How to Become a Successful Bing Merchant in 2023

By Cepy 9/02/2023 Post a Comment

Hi Online Friends,

If you are looking for a way to sell your products online and reach more customers, you might want to consider becoming a Bing merchant. Bing merchant is a program that allows you to list your products on Bing Shopping, a popular shopping platform that is integrated with Bing Search Engine. Bing Shopping helps shoppers find and compare products from different sellers, and directs them to your website or online store where they can complete the purchase.

In this article, I will share with you my experience and tips on how to become a successful Bing merchant in 2023. I will cover the following topics:

What are the benefits of becoming a Bing merchant?
How to create and optimize your Bing merchant account?
How to upload and manage your product feed?
How to create and run effective Bing Shopping campaigns?
A detailed table breakdown of the key metrics and features of Bing merchant.
A FAQ section with 10 common questions about Bing merchant.
A conclusion that summarizes the main points and invites you to check out other articles.

What are the benefits of becoming a Bing merchant?

Becoming a Bing merchant has many benefits for your online business. Here are some of them:

Reach more potential customers

Bing Shopping attracts millions of shoppers every month who are looking for products online. By listing your products on Bing Shopping, you can increase your visibility and exposure to these shoppers, who might not find you otherwise. You can also target specific audiences based on their location, device, demographics, and interests.

Drive more qualified traffic

Bing Shopping helps you drive more qualified traffic to your website or online store. Unlike regular search ads, Bing Shopping ads show rich information about your products, such as images, prices, ratings, and offers. This helps shoppers make informed decisions and reduces the chances of them bouncing back from your site. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad and visits your site, so you can be sure that you are getting valuable leads.

Increase your conversions and sales

Bing Shopping helps you increase your conversions and sales by showing your products to shoppers who are ready to buy. By matching your products with the shoppers' intent and preferences, you can increase the likelihood of them choosing your products over your competitors'. You can also use features such as product reviews, promotions, and free shipping to entice shoppers and boost your sales.

Improve your ROI and profitability

Bing Shopping helps you improve your ROI and profitability by allowing you to control your costs and optimize your performance. You can set your own budget and bids for each product or product group, and adjust them according to the market conditions and your goals. You can also use analytics and reporting tools to measure your results and identify areas for improvement.

How to create and optimize your Bing merchant account?

To become a Bing merchant, you need to create a Bing merchant account. A Bing merchant account is where you manage your product feed, shopping campaigns, settings, and billing information. Here are the steps to create and optimize your Bing merchant account:

Step 1: Sign up for a Bing merchant account

To sign up for a Bing merchant account, you need to have a Microsoft account and a website or online store that meets the Bing Shopping policies. You can create a Microsoft account for free if you don't have one already. Then, go to https://www.bing.com/merchants and click on "Sign up now". Follow the instructions to complete the registration process.

Step 2: Verify and claim your website or online store

To verify and claim your website or online store, you need to prove that you own it and that it is secure. This is important for ensuring the quality and safety of the products listed on Bing Shopping. To verify and claim your website or online store, go to the "Settings" tab in your Bing merchant account and click on "Website". Then, follow one of these methods:

Upload an XML file to the root directory of your website or online store.
Add a meta tag to the homepage of your website or online store.
Add a CNAME record to the DNS settings of your website or online store.

After verifying and claiming your website or online store, you will see a green check mark next to it in your Bing merchant account.

Step 3: Create and upload your product feed

To create and upload your product feed, you need to prepare a file that contains the information about your products, such as title, description, price, image, category, and availability. You can use one of these formats for your product feed:

XML
CSV
TXT
Google product feed

You can find the specifications and examples for each format in the Bing Shopping Feed Specification. Make sure that your product feed meets the quality and policy requirements of Bing Shopping.

To upload your product feed, go to the "Catalog management" tab in your Bing merchant account and click on "Create catalog". Then, enter a name for your catalog and choose a file format. Next, click on "Upload file" and select your product feed file from your computer. You can also choose to upload your product feed via FTP or URL if you have a large or dynamic file. After uploading your product feed, you will see a status report that shows the number of products processed, accepted, and rejected.

Step 4: Review and optimize your product feed

To review and optimize your product feed, you need to check the quality and performance of your products on Bing Shopping. You can use the following tools to do so:

The "Catalog summary" page shows you an overview of your catalog, such as the number of products, impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue.
The "Catalog issues" page shows you the errors and warnings that affect your products, such as missing or invalid attributes, policy violations, or low-quality images. You can fix these issues by editing your product feed file and uploading it again.
The "Product groups" page shows you how your products are grouped by category, brand, condition, or custom labels. You can use these groups to create and manage your shopping campaigns.
The "Product insights" page shows you how your products compare to other products in the same category or brand on Bing Shopping. You can use these insights to improve your product titles, descriptions, prices, images, and offers.

