Wed, 30 December 2015
There are lots of ways to make money using the power of the internet. But how many of them can be broken down into a repeatable system that works every time with the right amount of hard work and attention to the system? Amazon private label sales is one of those and The Amazing Seller podcast is all about helping you understand and apply the principles behind the launch system Scott has discovered. Nothing is held back. You get all the tools you need to get that business off the ground without spending a dime on courses. Today’s episode highlights the most popular episodes of the podcast over the last year, and as you’ll see, many of them have to with the very first steps you need to take in order to get your own private label business off the ground. An Amazon keyword tip Scott learned by mistake.Scott’s been working hard to roll out a couple of new products and learned something by mistake that can help you with product ranking. He put up two listing for two new products, one that is slightly different than the other. He started a PPC campaign for one of them, but the OTHER one (the one without PPC driving traffic) started ranking on Amazon. How could that be? On this episode (right about 4:01) Scott’s going to share that tip with you just to show you how the things he’s stressed in his previous episodes still hold true today and to help you maximize your own efforts so that your business can thrive. What is YOUR favorite TAS podcast from the past year?The stats don’t like and this year they show that Scott’s conversation with Greg Mercer, creator of Jungle Scout is one of the most downloaded and listened to episodes he did this year. Scott learned a ton as Greg shared, not only how Jungle Scout works, but also how he’s been able to teach people to use it. There’s a video on the show notes page for that episode where Greg walks you through the steps for using his amazing product. No wonder it was such a popular episode… it’s packed full of goodness. Be sure to listen to this episode where Scott unpacks the reasons behind the popularity of his most downloaded episodes of the year. Do you know how to make your Amazon listing the very best it can be?When you’re adding a new product to Amazon it might seem like you’re just filling in blanks. But there’s tons more to it than that. One of the favorite episodes this year was episode 86, where Amazon copywriting expert Karon Thackston shared some of the top things you can do to make your Amazon listings more searchable, findable, and powerful in the Amazon search engine. As you listen to what she has to share, it’s a lot more than filling in blanks, and the better you know how to do it the more powerful your product listings will be. You can hear Scott’s explanation of why this episode was so popular and how you can get the most out of it, on this episode of The Amazing Seller. Here is proof that Amazon Private Label businesses actually work.One of the features of the Amazing Seller Podcast is that Scott regularly highlights people who are doing private label sales successfully. But it’s not “pie in the sky” stuff; he shares the ups and downs, the successes and the mistakes. He wants every listener to get a realistic view of what private label sales is like and how they can make the most of the experience others have had to move their own business toward success. On this episode you’ll hear about a handful of the many, many case studies Scott has featured where Amazon sellers have been able to pull in over $10K per month or more creating and selling private label products. It’s more evidence that Amazon private label sales is the real deal. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEwww.FreePrivateLabelCourse.com - Scott’s free course. Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 - with Greg Mercer, #1 episode of 2015 www.TheAmazingSeller.com/100 - The round table discussion www.TheAmazingSeller.com/86 - Listing optimization tips www.TheAmazingSeller.com/104 - with Scott Thomas www.TheAmazingSeller.com/95 - Case study: Build your business to 11K/mo www.TheAmazingSeller.com/110 - with Tyson Starling, 12K/mo and beyond www.TheAmazingSeller.com/114 - $10K per month product launch www.TheAmazingSeller.com/45 - 7 tips for choosing your first product www.TheAmazingSeller.com/6 - Finding your first product without getting scammed www.TheAmazingSeller.com/start - get started today NEW To The Blog and Podcast?I created a Page Just for You called…START HERE! If you enjoyed this episode share the love with your friends…Click To Tweet the show. Subscribe To Be The First To Receive Updates and NEW Podcast Episodes |
Mon, 28 December 2015
Taxes. Uggghh. But it’s part of life that is certain, and that you have to deal with or else. This episode of the Amazing Seller is perhaps long overdue because it walks us through the details of business taxes, business structures, and the decisions you need to make in order to remain compliant with the U.S. laws regarding income and expenses in your business. For that important topic Scott asked his new CPA, Josh Bauerly to come onto the show to share from his expertise about all of these issues and a whole lot more. You’re going to get great, professional advice that can save you thousands - yes, THOUSANDS of dollars if you do it right. Be sure to listen so you can get all the details.
What are the differences between an accountant and a CPA, and how do I know if I should be using a CPA?
Most of us don’t know the answers to these questions, and many of us don’t need to know because our businesses are still on the small side. But once your business begins generating profits of $50K or more per year, you’re going to need to understand these questions and make sure you’re doing what’s best for you and your business. An accountant is someone who simply keeps accurate record of what comes in and what goes out. A CPA has gone through specified training and has specialized knowledge on tax laws and much more. Listen to Josh Bauerly’s explanation of what he does as a CPA and how businesses can benefit from his kind of services, on this episode of the Amazing Seller.
Sole Proprietor? C-Corporation? S-Corporation? LLC?
There are 4 basic kinds of business entities that you could form your business as, but how do you know which is right for you? Today’s guest, Josh Bauerly, is a CPA who says that much of the decision depends on the size of your business and your entity decision may change as your business grows. On this episode Josh walks through every one of the options in details and tells you the pros and cons so that you can make an informed decision. He’s also got a very strong opinion about the best one and tells you why he feels so strongly about it. You can hear all of that by listening to this episode of the podcast.
When do I need to invest in a payroll company?
Josh Bauerly’s experience as a CPA has given him the opportunity to observe how many businesses approach this question. And in his experience he’s come to some pretty firm conclusions about the answer. He believes that given the small expense that payroll companies are nowadays (you can find one for $30 a month, online), every business, especially LLC and S-corps should invest in the service to make sure everything is being handled correctly. It’s one of the many things you’ll hear on this episode that could not only save you money, but also keep you out of trouble with the IRS. Take the time to listen to this long-overdue episode!
What documents do I need to keep?
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Fri, 25 December 2015
If you are at all interested in learning how to sell private label products on Amazon, you’ve found the right podcast! The Amazing Seller is all about Amazon private label, and Scott Voelker leads the way teaching and sharing everything he knows to help you get your business rocking and rolling. On this episode you’re going to hear Scott’s weekly Q&A session, which he does every Friday. On this episode you’re going to hear questions and answers about Amazon PPC, Product research and selection, logos and branding,
Can my Pay per Click (PPC) campaigns wind up competing with each other for keywords?
The short answer: Yes. If you use exact keyword matching on more than one campaign you could wind up competing with yourself, costing yourself money. If you’re using other forms of PPC, it’s possible you won’t be competing with yourself, but to make sure, there’s a simple little tool you can use to ensure that you’re not competing with yourself. It’s called “negative keywords” and on this episode Scott is going to share how to use them to maximize your keywords in your pay per click campaigns.
I found 4 or 5 versions of a product in Jungle Scout that all look like the very same product. One of them has lots of reviews and sales, the others hardly have any. Why is that?
If you’ve spent any time at product research you’ve likely seen a similar situation. Many of the products can wind up looking the same simply because the same suppliers are being used. But one of them always seems to pull out in front to be the dominant product. There are lots of reasons for this, but rather than focusing on what that one product is doing, Scott wants to know how the others are doing. Can you guess why? Scott’s going to tell you all about it on this episode in answer to a listener question, so be sure you stick around to hear the details.
I think it’s time to design my product/brand logo. Any suggestions?
When it comes time to put a “look” to your brand or product, there are no easy avenues to getting it done. You’re typically going to have to spend the bucks to hire a professional designer to produce the look and feel you’re looking for. On this episode Scott mentions some of the places he’d go to find that kind of help, but he’s also going to put the focus on something else you need to make sure you nail down far ahead of your logo. Care to guess what it is? You’ll hear Scott’s words of wisdom on this episode.
I think one of my competitors is doing something against the Amazon terms of service. When is it OK to report them?
It’s not supposed to happen but sometimes Amazon sellers do things against the rule to try to game the system and gain an advantage. If your competition is doing that, it can cost you some revenue at times, depending on what it is they’re doing. This listener thinks his competition is listing the exact same product with the exact same UPC multiple times. He’s curious if it’s OK for him to report this seller, or if he should. On this episode you’re going to hear Scott’s candid reply based on his own ethics and experience. It should serve to guide you in your decisions of this nature. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.FreePrivateLabelCourse.com
Scott’s interview on Entrepreneur On Fire - http://www.eofire.com/podcast/scottvoelker/
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/119 - The episode on PPC with Chris Schaeffer
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 - Episode with Greg Mercer about Jungle Scout
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/JS - Scott’s affiliate link for Jungle Scout.
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/141 - The episode on finding an agent.
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Wed, 23 December 2015
Hey, hey! Welcome to this episode of The Amazing Seller podcast, the best place you can hear how to run and manage your successful Amazon Private Label business! Scott Voelker has an amazing thing going on here, passing out free information and tips for those who want to create their own private label business, selling products on Amazon. It’s great to have you here and you’re invited to listen, interact, and learn from the TAS community both on this site and on Facebook. Take some time to listen to this episode and you’ll understand the incredible value that is packed into every one of these episodes.
This episode: How to find a sourcing agent for your products.
One of the most important but most uncertain parts of any Amazon based business is finding and sourcing products. If your supplier is in China or some other part of the world, that interaction becomes more and more difficult. To make this piece of the process easier, you might want to consider finding an agent in country who can work with you to get your products sourced. It’s a great step toward simplifying your product selection and ordering process and could serve to further your business both now and in the future. Scott gets questions about this often, so be sure you listen to get all his tips.
Consider finding a sourcing agent to be the same as conducting a job interview.
When you’re looking for a sourcing agent, you want to get the very best person you can. This person will be an integral part of your team, someone who could make your business grow at a much faster rate and in unique and powerful ways. You want to take great care in finding just the right person. Scott’s got some very practical tips to help you go exactly that, on this episode, so make sure that you find the time to listen to Scott’s tips - and begin brainstorming how these principles might be a benefit to your business.
Is pricing the main thing to be concerned about in finding a sourcing agent?
You might think that the main thing you’re going to be looking at in finding an agent is the price they can get for your products. While that is a very important thing to consider, you also want to consider a handful of other things that have nothing to do with price. Is the agent easy to work with? Are they able to offer you additional products that go along with your product line? Can they combine products, provide printing, packaging, and other things essential to your business? If you want to know the kinds of things you should consider, listen to this episode!
How well can a potential sourcing agent work with you? It’s vitally important that you know.
The questions you ask as you interview potential sourcing agents will help you know if they are the right fit for your company. You want to know if the person is going to be easy to work with overall. That means they have to be able to communicate clearly and understand what you are saying as well. Can they follow directions? Can they get things done that you need to be done? Are they flexible and responsive. All these issues and more need to be considered and you can hear Scott’s take on every one of them, on this episode.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/6 - the episode containing the email Scott suggests to introduce yourself to agents.
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Mon, 21 December 2015
There are many people who don’t believe that making a very good living by selling products on Amazon is really possible. They’re the doubters, the ones who don’t know the reality of what is possible by leveraging the amazing Amazon platform to their advantage. Today’s guest, Amber, was one of those people. She heard about FBA from a relative and had her doubts. But over time she decided to at least give it a try, and began with just over $1,000. Her success has been amazing - over $20,000 in product sales already! In this conversation she tells Scott how her journey has progressed, what’s going on now, and and how you can get involved if you’re willing to take action!
From doubter to amazing seller in 6 month’s time.
When Amber first heard about private label sales on Amazon she thought it couldn’t really work the way she was hearing. But once she gave it a try, she discovered that she was wrong. Her products have taken off in an amazing way, selling as many as 200 items per day. Since that time she’s begun a second brand and product line, aiming to build her business to even greater heights. Amber’s experience demonstrates that if you are willing to take action, you can build your own business to support yourself and your lifestyle. Listen to Amber’s story and get some inspiration about what you can achieve!
Why taking action is the most important step.
Since Amber was a skeptic when she first heard of Amazon private label sales, she could have easily sat back, watched things happen, scoff at the amazing stories she heard, and left it at that. But she didn’t. She took some action steps to try it out for herself, to test it out to see if what she was hearing was reality. What she discovered is that selling on Amazon is even more lucrative and powerful than she thought. She’s gone from skeptic to sold out believer, in just 6 month’s time. You can hear her story on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Where did Amber get a product idea that sells $20K a month?
Amazingly, Amber didn’t get her product idea from using a fancy software package and doing a lot of research. She simply paid attention to the things that were going on around her, saw a product someone she knew was using, and thought it might be a good product to offer on Amazon. Turns out she was right. That product is now selling to the tune of over $20,000 per month. How is that possible? For sure, she happened to hit on a great product at the right time, but she also had the benefit of being an action taker. If that product hadn’t worked out nearly as well, she likely would have tried something else. You’ve got to take action. It’s really that simple. Take some time to listen to this episode so you can hear Amber’s entire story.
Scott’s 10X10X1 strategy has multiplied itself over and over for Amber.
The basic structure Scott suggests new Amazon sellers aim for is 10 products, selling 10 per day. But because she took action Amber has seen that kind of success with only one product and a few variations. Her success is obviously not something that anyone can guarantee for new sellers but it clearly demonstrates that even without a ton of research, great product ideas and lucrative income can be a reality. Think of what might happen if you DO put into practice all the research and tips that skilled and seasoned sellers like Scott are teaching? Your success could be greater than Ambers!
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Fri, 18 December 2015
The most amazing part of having an Amazon Private Label business is that it allows you to build your own real business to support your family and the lifestyle you desire. And there’s a huge community of people making their living this way, and most of them are inside Scott’s TAS community on Facebook. On this episode you’re going to hear Scott’s congrats to one of the members of that community for the great success he’s beginning to see in his business. Be sure to listen to this “Ask Scott” episode to hear that shout-out and to hear some very practical questions answered.
What kind of budget should I have to get started with an Amazon private label business from scratch?
A listener to the show asks a very important question today regarding the beginning stages of beginning a business like Scott has on Amazon. It’s all about budget. How much money should you expect to put into the launch phase of your new Amazon business? Scott says “it depends,” on your product, your niche, and lots of other things - but overall he thinks you should try for around $5,000 to get started, even though there have been some very successful sellers who began with much, much less. Listen to this epiosode to hear Scott’s full answer and to get your head around the steps involved in finding a product, producing it, and getting it into Amazon to sell.
I want to double check the quality of my products before sending them to Amazon, but I live in Sweden. What do you suggest?
International Amazon sellers definitely have some unique hurdles to get past in order to build a successful business that sells on the U.S. Amazon store.One of those has to do with assuring product quality when it comes from an overseas supplier. Scott typically recommends that you have your products sent to you before sending them to Amazon, exactly SO you can check the quality before it goes to Amazon. But for international sellers that requires an extra shipping step and therefore an extra expense. There are some creative ways current international sellers have dealt with that issue, and Scott highlights some of those things on this episode, so be sure to hear his explanations.
I’m new to this Amazon private label thing. What’s a UPC code and what is it used for?
Ahhh...the mysterious UPC code. What is it that’s encoded into that numeric and striped barcode? It’s not really all that difficult and Scott’s going to cover it on this episode. Basically, Amazon uses the UPC code to ensure the proper identification of your product. For that reason, every product or variation of a product has to have its own unique UPC code. That means that a bundle of products would need an individual UPC code that is different from each of the products inside that bundle. It sounds confusing but it’s not. Listen to this episode to hear Scott’s run down of how Amazon uses UPC codes and how you can get UPCs to go on your products.
How do you determine what product supplier to use when they all are vying for your business by dropping the prices on each other?
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Wed, 16 December 2015
Every year it happens. A new year comes and people make new year’s resolutions. Though resolutions may not be the best way to go about changing your life, it does represent a very important concept: You CAN change your life! Scott’s focus on this episode is to help you get yourself ready to achieve some amazing things in the next 12 months. He wants to see your Amazon business thrive and even explode in 2016. Listen in to hear how Scott suggests you go about setting yourself up for massive success in the coming year.
Questions are powerful, if you’ll take the time to ask the right ones.
If you’re going to see your business (or your life, for that matter) grow, you’re going to have to begin asking questions about what’s been happening so far. On this episode Scott’s going to walk you through some of the basic questions you need to ask yourself to prepare for things to be different this coming year. The very first one you’ve got to ask is “Where am I now?’ If you don’t clearly understand what’s been working and what hasn’t been working in the way you do your Amazon business, you won’t know what tweaks you should make to improve things this coming year. So take the time to listen to this powerful episode, then take the time to ask yourself the right questions to enable your success.
Goal’s without actions steps are just dreams.
If you’re going to make your dreams come into reality, you’re going to have to take action. That’s Scott’s favorite saying because it’s one of the most common reasons that people’s dreams don’t come true. They don’t do anything about it. Scott’s got a very practical way of defining and outlining goals so that they can be broken down into step by step processes that allow you to take action to see your dreams come into reality. It’s not complex, but it does require work. So be sure to listen to this episode to find out how Scott does it and to begin your own process of improving your own goal setting techniques and make those dreams come to life!
A 90 day sprint is a powerful way to move your business forward!
Projects are powerful. Think about a home improvement project… you set aside a certain amount of money and a certain amount of time to dedicate yourself to focusing on getting the project done. If you don’t do that, you’ll wind up with your house demolished for months on end. But if you do, you’ll soon be enjoying the benefit of a newly renovated house. That very same thing can happen in your business as you set shorter, concentrated periods of time to work on an accomplish your goals. It requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but you’ll be amazed at the powerful and important things you can get done within the next 90 days if you set your mind to it and get started. Scott’s got a real life example from the Amazon private label world to help you think it through, so be sure to listen tot his episode.
A real-life example helps things make sense… so here’s one you can relate to.
Scott’s not one to deal in abstract terms, so he’s decided to conclude this episode with a real-life, Amazon based example of how you can ask the right questions, set the right goals, break down those goals in actionable steps, and then put all that effort into a 90 day sprint in order to get some amazing things accomplished. It’s an amazing tool for you to apply to your own business and products so that you can set yourself up for great success in the coming year. Don’t miss out, Scott’s got a ton of great stuff to share with you on this episode of The Amazing Seller!
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
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Mon, 14 December 2015
You’ve heard Scott say it a million times, “Take Action!” Today’s conversation is with a guest who did exactly that when he decided that he was going to try his hand at Amazon Private Label sales. He did the research, chose his product, and got rolling with practical actions right away. Today you’re going to hear Andy Irvine’s story of how he made it past $10K in just 30 days of selling his Amazon product. He walks through the process step by step, prompted by Scott’s questions. You’re going to learn a ton from this conversation, so be sure to listen!
Can international sellers really make it big with Amazon private label sales?
Today’s conversation should leave no doubt about the answer to that question because Andy Irvine, Scott’s guest today is from Australia. He ordered his products from China and worked very carefully with his supplier to have his products shipped directly to the Amazon warehouse in the U.S. It took hard work and lots of careful research to make sure he was operating according to Amazon’s terms of service, but he did it. You’re going to hear it all on this episode, so don’t miss it!
The 2nd product launch and a massive giveaway.
After his first product was selling pretty well, Andy Irvine decided that on his second product he would do a big giveaway. He chose to use promotions to give away 100 products and within days his product listing went from barely being able to be found, to the first page for his main keyword choice. He was very happy with the decision because of the jump start it gave his product, and the addition of a second product seemed to increase the sales of his first product as well. Andy’s very generous to give away all his secret and mindsets for why he did what he did, on this episode.
What if you want your China supplier to ship directly to Amazon?
If you’ve listened to The Amazing Seller for very long you know that Scott and others who have been on the show have recommended that you always have your products shipped to yourself before you send them to Amazon so that you can ensure that everything is as it should be. It’s a quality control step that is very wise. But since Andy Irvine was operating in Australia and the double shipping cost would have been prohibitive, he took a number of specific steps to allow for his products to be shipped directly to the Amazon warehouse without any problems. On this episode you’re going to hear the details of what he did, how he did it, and the phenomenal results he experienced. The importance of getting started even if you don’t have your brand figured out.
When Andy Irvine started his Amazon business, he and his wife both wanted to create a specific brand of products, eventually providing many products in a larger product line. But they didn’t have all those ideas figured out yet. Andy wasn’t content to wait until they got their act together, so he decided to simply research a good product and take action. Putting that product onto the Amazon sales engine was the best thing he could have done. The sales from it, and a second product shortly after, have given he and his wife time to figure out the brand issues, start ordering products to fit that brand, and do it all with profits from their Amazon sales. You’re going to be inspired by Andy’s “take action” attitude.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
The 4 Hour Work Week - book
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Sat, 12 December 2015
One of the best things about Scott’s experience as an Amazon Private Label seller is that it’s been a great learning laboratory… not just for him but for you! Scott’s not shy about sharing what he’s doing in terms of profits and losses with his Amazon Sales business. He does it because he’s eager to show you what can really happen with an Amazon business and because he wants to help you improve yours to improve your own lifestyle. On this episode he’s going over his profits and losses for the month of November, 2015. Listen to Scott’s take on his numbers to learn how you can tweak your products, listings, and increase your profits. Not to impress you, but to impress upon you!
Some people feel that for someone in Scott’s position to share the actual numbers of his profits and losses, they’re just bragging. But Scott doesn’t see it that way at all. His transparency is for a handful of great reasons: #1 - to show you that he’s a regular guy who’s able to do some amazing things because he’s taking action consistently. #2 - He genuinely wants to help you get your Amazon business rolling, and if you can learn how to do that by him sharing the details of his experience, he’s all for it! And finally, #3, he wants you to see the proof that making a great living from an Amazon private label business is entirely possible for anyone who is willing to put in the work.
OUTLINE OF THIS BONUS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/128 - Episode with Danny Brewer abotu “Lightning Deals”
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Direct download: BONUS20_20November20201520Income202B20Lessons20Learned.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:00am EDT |
Fri, 11 December 2015
These “Ask Scott” episodes are Scott’s way of sitting down with you over a cup of coffee to talk about the ins and outs of doing business as an Amazon Private Label seller. It’s where you get the opportunity to ask an experienced and successful Amazon seller how he does the things he does to make his Amazon business successful. In this episode Scott answers real questions sent in from real listeners like you so get ready to hear practical responses to real life scenarios. And you can also find out how to ask your own questions, so be sure to listen.
How can I find the right graphic designer for my images, graphics, box, etc.?
There are lots of people who say they are graphic designers, but you’ve got to know that if you pay a small amount you’re not going to get good quality. This is a very important issue for Amazon sellers. You’ve got to have professional looking product logos and labels, and promotional materials so you don’t want to skimp on this. But how do you go about getting those things created in a way that gets you the quality you need? On this episode Scott answers a listener question about that issue and has a great recommendation of a place to go to find the right designer for you.
I’ve already launched one product that didn’t work out, so I’m looking at another. Should I delete the first product listing before I have my second ready?
Scott was very impressed with this listener. He followed through with the launch of a “test product” just to learn. The product didn’t sell as well as hoped but he took it as a learning experience and is giving Amazon sales another try. His question centers around what he should do with his previous product and its listing during the interim when he doesn’t have his new product ready yet. Scott’s answer, as usual, is common sense and very helpful. Find the time to sit down and listen to his response to this question. You’ll be glad you did!
I really believe that my product can change it’s market, but the market is very, very competitive. Is it unrealistic to think I can do that?
