How to boost sales on Amazon with Amazon Ads?

To know is to rule

Amazon has always been open about this: the company’s goal is to serve their customers (a.k.a. our buyers) - and to help them find products they would buy. Its key search algorithm, the A10 is built with this aim in mind. A10 is geared to look for signs of whether this outcome is likely or a given product listing.

So if we help it - it should play in our hands. Let's see how we can do that effectively.

What helps and what slogs the sales on Amazon

Like a good house needs a strong foundation - an effective Amazon Ads PPC campaign requires a solid product listing.

So, what should an Amazon Seller do to help A10 Algorithm see his/her product as worthy of a higher search results position?

To begin with, there are 4 broad areas to work on:

• Product quality. No amount of marketing or spending (including on Amazon PPC) will help if the product sucks. Or if it looks poor compared to the competitors
• Quality product page Note the word “looks” in the above point. It’s not just about the product quality, but also about how well you present it to the market (collectively known as Amazon SEO)
• Plenty of product reviews & good stars. Every seller should work closely with their customers to get more reviews. And deal with bad reviews as soon as they come up
• Sufficient stock. A10 will be cutting your impressions down if it thinks you are about to run out of stock in less than a week. So have sufficient inventory, and don’t let Amazon think otherwise.

Now, if all above are in order - your product is ready for some serious Amazon marketing!

Every product sold on Amazon has a dynamic value called “Best Seller Rank” (BSR). Many Amazon Sellers use this number as a gauge to see how well the A10 ranks the product in general.

This sales-based score is a PART of calculation the A10 performs when determining where to put your product for any given customer query.

The OTHER PART is a keyword rank, that is specific for any given customer query.

This is important, cause this means two things for you as a Seller:

• The more sales you leverage on Amazon.com regardless of the source - the higher up your product will appear both in paid and organic search results
• You can (and should) select popular search terms and hone your product’s keyword ranking for each one of them. Make sure it’s on your listing somewhere. And run the PPC to boost this ranking.

Enter the Amazon PPC

Currently, the Amazon Seller Central offers FBA seller with a registered brand 3 very different means of advertising:

1. Display Ads
2. Brand ads
3. Sponsored Ads

Each of them is a unique tool used for a specific marketing purpose (and pretty much useless for other ones). Some just make extra sales. Some promote sales via specified keywords.

Let's see how they can help boost your sales (from least to most significant)

Amazon Display Ads

These are basically advertising banners (or small-window videos) of your product, not dissimilar to Google Display Network ads.

When using this tool, you have to rely on Amazon algorithms to do some audience picking for you. There are two options to regard:

• Option One - is to target specific competing products and show your ads near them on the product detail page. This can be a really effective ad if you already know beforehand (e.g. via Search Term Report) what competing/ complimentary products bring you extra sales.
• Option Two - is to let Amazon pick some external websites to display your ads/videos on, based on your product description and category. Arguably this is an excellent way to create brand awareness, but less effective otherwise (just like the GDN ads)

Amazon Sponsored Brands Ads

The coolest thing about Brand Ads is that it’s the first thing a customer sees after entering a search query.

Come up with a creative punch-line, add your brand logo, 3 top products - and you are good to go. Just consider that:

• Brand Ads tend to convert at 2-4 times the cost of Sponsored Ads campaign (for the same set of keywords)
• They are good at improving your brand awareness
• One thing Brand Ads are good at is selling higher-end exclusive items with a higher-than-average price tag. The reason is simple: in Brand Ads, there is no price tag shown. If a product is good and has a well-built listing - some people will buy it regardless of the price tag.

Amazon Sponsored Products Ads

This is THE tool to propagate your sales on Amazon.com.

With enough money, a solid Sponsored Ads campaign is a mechanism to exchange some marketing budget for profitable sales. As simple as that.

The “exchange rate” depends heavily on the selection of keywords that you want to show your ads on, however. Remember the part where A10 determines where to put your product on the Search Query results for a specific query? This is exactly that.

