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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Jan 28 -29, 2009
Presented by Carsten Cumbrowski
• Each type of affiliate has different needs and requirements to be able to leverage your product feed and integrate it into their web sites.
• What are those different types, what are their individual needs and why?
• Technical best practices and specific actionable tips for how you can make your data feed easily accessible and to work with.
• How to make them work across different platforms to avoid losing big chunks of affiliates for mere technical reasons.
The ingredients for a data feed that is actually useful for your affiliates.
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Presentation is available atSlideshare.net/Cumbrowski.com
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Carsten Cumbrowski - Short IntroJan 28 -29, 2009
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Born in (East) Berlin/GermanyCame to the United States in May 2000Affiliate marketer since early 2001Affiliate manager for BevMo.com 2002-2006 (via CJ)Operated a price-comparison site for several years, where I worked with hundreds of product data feeds; from networks and customBlogger at ReveNews.com and SearchEngineJournal.comMarketing resources collection at Cumbrowski.com especially http://www.Cumbrowski.com/datafeeds
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
The Structure of this PresentationThe Structure of this Presentation
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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1.The use of Data Feeds and their Content
2.Technical Tips to Format, Deliverability and Structure
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Feed Affiliates are Made EqualFeed Affiliates are Made Equal
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Feed Affiliates are Feed Affiliates are NOTNOT Made Equal Made Equal
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Feed Affiliates are Feed Affiliates are NOTNOT Made Equal Made Equal
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Types of Feed Affiliates (Generalization)Types of Feed Affiliates (Generalization)
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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1. Price Comparison Sites2. Niche Directories3. Coupon Affiliates/Price Drops4. Content Affiliates/Specialty Sites5. Bloggers
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Types of Feed Affiliates (Generalization)Types of Feed Affiliates (Generalization)
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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4. Content Affiliates/Specialty Sites5. Bloggers
Should not use raw product data feeds, but sometimes do, due to the lag of alternatives
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Content Affiliates/BloggersContent Affiliates/Bloggers
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Should not use raw product data feeds, but sometimes do, due to the lag of alternatives
Provide tools that are based on product feeds
1. Widgets/Gadgets2. Product Show-Case
Creators
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Content Affiliates/BloggersContent Affiliates/Bloggers
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Use 3rd Party Providers and/or Custom and/or NetworksProvide tools that are based on product feeds. 1. Widgets/Gadgets
2. Product Show-Case Creators
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Types of Feed Affiliates (Generalization)Types of Feed Affiliates (Generalization)
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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1. Price Comparison Sites2. Niche Directories3. Coupon Affiliates/Price Drops4. 3rd Party Tools Providers
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Examples: Price Comparison SiteExamples: Price Comparison Site
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Examples: Price Drop/Coupon SiteExamples: Price Drop/Coupon Site
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Examples: Niche DirectoryExamples: Niche Directory
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Examples: Content Site (Widgets)Examples: Content Site (Widgets)
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Everybody LikesEverybody Likes
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Unique Identifier of Product within Feed(s)
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
1. Price Comparison Affiliates1. Price Comparison Affiliates
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Information to match your products with the same product by other merchants
1.BAR Code Information• EAN / EAN-13• UPC-A / UPC-C• ISBN / ISBN-13 (“Bookland”) and/orand/or
2.Manufacturer Part # / Manufacturer Name
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
1. Price Comparison Affiliates1. Price Comparison Affiliates
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Info to determine/estimate FINAL purchase price
Shipping Cost Packaging and other Surcharges Tax Information Usually smaller product images/thumbnails preferred
Detailed Description is often appreciated to build info page for “master product”
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
2. Coupon Affiliates / ”Price Drops”2. Coupon Affiliates / ”Price Drops”
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Start/End Date/Time for “on-Sale” Price, if available
“Regular-Price” is used for MSRP (SRP or RRP) ?
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
MSRP Problem IllustrationMSRP Problem Illustration
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
3. Niche Directories3. Niche Directories
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Product Categorization that makes sense Don’t “lump” thousands of products into one
category Also try to avoid one product = one category
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
3. Niche Directories / Categorization3. Niche Directories / Categorization
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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1.1.