There are certain categories or niches on Amazon that are very, very crowded and competitive. It’s not typically a recommendation to try Amazon private label sales in a niche that is so crowded. It’s going to be harder than it needs to be and success will come very slowly. But this listener is convinced that his product idea is a game changer, but it would be in a very, very competitive niche. Scott gives advice about how to go about launching that kind of product and talks about the different sorts of tactics that you could take to get your game changing product the exposure it’s going to need. You won’t want to miss this one!
Do you have a question you need answered about Amazon Private Label sales?
Sometimes the best thing for you as you learn a new skill or area of expertise is to simply sit down with someone who’s been there and done that. The Ask Scott sessions of The Amazing Seller Podcast are exactly that. It’s your chance, every Friday, to have Scott answer your questions relating to Amazon Private Label sales. You can ask your question by going to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - and if Scott feels that your question is one that would help the entire TAS community, you’ll be hearing your question answered on the air! OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - Ask your question!
The post shared on the TAS group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TAS.Private.Group/permalink/541644156003722/
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Interview with Greg Mercer - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/35
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Wed, 9 December 2015
Using tools makes any business easier to run. As your daddy used to say, “The right tool for the right job,” and it applies to your Amazon private label business as well. There’s also a lot of times when tools make your business harder, mainly because there can be so many options and it’s hard to decide or to carve out the time to assess every possibility. On this episode Scott’s going to share his top 8 tools, the ones that he feels he couldn’t live without. Get out your laptop or paper and pencil so that you can jot down the tools Scott’s using and how he’s doing it.
Did you know that Google Drive is a powerful tool for Amazon sellers to use?
If you’ve got a gmail account you are already connected to Google Drive and it’s full of tons of tools that can make your business more productive and effective - and it’s FREE! You can create spreadsheets, documents, slide shows, calendar, etc., and share them freely with many people or only one. And Google Drive gives you tons of great tools to use that are just as good as things you’d pay for but are entirely free. Listen to the variety of ways Scott uses this amazing suite of tools to further his Amazon private label business, all on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Why Jungle Scout is Scott’s “won’t do without it” tool.
Scott says that he won’t do his business without Jungle Scout, even though he initially started doing the same type of thing Jungle Scout does for free, using a spreadsheet. But Jungle Scout does all of that and so much more, and significantly faster. There’s ways to use JS that simply blow you away once you realize the power of what they can do for your business. If you’d like to get a copy of Jungle Scout, you can go to the JS website or use Scott’s affiliate link in this show notes page to get a discounted version of this incredible software.
Accounting can be a real headache in any business.
It’s not just the numbers that drive you crazy, it’s the time required to get everything input and organized. Scott’s discovered a great, free app that he uses for 3 of his businesses that is saving him tons of time and does an amazing job. The software is called Waveapps and has a free version that is amazingly powerful. You can keep all of your business accounting up to date easily using this free software. If you’re interested in trying out Waveapps, use the link provided in the link section of this episode to go get your own free account!
Why the right tools can skyrocket your Amazon Private Label business:
Because working smarter, not harder, is still the way to go! Tools can be a huge part of working smarter. They enable you to automate processes that you do frequently, find data and information more quickly, share things with team members or others with a click or an automated notification, and tons of other things. As you can see, spending time doing each of those things individually would be a waste when you could be spending that time instead doing things that actually increase the profitability of your business. Scott shares his top 8 tools on this episode of The Amazing Seller, so don’t miss it!
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEScott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Interview with Greg Mercer about Jungle Scout - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/35
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
Google Drive - https://www.google.com/drive/
Jungle Scout affiliate link - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/JS OR go to the Jungle Scout website
The Amasuite Software - http://getamasuite.com/
The episode about Amazon Top Reviewers - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/116
Google Trends - https://www.google.com/trends/
Salesbacker - https://www.salesbacker.com/
Waveapps - https://www.waveapps.com/
Workflowy - https://workflowy.com/
OTHERS:
AMZ Tracker - https://www.amztracker.com/
Edgar - http://www.MeetEdgar.com |
Mon, 7 December 2015
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Fri, 4 December 2015
It’s that time of the week. Friday. You’re almost calling it “good” for another week of hard work on your Amazon Private Label business. But don’t call it quits yet, Scott’s got another great episode of The Amazing Seller for you today, and ask you know, Friday’s are the Q & A episode so there’s lots of goodies in store for you today. And in case you didn’t know, Scott takes every Friday’s episode to answer your Amazon FBA questions. It doesn’t matter how specific they are or how “newbie” or expert you might think they are, Scott’s here to help you out. Listen to this episode to find out how you can submit your private label question for a future episode! My private label product is in a category that doesn’t allow PPC. What can I do?
Did you know that Amazon does not allow their own PPC on certain categories? It’s true! That means that if you try to sell a product in one of those categories you’re going to be losing out on one of the best sources of lead generation and conversions you could have. But, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sell products in those categories. What do you do in that case? First off, you need to make sure your product listing is optimized to the keywords your buyers would use to search for your product. That’s the only way they’re going to find it (organically). You can also do promotions on your products or drive traffic from the outside using ads or an email list. You can hear Scott’s entire answer to this question on this episode. (By the way, you can see the categories where PPC IS allowed on the graphic below.)
A black hat tactic many unethical competitors are doing to dis your reviews.
Have you noticed that on the reviews of your Amazon product, people are allowed to give a thumbs up or thumbs down to the reviews themselves? It’s a way Amazon tries to make your helpful reviews available for new customers. The problem is that unethical competitors may go onto your listing and “thumbs down” your best reviews to keep them buried at the bottom. What should you do? The best advice Scott can give you is likely not what you want to hear, but you need to hear it anyway… on this episode.
I’m trying to keep better track of my inventory alongside my accounting. How do you do it?
Scott believes that simple is better when it comes to keeping records for your business. Inventory is an important part of your entire business and you need to be ethical in the way you keep track of it and report it for tax reasons. There are lots of tools you could use to help you keep track of your inventory and in this episode Scott avoids talking about them simply because he doesn’t use them. He’s going to tell you exactly what he does… and it’s so simple you’ll love it. Is the 4th quarter a great enough sales time that my products will sell without much PPC?
The 4th quarter is traditionally the time when retail sales (including Amazon) spikes in all niches and markets. That’s because of the holidays surrounding Christmas. A listener asks if the 4th quarter might be a time that he could save a bit of cash by not doing PPC ads on his products, since sales are likely to be higher naturally. Scott’s answer includes that issue but also covers whether or not competition is involved, and how much there is. It’s a very good questions and a very helpful answer, and you can hear it by listening to this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - Get your questions answered!
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Interview with Greg Mercer - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/35
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Wed, 2 December 2015
It’s a very common thing for brand new Amazon private label sellers… the question, “How do I find good product ideas?” Those are not just common questions, they are vital and important ones. You need good products if you’re going to make a run at an Amazon business. But finding those ideas is not as hard as you might think and on this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott Voelker is going to walk you through the way his brain works when it comes to finding new product ideas and niches (scary, right?). You’re going to see from a handful of real life examples Scott’s come across that finding ideas for new products is not as hard as you think.
For Private Label product ideas, nothing works better than a “Daily Touch List.”
One of the exercises Scott Voelker teaches in his private label workshops is the creation of a daily touch list. It’s a list you make as you go through your day where you write down every, single thing you touch during that day. It takes a while and is a bit nit-picky but what you’ll discover by doing it is that through the course of just one day there are thousands of product niches and ideas that you could investigate as possible private label products. As you analyze your basic list a bit further you’ll begin to see spin-off ideas and possibilities that you never would have thought of without making the list in the first place. Be sure to listen to this episode… Scott even gives away a few of the ideas he’s had in the past few months.
You’ve got to keep your eyes and ears open… private label product ideas are all around.
Scott was chatting with his buddy John a while back. They were just shooting the breeze, drinking a beer together, catching up on life. John’s in the extermination business and as the two of them chatted about John’s work and the various problems he faces, Scott remembered that one of the best and biggest sources of product ideas is the problems people face. He began to wonder what products might be needed in John’s particular niche and his brain started racing. Scott’s not going to create a line of pest control products, but he shares the example to show you that as you talk with people in the course of everyday life, product ideas spring to life if you simply know how to listen.
Are there local businesses in your area that make specialty products?
If so, you could be onto a new product idea for Amazon private label right there! Check out the company. Do they have a webpage? If not, they probably aren’t very internet savvy. You could potentially partner with them to get their products on Amazon and work out a deal where you get a certain amount of the profit they make from their overall Amazon sales. Or better yet, they might be willing to set up a wholesale arrangement with you so that you could private label their products and sell them as your own on Amazon. They’d get the wholesale profit and you’d have an almost “instant” Amazon brand that can’t be duplicated. Scott’s got lots of ideas like this to share, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Learning to live life on purpose and product ideas will spring up everywhere!
What does your sister or brother do for a living? Are there needs in that industry that you could service with a private label product? How about your neighbor or friend? What are the hobbies your grandparents enjoy? Is there a product idea there? Do you see how you can simply begin looking around and find many, many areas where product ideas might exist. You’ve just got to put in the time to think about it and ask some questions to discover if there’s potential for an Amazon product that could make you some cash. Be sure to listen to this episode to hear Scott’s suggestions for how to stimulate your brain to find more product ideas!
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/125 - Scott’s story episode
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 30 November 2015
This episode of The Amazing Seller Podcast is one that’s been asked about time and time again but Scott simply couldn’t speak to it because he’s not done it. The topic? Shipping your Amazon products by sea. But in typical fashion Scott didn’t let it rest there, he found someone to talk to who has not only done sea shipping, but continues to do it and has a refined system for how to do it successfully every single time. So fasten your seatbelt and get ready for this firehose session of The Amazing Seller as Scott quizzes his guest, Derrick Miller on the issue of sea shipping.
Your foreign supplier might suggest shipping by sea. What should you do?
When first time Amazon Sellers start interacting with suppliers from China they eventually come to the question of how they are going to get their products from China to the U.S. The supplier will often say that they ship by sea. But is that the best route for you? On this episode, Scott’s guest, Derrick Miller, says that for first time or new Amazon sellers you should always push to ship your products by air at first. The reason is simple: You have more control over the process at the outset and your products will get to you faster, so you can start making money and scaling your business. The time will come for sea shipping as your business continues to grow but at the beginning it’s not the best idea.
Lessons learned from a sea shipping disaster!
The first time the guest on today’s show shipped his products by sea, it was an example of “what can go wrong will go wrong.” But it was as learning experience that he’s maximized to his benefit. Now Derrick Miller has a process and system in place that takes into account every negative thing he experienced with his first sea shipping attempt to make sure that none of the problems that happened then, happen with future shipments. And he’s not through learning. If things he hasn’t experienced yet go wrong, he tweaks his system to ensure that it’s the last time that problem occurs. Derrick’s got tons of experience with this and can teach you a lot, so be sure you listen to this episode if you’re at all considering delivering your products by sea.
How expensive is it to ship by sea?
The main reason any Amazon Seller would want to ship by sea is for cost savings. But that cost savings comes at least partly because you’re getting many more product at once - buying in bulk. So if you’re not ready to buy thousands of products at one time, sea shipping is probably not the way you want to go. But if you are at that point you’ll save a good deal of money on the transportation side of your products even if you have to hire freight forwarders to handle the customs and shipping issues as your products are in route. There’s a lot to consider and understand when it comes to shipping by sea, and today’s guest knows it backwards and forwards, so make sure you listen so you can learn the pros and cons of sea shipping.
How to ship your Amazon Products by sea, step by step.
One of the defining characteristics of Scott and the TSA community is generosity. Everyone is eager to help each other create successful Amazon businesses. Today’s guest, Derrick Miller, is no exception. In this episode he shares his step by step process for shipping his products by sea. He covers lots of things you wouldn’t know about if you’ve never done sea shipping before so the value in what he’s giving us today is incredible. So before you order your products to come to you by sea, make sure you listen to Derrick’s explanation of his sea shipping process so you can avoid the mistakes he’s made and take advantage of his generosity and experience. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 - episode with Greg Mercer, creator of Jungle Scout |
Fri, 27 November 2015
Welcome back to The Amazing Seller, the podcast that gives you practical, powerful advice about how you can build an Amazon business that takes action and builds the life and lifestyle that you want. In this episode, as always, Scott has got a great show in store. He’s going to talk to you about some amazingly simple things that most people do wrong when it comes to optimizing their product listings. The reason it’s so wrong is because it not only hurts their organic search in Amazon, it also makes their Amazon PPC not work correctly. You won’t believe how simple it is and the dramatic impact it had on one student’s account in a very short amount of time. Hear all the details for yourself on this episode.
How Scott discovered these simple product listing mistakes.
During one of Scott’s private label classroom sessions a student mentioned that when she tried to do a “suggested keyword” PPC campaign, she was only given 2 keyword options. That didn’t seem right to her or to Scott. At Scott’s suggestion, she looked at the keywords in her product listing and removed all the commas in between the words. When she did that it was only a short matter of time before things changed dramatically. Scott thinks this could not only have been impacting her PPC campaigns but also her organic search in Amazon. In this episode you’re going to hear all the details of the tweaks they made to her account and the actual results she got by doing it.
Amazon Product listing mistake #1
Every Amazon seller has GOT to learn how to use PPC in order to make their product listing visible and attractive to every Amazon search that has to do with their product. Many people step into using PPC without taking the time to learn how to use it wisely. And among those who do use it wisely for the most part, there are small mistakes that can cause the entire PPC campaign to be ineffective. This first mistake is so easy to make and so simple to correct. It has to do with a tiny little thing called a “comma.” Want to know all the details of how one student in Scott’s private label class went from 2 keywords available in a suggested PPC campaign to hundreds? You’re going to find out on this episode!
You want to make the most of the space you have for keywords and product listing titles
And not everyone knows that one of the main ways you can do that is to make sure you’re not repeating words. For example, if you’re selling garlic presses you want to make sure that you only use the word “garlic” and the word “press” once each in your title and keywords. Many sellers would use those words again coupled with other words to try to rank for a different keyword phrase, but that’s not how Amazon works. When Amazon sees the word “garlic” the first time, it shuffles it around with all the other keywords and makes up all the phrases it can using those keywords… so you don’t have to. Find out exactly how Scott recommends you make the most of your keyword and title space on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Be careful how you phrase your product titles on Amazon.
You may feel it’s important to use words like “quality” and “bargain” in your product titles in order to give those searching adequate reasons to click on your listing title. But when you do that you’re actually wasting space that the Amazon engine is looking at to determine whether your item is something to show at all. People won’t be searching for “quality garlic press” - they’ll be searching for “garlic press.” So leave out the filler words so you can maximize that space with better, more relevant keywords and get your products found in the Amazon search more easily. Scott walks you through these 3 simple mistakes that you can easily fix, on this episode.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Find Scott on Periscope - www.Periscope.tv - search for @ScottVoelker
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/119 - the PPC episode with Chris Schaeffer
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/86 - Product optimization episode with Karon Thaxton
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - How you can ask Scott your questions for the Friday “Ask Scott” episodes
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
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Fri, 27 November 2015
You’ve landed on the Friday edition of the Amazing Seller podcast where Scott does his “Ask Scott” episode. It’s an opportunity for up and coming or veteran Amazon sellers to ask their real life questions of Scott Voelker, a successful Amazon seller who is making it his job to teach and inform about Amazon sales and Private Labeling on Amazon. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask Scott, you can find out how to do that on this episode, so make sure you listen and ask your questions! Maybe it will be featured on this Friday slot!
If I log on to Amazon using different IP addresses, is that going to cause me problems?
When you log on to any account, Amazon or another site, the website logs what IP address you are logging in from. An IP address is the internet address where your particular computer is located. A coffee shop will have a different IP address. The library will have a different one. Your parent’s house will have yet another. Are there problems that arise when you log into your account from multiple IP addresses? It’s an interesting question that Scott takes on. If you’re curious, take some time to listen in to this episode! If I’m an International Seller, what can I do to maximize my U.S. Sales?
International sellers have a lot of additional hoops to jump through in order to sell their products in the U.S. market. A listener tells Scott he’s doing great so far selling products from Australia, but wants to know what things he should watch out for in order to be successful at his U.S. sales. Scott’s got two great resources to share that should help international sellers make the best of the opportunity to do private label sales on Amazon. If you live outside the U.S. and would like to sell on Amazon, you’ve got to hear about these resources! I created my own product but am not being allowed to use PPC. Can you help?
This listener from Colorado has created his own product and loves that it’s the only product on Amazon like it. He got his first 5 reviews and then went to set up his first PPC campaign just like Scott suggests. When he started the process he discovered that Amazon would not allow him to set up a PPC campaign because he did not have the “buy box” inside the Amazon product listing. That doesn’t make sense. If it’s his product, he should be the only one on the listing and should have that buy box. What’s the catch? Scott’s got plenty to suggest to this seller in regards to tracking down this strange problem, on this episode of The Amazing Seller. Is it a major hurdle to start my Amazon sales in a restricted product category?
Restricted categories in Amazon are certain product niches, like health and beauty, where Amazon will not allow new sellers to enter without approval. A new Amazon seller wants to know if it’s a major problem for him to try to get approved for a “gated” or restricted category within Amazon in order to start with his first product. Scott’s advice is that he not try to get into a gated community like this for his first product and he has plenty of reasons why he gives that advice. You can learn a lot from Scott’s reply so make sure you listen in to hear all the details.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Find Scott on Periscope - www.Periscope.tv - search for @ScottVoelker
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - How you can ask Scott your questions for the Friday “Ask Scott” episodes
www.TheSellerAbroad.com - A new Amazon seller from Australia!
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/98 - An episode about International sales on Amazon
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 23 November 2015
Today’s guest is no stranger to the Amazing Seller Podcast - not only has Danny Brewer listened to the show from almost the beginning, he’s also been featured on the show as a guest twice, back on episodes 17 and 100. Danny’s back today because he was able to take advantage of a special opportunity Amazon gave to certain sellers, called “Lightning Deals.” In this conversation Scott is going to ask Danny to walk us through the details of how this opportunity came about, how he took advantage of it, and what the results were from participating in this special Amazon promotion. You’re going to learn a lot from hearing these two guys dig into this topic.
Prime Day was a great boost for many Amazon sellers. What can you learn from it?
Both Scott Voelker and Danny Brewer participated in the Amazon Prime Day event - an opportunity for Amazon buyers to get special deals on lots of products all over the Amazon platform. Scott and Danny both participated, not necessarily giving discounts on their products and the sales were tremendous! Both of them saw much greater returns during a time of the year when sales are not typically the best. In this episode Scott and Danny spend a little bit of time discussing the pros and cons of the Prime Day event. Their chat could help you prepare for the opportunity the next time it comes around so be sure to listen.
If you get an email from Amazon inviting you to part of a Lightning Deal, you could be in for a wild ride!
Amazon’s newest approach to promotions is called “Lightning Deals” and it’s a way that the Amazon company is reaching out to private label sellers with an offer to participate in 4-hour promotions of your products that could increase your sales and possibly even boost your product visibility from that point on. The initial contact would come from Amazon via email and you’d be invited to participate. At that point you’ll be asked to fill out forms regarding your products, pricing you’re willing to offer, and other information. If you’re product qualifies and Amazon accepts you into the program, you’ll be assigned a specific day and time slot when your product will be offered as a “lightning deal.” You’ll have to have your inventory in Amazon’s warehouse 48 hours before the deal goes live. Find out more about these incredible opportunities for Amazon to promote your products on this episode.
The power of building relationships that keep you moving forward.
Danny Brewer, today’s guest on The Amazing Seller, is a great example of a person who takes action in partnership with other people who are doing the same kind of sales he is doing. He’s a very active member of the TAS Facebook community and also has been involved in a local meeting group of Amazon sellers who share information and keep each other accountable. If you are not part of a group that can help you push forward when you hit your own internal resistance, you have got to find that place. The TAS Facebook group is an amazing option where you’ll find people who are all about helping each other move their Amazon businesses forward.
“TAKE ACTION!” It’s Scott’s favorite phrase.
Many people listen to podcasts all day long and do nothing with the information they hear. Others buy online courses or books and devour them, but don’t move forward with any of the strategies they learn. Are you one of those people? If you are, you’re probably making excuses as to why what you’ve learned doesn’t apply to you, or why you can’t move forward into a business or life you feel you should have. That’s too bad because good things happen for those who take action. You don’t have to know everything, you only have to know the next thing. So find out what it is and get rolling. Take action to see your own Amazon Private Label business succeed!
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Danny’s original episode - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/17
Danny’s most recent episode - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/100
Scott’s story episode - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/125 |
Fri, 20 November 2015
This episode of The Amazing Seller is the special FRIDAY edition… and what’s so special about Fridays? It’s when Scott Voelker does his “Ask Scott” episode, where you can ask your specific, situational questions and get direct answers from Scott. These episodes are some of the most listened to for very good reason. You get practical, powerful advice from somebody who’s a bit further down the road than you are, and the lessons-learned can help you to avoid pitfalls and mistakes Scott has made thus far in his private label business journey. You can ask your own questions by submitting them through the Amazing Seller website: www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - go ahead, ask your question now!
Trademarks on my brand name: Is it a good idea?
Many sellers who first start out with an Amazon private label business are concerned about their brand name and everything that goes with it being solely theirs. It’s an understandable concern but Scott doesn’t feel it’s that important at the beginning. Why? Because getting started is a very time consuming and difficult process. Your learning curve is very high. Taking the time to figure out the brand name/trademark issues is a waste of energy at that point. You need to focus on making the business successful first to see if it’s even worth trademarking any brand names. Scott’s got lots to say on this issue so be sure you listen to get all the details.
Should Amazon Private Label sellers have insurance to cover themselves for liability issues (like customers possibly being injured using the product)?
Business insurance is something many beginning sellers don’t consider as a cost of doing business, but it’s very important. On this episode of The Amazing Seller a listener asks about the possibility of a customers being injured using his product and what steps he should take to protect himself and his business from lawsuits. Scott’s first piece of advice is to not sell things that have a high risk of injury (nunchucks, throwing stars, etc.). But secondly he highlights the fact that once you begin selling a certain amount of products Amazon will require you to have liability insurance and will ask you to provide proof of it. That’s something you need to be ready with when that time comes. Hear Scott’s explanation of the policy and how you can go about finding the right kind of insurance for your needs, on this episode. What’s the best way to avoid high customs charges when ordering large quantities?
It was back in episode 32 when Scott shared about a shipping mistake he made that cost him $1,082.00. Today a listener asks about a similar issue, wondering how to best go about arranging the shipping of large orders to the U.S. so that customs fees and costs are minimized. There are varying guidelines that shipping companies use regarding their calculation of the fees incurred at customs, but there are also things your product supplier can do in terms of how they package and invoice the shipment to help you minimize customs costs. Listen to Scott’s explanation of this confusing issue to make sure you are not incurring more charges than you should, on this episode of The Amazing Seller. Have you made the most of Scott’s free resources? The Private Label Workshop is a great one you should attend!
If you’ve listened to The Amazing Seller for any length of time you know that Scott’s not one to hold back information. He’s eager to share what he’s learned so that you can have every tool you need to make your private label business a success and a blessing to you and your family. One of the best and most comprehensive things Scott’s created is his “Private Label Workshop,” a weekly, live, FREE webinar that teaches you the 5 steps to finding, launching, and selling an Amazon product successfully. If you’ve never been a part of his workshop, now is the time! You can find all the details and sign up for the next workshop at www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - Ask your question!
