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How_to_get_listed_in_Froogle
| How to get listed in Froogle
How to get your products into Froogle.
Anyone who has ever tried to get their products listed in
Froogle will testify to the difficulty of the task. Many have
tried and given up half way through the process because it seems
an almost impossible task.
In truth, the task isn't all that difficult. The main obstacle
is the on-line Froogle documentation. It would seem that there
was no one in charge who knew anything about human interfaces or
even how to write a plain, unambiguous sentence.
After wading through the process myself, I realized that there
was a need for something a little simpler. By following the
simple steps in this document, you should be able to get your
website's products listed in Froogle in no time.
Step 1. Create a text document which lists your product
information.
Froogle requires that this text document be a tab-delimited
document containing certain product fields. The easiest way to
produce this document is by using either Microsoft Word,
or Microsoft Excel, although you can use any application
that can produce tables and has a table to text
conversion feature. For simplicity's sake, we'll use
Microsoft Word in our example.
Create a blank Microsoft Word document. In this document,
create a table, 7 columns wide. The number of rows in this table
should be the number of products you have plus 1 (The
first row of the table will be for column names).
In the first row, type the column names. Here is a list of the
column names in the required order plus the definition of each
column. (note: use lower case)
product_url: The complete url (starting with http) of
this products website page.
name: The name of this product.
description: The description of this product. (About 256
characters long)
price: The price of this product. You can leave off the $
sign.
image_url: The complete url of an image on your website
for this product.
category: If your products are divided in to categories
on your website.
offer_id: Differentiates the price offer on the Froogle
if different.
In each succeeding row, after the first row, enter your product
information. Each row is a separate and distinct product.
Step 2: Convert your Word table into a tab-delimited text
file.
a.) First save your Word document. You may have to adjust
or correct it and you might change prices, or add or delete
products in the future. b.) Next, select the table.
(Word's Table>Select>table menu).
c.) Then convert the table to a tab-delimited text file.
(Word's Table>Convert>Table to text menu). On this menu
screen, choose the tab character as the delimiter.
d.) Once the table has been converted, save the Word
document as a plain text document. (Word's File>Save as> save
as type: Plain text. Save this file in the same
folder you saved the Word doc version of the file.
Step 3: Create a Google Merchant Account for Froogle.
Unfortunately it seems that the Froogle team requires a separate
account. I have an Adsense account and a Sitemaps account but I
needed to create yet another Google account for my Froogle
setup. It is the same company - isn't it?
Anyway, to get to the Froogle merchant page, go to Google's Home
page.
a.) Click Froogle (above the search box)
b.) Click Information for merchants (at the bottom of the
page).
c.) Click the Get Started button.
d.) Fill out the registration form and click the I
agree button at the bottom.
Froogle will email you if you are accepted. If you have filled
out the form correctly, you will be. You may have to choose a
different email than you've used for your other Google accounts.
If necessary, create a new Hotmail account or Google Gmail
account to get an email address you haven't used with Google.
Step 4: Registering a feed
These next few steps are agonizingly slow. Each step requires
you wait for a response from Froogle which can be a few hours or
a few days. Getting this done will require some patience and
persistence.
After you have been accepted, return to the merchant log-in page.
a.) Go to Google's Home page and click the Froogle link.
b.) Click the Information for merchants link.
c.) Log in with your email address and password
d.) Click the store link you want to register a feed for.
Your stores are listed on the left. e.) Next, click the
Register for a new product feed link (on the right side
of the page near the top.
f.) Fill out the form and click Register New Feed. Make
sure the file name matches the tab-delimited file you created in
Step 2.
Step 5: Set up your FTP account with Froogle
After you have logged in, click the View FTP info link. Fill out
and submit this form to create your new FTP account. Now wait.
It can take several hours before Froogle actually sets up your
FTP account.
Step 6: Upload your file to Froogle.
In your browser, go to ftp://hedwig.google.com/. If
required, enter your FTP password.
Open the folder that contains the tab-delimited file you created
in Step 2. Drag and drop this file from your folder onto
the FTP browser window.
Step 6: Now wait. It can take several days before Froogle
approves your feed. You may get alerts from Froogle that
tell you you've done something wrong. If so, you're at the mercy
of Froogle's help documentation.
Hope this helps.
Mike Tyler
About the author:
Mike Tyler is a computer specialist with over 30 years
experience. Currently he operates a website hosting and design
website (www.homepagekeeper.com) , and teaches website design
and development classes at a local community college. He is also
available for technology consulting. (www. smallbizdepot.com)
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