A datafeed is a text file containing a merchant's products, URL's, product image links, categories, prices and descriptions of the products that an affiliate downloads into a database. What's in a datafeed may vary from merchant to merchant. Some may supply more information than others. By using a datafeed properly, you'll never have stale products on your site again. Depending on the merchant's programmer, it can be presented in one of many formats. The most common formats are pipe delimited and tab delimited. In order to use a datafeed, you must have access and the ability to create databases on your server. The datafeed will need to be uploaded to your server before you can utilize it and display the products on your site.

Why is a datafeed valuable? Why are product links so effective?

Eliminating an extra click, by getting the customer directly to the product they want on the merchant’s site, helps increase conversion rates. By showing products with descriptions, you can pre-sell the customer before he leaves your site. If you supply the customer with all the information he needs to make a buying decision, then all the merchant needs to do is close the sale when the customer clicks thru.

What are the benefits to affiliates?

The biggest benefit to affiliates is time saved to spend on other projects. Why hand-code 1,000's of individual product links on your pages when just a few lines of code can produce the same result? Spend the extra time you have to make more sites or work on your keywords for better search engine positions. By using datafeeds you can also enjoy higher conversion rates.

What are the benefits to merchants?

Datafeeds can double conversion rates and even quadruple them in some cases. Please read the other article I wrote about datafeed benefits and conversion rates at WebProNews here.

What does a Datafeed Site look like?

Basically you are adding all the merchants products to your own site so you can give your "merchant store" it's own unique look and feel. Here is a sample Amazon store that was created from a datafeed. http://www.buy-here-and-save.com

A simple layout

Here is an example of a how a pipe delimited datafeed could be laid out.

Product|ShortDescription|URL|ImageURL|ImpressionURL|Keywords|Price|Category|Manufacturer

Depending on the merchant, there could be more or less information in the datafeed. The more information in the datafeed, the better so you can make choices on what you want to present on your site and the easier it is to manipulate where you want to show specific products

How can affiliates use datafeeds?

There are numerous ways an affiliate can use datafeeds. Integrate the products that complement your site into your content. If your site is about widgets, when you talk about blue widgets, use the datafeed to display just blue widgets on that page. On the page where you talk about red widgets, use the datafeed to display the red widgets. Check the data that's included in the merchant's datafeed to see what is supplied that you can use to fit in your site.

Another way to use a datafeed is to create an entire site or new category for a specific merchant. Before making a dedicated site for a merchant though, check with that merchant to see if it's allowed. Some merchants don't want "mirrored" sites of their own.

What tools are available that will allow affiliates to take a datafeed and create a multi-product offering on their site in minutes?

Some database knowledge and programming knowledge is needed to get the datafeed from the merchant and inserted into your database before you can use it. If you have no experience in this area, there are a couple of sites that can help. Software from both of these will build your databases and import your datafeed into them. There are some differences between them and depending on your preferences, one may suit your needs better than the other.

Scripts4YourSite builds dynamic pages on your server. Once the databases are built by the software the first time, you can set up your server to automatically retrieve future datafeeds at set times from the merchant and have your database automatically updated.

ezDataFeed offers free datafeeds from several merchants outside the networks in an easy to download process without cost to the affiliate.

WebMerge from www.FourthWorld.com - builds static pages on your computer and then you upload them to your server and into your own custom site template.

What's the difference between a datafeed provided through a solution provider vs. one that's provided by the merchant directly to the publisher?

All the major networks (Commission Junction, LinkShare, Performics and BeFree) provide datafeeds but unless you produce a large amount of sales, they are not free. There is a one-time setup fee to receive them. Some merchants have realized that in order for smaller affiliates to compete, datafeeds need to be made available to them without the out of pocket expenses. Many times the free external feeds are easier to work with than the networks. Check with your merchants to see if they offer this option to their affiliates.

What products should be included in your datafeed?

Products included in a datafeed depends entirely on what the merchant wants you to have. It might be just twelve products or it might be the entire inventory of thousands of products.

How often should you update a new datafeed?

If you publish prices on your site from the merchant's datafeed, keep your content updated as frequently as your merchant. A sale can be lost quickly if one price is seen on your site and a different price on the merchant's site so if you prefer not to update at the same pace that the merchant does, it might be a good idea to not post prices on your site. Also, depending on the line of products, some items come and go quickly in a merchant's inventory so again, keeping the most recent datafeed of products on your site keeps the customer from clicking thru just to find a 404 error page. Check with your merchants too. Some require daily updates and some only weekly or monthly. There are ways to program updates automatically so it is less labor intense. Remember, fresh content = better conversions and more sales.

* Copyright 2004. All rights reserved

© 2005 Linda Buquet