How to make use of datafeeds

[DrMarie]

Hey guys! LTNS!

Since I've been here last, my website has really really grown. When I first came here I was getting about 30 visitors per day and now I am up to over 1300.

I have been mostly monetizing my site with Adsense, but I'm thinking about adding a store to my site and populating it with affiliate products.

I am having trouble learning about how to make use of the datafeed that I can get either via email or via FTP from the affiliate program I use. I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction as to how I could learn.

Thanks! I miss you guys!

Dr. Marie

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hey Marie,

We've missed you too! Welcome back!

There are so many datafeed options. 1st I'd talk with your AM to see if they have anything set up with any of the easy datafeed options like Popshops.
Next I'd Google "Affiliate Datafeeds". Half the stuff you'll see is old stuff I've written back when I was heavy on that solution. But have not kept up with it for the last 2 years, so I'm sure there are some new options out there.

If you end up deciding to code the store yourself WebMarge used to be the most popular software.

Last but not least, look into Amazon. They have tons of easy to use tools for building your own store and have such good name recognition that conversions are probably high even if commish and cookie length are low.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

 

[DrMarie]

Thanks Linda! Hope you are doing well!

Most of my affiliate products are sold via Connect Commerce (Google). They don't have great info on how to implement a data feed though, and my Google searches have not enlightened me.

I guess first I'm trying to wrap my head around how it works...does the datafeed just send me a file with product numbers, images, and info and then I code a site that reads that data?

I'm sure there are wordpress plugins that would do this, but there don't seem to be any specific to connect commerce at all.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Here's an article I wrote that cover the basics.
Datafeed Affiliate Programs - Datafeeds 101 a Beginners Primer

Here's a good resource list from a friend that should be helpful.
Affiliate Product Data Feeds Resources, Affiliate Network Services Documentations, Guides and Articles

This looks like a good basic article too:
What is an Affiliate Data Feed?

 

[DrMarie]

Thanks Linda! I will check these out soon!

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

Hi Marie! Great to see your post.

Is your site a wordpress site per chance? If so I have some options I can recommend that can let you easily integrate datafeeds.

 

[DrMarie]

Hi Ron! My main site is html. However, I plan to add a "store" that will be a wordpress site.

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

Datafeedr.com offers a great service for creating ready made sites where you pick exactly what you want in the store and can edit it so it's not like everyone elses. They have recently added acomparison shopping feature as well. It is a fee per month and you should make sure your merchant is there before you sign up (I can check for you if you cannot before joining).