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
The episode about Scott’s shipping mistake - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/32
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop |
Wed, 18 November 2015
Welcome back to The Amazing Seller podcast. Scott’s excited (as usual) to bring you some actionable tips about how you can maximize your sales on the private label products you’re selling on Amazon. Today’s episode covers a problem that’s becoming more and more frequent for Amazon sellers. What is it? As the market become more and more crowded and others jump on the same bandwagon of products that you have, you’ll see pricing become one of the main differentiators motivating product sales. A price war has begun. Scott’s been experiencing that with his very first product and has been working to overcome the difficulties presented by it. But it’s not all bad news? Why? You’ll have to listen to hear Scott’s explanation so you can get the full gist of how he sees this difficulty as an opportunity.
Differentiation is an important thing when it comes to a price war.
One of the things Scott has discovered through a recent price war that has ensued in one of his product categories is this: The more unique and attractive your product is, in ways that are different from the competition, the more likely you’ll be to demand the price you need and want because buyers will be more willing to purchase it because of its uniqueness. That could have to do with either product design or packaging and Scott’s the first to say that since the product in question was his first product, he didn’t pay attention to those issues as much as he should have. But he’s glad he didn’t. That sounds like a strange thing to say… but Scott’s got a great reason for saying it that you can hear on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
A great tactic for a product with slipping profit margins.
When was the last time you went to the grocery store? Have you paid attention to the coupons that print out when you are at the register? They’re discounts based on what you purchased that are designed to lure you back into the store to buy that product again at a discount. Why would they offer you an opportunity to buy the same product for less? Because they’re betting that when you do come back into their store you’ll buy more than just that one product. They’re willing to give up some income on one product for the probability that they can get you to buy more when you make that purchase. Today Scott’s going to suggest that products that begin to lose their profit margin can be used in the same way. How do you go about it? Scott’s got some great ideas that he’s eager to share with you on this episode, so make sure you listen. Bundling could come to the rescue of a lower profit margin.
Scott always believes there’s a way to continue benefitting from the hard work he’s put in, in the past - and he wants you to think the same way. If your product used to bring in lots of cash but is slipping because of competition, you can’t give up! You’d be bailing out on all that hard work. One of the things you can do is to look over the “also bought” listings that show when you view the product in question and consider creating new products to bundle with it based on those results. THAT is a great idea that Scott unpacks for you on this episode and it could be the very thing to save your product’s usefulness and keep your business rolling along just as it always has. Find out more about how to make those bundles happen on this episode.
If your product is being undercut by a price war see if you can create a variation.
Products that have variations - such as color, size, features, etc. - provide the buyer an additional opportunity from your company that they wouldn’t have otherwise. You want to make sure that you’ve got every hook in the water you can have, and a variation on your current product could be a masterful way for you to gain attention you’re losing to competitors who are undercutting your price. It’s one example of finding a way to offer something that your competition doesn’t and to do it in a way they can’t. It’s about differentiation and you can do it to keep your products selling. Scott’s got more ideas about how to go about it on this episode!
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 16 November 2015
Every entrepreneur has a story. It’s the path they followed to success that was either planned for accidental. But for those who know how to learn, how to work hard, and how to hustle, the path will work itself out in the way it should. Today Scott shares his entrepreneurial story with you because he wants you to see what’s possible if you are willing to keep moving and work to see yourself succeed. It’s a story of fits and starts, experiments and hard lessons learned, and the discovery that working for himself was the best thing he could do. You’ll be inspired by this blue-collar, hard-working story that has led to amazing success. What do you do if you graduate high school with no plan for the future?
Scott grew up on a blue collar home. When he graduated college there was no college fund that had been saved up and no expectation that he’d pursue college. So when he graduated he had no idea what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Through a series of trial and error and many lessons learned from a series of jobs, he discovered that working for himself and for his own family’s needs was much smarter than working for someone else. That lead to a whole new world that you’ll hear about on this episode. Digital product sales opened his eyes to a whole new world.
By building out and working their own photography business Scott and his wife were able to create templates and systems they could use over and over to make their workflow and process work smoothly. When Scott became aware of the fact that many people were selling their own creations online, he and his wife started talking about the possibilities. They concluded that they should give it a try and they created a photography course to put online. Scott created the course, set up the website, began promoting the launch, and they waited. Within hours thousands of dollars was coming in. It was the beginning of an online business career that continues today. Hear the details of Scott’s story and how he learned that if you want to see success, you’ve got to take action.
There will always be self-doubt and fear.
But Scott Voelker learned through his journey, from high school to present day, that those voice threaten but can’t really hurt you. You’ve got to set aside those doubts and fears and push forward to find the open doors of opportunity that you can take to a better life. It’s pushing through the obstacles and doing something, taking action, to move yourself forward to a better tomorrow. Scott’s story is inspiring simply because he’s an example of what can happen when you fight to make it happen. Listen to Scott tell his story on this episode. You’ll love it.
Success leaves clues.
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Sat, 14 November 2015
October 2015 marks the one year anniversary of Scott Voelker being a private label seller on Amazon. Throughout that time Scott has been very transparent regarding his costs and earnings because he wants you to see the reality of an Amazon sales business and because his efforts are as much for your sake as they are for his.
So in that spirit Scott’s bringing you THIS BONUS EPISODE that highlights his costs and earnings for this first 12 months as an Amazon Private Label Seller. He’s also going to give you his biggest lessons learned to help you avoid some pitfalls and optimize your business in light of what he’s learned. Scott’s private label business is doing very well and he’s excited to share his real numbers with you. Thanks for listening!
OUTLINE OF THIS BONUS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Get the Periscope app - www.Periscope.tv - search for @ScottVoelker
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop %7D"></script>
Direct download: BONUS_201220Month20Income20Report202B20Lesson27s20Learned.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:00am EDT |
Fri, 13 November 2015
Your Amazon sales question are answered here! Yes, it does seem too good to be true but just give this episode quick listen and you’ll see that Scott Voelker doesn’t hold anything back. He takes your real life, honest questions and applies his vast knowledge of product research, selection, modification, listing, marketing, and sales, and puts it to work by answering your questions. This episode features questions about Best seller rank (BSR), getting custom products created, and using PPC data to optimize results. Sit down, grab something to take some notes, and get ready to learn how to take your private label business to the next level.
Connect with Scott on Periscope for live interaction!
Scott’s having a great time using Periscope, have you connected with him there yet? Periscope is a live video streaming app that enables you to watch and interact with Scott live anytime that he has something to share (and he’s got a lot to share throughout the day). His thoughts might be on Amazon sales or just business in general, but you’ll get something actionable out of every conversation Scott has on Periscope. To get the app for your phone head over to www.Periscope.tv and then search for Scott Voelker once you’ve got it installed. It won’t be long before you’ll be “scoping” with Scott!
What is BSR (Best Seller Rank) and how can I use it in my product research?
One of the key stats you want to discover when you’re researching a potential product niche is what Amazon calls BSR (Best Seller Rank). It’s the number that shows how well a certain vendor’s products are selling on Amazon and it tells you whether or not a product niche is one that is worth your time and effort to get into. In this episode Scott’s going to run through the bare bones way of figuring out best seller rank and also show you how you can use software to automate that aspect of your product research process to speed up the time it takes you to decide on a product and get it to market. You won’t want to miss it.
I found a great product niche but I can’t find it on Alibaba. How can I get a custom product made?
A listener called in to ask Scott about a product niche that he’s very excited about, but he can’t find anything even similar on Alibaba from wholesale companies. What should he do? Scott’s idea is that he can use Alibaba to provide a drawing or description of what he’s looking for and find out how much a supplier might charge him to create the product from scratch. It’s a great way to differentiate yourself in a busy market and also a sure fire way to keep your product listings from being hijacked. Scott walks through the specifics of what he’d do if he was in this listener’s shoes so take a little time to pick up some tips. Using your PPC data to tweak your campaign for better results.
Wow… the listener who called in this question has some amazing things going on in his Amazon pay per click campaign. He’s making tons of sales at great margins, but he wants to know what he should do next to optimize things even more. You won’t believe how detailed Scott gets with this, taking the guy through the Amazon dashboard step at a time to get him to the exact report he needs to look at to find out how he can optimize his returns even more. If you’re curious about a practical way that PPC can be used to increase profits, you’ll want to hear Scott’s explanation on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - Get your questions answered!
www.Periscope.tv - get on Periscope to connect with Scott live!
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/book - Scott’s new book - go get your copy!
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Jungle Scout - www.JungleScout.com OR use Scott’s affiliate link at www.TheAmazingSeller.com/resources ($10 discount)
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 - Greg Mercer’s episode about Jungle Scout
Chris Schaeffer episode on Amazon PPC Updates - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/119
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Wed, 11 November 2015
There’s a lot of talk in the Amazon sales communities that the market is getting saturated, that Amazon is getting flooded with sellers and that opportunities are diminishing. Is it true? If you simply throw a generic product on the Amazon sales engine and there is lots of competition for identical or similar products, maybe so. But you don’t have to stop there. In this episode Scott Voelker is going to walk you through some very simple things you can do to make your private label products stand out in a crowded market. This episode is loaded with practical ideas and tips to make your products different and attractive even if this market is crowded.
You need to think about your market, not just one product.
When offering products on Amazon you’ve got to keep in mind that you’re not just selling a product, you’re entering a market and you want to DOMINATE that market by offering products that meet the needs of the market in unique and truly helpful ways. What does that mean practically? It means you don’t just want to load up your seller account with products, you want to make your products themselves unique so that they get more eyes on them, more attention, and eventually more sales. You want your product to be the top selling product, the most popular product, and you do that by making sure that your items are customized in ways that matter to the end user, the customer. In this episode of The Amazing Seller Scott walks through 5 ways you can make your products stand out so they can be positioned to take over your market.
The text you put on your product page matters - a lot.
Product descriptions are one of your main opportunities to make your product stand out, to outline and specifically highlight the difference between yours and those of your competition. You’ve got to become adept at telling about your product in ways that catch attention and draw people to give your product a second look. You can do that through the use of words like “professional” or "heavy duty.” Those words communicate quality and value that is not true of every product in the niche. That way you can appeal to certain groups of buyers, like those who use your type of product in a professional capacity. There’s a ton more that can be said about this issue, and Scott covers a lot of it on this episode, so give it a listen.
Oversized items can expand your sales in ways you’ve never considered.
Most Amazon sellers don’t stock oversized items for many reasons. They may have a higher cost so it’s a more difficult place to enter a market. They typically cost more to ship to Amazon so there’s another barrier. But if you can get your mind around one simple fact you’ll see that oversized items might be your ticket to success. What’s that fact? It’s that most other Amazon sellers are staying away from oversized products for the same reasons you are. That leaves a huge hole in the market that you can fill. So as your business becomes more profitable, consider investing in oversized items as an addition to your product line. You could be stepping into a vacuum that’s been left in the market that will set your company apart in your niche, and begin capturing sales that nobody is currently meeting. Scott’s got more to say about oversized items, so be sure to listen. Customizing your products means more than just putting your logo on it.
Lot’s of Amazon sellers understand the need to have products that are difficult to copy or imitate. But there’s more to it than simply putting your logo on it. You’ve got to research your market niche to find out what customers are looking for and figure out a way to provide it for them. How do you do that? One powerful way is to check out the reviews on products within your niche. Oftentimes customers will tell you exactly what they wish was different about the product they just bought. As you read more reviews you’ll begin to see patterns. Those wishes are actually requests for YOU to make a better product especially for them. That’s just one way you can learn how to customize products for more Amazon sales, so listen to this episode of the Amazing Seller to get more ideas for product customization. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The episode featuring Tayson Whitaker - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/27
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/JungleScout - (affiliate link) - get your discounted version of Jungle Scout
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 - Greg Mercer’s episode about Jungle Scout |
Mon, 9 November 2015
Welcome to this episode of The Amazing Seller. Today Scott’s got a couple of very important things to cover and he doesn’t waste any time getting to them. Both come from today’s guest, Matt Ward. The first has to do with some tweaks he’s making to the process he recommends for introducing your very first Amazon product to the market. The other issue has to do with a unique strategy that Matt is using to get reviews for his products. It’s an interesting idea and Scott’s not sure what he thinks about it yet, but he wanted to you to hear about it so you can make up your own mind. We’re also going to hear what Matt’s doing to prepare for a smooth exit from his private label business when he’s ready to sell it. All of that and lots more details are on this episode.
There is more than one way to launch your Amazon product.
Today’s guest, Matt Ward is living proof of that. One of Matt’s strongest beliefs is that Facebook is one of the greatest email list building services in the world. How does that work? Matt has become a member of many FB groups and builds his relationships inside those groups with an eye toward making connections that could eventually get people onto his email list for product discounts, purchases, and announcements about new products he’s developing. Within a matter of days he found himself building a pretty substantial email list simply by making a 50% discount offer to anyone who sent him their email address. It’s how he builds a list to help him not only with one product but with a series of products that are in the same niche. Hear more about his approach to using Facebook in this episode.
“I would never sell a product that didn’t connect with other products.”
That’s what Matt Ward said when Scott asked him if his products were related within a specific niche on Amazon. He’s convinced that it makes the most sense to build a business, not just a few scattered or unrelated products that bring in money. The business approach enables him to tie the products together in a way where cross promotion is natural and the same people who buy one of his products would naturally be interested in the others. It’s smart business and it works. You can hear more of what Matt’s got to say about his approach to Amazon Private Label sales on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Do you have a follow up sequence for your email list?
For that matter, do you even have an email list at all? Scott’s long said that building an email list of people who are interested in what you have to offer is essential to making future product sales and launches happen much faster and with greater overall success. Matt Ward, today’s guest, agrees. He’s been able to use some of his blog content as trickle-out content that he sends through is email list to keep his customers or interested prospects engaged with his brand. That way he’s able to stay top of mind… and when a new product comes out, they are used to hearing from him already. That’s just one of the gold nuggets Matt shares on this episode so make sure you take some time to listen to how he’s running his FBA business, on this episode.
How important are Amazon reviews for your product ranking?
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Fri, 6 November 2015
Welcome, welcome, welcome! You’ve found the place where Amazing Amazon sellers come together to get their Amazon private label sales questions answered by someone who’s becoming increasingly successful doing exactly that. This is the Friday “Ask Scott” session of The Amazing Seller podcast, where Scott Voelker answers your questions about selling on Amazon. The questions today are all over the board - what to do in a crowded market - how to go about setting up a brand to sell in a few years - what to do about sea freight issues - and how to use the new Amazon PPC. As you can see, there’s a lot to learn on this episode so stick around and hear Scott’s advice!
Does a crowded market automatically mean I shouldn’t try to introduce a new product?
Scott gets this question all the time and he says that whether or not the market is crowded is not the thing that matters. Why? Because many people will make the attempt at selling on Amazon on a whim, or will introduce a product into a hot market on a hunch without doing the research and work needed to ensure that their product is going to rise to the top in that market. What winds up happening is that those sellers have sent in lots of products to their Amazon warehouse and they’re just sitting there. So when you look at a category that has 100 competitors, it’s likely that many of those are not selling at all. So how do you discern the right thing to do? Scott’s got a clear answer to that question on this episode!
I want to set up an entire product line on Amazon for the purpose of selling the entire business 3 to 5 years from now. Do you have any tips for me?
It’s becoming more and more common that savvy sellers are recognizing the opportunities that could come of building a very competitive and popular brand for the very purpose of selling the entire business they’ve built sometime in the future. Why does that strategy work? Because there are many, many people out there who have the money to get into a good, steady-income business but don’t have the skill (or don’t want to learn the skill) to build that business themselves. It’s THOSE kinds of people who are ideal candidates for buying an Amazon private label business like this listener is asking about. So what tips and tricks would position this seller to best sell his business when the time comes? Scott’s got plenty to say about this and you can hear the entire thing on this episode.
My supplier is insisting that they will ship to my local port… but my city doesn’t have a port. What should I do?
Sometimes sourcing products from China or other foreign places brings with it a certain set of difficulties that you don’t always expect. One of those is the misunderstandings that come from the challenges associated with language barriers. It can become very difficult to communicate exactly what you want or need and you’ve got to know how to be clear, patient, and kind as you work out those details. This seller is running into that issue regarding shipping and isn’t sure what to do. Scott’s advice is pretty simple: You take the lead and tell the supplier how you want the product shipped to you. If they are unwilling you may need to find a new supplier. OR, if you want to go the sea route, Scott’s got a resource for you to consider. Check it out on this episode.
Amazon PPC has changed… do you know how to use the match types?
Amazon Pay Per Click used to be set up so that the only way you could position your ads was on a “broad” match type. That approach costs you more money for ads that aren’t going to convert and gets you less sales. But Amazon’s recent changes do away with that problem. Now you can do PPC campaigns on three match types, “broad,” “phrase,” and “exact.” A listener on today’s show wants to hear Scott’s approach to using those three match types and Scott’s not one to disappoint. His explanation should help anyone unfamiliar with Amazon PPC to sort out the differences and set up a campaign that will do exactly what they want. Hear it all on this episode.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott and Chris’ free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
How you can ask your question - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask
Periscope - http://periscope.tv
Twitter - www.Twitter.com
The episode on Amazon’s new PPC - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/119 |
Wed, 4 November 2015
There are very big companies that have made private labeling on Amazon their sole source of income and revenue. Wouldn’t it be great to get a behind-the-scenes look at how these big companies that create multiple brands go about doing business on Amazon? Well in today’s episode of The Amazing Seller that’s exactly what we have. Scott’s guest is Jason Brunson. Jason is not only an Amazon Private Label seller himself, he’s also worked for one of those large companies for a number of years and walks us through the step by step process of how these companies go about doing everything, from product research, to optimization of their listings and product fulfillment. It’s a great episode with lots of tips and encouragement. Be sure you give it a listen! Getting started on Amazon with Arbitrage through used book sales.
Jason and his wife heard about the possibility of selling products on Amazon and decided to give it a try. Their first venture was using the arbitrage model. They chose to find good used books to sell on Amazon and actually made a decent amount of income each month. That’s when Jason saw an advertisement on Craigslist that was offering positions to people to work for a company that sold a variety of products on Amazon. He applied and was hired. At first he worked in the customer service area but very quickly was moved to marketing, where he worked on Amazon listing and product sales. He eventually took what he learned at his place of employment and started applying it to his own Amazon business and now is doing his own private label sales. As usual, Scott’s got lots of questions so be sure you listen so you can glean from Jason’s experience.
How does a company with 8 brands and 1500 SKUs operate on Amazon?
Believe it or not, the larger companies appear to do their product selection and research as well as their marketing and product sales very similar to what the “little guy” Amazon sellers do. The main variables have to do with the company’s willingness to try products and order larger batches to find those winner products. But in the end, the result is the same. They eventually find products that will sell consistently and use them as a basis to build a new brand. From there, you guessed - they add products to the product line and build out the brand. What do they do with all the products they’ve tried but haven’t turned out to be good sellers? You’ll have to listen to the episode to find out, PLUS hear lots more tips and insights Jason gives us, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Filling in the income gaps during slow times of the year.
One of the things Jason Brunson shares with Scott on this episode of The Amazing Seller is that the larger companies are pretty strategic at making attempts to balance out their product sales throughout the year. That means, for example, that since fall time is a slow part of the sales cycle, they’ll intentionally search for products that sell better in the fall time to add to their product line. This enables them to start generating income during a time when sales are usually down. Naturally, that balances out their income stream. Can you do this in your business? Scott thinks it’s not only possible, but necessary. You can hear his comments and Jason’s insights from what his company does by listening.
How can you find gaps in a market that you can fill?
Today’s guest, Jason Brunson, has worked for a company that has over 1500 SKUs in their Amazon account. They’ve worked hard to choose products that fill gaps in their existing markets. This enables them to get sales that others are missing by offering something unique but potentially in demand. Jason said that in order to figure out what those products are they look at a number of things going on in a particular product niche. What are those things? Well, they’re too many to list right here so set aside some time to listen tot his episode and you can find out. Grab your pencil and paper, you won’t want to miss any of them!
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott and Chris’ free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 2 November 2015
One of the most difficult dragons to slay as a new Amazon Private Label Seller is the issue of learning and using Amazon Pay Per Click (PPC). It can be a confusing and difficult thing to learn. But you aren’t alone in the process, Scott’s here to help. Amazon recently made some changes to their PPC platform and Scott’s put together this episode to help you understand the platform as a whole, learn about the changes, and know how to use Amazon’s PPC platform to get more sales for your Amazon Products. Sound like something you’re interested in? Then grab a pen and paper and get ready to take notes because you’re about to get the whole scoop, step by step on this episde. Isn’t Amazon PPC a confusing thing to learn?
Today’s guest, Chris Schaeffer doesn’t think so. He’s been an ecommerce and internet marketing specialist for years and he says that it’s very easy. The new tweaks Amazon has made to their pay per click functionality makes it even easier than ever to maximize your marketing budget and increase your sales at the same time. In this episode Scott and Chris walk through the changes to the PPC interface and tell you exactly what the options mean, how to use them, and how to step by step increase your sales using Amazon Pay Per Click. It’s an amazing free resource for you today on this episode.
The 3 different types of keyword matches in Amazon PPC and how to use them.
The main changes to Amazon Pay Per Click that have come down the pike are the addition of some options for choosing the type of PPC campaign you want to run. Using these tools makes it much more likely you’ll get your target buyers to see and click on your ads. The types are “broad”, “phrase” and “exact”, with the option of adding negative keywords (things you don’t want to rank for) as well. Using these and a little bit of patience you can figure out exactly which of your keywords are working and increase your PPC on those, which ones are not working (and remove them from your PPC altogether), and increase the likelihood of your Amazon private label sales. This episode walks you through how to do that, step by step.
Once my product is up and running and making decent sales, can I turn of PPC?
Today’s guest, Chris Schaeffer is a PPC and marketing expert and he says that you should never turn off your Amazon PPC campaigns, and here’s his reason why: What’s the worst that could happen? You have two top listing on the first page of the Amazon search - they click on your ad instead of your organic listing - and you still get a sale (more than likely). That’s it. You always want to make sure that your products are being seen OVER your competition, that way you will have the ability to dominate the market when they don’t. Find out how Chris suggests you set up your entire PPC campaign by listening to this episode.
Why learning Amazon PPC is so vitally important to your Amazon Private Label business.
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Fri, 30 October 2015
Welcome to another Friday “Ask Scott” version of The Amazing Seller Podcast. These episodes are entirely about you: Your questions, Your confusion, Your products and sales, and Your success. Each Ask Scott episode features questions sent in my people like you, new, established, and even successful Amazon sellers who would like to get Scott’s feedback on your ideas, problems, issues, and questions. Scott’s proven himself to be a great help to those who ask, so why don’t you ask? He’s ready to take your question and feature it on a future episode. You can leave your question by going to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask. Now, on with today’s episode!
You recently released a product without doing much market depth research. What are you doing to increase the sales on that product?
The past few episodes Scott has mentioned and even focused on the importance of researching the market depth of a potential product you want to sell on Amazon. It’s a big deal and Scott knows how big because he neglected to do market depth research on his 2nd product. He’s been very open about that fact and this listener asked Scott what he’s doing with that product since it was launched without the necessary research. Is he doing things to ramp up the sales? Is he making modifications to the product or thinking of taking it off Amazon altogether? You’ll get to hear Scott’s detailed answer to this question on this episode of the Amazing Seller.
What do you mean when you say that you want to diversify your product line?