How to create and run effective Bing Shopping campaigns?

To create and run effective Bing Shopping campaigns, you need to set up and optimize your ads that show your products on Bing Shopping. You can use the following steps to do so:

Step 1: Create a shopping campaign

To create a shopping campaign, go to the "Campaigns" tab in your Bing merchant account and click on "Create campaign". Then, choose "Shopping campaign" as the campaign type and enter a name for your campaign. Next, set a budget and a bid strategy for your campaign. You can choose between manual or automated bidding options. Manual bidding allows you to set your own bids for each product or product group. Automated bidding allows Bing to adjust your bids based on your target goal, such as maximizing clicks or conversions.

Step 2: Create ad groups and product groups

To create ad groups and product groups, go to the "Ad groups" tab in your shopping campaign and click on "Create ad group". Then, enter a name for your ad group and choose a catalog for it. Next, go to the "Product groups" tab in your ad group and click on "Create product group". Then, choose how you want to divide your products into subgroups based on their attributes, such as category, brand, condition, or custom labels. You can create up to 7 levels of subgroups for each ad group. For each subgroup, you can set a bid amount that determines how much you are willing to pay for each click on your ads.

Step 3: Monitor and optimize your shopping campaign

To monitor and optimize your shopping campaign, you need to track and analyze the performance of your ads on Bing Shopping. You can use the following tools to do so:

The "Campaigns" page shows you an overview of your campaigns, such as the impressions, clicks, conversions, revenue, cost, and ROI.
The "Ad groups" page shows you the performance of each ad group in your campaigns.
The "Product groups" page shows you the performance of each product group in your ad groups.
The "Products" page shows you the performance of each individual product in your catalog.
The "Dimensions" page shows you the performance of your campaigns by different dimensions, such as time, location, device, network, oraudience."
The "Reports" page allows you to create and download custom reports for your campaigns.

You can use these tools to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your campaigns, and make adjustments accordingly. For example, you can:

Increase or decrease your bids for certain products or product groups based on their performance.
Add or remove products or product groups from your campaigns based on their relevance and demand.
Use negative keywords to exclude irrelevant or low-quality traffic from your campaigns.
Use extensions to enhance your ads with additional information, such as product reviews, promotions, or free shipping.
Use experiments to test different versions of your campaigns and compare their results.

A detailed table breakdown of the key metrics and features of Bing merchant

To help you understand the key metrics and features of Bing merchant, here is a detailed table breakdown that compares Bing merchant with other popular shopping platforms:

Platform	Cost	Reach	Features	Pros	Cons
Bing merchant	Pay per click	Millions of shoppers on Bing Shopping and Bing Search Engine	Retailer ratings, product reviews, promotions, free shipping, product insights, analytics and reporting tools, automated bidding options, extensions, experiments	High-quality traffic, low competition, flexible budget and bids, rich product information, performance optimization tools	Limited market share, complex product feed requirements, policy restrictions
Google Shopping	Pay per click or commission	Billions of shoppers on Google Shopping and Google Search Engine	Retailer ratings, product reviews, promotions, free shipping, local inventory ads, smart shopping campaigns, showcase shopping ads, shopping actions program	Huge market share, high visibility, diverse ad formats, seamless checkout experience	High competition, high cost, strict product feed requirements, policy restrictions
Amazon	Subscription fee or commission	Hundreds of millions of shoppers on Amazon.com and Amazon app	Seller ratings, product reviews, promotions, free shipping, sponsored products ads, sponsored brands ads, sponsored display ads, Amazon stores	Loyal customer base, high conversion rate, diverse ad formats, brand awareness	High competition, high cost, complex product feed requirements, policy restrictions
eBay	Listing fee or commission	Hundreds of millions of shoppers on eBay.com and eBay app	Seller ratings,product reviews,promotions,free shipping,sponsored listings,promoted listings,eBay stores	Diverse customer base,low cost,simple product feed requirements,brand awareness	Low conversion rate,low visibility,limited ad formats,policy restrictions
Etsy	Listing fee or commission	Tens of millions of shoppers on Etsy.com and Etsy app	Seller ratings,product reviews,promotions,free shipping,Etsy ads,Etsy marketing tools,Etsy shops	Niche customer base,low cost,simple product feed requirements,brand awareness	Low traffic volume,low visibility,limited ad formats,policy restrictions
Facebook Shops	No fee or commission	Billions of shoppers on Facebook and Instagram	Seller ratings,product reviews,promotions,free shipping,Facebook catalog manager,Facebook pixel,Facebook dynamic ads,Instagram shopping	Huge market share,high visibility,diverse ad formats,seamless checkout experience	Low conversion rate,high competition,complex product feed requirements,policy restrictions
Pinterest	No fee or commission	Hundreds of millions of shoppers on Pinterest	Seller ratings,product reviews,promotions,free shipping,Pinterest catalog manager,Pinterest tag manager,Pinterest shopping ads,Pinterest shop tab	Niche customer base,high conversion rate,diverse ad formats,seamless checkout experience	Low traffic volume,low visibility,complex product feed requirements,policy restrictions

FAQ section with 10 common questions about Bing merchant

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about Bing merchant and their answers:

What are the requirements to become a Bing merchant?

