Starting an online business can be hard, but it doesn't have to be. Starting an online business with the FBA amazon system can be extremely lucrative and profitable if you have the right information.
In this article, we will be going through everything you need to know to start your own online business using Amazon as well as some Amazon marketing hacks. After reading this you will know step by step how to start your own online business as well as how to make the perfect product listings on Amazon.
Also, there will be a FAQs section at the end of the article in which we will answer the most popular questions people have when starting their own online businesses through Amazon FBA.
Getting Started With Your Online Business
To take your first steps towards starting your own online business, all you need to do is head over to Amazon and make an account. Congratulations, you have now taken the first, but most important step in your journey. After you have done this, you will need to think about what products you would like to sell and begin your first listings, which we will tell you exactly how to do in the rest of this article.
If you already have a business and are looking about how you can turn your current company into an online business or expand and do both, then the FBA business model Amazon offers is a perfect way to do this.
FBA stands for Fulfilment by Amazon. The FBA marketing strategy lets you leverage the extensive customer base and distribution network of Amazon; this in turn takes out a lot of the fuss of starting an online business as it allows you to not worry about shipping and transporting your products.
Now that we have given a brief explanation of how to start your own online businesses as well as what the FBA marketing strategy is, we can move on to actually creating your first listing.
The Title Gets the Attention
Titles can be the most important part of your product listing and they are one of the essential Amazon marketing hacks. Luckily for us, creating the perfect title can be pretty simple and formulaic.
A guideline for a title would be this:
- Brand name
- What the product is
- Dimensions (if it's important)
- Any important keywords
All titles should not be more than 200 characters long and make sense throughout (meaning not just a stockpile of keywords).
An example of how this looks would be this:
“Belle Vous Glass Dome Cloche Bell Jar with Black Wooden Base – 30cm/11.81 Inches – Clear Decorative Tabletop Display Case with Tray for Fairy Lights, Centrepieces and Antiques”
So, let's go into more detail on each bullet point.
The brand name is a simple one; just put your online business name or company name.
After this, you will be putting exactly what your item is. This includes what your item is as well as colors and materials used, and any other important information about your product that a customer would want to know.
Following this you will want to put the dimensions if it is an important piece of information to know. For example, you wouldn’t have to include this on a product listing for a pair of scissors as this isn't usually something people would search for by size. However, on a product listing for a table you may want to include the dimensions as this is something people may search for when looking for a table.
Last but not least is including any, and as many keywords that you can to fill up the remaining characters up to 200 while also making sense. For this one there are some things you can do to dramatically boost your marketing. To find what keywords are popular you need to search Amazon for similar listings to your product, find the best ranking ones, and then take all the most popular keywords used in the best listings.
The best way to do this is to download Helium 10 which shows the ranking of every item on Amazon above their title, then go on to Amazon and find 10 listings that are similar to the product listing you are making. After this you want to copy and paste all the titles of the other listings into a word counter and use the most frequent keywords in your title.
After you have done all these steps you will have completed the perfect title for your product listing. When you do it the way we have told you, you will have much better marketing for your online business and you will get a lot more attention to your product listings. So, now that you have enticed people to click on your listing, we will go into how to seal the deal with images.
The Images Get the Interest
The images you use for your product listing are extremely important and having bad images will drop your potential sales tremendously.
You should always have at least seven photos per listing but no more than eight, and you should always use high-quality images.
Let's have a look at a good guideline for the images:
- Image 1: A clear photo of your product on a white background.
- Image 2: An image showing the dimensions of your product, on a white background.
- Image 3: An image showing the size of your product, on a white background. If the item is small, you can have it in someone's hand to show reference to size but if it is a larger item use something else in the image to give reference for size.
- Image 4: For image 4 you want to show the features of your item, on a white background. This could be by labelling the different features of your product or showing close ups of the features.
- Image 5: An image showing your product in use. For example, if your product listing is for a guitar, you can have an image of someone playing your guitar in a bedroom practicing.