One of the biggest things Scott has stressed over the past episodes is that you want to do more with your Amazon Private Label efforts than just sell a product. You want to build a business. That means that you want to have a product line rather than just one product. Why is it important to do that? Because a product line gives you more opportunity for sales within a niche, which enables each product to feed the same customers toward the other products within your product line. You’re building a user base that will begin to know, like, and trust your entire business rather than just one product. That equals more cash for you and more satisfaction and happy customers to spread the news about your products. A listener is asking Scott what he’s doing to diversify his product line and in this episode, Scott gives a detailed answer.
I’m starting out on Amazon PPC and wondering which match type I should use?
Amazon PPC (Pay per click) can be a very confusing monster to a newbie. Scott remembers the task it was to figure it out for himself. This listener is just getting started using Amazon Pay Per Click and is curious which “match type” he should use. There are three different options and each of them has a very specific function, so it’s a very good question. When Scott responds to this listener on this episode he gives a clear description of what each match type means and how he goes about determining which will work best for his specific products. A quick hint: It involves testing.
I have someone who’s approached me about setting up their products on Amazon. What do you think? Should I do it?
This listener has stumbled upon a potential source of great additional income. A company in his area has a very unique and distinct line of health supplements and has asked him to help them get their products onto the Amazon sales platform. In fact, they’ve offered him a position doing it for their company. He’s listened to all of Scott’s teaching on the 5 step launch formula and feels that he’s ready to give it a try, but he’s never actually done it himself for his own products. He’s curious what Scott thinks. Should he give it a try? Hear Scott’s response plus some additional thoughts about taking this kind of approach to building your own business through helping others build theirs. It’s a great thought.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - Get your Amazon Private Label questions answered |
Wed, 28 October 2015
One of the most difficult and time consuming parts of setting up a private label Amazon sales business is product selection. What are things you should do when picking a product to private label? More importantly, what are the things you should NOT do? On this episode of the Amazing Seller Scott’s going to walk you through 3 of the most commonly made mistakes when it comes to product selection. With each of those points he’s going to give you the details of what the mistake is, why it’s a mistake, and how to avoid it. Can you see how valuable this episode is going to be? Make sure you set aside some time to listen.
Depth of a product market is huge. What is it and how do you figure it?
If you are considering a product in a certain area you need to assess what Scott calls the “depth of market.” What is that? It’s a way of gauging the demand for a product to see if there is enough room for you to insert another variation of that product into the mix and have a chance of making enough profit. Figuring the depth of market has to do with analyzing the top 10 selling versions of that product and getting the average sales volume of each, from 1 to 10. Then you want to assess if the volume being sold is enough to leave room for your product. Sound confusing? It’s not that hard, but Scott explains it a lot better on this episode, so be sure to listen.
You also need to look at the volume and placement of reviews for the product you’re considering.
Why are reviews important? Because the amount of reviews a product gets, throughout all the variations and sellers, is going to tell you which of those products is a better seller and which are not doing so well. If you have 10 sellers of the same product and the top two have a ton of reviews, but none of the others have many at all, you might want to reconsider selling a similar product. Why? Because you’ll be fighting an uphill battle to make any headway in that niche - the top sellers already have the market on that product kind of buttoned down. Hear Scott’s explanation and tips on this issue by listening.
Considering price when you select a new product.
If you aren’t careful to look at the issue of pricing when you select a new product to private label, you could get yourself into a world of hurt. Let’s take an example. If you see 6 different products for sale in the niche you’re considering and one of them is priced at $14.99 but all the others are much lower, you’re going to have a hard time introducing a new product into that market. Why? Because it’s pretty clear that the main competition for that product is based on price, so it’s always going to come down to which seller is willing to make the smallest margin, which means you have to sell tons more products in order to really make a profit that’s worth all the effort. So be careful when it comes to price. Make sure you’re getting into a product niche that has plenty of room for you to fit in and take some of the sales. Hear more of Scott’s explanation of pricing and how it impacts product selection on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Would you like a discounted copy of Jungle Scout?
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Mon, 26 October 2015
This interview episode of The Amazing Seller is bringing you information that you’ve probably never heard before. That’s because Scott’s gone out of his way to track down and schedule this conversation with Kizzy Rucker, an Amazon Top 500 reviewer. Why would Scott do that? Because understanding the weight and significance Amazon gives to reviewers, and especially those it deems prominent reviewers, could greatly impact the way you solicit reviews, get people to leave them, and even approach top reviewers to ask them to check out and review your product. This is an amazing conversation you’re going to love!
Why would a person try to become an Amazon Top reviewer?
Kizzy Rucker, who is a Top 500 Reviewer on Amazon, says that there are a wide variety of reasons people might work to become a top reviewer on Amazon. For some it’s as simple as getting free or reduced price products. For others it’s the prestige of getting the little badge on the side of their profile that shows them as a top reviewer. For others, there are black hat, unethical practices they engage in to use their top reviewer status for personal gain. But for Amazon sellers, the Top Reviewer badge is a sign that a review by that person could mean a lot for your product in terms of sales and in terms of credibility. Find out more form Kizzy as she shares the inside world of an Amazon Top reviewer on this episode.
Do Top Reviewers actually lend clout to your product if they decide to review it?
Think about it from a buyer’s perspective. If you are considering a product and notice a Top Reviewer has reviewed the product, you would likely pay close attention to what they had to say simply because Amazon sees them as an important source of feedback. Now imagine if that reviewer left a glowing review or a video review that sang the praises of the product. You’d be much more likely to consider that product above others because a somewhat reputable source said it was worth buying. On top of all that, Amazon likely bumps products higher in search results simply because they have reviews by those recognized top reviewers. Find out how to take advantage of the top reviewers for your products, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Did you know there is software that can help you contact the top reviewers in your niche?
It’s true. A product Scott has mentioned numerous times on The Amazing Seller podcast, Amisuite, has functionality that enables you to find those top reviewers, research the actual products and reviews they’ve left on other products within your niche, and give you the proper way to contact them. But you want to make sure that if you do contact those top reviewers to ask them to review your product that you do it in a personal, considerate way? What’s that look like? You’ll have to hear this episode of the podcast to hear what a top reviewer herself said about that issue. You’ll be surprised at the kind of things that happen behind the scenes of a top Amazon reviewer.
What is the best way to go about asking an Amazon Top Reviewer to review your product?
Kizzy Rucker is a top 500 reviewer for Amazon and has her own particular ways of dealing with and responding to review requests. She says that the top reviewers all get many, many emails a day asking for a review on products. Her recommendations are simple: Keep it short and get to the point. Be real (an obvious form letter will get you deleted right away). Show that you’ve done your homework and know something about the reviewers’ likes and past reviews. Make a connection on a personal level. Don’t pester the reviewer after the product has been sent. Trust them to do their job. Hear more of how Kizzy sees review requests from Amazon sellers on this episode.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/resources - check out Amisuite
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Fri, 23 October 2015
Welcome to this Friday episode of The Amazing Seller podcast, and as you probably know by know, this is the weekly “Ask Scott” version of the show where you and other Amazon sellers like you, get to ask questions about your problems, curiosities, and issues with Amazon and Amazon Private Label sales. Today’s show is full of information that will apply to newbies and seasoned Amazon vets alike. It features a question about product reviews and feedback, barcodes and SKUs, and how to scale your product sales from 10 a day to an even higher number. There’s so much practical stuff in this episode you need to make sure to carve out the time to listen.
Product Reviews are being left in my Seller Feedback section. What’s the best thing to do?
This seems to be a common problem that many Amazon Private Label sellers find happening now and again: A customer leaves a great product reviews, but they do it in the seller feedback section. Wouldn’t it be great to flip a switch and just move it over to the product where it belongs? But sad to say, that’s not possible. You really only have 3 choices: #1 - Leave it where it is. At least that way you’ve got some positive vibes about yourself and your products for all the world to see. #2 - Ask Amazon Seller Support to remove it. They will if you ask them, but ask yourself, “Why would I want to remove it?” #3 - Contact the person who left the feedback and ask them to leave a similar posting under the product reviews section. Hear how Scott advises you go about doing all 3 of those steps, in this episode.
What’s the difference between a barcode and a product SKU?
As today’s questioner said, this is a basic question but it’s one that needs answered because there are many, many new Amazon sellers who are listening to the show each week. The barcode is something you need for each individual product and each variation of a product. It’s the identifier to which the price is attached, and you have to have a barcode to set up a listing on the Amazon sales platform. A SKU is a different matter. It’s a product identifier unique to your product that Amazon assigns to each of your products. Scott’s going to tell you how to find your SKU for each product and if you need to have it printed on your packaging or not. It’s all in this episode.
My first product averages 10 sales per day already. What are the steps I can take to scale up my sales even more?
That’s a great problem to have, wouldn’t you say? 10 sales a day is great but as this listener implies, it’s going to be even better if that number can increase. So what can be done? Scott’s answer to this question is a bit more complicated than a 1-2-3 formula. There are a handful of variables like sales depth of your particular product that you need to consider. So take the time to hit the play button on this episode so you can hear Scott’s advice and know how to apply it to your specific market niche. You’ll be glad you did when you see your product sales starting to increase.
You need a supportive community around you. Scott’s created one you can join for free.
In his time as an Amazon seller Scott has learned that the encouragement, advice, and support he receives from a community of Amazon sellers is one of the most important things in his business success and positive “take action” mindset. He created the TAS Facebook Community to serve as a place that you can build those relationships and it works in that way wonderfully. You can join the TAS Facebook group by going to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB and asking to join. You’ll be approved within a few hours and will be able to read the past posts, leave your questions, make comments and suggestions, and get the encouragement and motivation you need. What are you waiting for? Get over there now! OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
Find a barcode company: www.TheAmazingSeller.com/resources |
Wed, 21 October 2015
In today’s episode of the podcast you’re going to hear a very detailed, step by step account of how a brand new Amazon Private Label seller went from zero to $10K per month in roughly 30 days… and he did all of it AT THE SAME TIME he was working a full time job. How is it possible? It takes dedication, attention to detail, and lots of hard work. Scott is happy to highlight Jaime’s success story here today because it’s proof not only that an Amazon Private Label business can work, but that anyone can do it… even people who are busy or working full time already. So grab a pencil and paper (you’re going to need it) and take some good notes because Jaime drops a couple of mind bombs on us in this episode.
The value of “Just in Time” learning… and how Jaime did it in his business.
In the process of building any business there are so many details, so many ins and outs to pay attention to that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Very easy. Building an Amazon Private Label business is exactly the same. That’s why Scott advocates and practices what he calls “just in time” learning, which is the process Jaime followed in establishing his business and products on Amazon. What is JITL? It’s doing enough research and study of the process to do the next step only. That way you are able to focus, do one thing at a time, and move ahead only when you’re ready. You’re not looking at 20 steps in the whole process, you’re just focusing on one. Hear how Jaime applied the JITL approach to his product research, samples, launch, and sales in this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Pay attention when you start interacting with potential product suppliers. You can learn a lot.
This is one of the biggest info bombs Jaime drops in this episode of the podcast. He contacted many suppliers to potentially source his products and then he started watching their interactions with him. Did they respond promptly? Did they respond professionally? Were they easy to communicate with? Did they send things to him in the appropriate time frame and in packaging that was right for the product? All of these things added up to show him whether the company he was talking with was trustworthy, concerned about quality, and reliable to do what they said they would do. Jaime explains it so much better from his real life experience, so you’ll want to listen to this interview. Logos and branding issues for Amazon Private Label Products can be a pain.
Many people find a designer on Fiverr or someplace similar to create their logos, take their product photos, etc. And that’s a fine way to go about it, but both Jaime and Scott have found that finding someone local to where they lived was a wonderful thing. Why? The communication and time frames were much better, the quality was great, and the ability to be a part of the process was so much easier. Jaime even went to his product photo shoot and got to give input on how he wanted the products displayed and photographed. It’s another tip Jaime shares from his success that you can take from this amazing episode.
30 minutes a day to keep his Amazon product updates and rolling.
No kidding. Now keep in mind, we’re not talking about the product research and launch phase. This is after all that work has been done and the product is live on Amazon for the first time. Watching the stats and sales, keeping products supplied, tweaking PPC campaigns, responding to customer issues - all of it takes 30 minutes a day or less. How it that possible? Because Amazon does the heavy lifting by handling all your marketing, shipping, and sales. It’s an amazing business to get into. Now don’t hear that to mean that it’s easy. The product identification and launch process is anything but… but it’s a rewarding way to build a business, not just an income stream. Hear how Jaime and Scott are doing that on this episode. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
Pat Flynn’s episode featuring Ryan Moran
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Mon, 19 October 2015
There have been some changes to Amazon’s terms of service focusing around the issues of giveaways and reviews… but much of the “panic” you hear out there as a result is way overblown. In this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott’s going to go over what he considers to the 5 myths about giveaways and reviews. He’ll take the time to explain the panic, correct the myth, and tell you want he believes is appropriate to do in the scenario mentioned. You’ll get some practical advice about this vital part of your product launch strategy if you’ll take the time to listen, so why not click over and hit the play button right now?
MYTH 1: Amazon doesn’t allow you to do product giveaways anymore.
Scott’s not quite sure where this one came from but it’s clear from reading Amazon’s own terms of service for seller accounts that even Amazon believes that the giveaways and reviews are an integral part of how their platform works. Scott believes giveaways and reviews are something you not only should be doing, but that you HAVE to be doing. In this episode you can find out why he says that and also hear the important WAYS you go about soliciting reviews and making the most of giveaways. This episode could be instrumental in helping you get your product launch off the ground in a big way.
MYTH 3: You can’t ask family or friends to leave a review anymore.
Scott’s take on this is kind of unique. He believes that especially at the front end of your product launch you SHOULD ask family and friends to do reviews of your products, even if they are “unverified” reviews. Why? Because Amazon doesn’t know who all your family or friends are… neither do they know whether they bought your product someplace besides Amazon or not. Even if the powers that be at Amazon are able to determine that someone who left a review is a family member, the worst that will happen is that they will remove that review. But between the time it is left and the time Amazon removes it, it may have helped you get 2 or 3 or more sales because it was there. Scott’s got some actionable advice on this subject, so be sure you listen.
MYTH 5: I shouldn’t use a review service to get reviews.
There’s been a TON of panic around this topic, some people saying that the reviews left by review service participants will flag your account and get you banned, others saying it’s no big deal to use a review service at all. Which is true? As usual, Scott has his own take on this and it’s somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. Are you eager to hear what he has to say? Go ahead and listen to this episode (it’s only 26 minutes long)!
Are you just getting started with Amazon Private Label Sales?
If so, Scott’s got a great gift for you - and it’s ENTIRELY FREE! Every now and then Scott does a free, private label workshop that you can be a part of. He spends 45 to 50 minutes walking through his own explanation of the process from start to finish. That includes product identification and assessment, getting your products, shipping, customs, setting it up on Amazon, promotions, reviews, and a lot more. Then, Scott will spend however long it takes answering questions from the participants. You’ll love connecting with other community members and hearing Scott’s seasoned advice. You can be a part by signing up for the next workshop at www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/Resources
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Fri, 16 October 2015
If you’re doing Amazon Private Label sales and are just getting started, you’ve just stumbled onto the best resource you could have found… Scott Voelker’s “Ask Scott” episode! Every Friday Scott answers questions from listeners who have submitted them through his website at www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask . You’ll hear all kinds of questions from brand new sellers and veterans, all seeking advice on how to do their Amazon business wisely. So grab a pen and paper to take some great notes because you’re going to hear some real-world scenarios with Scott’s real-world advice to go along with it. Enjoy! Customs fees and tariffs: What should I plan on for my product?Scott often gets questions about customs, which makes total sense, since most people have never ordered a product from overseas before. Most of the time customs are not concerned with one or two products at a time, like the samples you should order to check out potential products. It’s when you start buying in larger quantities that customs will become an issue. So what are the customs fees and what should you expect? Honestly, it depends. It depends on the exact product you are shipping, what niche it is in, it’s weight and quantity, and many other variables. Most of the time Scott lets his shipper (DHL) handle his customs issues but not always. There’s really too much detail to type out right here, so be sure to listen to this episode to hear Scott’s detailed answer. Amazon just lost my products! How often does that happen and what can I do about it?It’s not really common, but it does happen that Amazon itself will lose or damage one of your product shipments. But thankfully, the Amazon representatives are usually very helpful in resolving these issues and Amazon policies themselves are in your favor. If Amazon loses a product or damages a product that you’ve sent in, they will pay you for the listed sales price of your product, minus all the Amazon fees, naturally. But they won’t do so unless you ask them to do it. So pick up the phone and call a seller support representative to get the ball rolling. They will be able to verify that the product is lost and issue the money for the products to your accounts. Find out how Scott goes about doing this himself, on this episode. I’ve only got $700 to get started on Amazon. What should I do first?This is a common question that Scott fields from newbie sellers and it’s very understandable. It’s wise to mitigate your risks as much as possible, so asking is part of how you learn to do that. What would Scott do if he had $700 and was starting all over? The first thing he’d do would be to prepare for his monthly Seller Account fee. It’s part of what you’ll need to pay in order to have the privilege of selling on Amazon. Next, he’d either do retail arbitrage to turn that $700 into $2000 over the holiday season, or he’d follow the steps a TAS community member did in his “TAS $500 challenge.” You can hear all of Scott’s advice about starting from scratch by listening to this episode. I have 3 great products according to the numbers, but would like to get some advice from an expert without having my ideas ripped off.This listener has done his product research and feels he has 2 or 3 products within a niche from which he can build a brand. Way to go! But before he moves ahead he’d like to run the numbers by someone who’s experienced in the Amazon world to make sure he’s looking at everything correctly. His main concern is that the person who looks at his numbers might steal the idea and begin offering those products themselves. How can he find a trusted advisor? As you might imagine, Scott’s got some thoughts about that conundrum and you’ll hear his answer if you listen to this episode. OUTLINE OF THIS Q&A EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEThe TAS $500 challenge - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/68 Shark Tank TV show Scott’s launch process: www.TheAmazingSeller.com/launch www.TheAmazingSeller.com/100 - the episode with a conversation about the launch process Ask your question: www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Wed, 14 October 2015
You’ve heard of house flipping. And possibly you’ve heard of website flipping. Well in this episode we’re talking about at potentially new way to flip Amazon businesses, or just sell one you already own. Today Scott is chatting with a previous guest, Ty Rooney about an idea Ty has come up with to create a website interface to allow buyers and sellers of Amazon businesses to come together, exchange information, and consummate a sale of an already existing, profitable private label business on Amazon. It’s an amazing idea… very appropriately featured on this episode of The Amazing Seller! Ty Rooney’s built his own private label business and is helping others build theirs.Ty was featured back on episode 33 of The Amazing Seller as an up and coming private label business owner and his business has taken off since then, just as he expected. But as he was building out his business he had another idea: help companies with existing products get their products on Amazon. He’s discovered a great niche and his expertise with the Amazon Seller Central interface has enabled him to work up to 20 clients whose accounts he manages. It’s that expertise that’s led him to consider this another new idea: helping Amazon sellers sell their businesses to interested buyers. It’s a great idea… one you’ll hear about in detail on this episode. Why would you want to sell a profitable Amazon business?The steady cash flow of most profitable Amazon businesses makes them a very desirable type of business to have. So why would you want to sell one? There are many reasons. Though you can streamline an Amazon business like no other, there’s still some work involved in reordering products, etc. It may be that an Amazon seller simply gets burned out and wants to try something different. Selling their business could be a great option… and there are plenty of business people out there who are eager to invest in businesses with a proven track record of profits. Ty Rooney and Scott Voelker have assembled a team of people who are working toward an Amazon Business brokerage that would help buyers and sellers make those deals happen. You can hear all the details by listening to this episode. What is my Amazon business worth if I wanted to sell it?Naturally, there are many variables to determining how much any business is worth. And the Amazon model is still new enough that there’s no established track record of business sales to go by. But Ty Rooney has been doing his homework to work toward an Amazon business broker site and believes that the average Amazon business that is profitable could likely sell for at least 20 times its monthly net. So an Amazon private label sales business that is bringing in $2,000 a month could potentially sell for $40,000 or more. Do you see the possibilities? Ty has lots to share on this episode so be sure to listen. Buy an already profitable Amazon business that is fully vetted by experts.That’s one aspect of the idea Ty Rooney has for his Amazon business brokerage. Since he and his team are experts on how the Amazon Seller Central platform works, they would investigate the numbers on every business that is submitted for sale through their site. That way every claim made by a business owner about the profitability and track record of their Amazon business would be verified by an independent 3rd party. Buyers would be assured that the numbers they are hearing about their potential business purchase are accurate. Can you imagine the potential for this idea? Find out more on this episode of The Amazing Seller. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEThe previous episode Ty Rooney was on www.TheAmazingSeller.com/33 The prototype Amazon business website: www.JungleFlippers.com Get information about this ideas: www.JungleFlippers.com/info Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Mon, 12 October 2015
Are you convinced that building an Amazon Private Label business could work for you but you’re a bit hesitant to take the plunge? Today’s episode of The Amazing Seller features someone who was in your shoes not long ago. Tyson Starling got into private label sales through retail arbitrage and became convinced early on that Amazon’s platform could be a powerful way for him to build his income. He did the product research, built his listing, then ordered his first sample of products. He took action, which is exactly what YOU have got to do if you’re going to make a go of it on Amazon. Hear Tyson’s story on this episode.
Retail arbitrage is a great stepping stone into private label sales.
Tyson Starling was doing retail arbitrage on Amazon way before he got into selling private label products. He feels that the experience he had working with the Amazon system and learning about the way things work was instrumental in him being able to move into sales of his own products without too much of a learning curve. He admits that retail arbitrage sales is tougher and time intensive, but he suggests it for anyone who’s a bit unsure about whether Amazon is right for them. Find out how Tyson made the transition from retail arbitrage to private label products on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Your first time dealing with a foreign supplier is very nerve wracking.
It’s hard enough doing all the product research and settling on a product without knowing 100% that it’s going to be a winner for you. To take that additional step to find the product you want and to send a big chunk of money… THAT is stress! Tyson Starling felt that and more when he ordered his first set of products and to make matters worse the email server at his supplier’s office got hacked and he wound up having to jump through some extra hoops to make sure things were done properly. Hear Tyson’s tips about dealing with suppliers by tuning in to this episode.
Why Scott always recommends your first order of private label products be shipped directly to you.
Yes, you can save money by having your supplier send your products directly to Amazon, and many sellers do that without any problems. But Scott is convinced that in order to make sure your business and brand are represented by quality products, you’ve got to take the additional (and sometimes more expensive) step of receiving your first batch of products so you can check out everything about them yourself. Tyson Starling, today’s guest, was so glad he received the first set of products he ordered because the packaging on all 500 products was all wrong. Because he knew about it he was able to get some new packaging ordered, communicate with his seller to correct the problem for future orders, and make sure his products were received in a a quality state by his customers.
Should you try to sell a product when there’s a big name competitor in the niche?