2.2. 3.3.
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
The Basic ElementsThe Basic Elements
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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1.Format1. Column Delimiter2. Row Delimiter3. Escaping of Special Characters/String Formatting4. Headers/no Headers
2.Structure1. Column Names, Order, Types and Defaults
3.Delivery Methods/Access to Feed
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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1.1. There is NO Right Format or Delivery Method!There is NO Right Format or Delivery Method!
2.2. Provide as many Options as Possible!Provide as many Options as Possible!
3.3. Let each Affiliate Choose for Itself!Let each Affiliate Choose for Itself!
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Document it! Document it! Affiliates are NO Fortune Tellers!Affiliates are NO Fortune Tellers!Knowing is ALWAYS better than Assuming!Knowing is ALWAYS better than Assuming!
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Whatever you do is entirely your choice and should be Whatever you do is entirely your choice and should be controlled by business sense and economicscontrolled by business sense and economics
Most Affiliates can work with what you got, if you provide Documentation.
One Exception! One Exception! It must be possible to Access and Process your Feeds without any human interaction! 1. No Login Forms to fill out2. No Messages that must be acknowledged3. No Choices that must be made manually every time
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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The Power of Know! Practical ExampleThe Power of Know! Practical ExampleCanon - PowerShot 10.0-Megapixel Digital ELPH Camera – SilverSKU: 8800577
http://.../images/products/8800/8800577_sc.jpg
http://.../images/products/8800/8800577_sb.jpg
http://.../images/products/8800/8800577_sa.jpg
Thumbnail Images (Product Listing)
Medium Size Image (Product Detail)
Large Image (Pop-Up)
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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The Power of Know! Practical ExampleThe Power of Know! Practical ExampleSony - Cyber-shot 10.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - GreenSKU: 8943129
Guess the URLs to the different sized product images for this item!Guess the URLs to the different sized product images for this item!
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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The Power of Know! Practical ExampleThe Power of Know! Practical ExampleSony - Cyber-shot 10.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - GreenSKU: 8943129
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_sc.jpg
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_sb.jpg
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_sa.jpg
Thumbnail Images (Product Listing)
Medium Size Image (Product Detail)
Large Image (Pop-Up)
Correct?
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
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The Power of Know! Practical ExampleThe Power of Know! Practical ExampleSony - Cyber-shot 10.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - GreenSKU: 8943129
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_sc.jpg
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_sb.jpg
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_sa.jpg
Thumbnail Images (Product Listing)
Medium Size Image (Product Detail)
Large Image (Pop-Up)
Oops!
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants Jan 28 -29, 2009
Internet Marketing Resources Portal
The Power of Know! Practical ExampleThe Power of Know! Practical ExampleSony - Cyber-shot 10.1-Megapixel Digital Camera - GreenSKU: 8943129
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_rc.jpg
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_rb.jpg
http://.../images/products/8943/ 8943129_ra.jpg
Thumbnail Images (Product Listing)
Medium Size Image (Product Detail)
Large Image (Pop-Up)
Why r and not s? I have no Idea.
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific TipsBased on my own personal experience and talks with other people who work with data feeds and both end of the process, including:
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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• Merchants• Networks• Third Party Vendors• Other Affiliates, including “competitors”
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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• Column Delimiter: Column Delimiter: TAB character (ASCII character code 9)Feed content is used in almost every case for the use on the Internet and rendered in HTML.HTML does not have a TAB character or an equivalent for it. Any TAB character in contentof your product catalog should be replaced with something appropriate.
You probably do this already on your own web site, where you get the same problem.Ask your webmaster what they do there. Maybe there is no TAB character in the database Anymore already, or they might replace TABs with a fixed number of spaces. Whatever the Case might be, do the same during the export of your feed and include this informationIn your feed documentation for your affiliates.
