit different, offering storefronts, search and coupon feeds, but they also give the merchant the option of letting GoldenCAN place their own affiliate code on every fourth click. If the merchant is willing to pay for the service (and get more affiliates using the feed) then the fourth-click option is removed and the affiliate gets credit for all clicks.

LinkProfits   LinkProfits currently has eight merchants offering feeds for their Partner Catalog Templates, Partner Product Displays and a Syndicated Deals Generator.

PartnerCentric   The page builder tools from PartnerCentric are easy to use and there are several merchants offering them free to affiliates, including all the programs offered by NetShops.

Kolimbo Open Network Some in-house merchant programs use the Kolimbo MyAP software - and many offer the KBStore storefronts/pagebuilders to affiliates. The feeds are a bit limited, but still much better than banners or plain text links.

There are probably other services that provide page creators and storefronts for multiple merchants, but those will get you started. (they are just the ones from my favorites menu)

There are also some merchants with their own in-house solutions... one that comes to mind is LaptopsForLess.com -- but I can't recommend them until they get their act together. Right now they provide 2800+ HTML pages that you have to customize (and repair) before you can sell anything. I've sent them two emails begging them to use one of the services above, but they haven't even said 'thanks for the info' or 'kiss our butts' or nothing.

There are many others, I'm sure, but here's a few with in-house feeds or co-branding that may fit your website topic:
  AllPosters.com to add targeted calendar & poster pages,
  Coupons.com to add printable coupons,
  LoveWorks to make your own adult-toy store,
  AdLandPro.com has a brandable classified ad setup.

If you have a favorite merchant that does not offer a datafeed, you could contact them and see if they have one in the works, tell them about the benefits, (really - some just don't know any better) and even let them know about the feed services listed above.

It's worth the effort. Adding a page - or a hundred pages - of products to your website with these services is not all that difficult. As mentioned earlier, each time you do one they get easier. All you really have to worry about is staying focused on your topic and making sure that any pages you create are as unique and optimized for SEO as you can possibly make them.

Then just kick back, tell your visitors about the new service you are offering, and tell yourself how lucky you are... because you're working smarter, not harder.

To Your Success!
Tim

  Related
  Tools & Resources:

Datafeed-to-MySQL Feedparser - if you want to adapt a raw datafeed yourself for maximum control, then Feedparser by PHP Mill is the way to go.

By Tim Brown © 2006. About the author: Tim is the webmaster at http://BLT-Web.com, where webmasters can find free tools, advice, tips and other useful resources designed to help them build a successful website.

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