Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Using Google Base to Increase your Business Exposure

I only just this past week added my Etsy listings to google base. I made sure I followed the many tutorials that several fellow etsians have provided in the various forum threads - much appreciated. Let's Ets is a particularly good place to start.

One thing that I hadn't seen discussed was some of the important Contact and Payment information that can be added. If you leave those information blocks alone, then folks won't know that you accept Paypal or RME, for instance. Assuming you've already got your Etsy store items (or any items you're selling, regardless of your online store representation) listed in google base, go to the Settings Tab (the link works only if you're already signed into Google Base), then make sure you're in the Base Settings section. Toward the bottom of the page, under the blue heading for "New Items", you'll see subheadings for "Contact," "Location," and "Payment."

Editing "Contact" will allow you to set up your contact email and/or phone number. Click OK afterward.

Editing "Location" will allow you to insert where you're located, which gets translated to one of those little Google maps - cool! Again, click OK afterward.

Editing "Payment" will show folks what you accept for payment. Here's the rub: it only shows check, cash, wire transfer, and the major credit cards. There's nothing under the standard choices for money orders, Paypal, or Revolution Money Exchange (RME). There's a box for Notes, though - use it! And once again, click OK afterward.

Here's the final step, and it's important: be sure to click the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the page! I forgot the first time, navigated away, then came back to find out I had to remember what I did the first time so I could re-enter it.

This time of year, I'm after all the marketing and advertising help I can get! I hope this helps you, too...

12 comments:

Christie Cottage said...

Wonderfully informative post. Thanks!

I found you on etsy. That's where you can find me too!
christiecottage.etsy.com

Sherryl said...

Thanks for the information, but my problem is I can't seem to get the formatting correct. I can't load my items , I'm confused, I need professional help and working google base, I'll need real professional help ; )
I will keep trying though.

BrighidsForge said...

I've never set up an RSS feed and only have a vague idea of how it works... Did you enter your pieces manually or use a feed?

And thanks!

Smile Moon Woodworks said...

Hi Brighid! I used the Let'sEts utility to generate the xml file to upload to google base. It was pretty easy, surprisingly!

Frau Zinnie said...

Wow I didn't even know that existed! I'll have to check that out! Thanks!

Freida said...

Hi Jeffrey! I guess you're getting up to speed quick on the blog thing, eh?!? =) I thought I'd give you something you haven't had yet:)lol

Tag! You're it! read this post and come play =D
{{{hugs}}}
Freida

http://dmwashopnotes.blogspot.com/

Smile Moon Woodworks said...

Ha ha! I checked that out, Freida! You nut...

Actually, I'm scheduled to be the subject of an interview on MuffinTop Designs' blog (http://muffintopdesigns.blogspot.com/) in a couple days, so you'll be able to find out way more about me than anybody'd want to know!

Miki said...

I'm processing my info right now. thank you so much for sharing this information! So far, so good and cross your fingers for me! :)

Freida said...

Hey Jeffrey, I will go check that out! Hope you're having a great season =D
F

Anonymous said...

This is great Jeffrey! Thanks! Very helpful!
the only question is how do I find my feed that I uploaded? I used Let'sEts and it was easy and seemed to work... but then I clicked on my items and it says that I don't have any... ?
hhmmm, I must be missing something...

Anonymous said...

ok, I figured it out! I had to click next to the word 'Manual' on the your feeds page, it had me choose my file off of my desktop and then said it was processing and would be available shortly..... it's now available and tells me when it expires.

Great! thanks Jeffrey! I had signed up for google base a while ago, but was confused by the feed thing, this was very helpful ;)

Smile Moon Woodworks said...

Yay! I'm glad it worked for you, TwoBeans! I hope you benefit!