The global unemployment rate was 5.4% in 2019, and it has definitely risen since then. Millions of people lost their jobs because of the pandemic. It’s starting to become clear to everyone that employment may not be the best way to earn money in 2020, and the ideal way to take care of bills is to generate some lucrative online business ideas.
One of the best ways to make money was to be part of the Amazon affiliate marketing program, but that also has taken some hits when Amazon cut affiliate commission fees by as much as 5% in some categories.
The only thing left now is to start as an Amazon seller. However, with tons of competition out there, how can you ensure the growth of your business with the least amount of risk? Let’s look at a few tactics that Amazon SEO firms use all the time to ease your mind.
Keyword Research
Keywords are the lifeblood of being an Amazon seller. Without using the correct keywords, your sales will eventually plummet for lack of traffic to your product listings.
A survey conducted in 2019 found that 49% of US shoppers search on Amazon when digitally shopping for a product, which is way ahead of Google’s 22%. Clearly, using the proper keywords will benefit you as a seller on Amazon’s platform.
Use Long-Tail Keywords to Build Your Sales History
Going for those high-performing keywords might not be the best thing to do, especially when you’re starting out as a seller. More often than not, those most sought-after keywords will be controlled by established brands and companies that would be difficult to outperform.
For example, buyers searching with keywords like “sneakers” would get a ton of results with everything on the first page sold under established brands. Trying to compete with those sellers would probably be too much for a rookie seller just starting to create a sales history.
Long-tail keywords are what you can use to make sure you still have organic traffic going to your product listings. The traffic might not be as high as those high-performing search terms, but the conversion rate is higher. That means the percentage of people buying your products will be higher than if you use those competitive keywords. This is also an excellent technique to increase book sales on Amazon.
Take Advantage of Backend Keywords
Backend Keywords are the hidden search terms that you can add to your product listings to help with visibility. You can often use specific search terms that are related to your product but don’t exactly describe it. Words that are commonly misspelled can also be included in your backend keywords.
For example, you’re selling “hand lotion,” and that’s what’s in the product title. You can add “hand moisturizer” in the backend keywords, so people looking for that will also see your product.
The limit for backend keywords is 249 characters, including punctuation marks and spaces. Use this allocated space efficiently, and don’t use unnecessary spaces, as an Amazon SEO company would advise you.
Social Media Marketing
The average internet user spends 2 hours and 22 minutes on social media every day, making it an ideal place for marketing your Amazon products. There are several ways you can promote your brands on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. However, you can use a few techniques to have an edge in successfully marketing your business.
Make Your Profile Comprehensive
Branding is everything in sales. Without it, your visibility will suffer. As in any other business, any person who looks at your social media advertisement is bound to do some kind of research before clicking on the links that go directly to your product listings. Creating a social media profile complete with your own logo and ”about” info will go a long way in making prospective buyers trust your marketing material.
Post Regularly
Making scheduled posts is vital in an effective social media marketing campaign. Posting once every three months doesn’t give a potential customer a lot of confidence to buy what you’re selling.
On the other hand, posting five times a day isn’t so good either. It dilutes the engagement for your posts when people should only be looking at one very effective marketing post. You can make use of social media scheduling tools for important events, such as when you have a product launch on Amazon.
Use a Sales Funnel to Boost Conversion
Sending non-targeted people to your product listings could backfire. Instead of asking everyone to click on your Amazon product links, create a sales funnel to sift through everyone who visits your social media posts until you’re down to your target audience. Below is an example of a basic sales funnel.
For example, create a sales funnel that narrows your audience to married women between the ages of 20 and 40 if you’re selling beauty products. The more specific your target audience is, the higher your conversion rate will be. Asking men to view your beauty products on Amazon will only be a waste of time.
Don’t Underestimate Paid Promotions
Many rookie sellers are scared of paid promotions. Why shouldn’t they be? Spending a lot of money on ads at the beginning of your business venture can be a little daunting. The old rules of starting a business clearly state the importance of not putting all your eggs in one basket. Start small, and put more money on ads when you start getting sales.
However, with a marketplace as competitive as Amazon, visibility is most attainable with the use of paid promotions. Here are two you can use.
PPC Campaigns
Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are named as such because you’ll be charged for everyone who clicks your product ads on Amazon. It doesn’t include organic traffic that came to your listings by using the search engine. The PPC costs can range from $0.25 to $3, depending on the type of product you’re selling, the product category you’re in, the keywords you’re using, and how competitive your niche is.
It is one of the fastest ways to make your brand more visible, though. Starting a PPC campaign has the potential to increase traffic for your product by as much as 70%. However, your conversion still largely depends on optimizing your product listing, so don’t ignore that aspect.
Lightning Deals
There’s something about limited-time offers that get buyers excited. This is why creating lightning deals on Amazon is one of the most effective ways to boost sales for your products by an average of 200%. It helps with your product’s visibility, too. If you see it, you can buy it.
To be eligible to create a lightning deal, there are several requirements:
- You must be a professional seller
- Your products must have a sales history and a 3-star overall rating
- Items must have as many variations as possible
- Your products should be Prime-eligible in all regions
- Products should be new
- Your deal should follow Amazon’s Customer product reviews policy and Amazon’s policy on reference prices.
However, there’s a lightning deal fee (usually $150) to consider here, so don’t create one until you’ve made sure your sales boost will cover that cost and make a decent profit to boot.
Take the Plunge
Amazon SEO firms can teach you a lot about starting as a seller. Sure, it entails a lot of risks, but anything worth doing usually does. What’s important is for you to have the knowledge to minimize those risks and to have expert help if you don’t. With the techniques mentioned in this article, you’re already halfway there. All you need now is the willingness to try it out and see for yourself.