A Free (Non-Edible) Lunch, and Dinner, Too!

Believe it or not, there really are free lunches in this world...

Two of them are from Google, and both have potential to get you some free business.

Introducing Google Catalogs

Google has a fabulous new Catalog search feature (currently in Beta, meaning they don't advertise it, yet). The good folks at Google will scan and upload a search-enabled version of your printed, mail-order catalog. When a user conducts a search, they get only catalogs containing their search terms, PLUS the terms are highlighted and shown in context. The images from the catalogs aren't quite print-quality, but hey: it's FREE. Check out a sample search. If you're "sold" on the idea, visit the Catalog Suggestion Page and mail in your catalog. You'd better take this opportunity while it's still free!

But wait, it gets better...

Get Froogle

You may have heard of this one: Google recently got into the comparison shopping market, trying to one-up sites like BizRate and PriceGrabber. While those sites show prices and products from a few (20 or fewer) competing sites, and inclusion is only with a price, Froogle (also in Beta testing) aims to offer ALL prices on ALL products, for FREE.

Google takes the same incredible technology that powers their web search engine, digs up product names, descriptions, and prices, and lists them, with pictures, in response to user searches. Users can search by price, too. See a sample. Of course, not all sites are easy for Google's spider to figure out, so they'll even let you submit a data feed - daily, if you like! This gives you control over exactly what Froogle has to say, too.

So, there really are free lunches out there! Please let us know if there's any way we can help you take advantage of them! We'll see you next time.

Sincerely,

Ed Cottrell, Editor and President