I have been looking into visual search recently, and I have been disappointed with what I have found.  The observer last Sunday talked about some sites to watch, one of which was Cooliris.  This site offers a new cinematic way to discover the web, by browsing through the web’s images.

Perhaps I am behind the times but I thought it was rather useless.  Yes, you can browse images, but these images are separate from the context of their pages and I am not sure how, therefore this helps people do anything more than flick through images, like Google images search but without the context.

A slightly more interesting site is searchme.  This enable people to browse through a stack of images of webpages, giving a quick preview of each one.  I like the idea here, but I think that the user experience is rather clunky when switching between viewing the picture of the webpage and viewing the page in a browser.  The search results are also pretty underwhelming .

Pixsta is a nice product which allows companies to advertise their product in a visual product search engine.  there is a good idea here somewhere, but at the moment not enough information is rally given about the product to bring the experience alive.

I have been doing some investigation into shopping comparison sites and to my surprise, Google Product search is not the only one that is free.  A very unscientific survery of Google search results suggests that that these free shopping comparison sites appear in the natural search frequently, and so are worth exploring

So, dear reader, here is a round up of free shopping comparison and simlar sites.

Shopwiki is shopping comparison engine which combines web crawling with consumer reviews.  To get included, a retailer simply needs to submit their shop for crawling.  They can then create a merchant profile if they wish.  

Results from shopwiki seem to appear frequently in the natural search results.  Although Shopwiki will tell the merchant how many of their products have been indexed, unhelpfully they do not say which ones.  They offer a PPC scheme to promote listed items, but without knowing which items are listed, this does not seem much use.

Shopmania runs a two tier scheme with free standard listings and a PPC program for premium listings.  Listing is achieve via a feed file.

Le Guide run shopping portals pricesavvy.co.uk, Gooster and antag.co.uk and submission of products is free via a feedfile.

thefind.com is a US based shopping search engine where sites can be submitted for crawling.  

Mydeco is a shopping portal for design lead products, mainly furniture, but some other homewares too.  Inclusion is free, but partners much go through a selection process.

Kaboodle is a social shopping site which appears occaisionally in the search results.  Whilst not a shopping comparison site as such, its inventory of consumer submitted products allows products to compare products from different retailers

I have been experimenting with submitting vouchers to voucher sites in order to drive traffic to Hello Baby.

Most site it seems require the retailer to pay to be included.  These sites however do have a code submission form:

• retailmenot.com
• starvouchercodes.co.uk
• www.vouchercodes.com (submission via email)

(London, UK) Vendlab, an Internet marketing agency specialising in Search Engine Optimisation and Google Adwords was has been launched in East London, UK. Vendlab enables companies to harness the power of Internet marketing services such as Google, amazon and eBay to promote their business and boost online sales.

Arguably, the Internet is the greatest marketing tool ever created. However, a recent survey by Barclays Bank found that two thirds of companies miss out on the opportunities it brings because they do not offer their products or services online. “The Internet is a cost effective and efficient way of reaching customers” says Trevor Ginn, Vendlab’s managing director. “However many businesses do not have the expertise to use Internet marketing effectively. At Vendlab we help companies get more visitors to their website and turn those visitors into customers”.

Vendlab specialises in Search Engine Optimisation, the process of improving traffic through Google’s free search service, and Google Adwords, Google’s paid advertising programme. “Our Goal is to improve the Google search performance of our clients in a cost effective and sustainable manner” says Mr Ginn. “Driving traffic through Search Engine Optimisation is the number one opportunity for businesses today, and any business which cannot be found on Google is loosing out to those which can”. Industry figures show that the volume of online searches is growing by 30% year on year and 50% of Internet purchases start with an Internet search.

As well as Search Engine Optimisation, Vendlab also helps businesses develop multi-channel Internet marketing strategies using Internet marketing channels such as eBay, amazon, blogging and social networks. By providing the full range of Internet marketing services, Vendlab enables its clients to reach a broad range of online customers.