To become a Bing merchant, you need to meet the following requirements:

You must have a Microsoft account and a Bing merchant account.
You must have a website or online store that is secure, functional, and compliant with the Bing Shopping policies.
You must verify and claim your website or online store in your Bing merchant account.
You must create and upload a product feed that contains the information about your products and meets the Bing Shopping feed specification and quality standards.
You must create and run a shopping campaign that shows your products on Bing Shopping.

How much does it cost to become a Bing merchant?

There is no fee to become a Bing merchant or to list your products on Bing Shopping. However, you need to pay for the clicks that your ads receive on Bing Shopping. The cost per click depends on your bid amount, the competition, and the quality of your ads. You can set your own budget and bids for each product or product group, and adjust them according to your goals and performance.

How long does it take to become a Bing merchant?

The time it takes to become a Bing merchant depends on how quickly you complete the steps mentioned above. Generally, it can take from a few hours to a few days to set up your Bing merchant account, verify and claim your website or online store, create and upload your product feed, and create and run your shopping campaign. Once you have done all these steps, your products will be reviewed and approved by Bing before they can appear on Bing Shopping. This can take up to 72 hours.

How can I increase my chances of getting approved by Bing?

To increase your chances of getting approved by Bing, you need to make sure that your website or online store, product feed, and shopping campaign meet the quality and policy requirements of Bing Shopping. Here are some tips to do so:

Make sure that your website or online store is secure, functional, and user-friendly. It should have clear and accurate information about your products, prices, shipping, returns, and contact details.
Make sure that your product feed is complete, accurate, and up-to-date. It should have all the required attributes for each product, such as title, description, price, image, category, and availability. It should also have high-quality images that show the products clearly and realistically.
Make sure that your shopping campaign is relevant and optimized. It should have appropriate bids for each product or product group, based on their performance and competition. It should also have negative keywords to exclude irrelevant or low-quality traffic from your ads.

How can I improve my performance on Bing Shopping?

To improve your performance on Bing Shopping, you need to monitor and optimize your product feed, shopping campaign, and ads regularly. Here are some tips to do so:

Use the catalog summary, catalog issues, product groups, product insights, campaigns, ad groups,products, dimensions, and reports pages in your Bing merchant account to track and analyze the performance of your products and ads on Bing Shopping.
Increase or decrease your bids for certain products or product groups based on their performance and competition. You can also use automated bidding options to let Bing adjust your bids based on your target goal.
Add or remove products or product groups from your campaigns based on their relevance and demand. You can also use custom labels to create more specific product groups based on your own criteria.
Use extensions to enhance your ads with additional information, such as product reviews, promotions, or free shipping. These can help attract more shoppers and increase your conversions and sales.
Use experiments to test different versions of your campaigns and compare their results. You can test different bid strategies, budgets, product groups, or extensions to find the best combination for your goals.

How can I get more exposure and visibility on Bing Shopping?

To get more exposure and visibility on Bing Shopping, you need to improve the quality and relevance of your products and ads. Here are some tips to do so:

Use descriptive and unique titles and descriptions for your products that include relevant keywords and phrases that shoppers might use to search for them.
Use high-quality images that show the products clearly and realistically. Avoid using images that are blurry, distorted, or have watermarks or logos.
Use competitive prices and offers for your products that can attract more shoppers and increase your conversions and sales. You can also use promotions and free shipping to entice shoppers and boost your sales.
Use product reviews and retailer ratings to showcase your reputation and credibility as a seller. These can help increase the trust and confidence of shoppers in your products and services.
Use product insights to compare your products with other products in the same category or brand on Bing Shopping. You can use these insights to improve your product titles, descriptions, prices, images, and offers.

How can I get more traffic and conversions from Bing Shopping?