By adding the target keywords to the PPC, you are boosting the final score A10 assigns to your product when processing customer queries. And the higher your bid is (for a specific keyword) - the higher up it will be shown.

Finding the top-performing keywords is a difficult task.

It is likely to take many attempts to get things right. Of course, you can use tools like Profit Whales that can generate you rick and structured keyword Amazon Campaigns (including major negative search terms) to get a head start.

But even so, some optimization will be required in the future to single out THE best-performing keywords and assign them the most effective bids. But when done right - you can see sales (depending on your category) within the golden corridor of 10-30% ACoS.

Will the PPC boost in sales last as long as I keep throwing money at it?

Not necessarily.

There is more to the effect of a good PPC than just extra sales with a marginal profit. With a well-built PPC campaign, you can achieve a long-lasting effect that pushes your product listing to the next tier of sales volume.

This is achieved via something referred to as a “sales flywheel”.

Basically, this is an inbuilt A10 feature that upgrades your BSR if you manage to maintain a new (higher) sales volume consistently over 20-30 days.

With a newly achieved higher BSR, your keyword ratings (PPC and organic) will get boost all across the board. Which will put your product in a better position to generate even more sales, and… well, you get the idea. Go ahead and give yours a spin!

Ihor Dubovetskyi, CEO at Profit Whales
Amazon Advertising Automation Software powered by Science and Data

How to Find an Amazon Accountant or Bookkeeper

While books, balance sheets, accounts payable, and more are the lifeblood of your business, you may dread the day when you have to start thinking about these things. Often sellers don’t consider them until the time comes to pay taxes and certainly don't hire an Amazon Accountant when they start selling.

Find an Amazon Accountant or Bookkeeper

Or maybe they started their business and were in charge of keeping everything up to date. Now the business has grown, and it’s getting more complicated and challenging to keep up with everything.

It’s time you called in the professionals to help with your Amazon business.

Perhaps you’ve considered hiring an accountant or a bookkeeper for your business before. Maybe you even worked with one as a one-off. However, now the time has come where you need to consistently have someone there in charge of the books of your business.

The problem is that people use the terms “accountant” and “bookkeeper” interchangeably. They serve two very different functions.

If you want to know how to find an Amazon accountant or bookkeeper, then the first step is knowing whether you need an accountant or a bookkeeper.

Table of Contents

1. What Do Amazon Bookkeepers Do?
2. What Do Accountants Do?
3. What to look for in Amazon Accountants or Bookkeepers
4. Finding the Right Amazon Accountant for your Amazon Business
5. Websites to Find the Perfect Amazon Accountant or Bookkeeper

What Do Amazon Bookkeepers Do?

As the name implies, a bookkeeper is in charge of “keeping the books” of a business.
They work in the business focusing on the transactional nature of that business. That includes things like recording sales, documenting expenses, processing payments, handling payroll, and keeping the books balanced at the end of the month.

A bookkeeper is also in charge of tracking accounts receivable and accounts payable records. They may use simple accounting software or bookkeeping systems to easily keep track.

For accounts payable, that means ensuring all invoices are correct and bills are being paid properly to avoid fines and penalties. Accounts receivable involves issuing invoices to clients, following up with clients over outstanding balances, and recording any payments received.

Bookkeepers may also help with handling petty cash and putting together financial statements.

What Do Accountants Do?

An accountant will take a broader look at the financial health of a business. Accountants are certainly able to do anything that a bookkeeper can, but they are better to bring in when considering long-term financial decisions.

On top of this, an accountant or a CPA (a certified accountant) is responsible for ensuring a business complies with all tax laws and they prepare tax returns for the end of the year. This includes going over any deductions and credits that you may be eligible.

Accountants can analyze your Amazon books. They can find trends and discrepancies. They also prepare the end-of-year financial statements.

