Shopzilla/Bizrate Advertising - Effective or Waste of Money?

[Maximus1000]

So I have been listed with shopzilla / bizrate for the past few months with all the default bids on all of my items. So far it has been very ineffective for me. I have spent almost $400 with no conversions. I observe all MAP policies and display the MAP price on my listings. So either 1. Shopzilla just is not effective if you sell at MAP, or 2. I need to adjust my bids and that may help. anyone have and advice on this?

[RhinoFish]

about how many clicks has that $400 got you?

in your analytics, can you parse then compare the bounce rate of this traffic against other known sources of converting traffic for you?

[rocknbil]

I have spent almost $400 with no conversions.

And you have probably received tons of emails from them asking you to increase your budget, that it's not effective with that low of a budget.

I consider (IMO, of course) these sites are for the "big dogs." With big budgets. There are serious advantages to using them: the reviews, the links from G with reviews, the exposure in other avenues, many others. But it's outta' my league, for sure. It's like TV advertising in a way, it's only effective if you have the budget to spend on them, keep your exposure levels up, but if you do, highly effective.

Of course, all that plays into the widgets you sell, if they can't ever support that kind of budget, yeah it's money down the drain.

[Maximus1000]

very high bounce rates in analytics from traffic coming from shopzilla. I have a budget of $1000 per month, but with the default bids I am not spending nearly that much. I actually have not received any emails from them about increasing my budget. at the default CPC i am at $.55 per click

[RhinoFish]

take a look at the pages / visit metric too.

forget who the traffic is coming from (meaning don't let the idea or brand strength sway you)... if it isn't converting, is bouncing like a beach ball, has low retention times and page views per visit, then you'll need to draw a conclusion.

take your traffic sources and rank them by quality (your conclusions should be relative, to allow you to focus your spend and other resources properly). if this traffic bucket gets ranked low on your list, then you already know to feed it less money and time.

however, this method assumes one thing, that you are efficient at using their system to properly distribute your ads. for example, if an inexperienced person uses adwords, they'll likely to incorrectly conclude that the traffic's value is poor. so make sure you've boned up on the tactics and techniques to use with this specific comparison shop engine. the multi CSE firms may have learned some things, or a consultant, and you can search yourself for optimizing there.

and keep asking everyone who will engage you questions like... do you ever use shopzilla to comparison shop?

understanding the source's nature, use and prevalence can aid your prioritizing.

when you find the cow that gives good milk, work her to exhaustion - unlike actual cows, she can take it all day and night long.