Help for Froogle Feed Users..old to some New for Others

Having had some experience (both good and bad) with Froogle here are
some hints and tips to get your feed uploaded properly.

1. Use the same Excell template they offer. Put your information in
the template and then save the template as your froogle feed name. Do
not tab from field to field, click on the next field to enter data.
Also you can move the size of the fields to make your stuff fit and see
it. Start out with just a few of your products not all of them. You
can always add to your feed later.
https://www.google.com/froogle/merchants/sample_text.txt

This is linked from the Feed Instructions page (which also links to a
sample Excel spreadsheet), which is here:

https://www.google.com/froogle/merchants/feed_instructions.html

2. Save the template as a Text file with tabs. Do a File save as and
then select tab-deliminated text file. Be sure to name the feed the
same as it appears in your merchant account.

3. Open the text file with NOTEPAD and check the feed for any errors.
Look for things like Quote marks etc..

4. Log into your froogle merchant account and click on the name of
your feed. In the next window there is a button which allows you to
browse for your feed. Find your feed (the text version) and select it
to upload and then hit the upload button on the merchant page.

5. Wait for the upload to happen, if it is successful it will say so.

6. BE PATIENT. I know it says your feed will show up as a successful
upload in 3 hours but it is more like 3-5 days.

7. Keep looking for your feed to be successful on a daily basis. If
after a week or more nothing has changed in your merchant area, recheck
your feed data and upload it again.

8. If after a couple of weeks your feed shows no changes use the
contact us form located in your merchant account and email Froogle.
SUGAR COAT YOUR EMAIL so much that your likely to get diabetes reading
it.

9. BE PATIENT it may take them between 3-5 days for a reply from them
if they reply at all.

10. Keep looking at your merchant account daily to see if there are
any changes. If there is an error in your feed it will eventually be
posted there.

11. If there is a feed error, go back to your TEXT file of your feed
and check the URLS for any strange characters in the feed info. Make
sure the URLS actually work. Make sure the info in the product name,
product description, the price are correct.

12. If the feed is disapproved again look at your feed data. Most
likely it is an error in the URL, Description, Title, price or picture
of your product.

13 Fix your errors if you find any and upload again. If you find no
errors send a message through the email form and ask again in the
nicest way you know how and with so much sugar on it that the person
reading it gets diabetes from reading it asking if they would be so
kind as to point out what the error is.

14. Once your feed is approved to go live, check froogle and see where
your products are listed, try searching for your company name and it
should show you how many of your products are listed. Not all of your
products will be listed right away, some may take some time especially
if you have added new products to your feed. Not all of your pictures
may show up right away, be patient they will eventually and you may
need to upload a feed several times before all the pictures show up.

15. Upload your feed, after it has been approved on a bi-weekly basis
so that it stays live. If you do not upload your feed at least once a
month it will be taken off of froogle and you get to start all over
again.

16. Make sure your descriptions and titles have as many of your
keywords in them as is possible. The more of your key words in your
description and title the better your placement in the search.

17. REMEMBER that patience is a virtue with Froogle. There are actual
humans who will be checking your feed to see that it meets the
guidlines, has what you say it has, the urls work, that someone can
actually purchase your product either through a shopping cart or by
calling you from a phone number listed on the page of the product.

18. FROOGLE IS FREE AND IN BETA TESTING. You are getting what you pay
for and they are still working out the bugs in the systems to make it
go better and faster. They do not have thousands of people working on
feeds as it is a FREE service to you and it costs them money to operate
it so do not expect results overnight.

19. If all else fails send them an email with the form from your
merchant center and ask them in the nicest way possible if they would
be so kind as to help you.

20. If your still at a loss as to why your feed is not showing up post
to this group and someone will probably have an answer for you. OR you
can hire someone (such as myself) to make your feed for you. If you
hire someone just make sure that they have been successful in getting a
feed to go live and your not paying an arm and a leg to get your feed.
Also that you get a copy of the feed files so that once the feed is
approved you can keep uploading it as needed to stay in Froogle.

Hope that helps at least one person out there.

John
http://www.birrenbach.com/SPECIAL/seo.html - Website developer, SEO
specialist, Un-Official Froogle Feed helper, General Marketing
Consulting

http://www.coffeecaffeine.com - Great Coffee, Great Prices, Free
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