Many Amazon Sellers turn away immediately when they see a big name brand company selling the same product they are considering. But Tyson Starling suggests you take a second look. In his thinking, the big brands are mostly selling through retail outlets throughout the world and Amazon is not their main area of focus. He believes (and is proving) that his products can compete with the big name simply because there’s enough room within the Amazon marketplace for both to sell decently well. He’s content to make the cash he’s making, assuming that his small amount of sales is not going to threaten the big company enough to cause them to ramp up their efforts on Amazon. Hear more of what Tyson’s got going on, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS Q&A EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Sat, 10 October 2015
This is a special bonus episode, highlighting Scott’s personal Amazon sales numbers and income for September of 2015. It was a slower month than previous months, and Scott has 4 reasons why he thinks that was the case. But he’s very optimistic about the 4th quarter because he’s seeing his October sales rise a bit already. If you want to hear what’s really possible in an Amazon Private Label business, you should listen in to this episode to hear what Scott has been able to achieve in just under 1 year. That’s right, he’s only been doing this business for less than a year.
Scott’s not sharing his numbers to impress, but to impress upon you that your Amazon business can work if you take the right action. Thanks for listening!
OUTLINE OF THIS Q & A EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/Facebook - The TAS Facebook Community research |
Fri, 9 October 2015
Would you like to have your questions about Amazon FBA answered by someone who’s been successful on the platform?
This is your chance. Every Friday Scott Voelker answers questions that have been left on the voicemail app on the website. They could be about product selection, dealing with negative reviews, pricing, sourcing products from China, or anything else that has to do with selling your private label products on Amazon. You can ask your question by going to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask - and Scott just might provide an answer on a future episode of Ask Scott!
I’ve got a handful of negative seller feedbacks and want to get my seller ranking to improve. How can I do it?
If you’ve had issues where the people who have bought your products were not happy for some reason, there are some things you can do to deal with the negative feedback they may have left on your seller profile. First, contact them and offer to rectify the situation. You may need to simply refund their money and allow them to keep the product regardless. But either way, you’re building good will about you and your brand, which could result in those people adjusting their seller feedback. You want your customers to be happy so do whatever it takes. But what can you do about the impact those reviews have had on your seller feedback? Find out by listening to Scott’s response on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
I have a competitor who is slamming my products on their own product listings, saying that I don’t have the right to sell the products myself. What can I do about this?
It is frustrating when your competitors seem bent on sullying your brand or products in order to try and get a leg up on you in the Amazon marketplace. Is there anything you can do about it? Yes, you can contact that seller and ask them to show you proof of the claims they’re making or even send them a cease and desist letter to add a bit of pressure. You can also contact Amazon seller support to ask them to force the competitor to stop. But Scott recommends something else that you may not expect. Listen to this episode to hear his answer.
All of my products use the same basic keywords. How can I use Amazon PPC to target each product when the keywords are all the same?
Amazon PPC is pretty confusing to use as it is. But when your products are similar, perhaps different variants of the same basic product, how can you differentiate within the PPC interface to drive traffic to a specific product? Scott’s got some suggestions for this sort of situation on this episode that you’ll want to hear. It’s not only helpful for driving the actual traffic to the place you want it to go, but his response will also enable you to use PPC to do some research on what people are actually searching for in your niche. Interested? Listen in to hear more!
At what point should I consider using freight forwarders or shipping agents?
Obviously, you want to keep your Amazon business as streamlined and simple as possible. That way you maintain control of timelines and other things that impact the availability and sales of your products. But as your business grows you may need to find other solutions to help you expedite the sheer volume of products you’re dealing with. Those solutions may include freight forwarding services or private shipping agents. At what point are these needed and how do you know if you’re at that point? Scott gives some tips about those decisions and offers some other helpful suggestions about shipping in general in answer to this question.
OUTLINE OF THIS Q&A EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s follow up email sequence: www.TheAmazingSeller.com/email
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
The Greg Mercer episode about using Jungle Scout - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56
Podcast 32 -.Scott’s $1000 mistake: www.TheAmazingSeller.com/32 |
Wed, 7 October 2015
Welcome to this episode, the 27th “Ask Scott” session! Your questions are what make these Friday episodes the valuable resource that they are, so keep them coming. If you’ve never asked a question but would like to, you can submit your question very simply. Just go to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask and click the button to leave your own voicemail question. Who knows? You might be the next listener whose question is featured. Scott loves to field these questions. Not only does it help you, it also helps everyone listening, so go leave your question for Scott now!
I made a mistake, how can I increase my seller rating now?
A listener accidentally missed some customer emails (they landed in the SPAM folder on his email), so he didn’t respond to them in a timely way. Naturally, that dinged his seller ranking on Amazon and he’s struggling to get it boosted again. In this episode of Ask Scott, Scott gives this seller some tips on how he can go about increasing his seller rank after some negatives have occurred. There are some very logical, simple steps to take that over time, can increase that seller rank. Find out how on this episode.
I’m spending lots of money on a PPC campaign and can’t rank for my keyword!
Amazon PPC is a vital part of the Amazon business model and a listener asks Scott what he’s doing wrong. He’s got a campaign set up to rank for certain keywords, but he can’t even get one impression for his main keyword. He’s spent up to $50 per impression to try to get his product to rank, but no luck. What’s he doing wrong? In this episode Scott Voelker answers the question by giving some tips regarding PPC and he even suggests the seller call Amazon’s catalogue department to get some first-hand help. Hear the entire response by listening to this episode.
I’ve just launched my 2nd product but I can’t get it to rank higher than the 2nd page. Help!
An Amazon seller who’s already had some success with one product has just followed Scott’s product launch steps to put her second product in the Amazon catalogue. But try as she might, she can’t get her product to rise any higher than the second page of the Amazon search results. Is she doing something wrong? Does it have to do with how long the competing sellers have had their products listed on Amazon? Scott’s got some ideas of what might be going on, so be sure you listen to hear all the details.
I want to add variations (color, size) to an existing Amazon product listing. Can I do that?
Say you’ve got a T-shirt listed on Amazon. The first listing for the black shirt is selling well so now you want to include additional colors. What do you have to do in order to list your new shirts? Can you add them to the first listing as a variation? Do you have to create an entirely new product listing? What do you do with the old listing if you decide to create a new one with variations included? These are important questions and Scott dives into it on this episode, including some talk about using parent/child functions in the product dashboard to connect products to each other. It’s a great response that everyone can learn from.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
The new 10-day Private Label Course - www.FreePrivateLabelCourse.com
Scott’s email/feedback system - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/email
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Wed, 7 October 2015
It’s not always easy for potential Amazon sellers to choose the right products to sell. That’s because there are so many products possible and so many people already selling those products. How do you know which might be profitable? How do you know if there’s enough room in the market for your product ideas? How do you know if you should take the chance? In this episode of The Amazing Seller Scott’s going to walk you through the 5 steps he uses every time he’s trying to figure out if a product idea is worth pursuing. And as a bonus, he’s going to tell you why you should be thinking of building a brand, not just selling a product or two. It’s an amazing episode you’ll want to hear!
There is a lot of value of doing a brain dump.
Before you even start the 5 steps Scott covers in this episode he suggests you first do what he calls a “brain dump.” You want to get out a sheet of paper and a pencil and write down every single idea you have about what products you might be able to sell or be interested in selling. As you do this you need to think about your passions, your pains and problems, your hobbies, and even the things that fall into those categories that were true of you in the past. These are great ways to tease ideas out of your head and onto paper so that you can look at all the options that appeal to you. From there, you’ll have a direction to go. Hear the details of Scott’s 5 steps by listening in to this episode.
You’ve got to find the market that your products can serve.
The market your products will be sold to is simply the people who are interested in or desirous of your particular type of product. Are they baseball fans? Are they watchers of a particular television show? Are they moms who have a particular hobby on the side? You have to be able to answer what your target market is because knowing those people’s interests is what’s going to show you the wide variety of products they might be interested in, products which you could add to your product line.
So you have a product on Amazon… your next step is to begin thinking about a product line.
What’s the difference? A product is a one-time shot. You only have one opportunity to make a sale to people in your target market. But a product line is like having lots of hooks in the water. You have many more chances of getting a bite! A product line that is focused on one particular market is called a brand, and what you need to be doing is building a brand, which translates into having a legitimate business. Scott’s going to cover the specifics of what it takes to build a reputable and viable brand on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
There are at least 8 reasons you need to be thinking about building a brand rather than just a product line.
A product line is just that… a line of generic, random products that fit within the same niche market. But a brand takes on a life of its own. A brand becomes something that consumers look for, by name, and can become loyal to over time. Imagine that, people who want exactly what you’re offering who are looking for you and only you. There’s amazing power and profit in being able to position your business in that sort of a relationship with your clients. It enables your business to soar to levels you never thought possible. Take some time and listen to Scott’s 8 reasons you should focus on building a brand, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community
The Greg Mercer episode about using Jungle Scout - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 |
Mon, 5 October 2015
Spencer Haws is well known in the online entrepreneurial world. His site www.NichePursuits.com chronicles his experiments creating multiple niche based sites to generate varied streams of income to replace his J-O-B. He did it and has expanded to learn about SEO, website development, keyword research, and eventually to create his own software to do keyword research, www.LongTailPro.com. But when he heard about the possibilities of Amazon Private Label sales, Spencer just had to try it for himself. In this episode of The Amazing Seller you’re going to hear Spencer’s entire journey as an Amazon seller.
Why would a successful software developer give Amazon Private Label sales a try?
Spencer Haws is not your average software developer. In fact, he’s much more. Spencer’s interest in Amazon Sales comes from the fact that he’s naturally curious about the many ways that it’s possible to make money online. He’s always looking for recurring income, with as little administrative busywork and cost as possible. When he first heard about Amazon Private Label selling, it sounded too good to be true. He expected that there would be a huge time commitment, and there was at the beginning. But he soon realized that the potential of Amazon product sales far outweighs the drawbacks. Spencer shares his story and what he’s learned so far on this episode.
Generating product ideas from the needs you have in our own life.
Discovering a real felt need in the marketplace can be a difficult thing to do. But Spencer Haws doesn’t believe it really has to be all that difficult. His successful software, www.LongTailPro.com was developed for his own use simply because he had a need that none of the available software solutions could meet. It went on from there to become one of the most effective and widely-used SaaS products in the online business and blogging world. Spencer took that same belief into his Amazon Private Label sales efforts, believing that if he was experiencing a clear need that the marketplace was not providing a solution for, he couldn’t be the only one. Hear how Spencer went about the product selection process in this great conversation. Spencer Haws knows something about keyword research and he’s applying it to his Amazon product listings.
Keyword research is often spoken of only in the blogging, SEO, and online marketing communities. But Spencer’s expertise and experience as the head of a keyword research software company has shown him that every search algorithm, from Google to Amazon, uses keywords in one way or another. That belief has led him to do extensive keyword research relating to each of his Amazon Private Label products and the results have been amazing. The research has enabled him to rank for keywords his actual customers are using, but most of his competitors are not. The creative way he’s been able to apply that skill is making all the difference. Find out more about Spencer’s approach and beliefs regarding keyword research and your Amazon product listings, on this episode.
Don’t expect a lot of personal profit in your first six months as a Private Label seller.
But isn’t that why we’re doing this? To make money? Yes, it is, but you’ve got to understand that you’re building a business, not just a one-time source of income. That requires money to be invested back into the business so it can expand and solidify, building a base from which all your future income will flow. Most successful Amazon Sellers who make a living through their Amazon products spend the first 6 months (at least) putting their profits back into the business, and today’s guest - Spencer Haws - is one of them. Learn how Spencer used the success of his first product to finance additional products in his niche by listening to this great episode.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Spencer’s website: www.NichePursuits.com
www.Longtailpro.com - Spencer’s keyword research tool.
www.AMZTracker.com - the review service Spencer uses.
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Wed, 30 September 2015
There’s a ton of noise going on lately about hijacked product listings. It sounds pretty scary, and in some ways it could be if you don’t know how to stop it, but as always Scott’s got some great, simple, actionable advice for you as to how you can protect yourself from your products being hijacked. Don’t let it rattle you. You CAN take practical steps to safeguard your product listings from hijackers… now there’s no guarantee all of this will prevent your product from being hijacked, but it will definitely make it much, much harder for it to occur. Listen to this episode of The Amazing Seller to hear all the details. What is a “hijacked” product on Amazon? You’ve done the research to find and purchase your first product. You’ve listed it on Amazon. You’ve got it labeled as your unique brand. Then suddenly you no longer have ownership or control of the “buy box” on your own listing! Somebody has taken over your listing by sending products to Amazon that they “say” are identical to yours… but they CAN’T be. You’re the only one selling your products. You had them created just for you! Do you see the problem? Your sales will be impacted if you don’t do something to remove the hijacker’s products from your listing. How do you do it? That’s what this episode is all about so be sure to listen.
What Scott recommends you do as the very first step if you see that your product has been hijacked is to send a “Cease and Desist” letter to the hijacker. It’s basically a legal-sounding, somewhat threatening letter warning the person of what could happen if they don’t stop positioning their product as yours. They are breaking the Amazon terms of service and could be kicked off the platform, so you’re using that possibility to motivate them to remove their product on their own. What exactly should you letter say? Scott reads an effective C&D letter verbatim on this episode, so make sure you put it on slow play and get every word!
One of the things Amazon has put in place to help you safeguard your listings from hijackers is the “Brand Registry.” It’s a page on Amazon’s site where you can go to register yourself as the owner of your brand, give Amazon a lot of details, and set yourself in a very good defensive position should your products ever be hijacked. Scott recommends that every Amazon Private Label seller register their brand immediately, the minute they begin putting their products on the Amazon sales platform. Find out how on this episode of The Amazing Seller or by using the link to the Amazon Brand Registry included in the show notes.
What? Why would you want to buy the product that’s posing as yours? Because when you contact Seller Support at Amazon they are going to ask you to document exactly why the product listed is not your product. That means you’ll need pictures of the product, detailed examples of how it is different from yours, and the overall ability to prove that it is not your product at all. So the minute you notice your product listing has been taken over, order one of the products. You’ll be that much ahead when it comes to rectifying the situation because you’ll be able to prove your product’s uniqueness sooner.
It’s OK to put labels or stickers on your products to “brand” them when you first start selling on Amazon. But you can’t be satisfied with that. Stickers are too easy to fake. You want to do something unique that will make it much harder for a hijacker to create a fake of your product. Things like engraving, custom packaging, or combining your product with a related accessory that will be hard for the imposter to source, all those and more can help you set your product apart. Scott’s got other ideas too, so listen to the podcast to get all his thoughts.
Free Private Label Course - www.FreePrivateLabelCourse.com Amazon Brand Registry - https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/200955930 The TAS Facebook advice from Jeremy - https://www.facebook.com/groups/TAS.Private.Group/permalink/518908858277252/ Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 28 September 2015
Every person who takes on the challenge of building their own business through Amazon’s Private Label options dreams of hitting it big with real product success from the start. Today’s episode highlights a guy who did just that. Scott Thomas and his partner stepped out of the ecommerce realm to try their hand at Amazon simply because the Amazon Sales platform is such a powerful machine for drawing in customers and closing sales. Even with their experience in Ecommerce they were shocked at how quickly their products took off. Hear the whole story on this episode.
Scott and his partner put in their first order from a supplier in China and received it within a few months rather than having it sent directly to Amazon. They are very glad they did because there were a number of things wrong with the order. If it had reached Amazon as it was shipped things would have gone very wrong. Scott recommends that every Amazon Seller check their first couple of orders themselves to make sure everything is dialed in and the supplier knows exactly what to do every time. Hear more of Scott’s advice on the Amazing Seller.
Scott Thomas and his partner have gone through Scott Voelker’s material and knew they could get sales and reviews by offering discounts on their product. But they had a hunch that if they had full price sales within the first few days of their product being listed, they’d bounce higher in the rankings almost immediately. So they explained what they were doing to 20 close friends and asked them to purchase their product at full price to help them get things rolling. Those 20 sales came in within a few days and things happened exactly as they suspected. Find out more about how Scott combined that tactic with Amazon PPC in this episode.
Scott Thomas discovered that one of the best ways to find out what consumers want is to spend time reading posts in the forums where your ideal customers hang out. They often talk about specific products and their gripes and gratitude surrounding those products. From there a ton of ideas come up that enable Scott to make the modifications that people buying their products actually want. That’s just one of Scott’s tactics and you can hear the rest by listening to this episode.
If you’ve never attended one of Scott’s free live workshops to learn the basics of how he sells products on Amazon, you’re missing out. Scott walks through is product selection and launch process step by step so you know exactly what to do. And as a bonus, he answers questions at the end of every workshop session. If you want to connect with Scott and other Amazon Sellers as a part of the next workshop, you can! Go to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop to sign up.
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community Get your Amazing Seller Tshirt - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/shirt (all proceeds go to charity) www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 - Greg Mercer’s view on prodcut research. Jungle Scout - product sourcing software |
Fri, 25 September 2015
Scott’s got another great edition of “Ask Scott” on tap for you today. This is YOUR opportunity to get your questions answered about Amazon FBA, Private Labeling, Product Launching, and a whole boatload of other stuff having to do with Amazon sales. And you’ll get answers from Scott Voelker, a guy who’s been there, done it, and is still doing it successfully every single day. Scott is not one of those guys who teases you in with a little bit of knowledge and then tries to sell you a course to fill in the blanks. He doesn’t hold anything back. If you have a question, he’ll answer it as fully as he can. So ask your question by going to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask and Scott will see what he can do to include your question in an upcoming edition of “Ask Scott.”
Scott often refers to setting up a landing page and one of the services he uses to do that is called LeadPages. It’s a ready-made sales/landing page that you can direct people to in order to get them signed up on your customer mailing list. A listener asks Scott how he can go about setting up a LeadPage for his business when he doesn’t have a website. Scott’s got good news for him - you don’t have to have a website in order to use LeadPages. Find out the details and hear Scott’s advice on setting up an email follow-up sequence as well by listening to this episode.
One of Scott’s listeners is a bit confused because he’s a manufacturer and is putting his products on Amazon to test the waters. He’s doing merchant fulfillment instead of Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) and is NOT seeing his product in the “buy box.” Why is that? Could it have to do with the fact that he’s not using FBA? Could it be that a competitor is hijacking his product listing? Listen to Scott’s answer to get the full story.
A new Amazon seller asks Scott a question relating to seller feedback. Seller feedback is the place where purchasers of your products are able to leave comments and ratings about the service you gave them. This person’s customer left a pretty good product review (4 stars) but did it in the seller feedback area. Should the seller remove the comments? Should they contact the buyer and ask them to leave it in the Amazon Product Review section? Scott’s advice is spot on, as always. Find out what it is by listening to this episode.
It’s true. Amazon has recently changed its terms of service regarding product giveaways. It’s a topic that’s getting lots of buzz and has many people worried that their giveaways to generate product reviews are going to earn them a slap by Amazon. Is this true? Scott’s not all that worried about it and is continuing to do his product giveaways as he always has. Can you guess why? Find out his thinking on this episode of The Amazing Seller!
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community Scott’s feedback/review email sequence - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/email The Episode about landing pages - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/24
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Wed, 23 September 2015
Scott loves bringing case studies to the TAS community. It’s one of the best ways to see what’s working, the hurdles that Amazon sellers face every step of the way, and the kind of success that everyday people can achieve if they are willing to take action. This conversation is with a long-time friend of Scott’s who has been around since the beginning of this podcast. Bill has moved from retail arbitrage to private label sales and his first product is now selling 30 units a day or more. How did Bill do it? Scott’s got all the details for you in this episode.
Many people have great success doing the legwork required to pull of a successful retail arbitrage business, but Bill feels he’s not the kind of person who’s cut out for it. He was able to make some money but found some of the limitations and difficulties involved in arbitrage to be hurdles he didn’t want to have to get over. When he got into private label sales he enjoyed the kind of research, product sourcing, and brand building required and found it much more aligned with the kind of work he wanted to do. Find out all the details of retail arbitrage VS private label sales in this episode.
Large Chinese product sourcing companies like Alibaba make it easy for Amazon sellers to find products that match their criteria. But sourcing products from them also has its disadvantages. Bill saw that if he sourced his products from a common source like that, they could be easily imitated or even hijacked, so he went another route. How did he go about it? By going directly to a manufacturer. You’ll have to listen to the entire episode to find out all the details!
Scott’s guest today is a student in his Private Label Classroom and followed Scott’s recommended launch sequence. As a result he’s getting those 30 sales a day in record time! It’s a proven system that works when you take it step at a time, and Bill’s story proves it. Find out how Bill went about launching his product, got reviews, used PPC, and much, much more on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
The guy you grab a drink with after work is probably not going to understand your entrepreneurial spirit. Your parents or siblings may not get it. But you’ve got to have the support and encouragement all the same. Where do you find it? In a mastermind or discussion group that is focused on accomplishing the same type goals you are. Scott has created his TAS Facebook community to help Amazon Private Label sellers come around each other for support, encouragement, tips, and help. You’re free to join, anytime. Listen to this episode or use the links below to become part of the group.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE www.UpgradedImages.com Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community Scott’s private label classroom - www.PrivateLabelClassroom.com |
Mon, 21 September 2015
Way back in episode 8 Scott gave you a very simple, step by step launch sequence that he recommended at the time. In today’s episode he’s going back to that launch plan to tweak and update it based on changes that have happened on Amazon and additional pieces of software or technology that make the process a bit easier or more streamlined. If you’ve been considering the launch of an Amazon Private Label product, you really have no excuse now because Scott is going to show you how to do it successfully in this episode.
Do sales and reviews from family members do any good on Amazon?
You’ll hear a strange mix of answers on this one. Some people have had family member reviews vanish, or the family member never even receives the opportunity to leave a review on Amazon. Others have had no problem. What makes the difference? The honest answer is that we don’t know. Amazon’s criteria for determining what are “family” reviews and what are not is hard to pin down but we do know this. All reviews matter when you can get them, so you want to ask your family and friends to help you out with a review, or at least try. Scott’s got lots of great advice about getting reviews on this amazing episode of The Amazing Seller, so give it a listen.
What is the difference between “verified” reviews on Amazon and “unverified” reviews… and does it really matter?
The difference between the two is pretty simple. A “verified” review is a review from a person that Amazon is able to track as an actual purchaser of the product being reviewed. Even if they purchased the product using a discount code, it was still an actual sale, so it counts as a “verified” review. An “unverified” review is exactly what it sounds like… Amazon knows the person did not purchase the product. Does it matter? Not always. When you launch your product you’re just wanting to get as many stars and numbers on your rating scale as possible. The average buyer doesn’t typically notice whether a review is verified or not, but they do notice whether you have 2 reviews or 200. Find out more about it on this episode.
You can use a Facebook fan page to promote your products AND build your email list.
One of the important steps Scott has in his launch process is the task of building a Facebook fan page that focuses on a topic related to your product. You’re doing this for a couple of great reasons. #1 - you’re building a community around the niche area your product is aimed at. You’ll be able to present offers to them, conduct surveys about your product, and offer free resources to help them. But you’ll also be able to use the page to solicit sign-ups for your email list and target special offers through Facebook ads. Don’t know how to do that? Great! Give this episode a listen and you’ll find out!
If you don’t have a follow-up email sequence to reel in your customers, you’re missing out!
Once a person purchases your product you’ve discovered something important about them. They actually WANT what you have to sell! You’ve got to be sure to follow up with them to make sure they are happy with your product, to solicit a review and seller feedback from them, AND (maybe most importantly) get their email address added to your “customer list.” You can do most of that through Amazon’s built in communication channels. You can also use inserts in your products. But how it all works requires some explanation, like what you’re going to hear on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The original “How to Launch a Product” podcast - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/8
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Fri, 18 September 2015
TAS 100 : How To Choose and Launch Private Label Products on Amazon in 2016 (Round Table Discussion)
You’d better buckle up for this episode of The Amazing Seller! It’s over one hour and 15 minutes long… and for great reason! Scott’s hosting a “round table” episode with 3 three other Amazing Sellers - Chris Schaeffer, Rich Kibble, and Danny Brewer. They’re talking about how to launch products, changes to Amazon’s algorithms, marketing strategies, setting up your own ecommerce site, and tons of other great stuff. You’ll want to take notes and listen to this one more than once because there’s just TOO MUCH information to digest at one time.