- Image 6: Another image of one of the main uses of your product. Again, to use the guitar example you could have someone on a stage playing your guitar.
- Image 7: For image 7 you want to have an image showing multiple uses for your product. The best way to do this is make a four-panel image with each image showing a different use for your product.
- Image 8: If for some reason you feel like you need another photo of anything, this is where you put it. You could also use this for instructions or a photo guide of how to use your product if it needs that.
You now have all the information you need to make the best images for your product listing. Images are very important and they can really have an effect on how well your online business performs.
The Bullet Points Get the Desire
Moving on, we come to the bullet points. This is the area in which you have the most creative freedom; however, not as much as you would imagine.
Before you just start writing the bullet points or writing about how great your products are, there are a few things you need to know. First of all, you should look at other high-ranking listings of items that are similar to yours and take note of what all of them say in the bullet points. A lot of them will have similar information and points and these are the points you want to include in your product listing.
For each product listing, you should have five bullet points, all of which have a max of 500 characters. However, you should aim to get as close to 500 characters as possible. Each bullet point should also start with a small statement all in capital letters and ending with a colon about whatever the subject the bullet point is about. An example of this is:
AN ENDLESS VARIETY OF COLOURS:
Also, when writing bullet points, try not to include too much “fluff”. By this, we mean unnecessary information or speculation on your product. Raw features and information are all the customers care about.
Now that that is out of the way, let's take a look at a common structure of bullet points for a product listing:
- Bullet point 1: This will include all the important and vital information about your product. Things such as colour, materials, weight, uses, and anything else important.
- Bullet point 2: This will be about the most important feature of your product.
- Bullet point 3: This will be about a secondary feature of your product.
- Bullet point 4: This bullet point is used to list as many keywords as you can, an example of how to do this and to make it still make sense would be “our product is great for kitchens, rooms, bedrooms, gardens and more.”
- Bullet point 5: In this bullet point you will say that if there are any problems or you are not happy with the product, you can contact your business/you for an easy refund or replacement.
Now that you know how to do bullet points, let's move onto the final step of making your product listing.
The Description Gets the Confirmation
The description is the easiest and quickest part of your whole listing. For the description, you just include a quick summary of your item, everything that is included and also lists all the dimensions. The format of a description would look like this:
Summary of title.
Brief conclusion of your product details using the information from your bullet points.
What's included:
-XX.
Dimensions:
-XX.
That’s it. Congratulations you have now finished your first product listing.
FAQs
In this section, we will be answering some of the most popular questions people have about starting their own online business and also the FBA marketing strategy.
How do I beat Amazon’s competition?
In order to beat your competition on Amazon, you need to do one or two things, preferably both. The first is to have a better product than your competition. If you have a better product, you will get better ratings/reviews and you will have better customer trust which is important for both reputation and sales.
A lower price is also another method to do this. The second thing you can do is perfect the art of creating Amazon listings. Follow this article and make sure you have the best title, images, bullet points, and descriptions and you will have no problem beating your competition. Every little improvement makes a big difference.
How do I boost my Amazon listing?
All the information from the first question applies to this one: have a good product to get good reviews/ratings and also perfect the listing process. However, another good way to do this is to sponsor your product listing. This will make your product appear above all others and increase the ranking which can be a worthwhile investment.
How much does Amazon marketing cost?
Marketing campaigns on Amazon can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want. Amazon marketing works through pay per click which means you only pay when someone clicks on one of your sponsored ads. Because of this, Amazon allows you to set a budget of a max amount you are willing to spend on advertising, and then your adverts will be displayed until your amount has been met by the pay-per-click. On average every click costs $0.81.
How do I get my first sale on Amazon?
Getting your first sale on Amazon is easy. If you follow everything in this article you shouldn’t struggle to make a sale. If your product for some reason isn't selling or the competition is high, remember you can always sponsor your product.
Thank you for reading our article. We know how daunting starting an online business can be, but it is also possible and realistic for everyone. Having your own online business can be extremely rewarding and be a great career path, as well as giving you more free time. We hope this article has helped you on your journey.
