4-Step Guide to a Successful Product Launch on Amazon That Gets You the Top Search Results

With current events giving people no choice but to stay at home, it is not surprising that they try to find income-generating activities to fill their extra time. Who doesn’t like extra income, anyway? Whether you’re a hobbyist selling your work or an aspiring entrepreneur, everyone has to start from scratch when it comes to launching products on Amazon and then fight their way up from there. The question now is: where do you start? Here’s a quick heads up on what to expect when starting on Amazon, along with four proven and tested ways to a successful product launch.rnThe New Product Dilemma rnAmazon is home to the biggest number of products in the e-commerce market. However, though it may not be known to many, the sales brought about by third-party sellers are bigger as compared to those of Amazon’s products themselves. These third-party sellers are comprised of established brands and startup companies alike. With the number of products that launch every day, it is easy for your new products to get lost in the Amazon jungle. To help organize their catalog of millions of available products, Amazon makes use of the A9 algorithm. This is a filtering system that enables Amazon to find the most relevant products based on the keywords customers type in the search box. Long story short, the battle for the top spot in the search results is a battle of relevance. What do you need, exactly, to be relevant? For starters, you need the following things: competitive pricing, quick response rate, positive seller rating, positive product reviews, and lots and lots of product sales. Unfortunately, half of the things you need to rank high are quite tricky to obtain if you’re offering a new product. In a nutshell: you need to rank in order to sell, but you also need sales in order to rank. Confusing? Fortunately, although ranking a new product is tricky, it isn’t entirely impossible. All you need is a successful product launch and an Amazon SEO expert to do the trick.rnYour 4-Step Guide to a Successful Product LaunchrnThe key to a successful Amazon product launch is to create a buzz and attract attentionrneven before you officially launch your products on Amazon. While you cannot initially provide a substantial number of sales upon launching to boost your rank, you can build enough attention and traffic to your listing to generate enough sales at the soonest possible time. Here are the four steps on how to do it:rn1. Set your Targets Everything starts with research, from finding a niche to product development, market segmentation, brand positioning, and actual selling execution. Here are the things you need to pay special attention to help set you up on Amazon:rnProduct NichernThere are millions of products available on Amazon. Unless you create an invention orrndiscover a new ingredient, your products will never entirely be completely original. But that shouldn’t stop you from establishing a brand, should it? Although products are just mere variations of another, you should focus on finding the most unique feature or function that your product can offer. This will help you set a competitive advantage when it comes to value that can help you market your product later on. On the other hand, if you’re reselling or distributing products from an existing brand, you should focus on finding the cheapest supplier or manufacturer to have a competitive advantage in terms of price. However, quality should never be sacrificed as it will reflect in your product reviews later on and will only harm your brands image. KeywordsrnAs Amazon functions as a search engine, it relies on keyword searches in order to sort out relevant results. In order for your products to land in the search results of the people looking for them, you must figure out which words people type in the search box. These keywords are what you should make sure to include in your product title and mention in description and bullet points. Although using relevant keywords is a good strategy, using too much of these keywordsrncan be counterproductive. Remember that as much as you want Amazon to be able to read your listing, your buyers should also be able to read your content correctly. This means that sentences should still sound logical and should make proper sense. 2. Build your Content The only thing that’s more important than marketing your products when it comes to generating sales is making sure that your listings are optimized. All the time and money you spend on advertising will be a waste if your listings are not readable by Amazon’s algorithm.rnListing OptimizationrnAn optimized listing means that it is readable for both the Amazon algorithm and humanrneyes. However, the algorithm changes unannounced from time to time, so you cannot be complacent by putting fixed content in your listing. So far, here are the parts of an Amazon listing and how you can optimize them in 2020: Product title - Previous Amazon algorithm suggests putting the first five most relevant keywords at the beginning of the product title because this is where Amazon gets the product URL. The current algorithm, however, doesn’t require this arrangement anymore. This gives sellers the opportunity to create more descriptive and logical product titles.rnDescription, features, and bullet points- The product description, feature, and bullet points give you the opportunity to convince the buyers why they need your product. Emphasize how the product can help the buyer, how and when they can use it, and why they should choose your brand over many others. It would be helpful to casually mention relevant keywords for maximum optimization.rnProduct image - The product image plays the largest role in your product’s click-through-rate. Most online shoppers are visual, and while Amazon only allows the core product against a white background to be the main image, that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative in the additional photos. You can use the additional images to highlight features, demonstrate functions, and show the packaging. A+ ContentrnAmazon A+ Content comes in really handy for a product launch. This is because the enhanced content allows you to include more media materials so you can show your product’s value better. You can use A+ content to include HD product videos, enhanced photos, charts, and graphs. The content can range from your brand’s story to ‘what’s in the box’ content. If you’re going to launch a new product, availing of A+ content with the help of an Amazon SEO expert is an excellent way to introduce your product to the Amazon marketplace. 3. Establish Credibility Amazon’s number one value is putting the customer above all. This is why good product ratings and reviews are one of the surefire ways you can boost yourself up the search ranking. Although ratings and reviews aren’t something that a new product can have upon launching, you can actually utilize Amazon Vine or the Early Review Program to at least put a few honest reviews in your listing.rnAmazon VinernAmazon Vine is a review program composed of the top customer reviewers on Amazon. The reviewers are called “Voices” and are chosen by other customers. The Voices are not paid to write a review, but they do have to receive free products sent by sellers ahead of their launch. These free products do not guarantee positive feedback, precisely why the Voices review is highly honored. Early Reviewer ProgramrnUnlike the Amazon Vine program, which is composed of carefully chosen reviewers, the Early Reviewer Program is open for everyone. You can be an early reviewer as long as you do not have a record of a dishonest review. In addition, the Early Review Program is done for a limited time after the launch, unlike Vine which is done ahead of time. Because participants have to actually purchase the product to be able to write an early review, they are given small tokens, such as gift cards, in return. However, these tokens shouldn’t be biased and should be given to the reviewer whether their feedback is positive or negative, as long as they sent the review on the allotted timeline. 4. Put your Products Out There While it is best to work your way up the search rankings organically through optimized content, using advertisements isn’t a bad way to go. In fact, with the existing cut-throat competition in the market, using pay-per-click campaigns has become more of a necessity than an option. It is not enough for people to find your product when they’re looking for it. You should present your product whenever possible to make them realize that they need to check out your listing. Amazon Pay-Per-Click (PPC)rnPPC is Amazon’s internal marketing system which allows you to feature your product inrndifferent parts of the Amazon website. This provides exposure to your listing and enables you to be featured side-by-side with your competitors. Regardless of what campaign you choose (Sponsored Product, Sponsored Brand, or Sponsored Display) PPC allows you to only pay the amount worth the number of clicks that your listing has received. It is important to note that PPC works in a bidding process where the highest bidderrngets to secure the slots. This is why even if you have a working budget for the campaign, it is still essential to bid the maximum price that you can offer in order to secure the advertisement spots on the website.rnAmazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP)rnWhile PPC advertises internally, DSP allows you to advertise in apps and websites outsidernAmazon. Compared to PPC which only features your listing, DSP will enable you to provide display, audio, or video materials as what you are paying for is the advertisement slot. Ready for Takeoff?rnPlanning and product development takes a lot of work. If you think launching is the easiest part of the process, you better think again. Building a golden momentum for your product does not only guarantee sales upon launching, but it also helps secure brand recognition in order to establish yourself in the market. Daunting? Definitely. But remember that there will always be an Amazon SEO expert readyrnto assist you along the way. You may lose a bit of money initially, but a product launch is actually a stepping stone to getting that initial money to come back in the form of stable income.