Do you have the right mindset to be a successful Amazon seller?
What kind of mindset is that? It’s one that believes in the Amazon model and that anyone can be successful if they follow the steps Scott outlines. It’s a mindset that won’t give up even when disappointments or setbacks come. It’s a mindset that doesn’t try shortcuts, but patiently does what needs to be done each step of the way. It’s a mindset that surrounds itself with other people who are doing the same things, to receive encouragement and be an encouragement. It’s a mindset that takes action, over and over again. Find out more about how to be an Amazing Amazon Seller on this episode.
The fundamentals of building an Amazon Private Label business stay the same…
but you have to learn to be flexible as some of the particulars change. Over the last few years Scott’s formula for product research and product launch has proven to still work. His strategies for using reviews and PPC still get results. But since the Amazon market is getting more crowded, you’ll need work harder at those things and also add more effort to differentiating your product from others. You’ve got to stay flexible and be creative to make it work, but it still works.
What about the stuff going around that Amazon is cracking down on review groups?
It is concerning to think that potentially hundreds of reviews for your products could vanish because Amazon deems them to have been “paid for” through a review group. But is it really something to be THAT concerned about? In this episode of The Amazing Seller Danny Brewer says that so far it’s all seemed like smoke without a lot of fire. He still uses review groups to do what he calls his “aggressive product launches.” But other people say that they’ve had reviews vanish without notice. What do you think? What does today’s guest panel think? Find out more by listening to this episode.
You need to differentiate your Amazon products, but how do you go about doing that?
There are many ways to make your products stand out, but one of the guests on today’s episodes has a great trick: He finds sellers that are offering products that are the same or similar to what he’s offering, and goes into their seller profile. There he can see everything they’re offering. He might decide to carry a product that is like something that competitor is doing, or he might get a great idea from browsing around the items they offer. Either way it expands his possibilities and helps him build a business not just a successful product. Hear more ways of making your company pop, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/23 - Chris Schaeffer’s previous episode
Rich’s episode - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/53
Episode that features Jungle Scout - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56 (with Greg Mercer… and includes a video showing how its used)
The 500 dollar challenge episode - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/68
Karon Thaxton’s tips on benefits VS features - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/86
Find out about the 5 steps to launching your product in Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Simple Keyword Inspector - http://www.keywordinspector.com/simple/index.php
Episode with Steve Chou about ecommerce sites - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/93 |
Wed, 16 September 2015
The 4th quarter is the undisputed champion in terms of retail sales in the United States. Amazon is one of the most popular marketplaces out there and as an Amazon Seller you’d be wise to maximize your products and product listings for the 4th quarter so you can make the most of this natural time of consumer activity. This episode is focused on helping you do exactly that. Listen in as Scott covers 5 basic tips to get yourself ready for the 4th quarter. And as a bonus, he throws in an additional 6th tip.
If you don’t have enough cash on hand to get your private label products ready for the 4th quarter, you can do something else to build up your business.
It’s called Retail Arbitrage. Simply put, you’re purchasing existing products at discounted prices - either through stores or online - and reselling them for higher prices on Amazon, using your FBA account. Many sellers use this strategy to get started on Amazon, making extra cash that they can then roll back into an Amazon Private Label business. Where do you find these discounted products? On clearance racks, in thrift stores, at garage sales, anywhere that deals are to be found. Hear Scott’s advice about using Retail Arbitrage to boost your income to eventually get into a private label business, no this episode of The Amazing Seller.
If you don’t plan your inventory for the 4th quarter now, you’re going to have trouble.
One of the biggest problems private label sellers have in the 4th quarter is getting behind on their inventory. It never fails that sales or demand are higher than expected and they run out of product. That’s never a good thing since you’re sourcing from a manufacturer or wholesaler and will have to wait at least a few weeks to be restocked. Plan now to have enough product to last you through the 4th quarter sales season. Scott’s got stacks of his best selling product in his garage already and is gearing up for a big 4th quarter as a result. Find out what more you can do on this episode.
To make the most of the 4th quarter you need to get your seller account and products up in the Amazon rankings.
How do you do that? By generating traffic to your products, converting that traffic to sales, then appealing to those customers for reviews and feedback on the product they bought. It’s really as simple as that. One of the best ways to start that cycle is through Amazon PPC. That’s “pay per click” advertising, which puts your products in the view of those who come to Amazon searching for itit.. and that starts the ball rolling. You’ve got to invest in PPC now and throughout the 4th quarter to get your products ranking higher throughout the selling season. Hear Scott’s recommendations on how to go about it, on this episode. Now is the time to optimize your listing by testing the elements you include in it.
By the time the 4th quarter gets into full swing you want your listing to be optimized to its fullest. That’s why you should be testing the elements included in your listing now, so you have time to dial it in and get the most out of the high traffic season ahead. Experiment with images, verbiage, titles, bullet points - do anything you can to test your listing for peak efficiency and conversions. You can find out more about how to go about it on this episode of The Amazing Seller. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Google Trends to discover sales history and trends.
www.CamelCamelCamel.com - use to research sales history
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 14 September 2015
Most people who listen to this show or try to get a business started through Amazon FBA live in the United States. But Scott wants to offer help to everyone, no matter where they live. That’s part of what motivated this episode of the Amazing Seller. Scott chats with an Amazon seller from Israel, Yinon Shiryan and discovered that while many of the tips and tricks are the same, there are some very unique things that International Sellers have to deal with that make it a more difficult journey. But Yinon’s story is very encouraging because he’s persevered and overcome all of those hurdles. Hear his story on this episode!
Why Yinon got started trying Amazon sales.
Like most people, Yinon was already working a job that paid his bills, but he found himself never having time to get to the projects and other things her really wanted to do. His mind was dead after a full day of work. He heard about Amazon sales from a friend and was very interested. After only a little bit of research he decided to take the plunge and get started. He found a very popular product from a local supplier and looked to see what it sold for on Amazon. The margins weren’t very big, but he decided to go for it anyway. After stumbling through the process he has made his way to a very successful business. Find out how he got from there to here, in this edition of The Amazing Seller.
The obstacles International Sellers face are huge!
There are shipping issues, account issues, and support issues from Amazon. One of the most surprising things Yinon discovered was that Amazon support would not return calls to numbers that were outside the U.S. So he had to get creative, using a combination of Google Hangouts and another app to connect with Amazon support and get the help he needed. Yinon’s story shows how a commitment to reach a goal combined with massive action can propel anyone into a successful Amazon Sales business. Hear the entire story on this episode.
Making sales, even with a terrible listing.
When Yinon first started his Amazon Sales business, he admits he didn’t know what he was doing. His first listings, in his words, were “horrible.” He didn’t understand English as well as he needed to, so he had a very hard time optimizing his listings for keywords. But within a few weeks he was making sales anyway. What he discovered was that his product quality was very high compared to others in his niche and even though he was asking a higher price than others, he was beginning to make sales. At one point he dropped his prices to see if it would generate more sales and his number of sales actually went down. It’s a testament to value perception and the importance of having a quality product. Get all the details on this episode.
Variations of products have enabled Yinon’s products to rise in the Amazon algorithm.
Multiple listings for the same type of product, but with variations, has enabled Yinon’s products to gain a broader reach than many products do. His sales rank has benefitted from this and he’s glad that he chose a product with so many varieties. Yinon and Scott both feel that when you set up your product, you should list it as having variations so that should the time come when you want to add variations, you’re already set up to do so. Find out more about Yinon’s story and how variations are helping his products rank, on this episode of The Amazing Seller. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Sat, 12 September 2015
Today’s episode is one of Scott’s “Bonus Episodes” covering his income through his Amazon Business for August of 2015. These episodes are designed to be an encouragement to you, to show you that a real income can be provided through an Amazon sales business done the right way. That’s what The Amazing Seller podcast is all about.
So grab a pencil and paper to take notes and listen in as Scott reveals the actual numbers of his business - expenses, profit, sales, everything. It’s one of the most open episodes you’ll hear. He’s going to open up not only with his numbers, but with the lessons he’s learned over the past month.
OUTLINE OF THIS Q & A EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
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Fri, 11 September 2015
It’s always nice to have a trusted and experienced person to ask about questions that you have, in any area of life. That’s what Scott hopes these Friday “Ask Scott” episodes can be for you. He’s got 3 (actually 6) questions lined up today dealing with everything from customs fees to hijacked product listings. It’s a great show with some very practical, relevant content that should help you avoid some pitfalls and ramp up your business.
What is this I hear about a $2,500 limit on product costs to avoid customs fees?
There is a little bit of truth to the question, but it’s not that you avoid customs fees altogether. What happens is this: When you order products from China or other territories outside the United States, and the total product cost is over $2,500, your products are bumped into a different category where your order is processed by customs manually. That incurs additional customs fees that you will have to pay. Scott’s not sure if $2,500 is the exact limit, but received that information from a DHL representative. Listen to this episode to learn how Scott avoids that fee now.
Scott, help! My product listing has been hijacked!
It’s a very maddening thing when you go through the work to get your private label products purchased and sent in to Amazon and then someone else takes advantage of all your work by listing their product on your listing and works hard to get the “buy box.” What should you do? That’s the exact situation one caller is in and he asked Scott how to handle the situation. Scott’s response includes a “cease and desist” letter that one of the TAS community members uses to address those issues in her business. You can listen to hear how she uses the letter and what kind of response she gets.
When sourcing products through Alibaba, do you focus only on factories or manufacturers, or do you use any company?
The Alibaba listings can be confusing, especially when many companies have similar names. In today’s episode a listener asks Scott what to do when there’s an “XYZ wholesale company” and an “XYZ manufacturing company,” and an “XYZ Medical company” and they all offer the same or similar products. Should he go with the one that seems like the actual manufacturer or does it make a difference? Scott’s answer is focused more on the terms of the deal than the type of company it is, and he goes into his thinking in detail, so listen in!
If you’d like to get your Amazon FBA or Private Label question answered…
All you have to do is ask! Go to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask and leave your own voice mail, asking your question. Scott would love to include your question on an upcoming episode and answer it at the same time! Don’t be shy… get over there right now and ask your question!
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Ask your question: www.TheAmazingSeller.com/Ask
Find Scott’s Periscope sessions www.TheAmazingSeller.com/Scope
The episode about avoiding a customs mistake - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/32
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Wed, 9 September 2015
Every Amazon seller has to learn how balance and manage their time in order to get their business rolling and keep it rolling. There are tons of ways you can organize your time, but on today’s episode Scott has a guest who’s going to help us get a better handle on our time. Welcome Kate Erickson, best known for her role in creating the Entrepreneur On Fire Audio Blog, “Kate’s Take.” Kate uses a process called “SCRUM” to help her focus on her goals and get more stuff done. Listen to this episode to discover how you can apply the same process to get more things done in your Amazon sales business.
How do you decide where to focus your energies each day?
That’s the first question Scott asked his guest, Kate Erickson on this episode. Her answer was very enlightening. She uses a process called “SCRUM” to help her dissect each goal to the basic, elementary steps of what is required to get them to the point of completion. It’s fully focusing on your goal one step at a time, no distractions, no pauses, no excuses. It enables her to knock out one aspect of a larger goal in a relatively short burst of time and then get on to the next step toward the goal. Hear more of how Kate goes about this process in this episode.
Many of you are Amazon Sellers on the side… so how can you best use these concepts to your advantage?
It’s not uncommon for people who are trying to build their business outside of regular work hours to find the time crunch almost impossible. There’s only so much time each day and you’ve got to be able to use it effectively. But there’s so much other stuff that demands that time - family, friends, hobbies, fun - it’s limitless. How do you go about using the “SCRUM” process Kate Erickson covers in this episode to manage all those obligations and needs? You’ll have to listen to this great conversation to find out!
The power of just getting started.
At first it may be hard for you to determine what steps are needed in a larger project in order to get it done. The first step in the “SCRUM” process is making a plan for achieving that goal, and you do that by breaking it down into smaller steps. But you won’t always know what those steps are when you begin. What do you do? You just get started. You’re going to launch into the project and your mind is going to naturally gravitate to the first things you need to do. Get started and write down your steps as they come to your mind. Set time frames to guide you, and get busy. Find out more about how Kate Erickson recommends you take on these projects, on this episode. The impact of not taking action - on you and others.
There are many things that keep us from moving on the things we know we need to do. We feel that we don’t have enough information, that our idea isn’t good enough, that there are other things we’d rather do. But we need to realize that when we allow those things to keep us from action we are not only hurting ourselves, but also the people who are depending on the outcome of our work. Those may be family members, customers, or people like Scott’s listeners who would never have been helped by his knowledge if he hadn’t started this podcast (and he almost didn’t.) Hear Scott’s story about learning this lesson on this episode of The Amazing Seller. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Kate’s Take - Kate’s podcast
Entrepreneur On Fire - John Lee Dumas’ podcast
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 7 September 2015
True story: A new Amazon seller followed Scott’s instruction step by step and the results were phenomenal. In the first 30 days of his product going live John made $11,305.94. It’s proof that the model of private label sales on Amazon not only works, it’s a legitimate way to earn a very substantial income. In this episode of The Amazing Seller Scott talks about the highlights of John’s experience, gives encouragement about how you can go about the same processes that John followed, and most of all, continues to stress that you have to take action now.
John quit his job and dove into Amazon sales. Should you?
That took a lot of guts. Not everybody would feel comfortable doing that. Scott is one of those people. His Amazon sales business took a full 90 days before he started seeing any kind of significant growth. If he’d quit his job to get into it, he would have been in a world of hurt before significant income came in. While John had incredible success in his first 30 days, Scott says it’s better to do your homework on the side and get started part time. That way you don’t put yourself or your family in a difficult spot. Find out more about why Scott advises caution when it comes to quitting your job to start Amazon FBA sales, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
The 10X10x1 Formula worked like a charm for John.
John gives the credit for the quick launch and success of his Amazon business to Scott’s 10X10X1 formula. What is the formula? Simply put, it’s this: 10 units - $10 profit - 1 day. So 10 units sold at $10 profit, every day. That formula is what you’re shooting for to keep your product sales (and business growth) rolling in a positive direction. John set the 10X10X1 formula as his goal when he launched his product and discovered that the focus enabled him focus only on products that were already selling at least $10 per day, and to work smarter and more diligently as he tried to get his business going. Find out what those steps were by listening to this episode.
How did John learn everything that he did to make his private label business successful?
John learned everything that he did from Scott’s podcast. But he didn’t just listen to each episode once or twice. He listened to every episode multiple times because he learned that the first couple of times through he heard what he wanted to hear, not what he needed to hear. The repeated listening enabled him to pick up things he’d missed in the first listens that were critical to his success. Hear how John suggests you go about learning the things you need to know in order to make your products take off like his did, on this episode.
How John maximized his promotions - it’s not a common way of doing it, but it worked.
John offered some discount promotion codes for his product when he first launched. He put out the codes on fliers that he hung up at a local convenience store. He also made the offer that if the people using the code recommended the product to their friends, he’d give their friends a discount as well (10% to 20%). The fliers disappeared from the convenience store and every single one of the discount codes was used! That’s an amazing response to an unorthodox way of getting the offer out. Hear the details of how that promotion impacted John’s product launch, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
http://www.Tomoson.com - the website where John got some reviews.
Interview with Greg Mercer - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/35
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Fri, 4 September 2015
It’s another great episode of “Ask Scott” where you get to ask your questions about Amazon FBA sales, private labeling, promotions, keyword and product research, and all the other things that go into building your own Amazon sales business through the amazing Amazon platform. In this episode Scott fields questions from 4 listeners - one all the way from Singapore! You won’t want to miss out hearing Scott’s responses to questions about pumping up slow sales, U.S. manufacturers or suppliers, optimization of search terms, and dealing with imitators of your product. All that on this episode of The Amazing Seller. You’ve followed all of Scott’s suggestions, but sales are very slow… now what?That’s the situation a listener finds himself in and on this episode he asks Scott if perhaps he missed a step or has not done something correctly. He’s getting a few sales a day, but is not even coming close to catching the top seller in his niche when it comes to product reviews. What should he do? It’s a hard question for Scott to answer without all the details, but he gives it his best shot, providing a handful of things to look at that could result in higher sales. Wouldn’t it be great to find a U.S. Manufacturer to source your products?There’s been a lot of chat on the Amazing Seller Facebook Group about this one: finding U.S. based product sources to keep the cash flowing within our own borders. Scott’s all for finding U.S. suppliers, but knows that in order to make a profit you have to spend as little as possible on the product side of things. That’s why this question is such a difficult one to answer definitively. In this episode Scott highlights some of the ways Amazon sellers might be able to find U.S. based suppliers, and invites anyone who HAS found a U.S. based source for their products to contact him to share their tips! How important is it to key in on the search terms and suggested customer profiles available in the product page setup?In every Seller Central product page there’s an option to give suggested categories of people that might be interested in the particular product you’re adding to the Amazon catalogue. A listener asks Scott how important those fields are and what might be done to optimize their use. Scott’s answer points to a previous episode where an expert on Amazon listings shared a wealth of fabulous tips about making your product listing the best it can be. You won’t want to miss Scott’s suggestions and that valuable resource, on this episode. Someone seems to be imitating my product, right down to the images, description, etc. What can I do?Here’s the scenario: A new seller of the same product I sell has shown up in the Amazon listings. His images are exactly the same as mine. His product descriptions are exactly the same as mine. The product is the same as mine. Should I patent my product? Should I contact Amazon? How can I keep this person from horning in on my sales by offering a product that is by all intents the exact same thing as mine? Scott’s answer on this one might surprise you. Listen in to find out the details. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEFind Scott on www.Periscope.tv - @ScottVoelker Get your question answered - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask The episode about Amazon optimization - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/86 Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Wed, 2 September 2015
Steve Chou has been building his own, private ecommerce stores online for a very long time. He did so way back before the days of Amazon FBA. In this great interaction Scott gets schooled by Steve on why every Amazon seller should consider, at least down the road, setting up shop on their own private ecommerce store. Steve tells the story of how he and his wife did that very thing, how they’ve grown it over the years, and how they’ve even used Amazon’s own system to drive traffic to their private store. You won’t want to miss this. Why would an Amazon seller want to set up his own ecommerce store?
Steve Chou thinks it’s a must for every Amazon seller to eventually move beyond Amazon to set up their own store. There are many reasons, but two of the greatest are #1 - the ability to create your own promotional content, and #2 - the ability to capture your customer information and follow up on them during and after the sale. He’s found that ability alone to be a significant source of conversions for his products. If you’ve been thinking about setting up your own platform for sales outside of Amazon, don’t miss this episode. You mean I can use Amazon to drive traffic to my own private ecommerce store?
Yep, that’s exactly right. Steve Chou has been doing it for a while now through what Amazon calls “sponsored ads.” It’s a way you can take advantage of the search traffic Amazon draws in… and it’s not just any search traffic - it’s people who are ready to buy exactly what you’re offering. Listen to Scott’s interview with Steve to find out how Steve sets up these sponsored ads and the kind of traffic and conversions he’s getting from doing so, on this episode of The Amazing Seller. Have you ever considered creating content to drive people to your products?
Bloggers have been doing this for a long time. It’s that great article, or video, or “how to” lesson that gives great value to the audience and then drives them to purchase the blogger’s product or course. You can do the same thing for your products. Steve Chou and his wife have been doing that for a long time and have found it to be a powerful way to feature their products and get people to check them out. Find out all the details of how Steve does it on this episode. How to use Pinterest to drive traffic to your products.
It’s becoming more apparent all the time that out of all the social media platforms available today, Pinterest is one of the best at driving traffic to product pages. Why? Because oftentimes people are searching Pinterest for ideas or products to solve a particular problem. What better place to post your product images and posts? In this episode of The Amazing Seller Steve Chou talks about how he uses Pinterest to drive traffic to his products, and he covers some important tips on how TO and how NOT TO use Pinterest. You won’t want to miss this. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Steve’s website - www.MyWifeQuitHerJob.com
Steve’s podcast - http://mywifequitherjob.com/category/podcast/
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Mon, 31 August 2015
There is a lot more to making your Amazon business successful than sourcing a product and throwing it onto Amazon. You’ve got to figure out ways to get many, many people not only seeing your products, but opting in to your email list and eventually, purchasing your products. When your items first show up on Amazon, they’ll be way down the list, so organic sales will be very few. That’s where “outside” traffic comes in. In this episode of The Amazing Seller Scott’s going to highlight some of the “dos” and “don’ts” of outside traffic to help you get the right kind of traffic, the right way.
The right social media platform for the right audience.
What does that mean? It means that when you’re considering promotions or list-building ads on a social media platform, you need to think through why people are on that social media platform in the first place. For example: People tend to go onto Facebook to see what’s going on with their friends or family, or to be entertained by funny memes or videos. Very seldom are they there to buy a product. So ads directing people to a sales page are not as effective. But if you were to apply that same evaluation to Pinterest, you may find an entirely different story. In this episode Scott covers the difference in various social media platforms and gives his advice on how to use each of them to drive traffic to the right offer or page.
Do you know the biggest “outside traffic” mistake Amazon sellers make?
It’s driving people directly to a sales page instead of trying to use social media platforms for a more long term goal - building an email list. Because many people are on social media for “social” reasons (go figure), they aren’t open to buying something while they’re on that channel. So trying to make them do it is not only frustrating, it’s dumb. Instead, appeal to the reason they are there in the first place by offering them something that is entertaining or socially oriented that is connected to your product. And how do they get it? By signing up for your email list. It’s a great way to build a list that can help you launch products, get reviews, and lots more. Find out how Scott would go about doing it, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Are there smart ways to drive traffic using Pinterest?
You bet there are. Many people use Pinterest to spark their creativity or to find ideas about home decor, crafts, haircuts, and a million other things. They are there in a “consumer” mood already. If they see your product-related pin and it sparks their interest or scratches an itch they already have, you may wind up having a very warm lead or potential customer. And one of the good things… if they wind up pinning your image to their board, it’s there forever, for all their friends and followers to see. Find out more about how Scott’s learning to use Pinterest on this episode.
To build your list you need to offer something that is truly of value to people.
Too many internet marketers throw together something shoddy or unfulfilling to lure people into subscribing for their email list. But if you do that you destroy the trust level because once they download your offer and discover it’s junk, they will unsubscribe or worse yet, form a negative opinion of you and your products. That’s why it’s critical that the “offer” you make in exchange for an email address is something of great value to your ideal customers. By doing that you’ll ensure that they are the type of person who will not only buy your product, but also be more likely to help you promote it and spread the word. Hear Scott’s tactics and ideas for building your list through great offers, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/resources - check out Amisuite
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Fri, 28 August 2015
One of the most powerful ways for you to learn about anything is to have the opportunity to ask a “nothing off limits” question from somebody who’s already doing what you are trying to do for the first time. That’s what this episode of The Amazing Seller is for - it’s an “Ask Scott” episode where you get to Ask Scott Voelker your own question about selling on Amazon, either through Retail Arbitrage, Wholesaling, or Private Label sales. In this episode you’ll hear questions about tax issues, private websites, and sending email to customers. Pull up a chair and get ready to learn as you hear from an experienced Amazon seller about the practical parts of building and running a successful FBA business. What percentage of sales profits should an Amazon seller set aside each month?
