ChinaFinds Weekly Dev Blog 2

Welcome to this week's dev blog. This is just a place I document the journey of creating this project. Something for me to look back on and maybe help understand why I did something a certain way or my thought process at the time.

After the addition of accounts last week, everything is working as it should. Now I can monitor products saved from the Chrome extension and ensure the products are being saved properly for each agent. I've noticed some agents aren't getting product info properly, so I've been working on fixing this to support all agents properly.

Chrome Extension Updates

This week I've been diving deep into fixing the Chrome extension to work correctly with all the different shopping agents. The main issues I found were around price formatting and affiliate link generation.

Price Standardization

One of the biggest problems was that different agents display prices in different formats - some in CNY, some in USD, and they all have different formatting. I've now standardized all prices to display in USD with a consistent format ($X.XX) so everything looks uniform in your spreadsheet. The extension now automatically converts CNY prices to USD using the current exchange rate (1 CNY = 0.14 USD).

This might seem like a small thing, but when you're building a spreadsheet with products from multiple agents, having consistent pricing makes a huge difference. No more mixing CNY and USD symbols!

Affiliate Link Generation

I've also updated the extension to automatically generate affiliate links for certain agents (ACBuy, OopBuy, and CNFans) by taking the current product URL and appending your affiliate code. This means you don't have to manually click through share buttons or copy links anymore - the extension does it all automatically using your affiliate code from your Firebase profile.

For each agent, the extension now:

• ACBuy: Adds ?u=yourcode to the URL
• OopBuy: Adds ?inviteCode=yourcode to the URL
• CNFans: Adds &ref=yourcode to the URL

Just make sure you have your affiliate code set in your settings, and the extension will handle the rest. This should save a lot of time for anyone building spreadsheets with multiple products.

Agent-Specific Fixes

I've been going through each agent one by one to fix the scraping:

• AllChinaBuy: Fixed CNY to USD conversion
• ACBuy: Standardized price format and automated affiliate link generation
• OopBuy: Fixed title extraction and price conversion, automated affiliate links
• CNFans: Updated to get title and image from correct elements, standardized pricing

There are still a few more agents to go through, but we're making good progress. The goal is to have every agent working perfectly so you can build your spreadsheets without worrying about missing data or incorrect formatting.

SEO Work

This week was mostly focused on SEO. This is one of the main sources of traffic I like to generate, and it's something that takes consistent work over time.

While users don't see many of the changes made this week due to them being small fixes and optimizations, these updates will be crucial to the future of the project. I've been working on:

• Improving meta descriptions and titles
• Optimizing page structure for better indexing
• Enhancing internal linking
• Improving site speed and performance

Without users, the motivation to build is lost. SEO is a long game, but it's one of the most sustainable ways to grow organically. Every small improvement adds up over time.

Affiliate Program

I've added an affiliate program for promoters to create nice landing pages and generate extra income while doing what they already do. Users can include social links, their affiliate code, and customize their profile page.

The idea is simple - if you're already promoting products from Chinese marketplaces, why not have a dedicated landing page where people can see all your favorite finds? You can link to your TikTok, YouTube, Telegram, Discord, and more. Plus, when people use your affiliate code, you get credit for the referral.

It's still early days for this feature, but I'm excited to see how people use it. I think it could be really valuable for content creators who are already doing product reviews and recommendations.

Updates on the Way

Chrome Extension Improvements

The Chrome extension is being updated to properly get data from all agents. You must have your affiliate code set in settings for this to work. I'm working through each agent systematically to ensure:

• Accurate product title extraction
• Correct price formatting (all in USD)
• Proper image scraping
• Automated affiliate link generation

The goal is to make the extension work seamlessly with every supported agent so you can focus on building your spreadsheets instead of fixing data issues.

Product Promotion Platform

I'm planning to add a product promotion platform where sellers and agents can advertise their products with a PPC (pay-per-click) model. This would allow:

• Agents to promote specific products
• Sellers to get more visibility
• Users to discover new products through sponsored listings

This is still in the planning phase, but I think it could be a win-win for everyone involved. More visibility for products, more revenue opportunities, and better discovery for users.

More Agent Support

I'm continuously working on adding support for more shopping agents. The goal is to support as many agents as possible so users have maximum flexibility in choosing where to shop. If you have a favorite agent that isn't supported yet, let me know and I'll prioritize adding it.

Wrapping Up

Thanks for reading the blog, stay tuned for future updates. The project is evolving quickly, and I'm excited to see where it goes. If you're using the Chrome extension or the site, I'd love to hear your feedback. Every bit of input helps make the platform better.

If you missed last week's blog you can find it here

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ChinaFinds is a product search engine designed to help users discover products from Chinese marketplaces like Taobao, Weidian, and 1688. The platform aggregates over 12,000+ products with verified QC photos and supports 23+ shopping agents, making it easier for users to find and purchase products from China.

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Want to contribute or have feedback? Reach out through my social media links.

Tags: SEO, Development, chinafinds