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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• Row Delimiter: Row Delimiter: Line-Feed (ASCII character 10)The format to indicate a new line in text files (line-break) varies between computer platforms. I strongly recommend to let your affiliates specify the platform they are using to process your feeds, save it with their account and generate feeds for them according to this setting.
Microsoft Windows (and MS DOS) uses the character combination of Carriage-Return (CR, ASCII character 13) and Line-Feed (LF, ASCII character 10) Unix and Linux systems only use the Line-Feed character (LF, ASCII character 10)Macintosh uses only the Carriage Return character (CR, ASCII character 13)
Most Windows and Macintosh DB applications are capable of handling the Unix line-break.
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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• No special enclosure of text values, e.g. using double-quotesThere is no need for this special treatment, especially if you replaced all column and row delimiters that appear in the content itself. I did not have the space left in the previous slide, but I strongly suggest replacing any line-breaks that appears in your content with Something else and again include this information in your feed documentation.
I suggest using <BR/> , which is the HTML tag to generate a line-break. The advantage of doing this is obvious and publishers who do not like it can easily strip or replace it duringthe import of your feed, if they want to.
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Include Column header as the first Row within the feed. Do not use any special characters in the name, including spaces. Use only the characters a-z and/or A-Z, 0-9 If you want to _ as a separator between words for better readability. Make the column titles as descriptive as possible, but also as short as possible. This is not a substitute for a Written documentation of the feed structure. It only supports it, like a reference cardonly supports a user manual, but not replaces it.
Do not make the titles longer than 64 characters
• Use First Row in the Feed for Column Titles/Headers
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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You want relay hierarchical information within your two-dimensional data feed. For example a product category structure. The semi-standard method of doing this is toinclude all parents of the node in the column data, which contains the information aboutthe node where the item is attached to in addition to the node itself. The individual levelsare usually separated by the character “>”. The value starts with the top parent node in the root and ends with the node itself.
Example: Item A is attached to sub-category Z. Sub-category Z is a child node of Category Y, which is right below the root of hierarchy. The content for the category information of Item A would look like this: Category Y>Sub-category Z
• Transmitting Hierarchy Information
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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• Initialize cells with no values for the item properlyNumeric ValuesUsually 0, if there is no value. You can use the initial value to relay information about the format of the data in this column, if you actually have data for an item.This is especially helpful, if only few items have a value for it or if the value isseasonal in nature and not used all the time.
0.000 Numeric values with up to 3 digits after the decimal point (e.g. weights)0.00 Numeric values with up to 2 digits after the digital point (e.g. price values)0.0 Numeric values with up to 1 digit (e.g. length, dimensions)0 Numeric values without digital point. Numbers.
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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• Initialize cells with no values for the item properlyDate/Time ValuesOften left empty if item has no value for this property. What is the format, if thereIs a value? Is it just a date or only a time or date & time? U.S. date format, British?Maybe ISO xxxx or something entirely different . Maybe even just text entered bya human with no rules (oh horror!). There are ways to let publishers know (additionallyto spelling it out in the documentation of the feed) via the initial values in the feed data .
Examples for some initial date/time values that can “talk” about the format for records that do have real values to watch out for:
01/31/190031/01/50 12:00 AM19001231
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Some Specific TipsSome Specific Tips
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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…
There are many more tips like this, but beyond the time limit and scope of this presentation.I included the ones that I consider to be the most important ones and caused me at least the most head-aches and problems with the processing and use of merchantsProduct data feeds.
There is much more. See the resources recommendation at the end of my presentation.
… and more; and more… etc.
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
Recommended Data Feed ResourcesRecommended Data Feed Resources
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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ArticleMerchant Product Data Feeds for Affiliates – 101
http://www.Cumbrowski.com/datafeeds101 and Slideshare.net/Cumbrowski.com
Collection of Resourceshttp://www.Cumbrowski.com/datafeeds
What Makes a Good Data Feed? Tips for Merchants
This Presentation is available at:This Presentation is available at:
Jan 28 -29, 2009
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Slideshare.net/Cumbrowski.com
Carsten [email protected]
www.Cumbrowski.com/about
www.Cumbrowski.com/contact
Thank You!