To get more traffic and conversions from Bing Shopping, you need to target the right audience and match their intent and preferences. Here are some tips to do so:

Use location, device, demographic, and interest targeting options to reach the most relevant audience for your products. You can also use remarketing lists to reach shoppers who have previously visited your website or online store.
Use negative keywords to exclude irrelevant or low-quality traffic from your campaigns. These can help reduce your costs and improve your ROI.
Use product groups to create more specific subgroups of products based on their attributes, such as category, brand, condition, or custom labels. This can help you show the most relevant products to each shopper based on their search query.
Use dynamic ads to show customized ads that match the shopper's search query. These can help increase the relevance and click-through rate of your ads.
Use landing pages that are relevant, user-friendly, and consistent with your ads. They should have clear and accurate information about your products, prices, shipping, returns, and contact details. They should also have a clear call-to-action that guides the shopper to complete the purchase.

How can I get more reviews and ratings for my products and store?

To get more reviews and ratings for your products and store, you need to provide excellent productsand services to your customers and encourage them to share their feedback. Here are some tips to do so:

Deliver high-quality products that meet or exceed the expectations of your customers. Make sure that your products are as described and shown in your product feed and ads.
Provide fast and reliable shipping and delivery services to your customers. Make sure that your products are well-packaged and arrive on time and in good condition.
Offer easy and flexible returns and refunds policies to your customers. Make sure that you handle any issues or complaints promptly and professionally.
Communicate with your customers throughout the purchase process. Send them confirmation, tracking, and delivery emails, and thank them for their purchase. Ask them for their feedback and suggestions, and respond to their questions and concerns.
Invite your customers to leave reviews and ratings for your products and store on Bing Shopping. You can use email, social media, or incentives to encourage them to do so. You can also use third-party review platforms, such as Trustpilot, Feefo, or Yotpo, to collect and display reviews and ratings on Bing Shopping.

How can I contact Bing merchant support?

If you have any questions or issues regarding Bing merchant, you can contact Bing merchant support by using one of these methods:

Email: You can send an email to bingads-merchant-support@microsoft.com with your question or issue. You should include your Bing merchant account ID, catalog ID, product ID, or campaign ID if applicable.
Phone: You can call the Bing merchant support team at 1-800-518-5689 (US) or +1-800-197-503 (Australia) from Monday to Friday, 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Pacific Time.
Chat: You can chat with a Bing merchant support agent online by clicking on the "Help" icon in the upper right corner of your Bing merchant account and choosing "Contact Support". You can also access the chat option from the Bing Shopping Help Center.

What are some of the best practices for Bing merchant?

To get the most out of Bing merchant, you should follow some of these best practices:

Keep your product feed updated and accurate. You should upload your product feed at least once a day or whenever you make any changes to your products, prices, availability, or offers.
Optimize your product titles and descriptions with relevant keywords and phrases that shoppers might use to search for them. You should also use high-quality images that show the products clearly and realistically.
Use competitive prices and offers for your products that can attract more shoppers and increase your conversions and sales. You should also use promotions and free shipping to entice shoppers and boost your sales.
Use product reviews and retailer ratings to showcase your reputation and credibility as a seller. These can help increase the trust and confidence of shoppers in your products and services.
Use product insights to compare your products with other products in the same category or brand on Bing Shopping. You can use these insights to improve your product titles, descriptions, prices, images, and offers.
Use location, device, demographic, and interest targeting options to reach the most relevant audience for your products. You can also use remarketing lists to reach shoppers who have previously visited your website or online store.
Use product groups to create more specific subgroups of products based on their attributes, such as category, brand, condition, or custom labels. This can help you show the most relevant products to each shopper based on their search query.
Use extensions to enhance your ads with additional information, such as product reviews,promotions, or free shipping. These can help attract more shoppers and increase your conversions and sales.
Use experiments to test different versions of your campaigns and compare their results. You can test different bid strategies, budgets, product groups, or extensions to find the best combination for your goals.
Monitor and optimize your product feed, shopping campaign, and ads regularly. You should use the analytics and reporting tools in your Bing merchant account to track and analyze the performance of your products and ads on Bing Shopping. You should also make adjustments accordingly to improve your results and achieve your goals.

Conclusion

Bing merchant is a great way to sell your products online and reach more customers. By listing your products on Bing Shopping, you can increase your visibility and exposure to millions of shoppers who are looking for products online. You can also drive more qualified traffic, increase your conversions and sales, and improve your ROI and profitability.

To become a successful Bing merchant in 2023, you need to create and optimize your Bing merchant account, product feed, and shopping campaign. You also need to follow the quality and policy requirements of Bing Shopping, and use the features and tools available to enhance your performance.

I hope this article has given you some useful information and tips on how to become a successful Bing merchant in 2023. If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading this article. If you liked it, please share it with your friends and colleagues. You can also check out my other articles on Bing Ads, Bing Shopping, Bing Ads Coupon, and more.

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