Michigan Blog - Featuring Michigan Shopping, Travel, Business & People

If it's not a "Pay per click" and it's not an "Affiliate" website than what is it?? .. or more importantly, how does it make money?

Sortprice is probably the first "Flat-rate" listing product comparison engine around and is doing well in a number of verticals including Pet Supplies and Lawn and Garden.

According to Sortprice:
All merchants listed on Sortprice.com can receive unlimited clicks for product listings. There is no Cost Per Click, all campaigns are flat rate fees per month. Click fraud has been a large factor in the decrease of revenue from online advertising. At Sortprice.com with the unlimited click-through business model, click fraud cannot occur.

A few other state of the art features are available - one of them being the dive into social shopping with it's Facebook application.

Here is an example to try http://apps.facebook.com/grpetsupplies (give it a whirl and add a few items to a wishlist). All you need is a facebook account and a willingness to share a few products you like. Here is a Lawn and Garden Facebook Application to try.

To summarize the Facebook Social Shopping application:

• Lets users create a wish list of items they want, meaning their friends can use it as a guide for suitable gifts.
• People can also get gift recommendations based on information on their friends' Facebook profiles.
• Once people decide to buy something from their friend's wish list (or thier own) they are directed to the page on the corresponding merchant's website to make the purchase.

To give people motivation to try the application - use coupon code: googlerocks to save $5.00 on any purchase (greater than >$75) from any wishlist from either store: www.BackyardStyle.com or www.GRpet.com

Happy Shopping!

Labels: Christmas Shopping, Online Marketing and PPC, Online Shopping, social Shopping reviews

A while back, I spent some time reviewing social article submission websites like DIGG, Squidoo and Newsvine. It was a fun but exhausting review process. You can view that article in one of my earlier blog posts.

Social Networking, in general is here to stay and is a cornerstone of the world of Web 2.0. It is not just a passing phase. - So get started, create a few accounts and start sharing, reviewing, asking and answering as you browse your interests online. This week, I spent my time reviewing Social Shopping sites - a new breed of Social Networking.

Here are a few of the top Social Shopping sites that I reviewed:

• Recommendr - This was one of my favorite sites -but I noticed that it must be very new. I have a feeling that it will take off. I liked the Q and A format. I liked the ease of adding a product that I liked and most of all, I like the fact that I could give a "description" and "comment" right when I entered a product. Recommendr tops my list in functionality - but lacks the traffic at this point in time. Hey, if anyone from Recommendr reads this - a good way to get traffic is to allow merchants to post a button on eCommerce websites. (similar to Kaboodle, ThisNext and ILikeTotallyLoveIt)
  
  
• Kaboodle - the grand-daddy of Social Shopping. Kaboodle is refined. It seems to have already gotten alot of the kinks out of social shopping. Buttons for merchants, friends, lists, nice layouts. Kaboodle topped my list. It's a keeper!
  
  
• ThisNext - I really like ThisNext too, but it took me longer to catch on. Not sure why .. maybe I am more right brained and the site is built more for left-brainers? You got me, but once I got going, I got it. ThisNext has over 3 million pages indexed on Google, compared to 4 million or so of Kaboodle's pages. They need more variety on the merchant buttons :)
  


• ILikeTotallyLoveIt - I like totally love this site :) Good social shopping site. The feel of the website is simpler, cleaner than the bigboys. It's building, I am betting on this one too. Hey - good job on having some buttons available to merchants. There are still a few bugs, php errors, that type of thing - but it looks like a promising network


• Wists - Wists is simpler and a bit more personal. Not as much interfacing with other shoppers. If you like to shop alone .. but keep track of where you found things, try Wists. It is a cross between a social bookmarking site and a social shopping site.
  
• CrowdStorm - Crowdstorm is limited. They only have a dozen or so categories and I couldn't figure out how to add a product that did not already exist on the website. Maybe I did something wrong .. but I could get nowhere with crowdstorm


• StyleHive - It is interesting how fast my StyleHive profile got indexed on Google. It was indexed within 8 hours. Stylehive is more of a HIP Social shopping site in my opinion. Most of the posters have pictures of themselves; the products are high end. I like this site - but it won't be my main Shopping gig.
  
• StyleFeeder - StyleFeeder could be considered one of the big boys in the social shopping world. I liked StyleFeeder alot .. but once again, I believe that merchants should have the option to encourage bookmarks by pasting a button or link on their websites. I could not find this functionality. All in all, StyleFeeder is a keeper.

In a nutshell - social shopping comprises of social bookmarking, social networking and comparison shopping. There are a few social shopping websites that have got the key - but many of the other ones are lacking one piece of the pie or even a couple pieces.

If you are aware of a social shopping site that I missed in this review - please comment and I will take the time to review it.

Shop until your fingers drop :)

Labels: social networking, social Shopping reviews