Vendlab differentiates itself from its competitors by running its own eCommerce businesses as well as providing consulting. This hands-on experience enables them to remain cutting edge and provide valuable insights to their clients.

About Vendlab – Internet Marketing Agency

Vendlab is an in Internet marketing agency based in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, East London. Founded by Trevor Ginn, an eCommerce professional with 10 years Internet experience, Vendlab specialises in Search Engine Optimisation and Google Adwords. Vendlab works with both small and large businesses to enable them to improve their Internet marketing and boost sales.

For more details visit www.vendlab.com

Press Contact Details
Trevor Ginn, Managing Director, Vendlab

Trevor@vendlab.com

020 81444335

Leading from my last post about using skype to run phones, it seems to me as if these days business infrastructure can be almost entirely run on open source or free products.  I am quite tempted to give these options a go, but I do use a lot of software and services which are only available to windows…..

Operating system

Ubuntu, is user friendly version of Linux, an open source operating system.  I reckon that using this would be fine as long as the user had limited software requirements (i.e. they did not need any software only available for windows)

Office

Open office (and for that matter Google Docs) provides functionality to cover about 99% of office functions such as spreadsheet and word processor. I think that using Open Office would be sufficient for the needs of any worker who only needed to communicate within the company, as outside the company their could be compatibility problems with MS office users.

Email and Calendar

Instead of using microsoft exchange, it would be possible to use Gmail and Google Calendar.  Google in fact has a service called apps for you domain which offers enterprise services at a fraction of the cost of building an infrastrure using MS products.

I think the Gmail is great as it allows POP mail to be received into the gmail client, giving a single online email store.

Phones

As mentioned in a previous post, Skype can be used to build a phone system of sorts.
 

Are there any businesses out there that have gone entirely open source?

 I was recently asked by a client whether they should sell thorough eDirectory.  eDirectory is a fixed price marketplace which sells across a range of different categories ranging from electronics to flowers.  The system is similar to amazon marketplace in that seller submits details of their products and the whole selling process takes place on the eDirectory site.

I don’t really know what to make of eDirectory.  On the plus side it has an Alexa rank of 21,000 which would seem to indicate that it gets around 10,000 unique visitors a day and is also a PR of 5.  What does slightly worry me about it is that it has such a low profile, I have never seen any offline or online advertising.  Apparently they charge £1000 to sign up for the marketplace which also concerns me as they as this is not a model used by the top marketplaces.  Perhaps they are good at selling their service but not delivering much value after that?  Commission is 8%.

Does anyone have any experiences to share?

I read an interesting article in the ecommerceguide.com about how offering alterative methods of payment such as cash and cheques can boost conversion.

Nearly 40 percent of offline purchases are made with checks or cash, and so it makes sense to still offer these at the checkout, either on eBay or your own website.  And the lack of such an option online can lead to lost sales.

For eCommerce sites, the alternative payment methods also include PayPal, which is pretty much the standard on eBay.  In the article Jim Hunt from PayPal noted that:

• Non credit card methods are quicker to use, too.  Many people shop online at work, and when the boss suddenly strolls into the neighborhood, plastic is painfully slow.
• Adding just one or two alternative payment options can increase conversion rates 63 percent, he said. Three or four payment methods can push conversion rates to 72 percent.
• By offering only credit cards as a route to checkout, 5 percent to 10 percent of potential U.S. buyers turn away

On my travels around the internet I have come across several swapping websites.  A new one called youSwop has been launched recently.  Other sites are listed here.

Considering the development of money is one of the greatest events in the history of mankind, enabling goods and people to travel freely, I cannot help but think that this is a slightly backwards step!   I can imagine that most of the stuff on these website are things that people really don’t want i.e. rubbish, any good stuff will go on eBay for exchangable elecronic pounds which I find useful in satisifying my consumer needs.  In short, I don’t think that these sites will be challenging the eBay or the classified sites at any point soon.

It is also a bit of a mystery to me how these sites expect to make any money.  Advertising perhaps?

I find a good service for getting rid of stuff which is not worth selling is freecycle.