3 tips for Q1 success for Amazon sellers

Author: Deborah Sweeney | January 31, 2019

If you’re not an Amazon Seller, chances are you know someone. Did you know that half of the items sold on Amazon.com come from millions of small and medium businesses?

This is just one of many amazing statistics cited by Amazon in 2018 small business impact report. The report claims that since Amazon invited businesses to sell on the site in 2000, more than 900,000 jobs have been created through SMEs selling on the platform.

More than a million US-based small and medium businesses currently sell on Amazon. Becoming an Amazon Seller offers businesses a long list of benefits. Businesses can reach a base of millions of customers, use the Fulfillment by Amazon service to pack and ship their products, and drive sales even further with the help of Amazon advertising. .

However, Amazon Sellers know better than to assume the site will take over their business for them. Now that the holiday season is over and we’re in the middle of Q1, what can Amazon Sellers do to succeed in Q1 and beyond?

Here are three tips to help you get the most out of your Amazon Seller experience.

1. Leverage Amazon Keyword Targeted Ads

Tara Darnley is the Co-Founder of Darlyng & Co., a children’s brand in a children’s lifestyle. Darnley also sells his products on Amazon and uses a range of strategies to keep his brand afloat on the platform.

One of her biggest strategies as a seller is to run Amazon Pay Advertising per click. If you’re not familiar with how they work, Amazon ads are keyword-targeted. These ads are designed to appear in high-visibility locations where customers can see them. When a customer clicks on an ad, the merchant gets paid and this helps increase the reach of the business.

Darnley is aware that competition to be seen on Amazon is increasingly key to seller success. With the help of these keyword-targeted ads, Darnley says it’s easier for sellers to compete with ads and get new customers.

(Learn more about pay-per-click advertising here.)

2. Embed Related Keywords in Product Pages

This advice comes from Kent Lewis, President and Founder of digital marketing company Anvil. Lewis has been specializing in SEO and eCommerce PPC since 2000. He doesn’t think keywords should be limited to ads. He believes keywords should be embedded in Amazon Seller product pages.

“Amazon’s ranking algorithm is similar to Google in that it doesn’t appreciate keyword stuffing, irrelevant keyword use, or poor manual copying.” “This has a negative impact on the user experience,” Lewis said.

It also makes Amazon’s Seller pages difficult to rank above the competition. If you want your product pages to rank, Lewis recommends incorporating relevant keywords in key fields. These include the brand name, product listing title, and product description.

One caveat is that Amazon Sellers are subject to keyword character limits. Currently, this number is 250 and does not include spaces or punctuation. Keyword character limits can also apply to total content in generic keyword fields with up to five attributes.

It’s still worth the extra work, according to Lewis, who notes there’s an added bonus for high-ranking Amazon Sellers. Top organic rankings through this platform will increase visibility through Alexa voice search.

3. Ensure that the products offered generate positive reviews

Theo Lee is the CEO and Co-Founder of Food KPOP, a Korean food brand that started selling nationwide in 2017. KPOP Foods started selling through the company’s website in September 2017 and on Amazon in October 2017. KPOP Sauce, the brand’s first product, became the site’s number one chili sauce seller for three consecutive months.

Look at the reviews that come with KPOP Sauce. Currently, there are 131 customers with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. 75% of the reviews gave the sauce a 5 star rating.

It is becoming a natural method of marketing, on and off Amazon, to ask customers for reviews. Businesses encourage customers who visit sites like Yelp, their social media accounts, or Amazon Storefronts to leave reviews to increase site ratings.

Of course, the biggest problem is that there will be negative reviews. Some businesses send their employees or friends to dress up as customers and write positive reviews. Some Sellers do this in the hope that those positive reviews will push back or cancel out the poor ones.

However, this method does not work on Amazon.

“If you want to be successful on Amazon, you have to have a good product that will generate positive reviews and good customer feedback.” Lee said.

Amazon customers often see reviews before making a purchase. Transparent and authentic reviews make a purchase more likely to be in your favor than negative or mid-way reviews.

Amazon sellers with excellent reviews are also rewarded for it. Lee says that if your product has strong reviews, with an average of 4 stars, sellers will receive an Amazon’s Choice tag.

While Amazon refuses to say exactly how they give out Amazon’s Choice card, Amazon sellers who receive them on their product should pat themselves in for a good job. This tag further adds credibility to their product and is a great sign to have in your 1st quarter limits.