That’s a very important question, and it’s one asked by a listener on today’s episode of “Ask Scott.” Naturally, there are variables to consider for each situation including your state of residence and personal tax bracket. But most importantly, you want to base your decision off professional advice from a qualified accountant or tax attorney. Having said that, Scott tells what he does, including how he reinvests profits into his Amazon business so he can get additional tax write offs. It’s practical stuff you won’t want to miss… and you’ll only hear it on this episode of The Amazing Seller. Should you set up a website for your Amazon products?
Many Amazon sellers do set up a website for the products they sell on Amazon to give a greater sense of legitimacy to their business. But Scott’s not sure that the investment in a website is really all that important, especially as you first get your business rolling. He’d rather invest that time and money in things that will get his product more reviews and greater exposure in the Amazon system. Find out why he recommends that and how he goes about doing it on this episode of The Amazing Seller. Getting reviews on your products is vital. How can you do it most effectively?
There are many 3rd party software programs that enable you to track your Amazon sales and solicit feedback from your customers. But is there a way to use those programs to solicit feedback on particular products rather than on your seller account in general? Yes, there is, and in this episode of “Ask Scott,” Scott Voelker walks you through how to do so in a couple of different software programs so that you can make the most out of those Amazon sales reviews and get your product ranking higher in the Amazon search algorithm. Every State in the U.S. has its own sales tax rate? How can Amazon sellers make sure they’re paying the tax that is due?Even experienced Amazon sellers will tell you that sales tax is one of the most confusing, frustrating parts of running a successful Amazon Business. A listener asks Scott a question about collecting and paying State sales tax in this episode, and as always, Scott gives practical, common sense advice about how to play by the rules when it comes to sales tax, and how to make sure you’re not taking those payments from your profits. Listen in to find out how you can ensure that your business is dealing with this important issue wisely. OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEScott’s recorded Periscopes - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/scope www.TaxJar.com - One of Scott’s recommended resources for dealing with sales tax. Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Wed, 26 August 2015
Scott recently attended Podcast Movement, an incredible event for podcasters that powerfully equipped many people to take their podcast to the next level. But the highlight of Scott’s time at PM was not the main sessions or the inspiring talks… it was the time he was able to spend informally with people from The Amazing Seller community. This episode is a one-of-a-kind conversation with a handful of TASers who were at the Podcast Movement TAS meetup. They discuss getting started, overcoming fear, busting through roadblocks, and a whole lot more.
Roadblocks come to every business.
It may be when you discover that the product you planned to sell on Amazon isn’t going to be as profitable as you thought. It could be when you come to the place of ordering your product and fear of writing that big check comes to the surface. It could be when you need to start a PPC campaign and realize you know nothing about how to get started. No matter what the roadblock is, you’ve got to learn how to overcome it. In this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott leads a discussion between Amazon Sellers who have faced every one of those roadblocks. You’ll hear how real sellers got past the things that often stop business owners in their tracks. It’s an inspiring conversation to encourage you to keep taking action.
Fear is a sign that you’re making progress.
Think about it… you don’t feel fear when you’re sitting on the couch watching TV. Why? Because you’re comfortable. You’re within your comfort zone. There’s nothing to fear. So when you feel fear as you take the next step in your Amazon business, it’s a good sign… it means you’re moving. It means you’re growing. It means you’re doing the things needed to make your business grow. Listen in as Scott and some of the TAS community discuss their individual fears and roadblocks and how they overcome them.
Answering the “what ifs” in your own head.Fear often takes the form of “what if” statements that surface in your own thinking. “What if I make a mistake on my product research and start with a bad product?” “What if nobody gives me product reviews?” “What if it’s a bust and I make no money?” Those what if questions are a sign that you’re coming up against a roadblock and that it’s time to grit your teeth and push through it. In this episode you’ll hear how real people have pushed through their own “what if” questions to create an Amazon business that is successfully providing the lifestyle they imagined.
You can’t make it alone. You need a community behind you.
The discussion you’ll hear on today’s show is proof of that fact. It was recorded at a recent meetup of TAS community members and almost to a person they attest to the power of having the TAS Facebook community as a support and resource. They needed the encouragement and support of others in the same business, and you will too. Listen to this episode to hear how you can connect with others who are doing an Amazon business like yours, and how you can contribute and learn as you build a business to support your family and lifestyle.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.Periscope.tv - search for @ScottVoelker to find Scott
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Mon, 24 August 2015
You’ve heard Scott talk about a variety of strategies surrounding the use of Facebook groups and fan pages. But in this episode it’s going to move to whole new Facebook level. Scott’s got Rick Mulready on the show. Rick is known as “THE Facebook Ad guy” and after listening to this conversation, you’ll understand why. Rick’s taken the time to truly understand the tools Facebook has created in its advertising platform and he’s unloading a ton of information in this episode about how you can make the most of Facebook ads to build an email list, drive up your product reviews, and ultimately sell more products.
Did you know you can use Facebook ads to drive traffic to discounted products - and get more true purchase reviews on Amazon?
With Facebook Ads you can drill WAY down into the demographics to choose exactly the right people to present your promotions to, and since people are usually on Facebook to share with family and friends, you want to make sure your “ads” are not sales-y. One of the best ways to do that is to present people with a fun opportunity or deal - a 99 cent product, etc. in exchange for an honest review on Amazon. Can you image targeting your product to the exact people who have already expressed interest in it or similar products, then asking if they want an almost-free copy of your product? Your email list opt-in will likely go through the rough. Hear how “The Facebook Ad Guy,” Rick Mulready suggests you go about doing exactly that, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
What is granular targeting, and how does Facebook make it easy?
Granular targeting is a term used lately to refer to the ability to dig deeply into the statistics about your target market so that you can get your ads in front of people who are more likely to like what you’re promoting, with pin-point accuracy. Facebook has almost written the book on granular targeting by utilizing the voluntary stats of its users to let you create ads that dig into the interests, buying patterns, discussion patterns, and self-disclosed interests available in their profiles and usage habits. Facebook ads allows you to use all that data to specify who you want to see your ads and who you don’t. Rick Mulready unpacks how to do it on this episode of the podcast, so make sure you listen to get those great tips.
Why you should keep track of your numbers to make Facebook ads work best.
Here’s the scenario: You create a Facebook ad to highlight a free giveaway of your product. Within a few days you have 15 more people than normal who have taken you up on your offer. That’s an increase, and you’re really happy! The Facebook Ad must be working. But what might happen if you tweak your audience or change your settings just a bit? Would it turn that 15 conversions into 20, or 30, or 50? You won’t know unless you watch the stats (numbers) on how your Facebook ads are doing. In this episode Rick Mulready covers that topic and what seems like hundreds more, unpacking his head full of knowledge about Facebook and Facebook ads.
Retargeting, Facebook pixels, and how to catch the ones that got away.
It’s amazing, but true. You can use some of the tools Facebook has created to virtually stalk those who have come to your website through a Facebook ad, but never took the action step you wanted them to take. You’re able to follow them to another website and re-present your offer to them in a gentle reminder that they were interested and might be missing out if they don’t take action. People who use retargeting see their sales conversions go up by leaps and bounds. Rick Mulready covers Facebook pixels and how you can use them to retarget your ideal customers on this episode of The Amazing Seller. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Art of Paid Traffic Podcast - Rick’s podcast show
Rick’s upcoming live training - August 25, 2015 - www.RickMulready.com/Scott
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Interview with Greg Mercer - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/35
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB - the TAS Facebook Community |
Fri, 21 August 2015
This is another of Scott Voelker’s Friday “Ask Scott” sessions where he answers your questions about Amazon FBA Sales. In this episode Scott answers 4 questions from listeners just like you who are in the trenches, building their own Amazon sales business. You can be one of the voices you hear on these Q&A episodes by submitting your question for Scott to answer. Head on over to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask to submit your question via voicemail and listen to hear your own voice on an upcoming episode of The Amazing Seller.
Is there any benefit to placing 2 UPC codes on the same product?
This may sound like an odd question but there’s really some sophisticated thinking behind it. The idea is simple: If you have a potato peeler as one of your products, should you also create a second listing for the identical product and list it as a “CARROT peeler” instead? You’d have two products with two listings and two unique UPC codes. Scott’s not convinced it’s the best way to start but does think it could be advantageous after looking into the numbers a bit more. Find out the details of why Scott thinks this could be a good strategy as he answers the question on this episode.
Business accounting can be a nightmare, but it doesn’t have to be.
A listener asks Scott how he handles the accounting in his Amazon Private Label business. There are product costs, customs expenses, shipping, Amazon fees - it’s enough to make your head spin. But Scott’s convinced that keeping good records doesn’t have to be that hard. In fact, he started with everything in one spreadsheet and thinks that system could still work if he was inclined to use it. But he goes a bit deeper into the question to reveal what accounting software he’s using now as well as providing a few other options, both software packages you can buy and online free versions. Learn how to get your accounting headaches under control on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
What do you do day to day once your product is launched?
Product research, product sourcing, product listings, PPC, Facebook Ads - there’s a TON that goes into the process of getting a private label product to market on Amazon. But once all that hard work is done and your product is live on Amazon, what do you do day to day from there? A listener asks Scott what his daily, weekly, and monthly routines are now that he’s an established Amazon seller and Scott gives a transparent and simple answer, breaking it down into even the small tasks that he does every day. You won’t want to miss this practical answer as Scott responds to the listener’s question.
Is it possible for my multiple PPC campaigns to compete with each other?
PPC (pay per click advertising) is a very confusing and mysterious thing at times. It’s hard to know all the ins and outs of setting up campaigns correctly. In today’s episode of The Amazing Seller a listener asks a question that stems from some changes he made in his Amazon PPC account, and a change in results he observed. He wants to know: “If I use the same keywords in different Amazon PPC campaigns, will I wind up competing with myself for those keywords, thus decreasing the effectiveness of my investment in PPC?” It’s a great question and Scott has a great answer. Find out what he thinks about that issue on this episode. OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEScott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Interview with Greg Mercer - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/35
Quickbooks - an accounting option. - http://quickbooks.intuit.com/
www.Freshbooks.com - an online accounting software option.
www.waveapps.com - the online accounting software Scott has been using.
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Wed, 19 August 2015
An email list is an asset that is yours forever.
It’s a tool you can use to make your products known to people who are perfectly matched for them, and no company or person can keep you from using that list to increase your sales, reviews, and success. If you aren’t building an email list right now, you’ve got to start. You can use the tips Scott shares in this episode to get a jump on the process, using mostly free tools. And in the end, even if you do need to invest a small amount of money in building your list, you’ll recoup that cash quickly once those you target through your email campaigns begin responding to your products. Find out how to do it on this episode. Amazon won’t give you the email address of people who buy your products. But that doesn’t mean you can’t build an email list of your own.
How can you do it? It’s really not that difficult to figure out, and once you do it, you’ve got a “launch list” to market to for every new product in your niche that you develop and place on Amazon. Imagine the impact of being able to target your new products directly to people who have already expressed interest in your products. You’ll have a jumpstart on Amazon reviews, sales, and ultimately, success. In this episode of The Amazing Seller Scott is going to give you his top 6 tips for building your own email list.
How you can use a Facebook fan page to capture emails and build a community.
Anyone can create a Facebook fan page… it’s really pretty simple. But how do you get people into the group? Even more importantly, how do you get people into the group who are truly interested in what you have to sell? That’s where Facebook ads come in. For a very small amount you can specifically target people who have already indicated that they are interested in the types of things you sell. You can set daily limits on what you spend, tweak your ad campaign at any time, and cancel when you feel it’s done all you need it to do. This is one of Scott’s favorite ways to build a fan page, which you can then use to build your email list. Find out the details on this episode.
Tomoson is another way you can build an email list of people who want what you have to sell.
Tomoson is a website dedicated to connecting review bloggers and the people who have products needing reviews. That sounds like you, doesn’t it? Using their platform you can locate bloggers who are interested in reviewing the kinds of products you sell, make contact with them offering to send them your product in exchange for a review, and increase your exposure through their review and through the things they say about your product on their blog. It’s a great way to increase interest in your products with the potential of building your email list with the addresses of those who respond. Find out how Scott uses Tomoson on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
You can also use Amasuite to find and filter reviewers who are interested in the type of products you sell.
Amasuite is Chris Guthrie’s amazing tool that helps you research and filter through the Amazon listings to find the exact products that might be big sellers. But there’s tons more to Amasuite than just product research. You can use the filter functionality in the program to find people likely to review a product like yours so you can reach out to them for a review. It’s another amazing way you can get your products into the hands of interested reviewers, which in turn can increase your product’s profile in Amazon. Find out how Scott uses Amasuite to gain more subscribers to his email list, and how you can get $100 off the software - in this episode.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/AMS -
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.Tomoson.com - an additional way to promote your products. |
Mon, 17 August 2015
Every seller wants more sales on their Amazon products.
And one of the simplest ways to get more sales is to optimize the sales copy for your products. What’s sales copy? It’s the text you type into your product listing to tell potential buyers about your product. It may seem pretty straightforward to you, but know this: people like Karon Thackston have built a professional career on learning how to write powerful copy that sells products, and Karon has niched in on Amazon product descriptions as one of the main areas she makes her living. It’s easy to niche because Amazon is so unique in the way its algorithms work. Find out how Karon got started as a copywriter and how she coaches Amazon Sellers to optimize their listings, on this episode of the Amazing Seller.
Do you know the biggest mistakes Amazon Sellers make on their product listings?
It’s wasting their keyword opportunities. Amazon is very, very different than Google or any of the other search engines. Search engines are optimized to find key phrases, but Amazon isn’t, it uses key WORDS. That difference alone could help you increase sales when you tweak your product listings appropriately. So for example, you don’t want to repeat keywords: “Garlic Press, Stainless Steel Garlic Press, Garlic Press Kit”, etc. Once you’ve written a word in your title or keyword areas, that’s all the benefit you’ll get from it, so use different words, vary it up; that way you’ll get the most out of your product listings. That’s just one of the often missed things Karon shares on this episode of The Amazing Seller, so listen to the entire show.
Did you know that your product title serves as keywords too?
That makes a huge difference when it comes to completing your keyword fields. If you’ve already used a targeted keyword in your product title, never, never use it again in your keyword field. You’re wasting valuable real estate that Amazon will search when people are trying to find products. Vary your keywords, get creative, and make sure you’re not duplicating efforts to no avail. Karon is an expert at this stuff and shares a ton of valuable tips in this episode.
What makes one Amazon product title better than another?
Originality. If your competitors all have the words “Teflon, plastic, 6 oz.” in their product title, you should work hard to differentiate yourself from them. It’s not that you don’t have those same qualities for your product, but you want to stand out. When people are scanning the Amazon product listings they begin to scan faster when all the titles appear the same. Your original wording and title could be the thing that makes them stop, look a little deeper, and eventually buy your product instead of your competitor’s. Find out more about making your Amazon Product Title “pop” in this episode.
The best way to use bullets in your product description.
Should your bullets be a listing of features, or benefits? If it’s both, which should come first? How long should an average bullet point be in your product listing? How do the recent changes to Amazon’s product listing format impact your choices regarding bullet points? Does Amazon search your bullet points for keywords? You didn’t know there was so much to consider about something simple like a bullet point within your product description, did you? In this episode of the Amazing Seller you get to learn from a woman who has studied the Amazon algorithms and know the best practices for using bullets effectively. Be sure to listen in to get all her insights.
OUTLINE OF THIS INTERVIEW EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Amazon Advantage: Product Listing Strategies - Karon’s book (Use the code “Scott20” to get 20% off)
www.MarketingWords.com - Karon’s company website focused on Amazon copywriting
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
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Sat, 15 August 2015
This is a rapid-fire episode highlighting Scott’s personal Amazon sales numbers and income for June of 2015. Scott’s private label products are doing very well and he’s excited to share his real numbers with you for two reasons: #1 - It shows you that this Amazon Private Label model is real and can work for you, and #2 - it encourages you to go out and take action for yourself.
Scott’s not sharing his numbers to impress, but to impress upon you that your Amazon business can work if you take the right action. Thanks for listening!
OUTLINE OF THIS Q & A EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/PPC - Scott’s system for doing PPC campaigns
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/Facebook - The TAS Facebook Community
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/shirt - The TAS T-shirt which supports cancer research |
Fri, 14 August 2015
Do you know how to evaluate the results of your Amazon PPC campaign?
One of the listeners to TAS didn’t know… so he asked Scott what HE does to analyze the results of an Amazon PPC campaign. Scott’s answer is very enlightening, focusing on the value of PPC in the beginning to crank up your product’s ranking for its target keywords, which helps drive organic sales. It’s not about profit at the beginning, it’s about exposure. Once the organic sales start happening, there’s more than enough profit to be made. Scott goes into the details of how he goes about it in his response to this question, on this episode of the Amazing Seller podcast.
How does BSR related to possible sales?
A listener has heard Scott mention the BSR of a product (Best Seller Rank) and wonders how Scott knows that certain numbers in the BSR category will translate into a certain amount of sales. Scott’s answer focuses on the reality of each niche having a different set of BSR values and how those variables will impact the numbers on your particular target product. But at the heart of Scott’s recommendations is a piece of software that he’s found invaluable in doing the kind of product research needed to get numbers that give you confidence in introducing new products. That software? Jungle Scout. You can get a discount on JS by using Scott’s affiliate link - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/JS
What if your product is part of a “kit” or grouping that doesn’t seem to have one particular keyword to target?
It may be a bit frustrating at first to hone in on the right keywords to target when your product is part of a larger body of products or a “set” or “kit” that people may use. But in the end, it’s a good thing, and here’s why: Your product has the unique ability to target multiple keywords that may seem unrelated to the casual observer, and do so in a very relevant way. And the advantage to having your product as part of a kit (bundling products) is that people are often more prone to buy products that are part of a kit because it seems like a better value. And a bonus to you is that you are likely able to charge more for the kit than you would for the individual product. Hear Scott’s full explanation on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Amazon may be encouraging you to sign up to be an international seller, but should you?
It’s a flattering feeling to have Amazon approach you via email about becoming an international seller. And it feels good to think of having a world-wide presence in your niche market. But doing so could be the worst thing you could do. Unless you’re already killing it in the U.S. marketplace, which is the largest Amazon Marketplace that exists, you’ll probably wind up distracting yourself from maximizing your sales in the U.S. Marketplace by becoming an international seller. Hear Scott’s reasoning for why you should carefully consider the step into international Amazon sales, in this episode.
Live workshops on Private Label Amazon Sales, complete with Live Q & A
One of Scott’s favorite things to do is host live workshops to help up and coming Amazon business people learn the ropes of Amazon Private Label sales. He holds these workshops once a week (most of the time) and would love for you to come be a part. You can reserve your spot on the next live workshop by going to www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop - and get ready to ramp up your knowledge and confidence for doing Amazon sales.
OUTLINE OF THIS Q & A EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.TheAmazingSeller.com/PPC - Scott’s system for doing PPC campaigns
www.JungleScout.com - The Jungle Scout app - Get a discount at www.TheAmazingSeller.com/JS
Interview with Greg Mercer, creator of Jungle Scout - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56
Ask your own question - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/Ask |
Wed, 12 August 2015
A success story to inspire and motivate you in your FBA business
Today’s episode is part 2 of the story of Tim Holterman, a regular guy who decided to work his way out of his regular job and gradually build an Amazon FBA business on the side. In this conversation, Scott asks Tim in-depth questions about what he did, how he did it, and what the results were from every step he took. You won’t find a more transparent, encouraging account of how a normal person (not a guru) took his private label Amazon business from $0 to over $6000 in just 30 days. Listen to this episode to hear all the details of Tim’s amazing story.
Once your product is on Amazon, what then?
Tim knew his products needed to get reviews for his private label product pretty quickly. He asked people with Amazon Prime accounts to make a purchase of his product (that he would reimburse - essentially giving away free products), and he also began using AMZ Tracker, which has a review system. He began building up reviews, which in turn moved his product up in Amazon’s natural search results to get him some natural sales on Amazon also. So his product was slowly creeping up in the search results, getting a few sales organically, and enabling him to get things headed toward a bigger volume of sales. Find out what Tim did next on this episode.
When Tim turned on Amazon PPC things began to catch fire...
… but not immediately. That’s because the Amazon analytics take about a week to refresh once you’ve set on PPC. So the first week or so Tim’s results looked terrible and he was a bit discouraged. But he knew he should hang on before making any changes because he’d been listening to The Amazing Seller and knew that it would take a while for his stats to be correct. Once they started showing, his PPC became clear and he could see what campaigns to keep, which to turn off, and which to refine. This enabled Tim to continue cranking up his sales and getting his pricing and product inventory dialed-in. Listen to hear how Tim’s strategies could apply to your FBA products.
The impact of inventory: What happens when you run out?
Tim’s initial purchase of his product was not thousands of units, but only hundreds. That means that once his sales began jumping, he quickly ran out of his products. Once he realized he was going to run out, he scrambled to get more products produced, shipped, and into his Amazon account, which took a couple of weeks. When he ran out of products in his Amazon inventory and didn’t have more to replenish it yet, he did see his sales drop (naturally). But he also noticed that once he had products resupplied, it took him a while to get the product ranking and sales back to what it was before the inventory was depleted. It was a great lesson, and one Tim knows is difficult for all sellers to handle because not everyone has the capital to keep a full supply of products when they first start. Find out what Tim recommends in this episode.
The issue is not whether FBA sales works. It’s about finding the right products.
Tim’s story shows that the FBA systems you learn on The Amazing Seller podcast and other places really does work. You can build an Amazon sales business that can supplement or replace your current income. But you may not do it on your very first product. The right product is the key to building a business that will last, and reinvesting the profits into the business will enable you to grow the business more quickly. If your first efforts don’t turn out like you anticipated, don’t conclude that Amazon sales doesn’t work. Just start the process of finding another product and try again. You can’t give up. Once you hit on the right product or niche, the sales will begin to take off and you’ll have the opportunity to truly build a long term business. Listen to Tim’s advice on this issue in this episode.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Part 1 of this interview - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/84
The Amazing Seller Facebook Community - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Tim’s resource for graphcis - http://www.Dribbble.com
Tim’s resource for product packaging ideas - http://www.TheDieLine.com
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Mon, 10 August 2015
This episode proof that you can relatively quickly build a successful Amazon FBA business!
Tim Holterman is a regular guy. He worked for years in a good job, working to take care of his responsibilities and life. He came to a point where he wanted to change his life so that he could spend more time with his family. He heard of the possibility of making a change through beginning an Amazon sales business from Chris Guthrie (a previous guest on The Amazing Seller podcast). So he decided to take the leap and get started building his own business. He asked lots of questions to know that what others were doing was possible for him. Once he was convinced, Tim began building his business - and he did all of it without ever signing up for a paid course of any kind. He invested a portion of his salary each month to building his business. Listen to this episode - part 1 of a lengthy conversation where Tim tells his story and how he got over $6,000 in sales within the first 30 days of beginning his FBA Business.
Tim’s product research process for his Amazon business began with the purchase of one piece of software.