Read also: The Ultimate Sales Tax Guide for Amazon FBA Sellers

What to look for in Amazon Accountants or Bookkeepers

The first step is deciding if you need an accountant or a bookkeeper. Keep in mind Amazon bookkeeper keeps track of income and expenses, process invoices, administer payroll, and reconcile bank statements. An Amazon Accountant is better for financial advice and long-term planning.

Amazon Accountant or Bookkeeper?

After choosing between the two, it’s time to find one. Amazon Bookkeepers can retained on a contractual basis, part-time basis, or full-time basis depending on what you need.

No matter which option you choose, a bookkeeper should meet specific criteria. Here’s what to look for when choosing an Amazon accountant or bookkeeper.

Criteria #1: Education

As they serve two different purposes, accountants and bookkeepers might have different educational backgrounds.

You should find someone that has at least done some formal coursework with an accredited institution such as a community college.

Criteria #2: Experience

As important as education is, there’s no substitute for a good experience, especially when it comes to Amazon. It takes something a little different to manage the books for an Amazon business.

Find an accountant/bookkeeper that has experience working with Amazon. Your best option is to find an Amazon Accountant. Hiring a bookkeeper or accountant without any experience with Amazon is just asking for trouble.

Criteria #4: Attention-to-Detail

Any financial work requires careful attention to detail. You must find someone who has a detail-oriented personality.

If someone you are considering seems disorganized, then this is a big red flag that they won’t be able to handle the job. If they are very organized and show up to an interview with plenty of information and resources, they could be the right person for the job.

Criteria #5: Technological Skill

You definitely need someone who knows their way around a computer when running an online business, such as an Amazon business.

The good news is that many bookkeepers have a good grasp of technology as bookkeeping itself is now mostly digital,

Find someone who has experience not just with Amazon, but also with the accounting software that you use (QuickBooks, Xero, Freshbooks, etc.).

Read Also: What is the top Amazon FBA Bookkeeping software for sellers in 2019?

Criteria #6: Cost

Cost is an essential factor when it comes to choosing a bookkeeper. How much it costs to hire one depends on what you need them to do. The more work they have, the more it’ll cost to hire them.

Expect to pay anywhere between $5 and $50 per hour depending on the complexity of the task and how much work they have to do.

Keep in mind, Amazon accountants and bookkeepers will likely require you purchase or subscribe to accounting software that makes it easier to calculate financial numbers, such as cost of goods sold, cash flow, profit and loss, chart of accounts, sales volume, etc.

Finding the Right Amazon Accountant for your Amazon Business

There are several things to consider when choosing an accountant or bookmaker for your Amazon business. One of the most important things to look for is experience with Amazon.

Find someone who knows what you need and can deliver on it. Don’t forget to check their qualifications too. A fully certified CPA is usually the more expensive option, but they are often providing the best quality and advice.

Websites to Find the Perfect Amazon Accountant or Bookkeeper

1. Upwork

Upwork is a great place to find quality bookkeepers and accountants. We have found a number of highly skilled CPA accountants that specialize in e-commerce and Amazon businesses.

Although it is the easiest option, you will likely have to sift through a bunch of applicants. Remember to be careful and really try to weed-out during the selection process.

2. Freelancer

Freelancer is another great site to hire bookkeepers and accountants from. It is very similar to Upwork.

3. Peopleperhour

Peopleperhour has become very popular in the United Kingdom but is used around the world. It is very similar to the other freelancing platforms.

4. LinkedIn

LinkedIn isn't just great for networking but can be a very useful tool to find employees. Simply search "Amazon Accountant" or "Amazon Bookkeeper" and lots of results will appear. You can then message the accountant/bookkeeper you are looking to work with.

Additionally, you can also post jobs on LinkedIn (similar to Indeed below).

5. Indeed
If you are in need of someone more local, you may want to post a job on Indeed. Applicants to start flowing in shortly after you post. Remember to be specific about the qualifications and expectations you have for your Amazon Accountant or Bookkeeper.