Amasuite was the software Tim began with, simply because he trusted it’s creator, Chris Guthrie. He started researching the top 100 sellers in lots of categories. He drilled down into those products by setting up filters to weed out products he didn’t think were good options. Some of those products were not an option because the niche was too saturated. Others he simply didn’t think were good. Through that process Tim found a product he felt good about. He wasn’t concerned at that point with building a brand, though he does feel that is the best way to begin. He just found products that might sell well and made a decision. The next step was sourcing the product. Find out how he went about his product sourcing in this episode.
Tim’s smart way of getting a sample of the product he was interested in.
When Tim researched his product on Alibaba (An online Chinese directory of product providers), he found one of the exact products that were listed on Amazon. He felt there was room in the market for him to offer the exact same product, so he simply ordered one of his competitor’s products from Amazon. He accomplished two things at once by doing this. He got to see the actual product - it’s quality, packaging, etc. AND he got to see how his competitor was presenting the product, including a misspelling on their packaging that hasn’t been corrected to this day! Find out more about the quality control process and getting samples of your potential product in this edition of The Amazing Seller.
Shipping a private label product to Amazon - directly from the product supplier!
The supplier Tim was able to find had experience shipping products directly to Amazon so he thought it was worth trying. He bought his own UPC to put on the products, printed out his own labels to brand the product as his, and the supplier put the labels on the products, printed out shipping labels, and sent the products directly to Amazon for Tim’s account. It was a tremendous time saving step that enabled Tim to keep one more piece of the process off his table so that he could fulfill the goal of spending more time with his family. Hear exactly how Tim went about working out this deal on this episode.
Getting reviews for a new product - Tim’s unique strategy.
Getting reviews for your Amazon product is essential to begin moving your product up in Amazon’s search results, and giving your product a sense of legitimacy. Tim knew that and wanted to boost his product through getting some quick reviews. The first step he took is common sense, but one not many people do. He enlisted people he knew who had Amazon Prime accounts (so they could get free shipping) and asked them to purchase and review the product, and he would pay them back the purchase price. Essentially, he’s giving away the products for free but through Amazon it registers as a full-blow purchase. It was an ingenious strategy that got him some great initial reviews and had a dramatic impact on his product’s ranking. From there, he did a few product giveaways through Tomoson… and you can hear the rest of how Tim got reviews by listening to the show!
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Amazing Seller Facebook Community - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop |
Fri, 7 August 2015
Questions about setting up or running an FBA Amazon sales business?
You’ve come to the right place! The Amazing Seller podcast, and these Friday episodes in particular, are one of the best ways for you to get your situation-specific questions answered. Each Friday Scott Voelker, a successful Amazon seller himself, answers your questions, submitted by you and played on the podcast in your own voice. He hopes to equip and educate you to make your Amazon FBA business your ticket out of the 9 to 5 rat race. You can ask your question anytime at http://TheAmazingSeller.com/ask
Should you sell electronic items or things “with a switch” in your Amazon business?
A listener asks Scott how hard-and-fast his “rule” is that Amazon sellers should not sell any items that have a switch. When Scott says, “has a switch” he means something with electronics or too many moving parts. Scott does see this as a rule but as a wise suggestion, mainly because offering products that have electronics involved puts you in a position that your products are more likely to be returned because of manufacturing defects, damage that happens during shipping, etc. That will cost you time and money, which you really don’t want to spend. Listen in to hear what Scott suggests to sellers who are considering electronic products.
Do you think it’s a good idea for me to sell apparel on Amazon before setting up my own website or Shopify store?
A listener asks that question and even though Scott doesn’t sell apparel on Amazon, he’s got plenty to say! Apparel sales on Amazon requires special approval due to the wear and tear that can happen to clothing. Amazon tries to safeguard the apparel category by making it more difficult to sell. But if you want to sell clothing and feel it’s a very good niche for you to be in, Scott’s got some suggestions for how you might go about it. Find out more in this episode of The Amazing Seller podcast.
One of the most time intensive parts of selling private label products on Amazon is the product research phase.
Thankfully there are many great software packages available that can help you get through that phase more quickly and with better results. On this episode a listener asks Scott for some tips in using one of those software solutions: Jungle Scout. Scott’s got some great suggestions for how the listener can find the best products and get started selling on Amazon sooner rather than later. Listen in to find out more about how you could do the same thing!
Feedback Genius, MailChimp, Awebber, and other email solutions. Which is best?
A listener says he’s a bit “fuzzy” on why Scott recommends using different software solutions for different parts of an Amazon FBA sales business. Scott does a great job clearing up the fuzz in this episode. Feedback Genius is used only to connect with Amazon’s systems and automate follow up with customers who have purchased your products. It does so without you ever seeing the customer’s email information, because Amazon does not allow sellers to have that information. But it still provides a powerful way for you to increase your feedback and reviews, thus lifting your product’s visibility and legitimacy. Software solutions like MailChimp and Abweber are for building your own private email list of previous customers? How can you do that if Amazon doesn’t allow you to see their email information? Find out how Scott does it on this episode of The Amazing Seller!
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEhttp://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Get your own Amazing Seller shirt - all proceeds go to charity - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/shirt
The Amazing Seller Episode featuring Greg Mercer, the creator of Jungle Scout - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/56
The Amazing Seller Episode covering SalesBacker - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/77
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Wed, 5 August 2015
Have you been monitoring your Amazon account? Particularly the product reviews?
You should be. Monitoring your account is the only way you can keep tabs on what is going on with your products sales. You want to do that you can make adjustments and tweaks to your products, prices, and listings to maximize your Amazon FBA sales. If you’ve been monitoring your account, you may have noticed that some of your product reviews have been removed by Amazon. What’s up with that? Amazon has been cracking down on people who are getting reviews in illegitimate ways, and even removing some that seem questionable. In this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott is going to walk you through what’s going on, why it’s happening, and what you can do to safeguard yourself and your reviews as best as you can.
Here’s how you should think about those “base reviews” you get during your product launch phase.
The reviews you push to get by giving away free or discounted products have one purpose only - to give your product some social proof or legitimacy so when sellers see your product, they feel good that it’s legitimate and good quality. That way they’re more prone to buy it. Once they do, you should be following up with them to encourage reviews from them, the purchasers of your product who paid full price. At that point you’ll be building on top of your base reviews with organic reviews. When you do this right, it won’t matter if Amazon comes in and removes some of those initial base reviews you got. Why? Because you’re replacing them with organic ones - which is exactly what Amazon wants you to have most of all. Listen to this episode to find out what Scott recommends when it comes to your base Amazon product reviews.
Here’s the biggest reason Amazon is removing product reviews
It’s not because you gave the products away for free in exchange for a review. It’s not because you discounted a product in exchange for a review. It’s because the person who reviewed your product did not disclose that they received the product for free in exchange for an honest review. That’s it. So when you give those products away or discount them, make sure you’re stressing to the recipients that they MUST include a disclaimer similar to that when they leave a review for the product on Amazon. If they don’t, it may not only wind up not helping you, it could actually hurt you by the loss of that review. It would also turn out to be a waste of their time, so generously given. Listen to this episode to learn exactly how Scott recommends you stress this issue with your potential reviewers.
There’s also a theory about an additional reason product reviews are being removed by Amazon.
It has to do with what have come to be known as “review groups.” You know what they are, groups on Facebook, or some forum where people agree to exchange reviews on products. It’s a simple idea and it’s worked for a while, but many people who have a lot of experience on Amazon believe that Amazon is starting to target those groups somehow and are removing reviews that they believe may have come from those kinds of groups. It makes sense, and it’s a review tactic that could become more and more risky as months pass. Scott’s going to cover this issue in depth and give you his recommendation about review groups, so give this episode a listen.
What are the top 5 things you should do to ensure your product reviews on Amazon stick?
That question is at the heart of what Scott covers on this episode. He wants you to know how to make the most of your efforts to get reviews, so he’s holding nothing back. Here they are: (1) Understand the purpose of initial launch reviews. (2) Have reviewers include proper disclaimers. (3) Don’t rely on review groups. (4) Focus on organic sales (Pay Per Click / Pricing Strategies) (5) Use a good follow-up sequence to encourage organic reviews. Listen to this episode of The Amazing Seller to hear Scott’s explanations of each of these 5 things so you know how to maximize the “stickiness” of your product reviews on Amazon.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEhttp://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Get your own Amazing Seller shirt - all proceeds go to charity - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/shirt
http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/Reviees - Get your discount on Chris Guthrie’s tool “Sales Backer.” (affiliate link). If you want to go directly to Chris’ site - http://www.SalesBacker.com
http://www.FeedbackGenius.com - another sequence delivery tool
Scott’s TAS episode on getting more feedback and reviews - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/77
Scott’s live workshops - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop |
Mon, 3 August 2015
A real life story of beginning an Amazon business
Today’s guest on the Amazing Seller podcast is Sean Coyne, an ultra-successful Amazon Private Label seller who has, with his partner, built a company from scratch by focusing on a private label product line. Scott asks Sean about how he and Ryan got their start, what their first product was and how it sold, and most importantly, the lessons they learned about how to source, purchase, ship, list, and sell private label products on Amazon. You won’t want to skip this episode, it’s full of insights for those who are brand new to Amazon sales as well as veterans. Sean’s story shows that you can do it! Discovering the right product to private label is not a simple task
It takes lots of patience and research, and you have to curb your own enthusiasm so that the excitement of the hunt doesn’t push you to move ahead with a product that won’t actually sell successfully. In this episode Sean talks about his first retail arbitrage product and why it didn’t sell as well as he believed it would, and how he and his partner, Ryan, decided to move to a private label model. You’ll hear how they researched their first product, how they questioned the exact niche that would be likely to purchase it, and how they set up the manufacture, shipping, packaging, and delivery to Amazon. It’s a lesson in real life product sourcing, right here on today’s episode. Sean’s steps for testing a niche product’s likelihood of selling well
When Sean Coyne and his partner Ryan found a product they thought might be a good seller (yoga mats), they reached out to the existing communities surrounding yoga to find out exactly what the best yoga mat possible might look like. They asked questions about what yoga practitioners preferred in a yoga mat, everything from size, to thickness, to color and location of a logo. The feedback they received was generally enthusiastic and honest - and it helped them design the exact product that people doing yoga would be most likely to buy. You can do the same thing as you research your products. Find out more about how to do that kind of niche research in this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Would you like to hear from an experienced Amazon seller regarding the use of Pay per Click (PPC) and other marketing possibilities?
That’s exactly what you’ll hear in this episode of The Amazing Seller podcast. Sean Coyne and his partner Ryan have developed a very effective system for driving traffic to their products through PPC and other means, and have many worthwhile strategies to recommend to Amazon sellers. On this episode of the podcast you’ll hear those recommendations and exactly how Sean and Ryan implemented them in their business, so make sure you check it out!
Selling private label products on Amazon is never free of mistakes, but if you can avoid the common ones, you should!
That’s why Scott asks Sean about the mistakes he’s made in getting his private label Amazon business going, and what he’s learned from those mistakes that has changed the way he does business now. Sean shares those mistakes today in a “don’t do this” format, warning you of the pitfalls so you can avoid them altogether. Don’t miss this episode of The Amazing Seller - it could save you lots of headaches down the road!
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODEhttp://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
www.CoachingJungle.com - Sean’s library of Amazon-related help tutorials
Get your own Amazing Seller shirt - all proceeds go to charity - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/shirt |
Fri, 31 July 2015
Do you have questions about selling on Amazon?
If you do, you’ve come across the best resource to teach you how to be an Amazon FBA seller in a profitable way that can get you out of the 9 to 5 rat race and into your own business that is legitimate and lasting. This episode is #19 of Scott’s Friday Q&A sessions where he answers your questions so that you can learn how to sell on Amazon profitably. If you’d like to have your own questions answered, you can ask them at http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask
Should you set up your Amazon Seller account without LLC or incorporation paperwork?
That was one of the questions asked on this episode of The Amazing Seller. While Scott is not an attorney or tax accountant (and suggests you contact one with your questions before you get rolling), he does have an opinion about the question. His view is that you should approach your Amazon sales as a business, and set it up that way from the start. You want the protection and security of the legal entity that LLC or incorporation can provide you. You also want to make sure you’re keeping your taxes separate from your personal income. Again, check with a tax accountant or lawyer for the full picture, and listen in to this episode to hear the other questions and Scott’s answers.
How can you estimate your product costs and profits accurately?
It’s a very important question because you need to stay on top of your costs so that you know that what you’re doing is truly profitable and not just wishful thinking. Costs include everything from the actual price you pay for your products, to shipping, to customs fees, to Amazon seller fees. How do you keep it all straight? That’s the question one listener asked in this episode and Scott gives his best answer, including some resources you can use to help you estimate things so that you’re not caught off guard. That’s on this episode of The Amazing Seller. Is Bundling products together worth it?
It all comes down to cost. Every step you take with your products, from shipping to packaging to branding, is going to add to the cost of your products. There are companies that can receive your products and package them together as you like, but again, it’s an increased cost to you. You can also package those products together yourself, but it will take time and you’ll need specialized packaging with your branding and logos on it. Either way, the cost is more by bundling products. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Bundling can be a powerful way to expand your brand image on Amazon and provide more value to your customers. Listen to this episode to find out how Scott would approach bundling.
Are you eager to learn how to be a Private Label Amazon seller and want it in an all-in-one package?
If so, you need to get into Scott’s Private Label Classroom. It’s a resource packed with step by step videos, downloadable worksheets, and nuts and bolts descriptions and explanations of how the Amazon sales process works, how you should go about researching and buying products for sale on Amazon, and how you can set those products apart with your own private label and get your business rolling. You’ll go beyond that to learn how to drive traffic to your products and solicit reviews from your customers so that your products can go even higher in the Amazon search rankings. If you’re interested, check it out at www.PrivateLabelClassroom.com OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Scott’s free workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop The Amazon Cost Estimator - https://sellercentral.amazon.com/hz/fba/profitabilitycalculator/index?lang=en_US www.PrivateLabelClassroom.com - Scott’s videos and handouts guiding you through the Amazon sales wilderness. |
Wed, 29 July 2015
Amazon PPC is not all that hard
You just need to take the time to learn the platform and how to use the tools at your disposal to target the exact people you’re trying to reach with your ads. But most Amazon sellers don’t take the time to learn the platform well enough, so their PPC ads don’t have as much impact as they could. A ton of your sales can come through PPC if you will take the time to develop a strategy to use the tools for the powerful purpose they were created for. In this episode of The Amazing Seller, Scott’s going to walk you through the top 7 mistakes Amazon Sellers make when using PPC and how you can avoid every one of them.
PPC on Amazon is about more than just the obvious keywords
That’s because it’s impossible to get into the mind of the people who are searching for what you have to sell. You don’t know how they think about the product, or how they formulate their search query. You’ll tend to pick the most obvious keywords, which is good, but the people searching for your product may search for it in ways that are not so obvious. There are very simple ways you can find a clearer picture of the other keywords and phrases buyers are using to search for your product and you’re going to hear about those methods in this episode.
If you’re going to make PPC work for you, you have to check your data regularly
When you first set up an Amazon PPC campaign, you won’t have everything dialed in to its maximum potential. You just won’t, it’s not possible to hit it just right the first time. You should view your first attempts at PPC as an experiment that will show you what you need to do to dial it in to its maximum potential. That means you check out how it’s working and make tweaks as you go along, refining your PPC effectiveness as you go. So don’t set your PPC campaign and leave it alone. Watch it, beginning 7 days after you set up your campaign. Once you reach that 7 day threshold, begin making minor adjustments. Find out the details about how to do that on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
The way PPC benefits your Amazon products
PPC is one of the things that pushes your product higher in the search rankings because it puts your product directly in front of the people who are searching for it. When they click through your PPC ad and eventually purchase your product, your product just got a boost in Amazon’s search algorithm because it is seen as a more legitimate product. That’s when you need to follow up with your email sequences to generate more reviews - which in turn moves your product up in the sales process. It all begins with a sale, which begins with driving traffic to your product through Pay Per Click (PPC).
YOU CAN GENERATE NEW PRODUCT IDEAS FROM PPC
Running an effective PPC campaign for your product on Amazon is great, but there’s a side benefit that most people don’t consider. As you monitor your PPC campaign you’ll come across other product ideas related to yours from the data that is shown through your PPC campaign. That data could be telling you how to add to your product line in a way that will set you apart from other vendors and give you an appearance of legitimacy that will establish your business rather than just sell individual products. Scott covers that concept in today’s episode, so make sure you listen in.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/PPC
Simple Keyword Tool - Get your discount to try it out - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/keywords |
Mon, 27 July 2015
Chris Guthrie is a superstar when it comes to Amazon sales. He’s made tons of cash through the Amazon Affiliate program but has also moved into the realm of his own Private Label products being sold on Amazon and is making a killing. He’s especially adept at building product niches on the back of product feedback and reviews, taking advantage of Amazon’s built in algorithms to move products up in the Amazon search rankings. Listen in to the extra-powerful conversation on The Amazing Seller podcast.
Why are reviews of your product so important?
Reviews are proof to a potential buyer that your product has not only been purchased, but has been enjoyed. Internet sales nowadays is highly dependent on customer reviews - they are the social proof that your product is what it says it is, and that you are a reputable seller to purchase from. If you don’t have a significant number of product reviews on Amazon, your products are going to languish at the bottom of the search results, not even being on the table as an option for the people who are searching for what you sell. How do you get more reviews for your products? In this episode Scott talks with his guest Chris Guthrie about several strategies you can use to solicit feedback from your customers to boost your product listings in Amazon search. What about feedback? Should you ask for it? What if it’s negative?
There are plenty of Amazon FBA sellers who are afraid to ask for feedback because they believe that if they receive negative feedback about their products, they will take a hit in Amazon’s search algorithms. While that’s possible, a better strategy, which Scott addresses in this episode with Chris Guthrie, is to bury the negatives with tons of positives. Asking for feedback is yet another way you can boost your products in Amazon search. Scott and Chris also reveal some simple ways you can get rid of the results of some of your negative feedback, all in this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Plant your flag in a product niche and build your business from there.
That’s some of Chris Guthrie’s advice for new Amazon sellers. He believes that once you do your initial product research and find a product that you can take action with, you should do your best to get a quick “win” with that product and then branch out into other related products from there. You have to be interested in more than just making money, you have to build your business around a certain niche of products so that purchasers of your first product will be open to buying your next product as well because they’re comfortable buying from you because of their good experience with your first product. Find out more about how Chris suggests you go about doing just that, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
Did you know you can automate a request for feedback from your Amazon customers?
That’s what Scott does, as does his guest, Chris Guthrie. In fact, Chris has created a software solution to do exactly that. Scott’s been using it and loves the simplicity and ease of use - and has seen his reviews rise to over 600, with 4 to 6 new reviews coming in on his products every day. Even if you can’t afford a product like Chris’ you can still solicit feedbacks and reviews from your customers through Amazon’s contact options. Don’t neglect this important step in boosting your products in Amazon’s search algorithms.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Amasuite - Chris Guthrie’s software - http://getamasuite.com/
The episode that describes Scott’s email sequence - http://TheAmazingSeller/com/10
Feedback Genius - http://www.feedbackgenius.com/
Chris’ new product, Salesbacker - https://www.salesbacker.com/
Contact Chris at Chris@salesbacker.com
How to get Chris’ 60-day trial offer - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/reviews |
Fri, 24 July 2015
This is another one of Scott’s great Q&A episodes where he answers listener questions about specific issues when offering products on Amazon FBA or as a Private Label product. The reason Scott does these Q&A episodes is simple: There are lots of questions that come up AS you are doing the work of establishing your business. You need the ability to ask somebody who has been down the road to answer those specific questions, and Scott wants to be that person. In answering your questions it’s not only going to benefit you, it will help other listeners as well. So listen in and apply the answers you hear to your own business, and get started building your own Amazon FBA business.
Can I use existing traffic going to a website where I feature Amazon Affiliate products to feature my own products?
Scott was so excited to hear this question because it shows how smart the listeners to the Amazing Seller podcast are, and that this listener in particular was thinking outside the box to take advantage of an already existing traffic flow. This guy has established himself as an Amazon Affiliate, which pays 7% to him from each sale of an Amazon product he refers through his website. He’s got a substantial amount of traffic already and thought it would be a great idea to somehow feature his own product on that site to get even more profit for himself. Scott thought it was a great idea! You should listen in to hear how Scott advises him to go about it.
Patented products can be a tricky issue. How should you handle the possibility of selling a similar product?
This listener has found a wonderful opportunity in a certain product, but recognized that the product most like it in the Amazon marketplace is patented. Should that raise red flags? Should she take special steps to make sure her product does not infringe on the patent of the existing product that’s for sale? You might be surprised to hear Scott’s answer, so be sure you listen in to hear his answer to this perplexing question.
UPC codes to differentiate your product from others that aren’t selling so well
A listener has found a product that he believes will sell pretty well, but the other product that’s already listed on Amazon has very few reviews, a poorly formatted listing, and isn’t selling very well as a result. He’s wondering if he could get his own UPC for the product, create his own listing, begin soliciting reviews, and soon beat the existing product. Scott’s main concern on this one is not about the UPC code, but about the sales. Can you figure out why that’s his concern? Listen in to find out what this listener should be thinking about first.
Multiple products build a business, not just an income.
This listener knows that and asked Scott what to do when he wants to use a small amount of capital to launch many products within the same niche at the same time. He wants to get the sales flowing while the opportunity is hot and establish his brand with a number of items. Scott gives some solid advice on that approach to help the listener navigate the process of launching multiple products so he doesn’t make mistakes and waste his time and money. Listen in to find out how Scott advises him, on this episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
Submit your question for a future Q&A podcast - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/ask
The Niche Pursuits Podcast with Spencer Haws - http://www.nichepursuits.com/category/podcasts/
The U.S. Government Patent Office website - http://www.USPTO.gov/patent
Jungle Scout - http://www.junglescout.com/
Episode 56 with Greg Mercer - http://theAmazingSeller.com/56
The Amazing Seller Facebook Community - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
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Wed, 22 July 2015
In this episode of The Amazing Seller Scott Voelker quickly reviews what he observed about Amazon’s recent “Prime Day” and outlines why those results prove that anyone who can get products onto the Amazon platform should do so immediately.
Amazon is becoming a powerhouse for online sellers. Some of the sales figures for individual sellers that Scott references in this episode show that the potential for huge profits is there, and the more seasoned and reputable your listings, the more likely you’ll be able to benefit from it. Scott himself saw a ⅔ increase in sales on Prime Day without doing anything to promote his products or discount them for Prime Day.
Listen in to find out how you can get on board the Amazon train with your own private label products - and hit the subscribe button to make sure you don’t miss an episode of The Amazing Seller.
OUTLINE OF THIS EPISODE OF THE AMAZING SELLER
LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
The Amazing Seller Facebook Community - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/FB
Link to the Amazing Seller Shirt - www.TheAmazingSeller.com/shirt
The Amazing Seller Free Workshop - http://www.TheAmazingSeller.com/workshop
Direct download: BONUS_20Prime20Day20Results202B20First20TAS20Car20Cast.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:30pm EDT |
Wed, 22 July 2015
Starting your own FBA private label business is hard work.
It can also be very discouraging work. Scott Voelker knows. He’s been at this long enough to know that there are opportunities every day to become discouraged and give up. But have you ever stopped to consider WHY people actually do give up? Scott believes there are 3 main reasons people give up, and he’s going to outline them and their solutions on this episode of The Amazing Seller podcast.
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