My Amazon Guy

Send us a textUPDATE: The Man With 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer Just Donated Them "A key political and economic issue, and one that has been debated after every natural disaster for at least the last half century, is this: Should we allow market prices to rise temporarily following disasters and allow entrepreneurial “price gougers” to temporarily play a role of providing critical supplies during the “gap period” at elevated prices, or should we suppress market prices with government price controls?"An economic analysis of market prices v. price controls post-natural disasters reveals superiority of market prices: Amazon Cracks Down on Price Gouging, Sellers Hoarding Thousands of Hand Sanitizer: Get Amazon Consulting at www.myamazonguy.comSupport the show

Send us a textMerima Makelja is our special guest today, she is the Design Director at My Amazon Guy and has developed hundreds of ASIN A+ enhanced brand content. Thanks for joining me Merima. Steven: A+ content is now recognized by most sellers as the most important thing they can do to increase sales outside of ad management. So I’m excited to have you talk about what it takes to do good A+ content. For our listeners, if you need help with getting your trademark or brand registry we will link you to other resources. We’re jumping in right where you can access and start making + content. So Merima, what does it take to have great A+ Content?Images that stand out + high quality graphics + great copyInclude your best product featuresWhy does your product stand out from competitors? Include things you may not have had space for in the bullets/imagesWhat can you say or not say in the content?Typical reject reasons?Warranty/guarantee informationUnverified claimsreviews/testimonials/quotesLinks or references to other sites - including email addressesIncludes restricted keywords ( some examples - guarantee, weed, environmentally-friendly)We charge $500 to make a design at MAG. Merima - How long does it take the My Amazon Guy team to develop A+ content (4 business day turnaround) Is A+ content more about traffic or conversion? (both, explain)In terms of best practices, lots of words, or less words?A+ content is meant to be visual - include graphics & images but don’t neglect textWhat’s your favorite module? Steven: Mine is the product grid comparisonWhat are these alt text keywords behind photos? Are they important?100 characters behind each image, help search rankings on and off amazonHow do you do keyword research?Helium 10 kw research on your own product + leading competitorsTell me about A+ content A/B testing new feature.About finding the right A+ content to boost salesOnly for high-traffic SKUsRun 2 different A+ contents during the same time (6-10 week) - see which A+ has a higher conversion rate and leads to more salesOutside of A+ content, you also build websites. What’s your preferred platform? (Shopify, explain why)Quick set up, easy UIIntegration with other sales channels such as amazon/ebaySupport the show

Send us a textNY Times Article: Book a coaching call"On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus death in the United States was announced, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin set out in a silver S.U.V. to pick up some hand sanitizer. Driving around Chattanooga, Tenn., they hit a Dollar Tree, then a Walmart, a Staples and a Home Depot. At each store, they cleaned out the shelves.Over the next three days, Noah Colvin took a 1,300-mile road trip across Tennessee and into Kentucky, filling a U-Haul truck with thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer and thousands of packs of antibacterial wipes, mostly from “little hole-in-the-wall dollar stores in the backwoods,” his brother said. “The major metro areas were cleaned out.”Matt Colvin stayed home near Chattanooga, preparing for pallets of even more wipes and sanitizer he had ordered, and starting to list them on Amazon. Mr. Colvin said he had posted 300 bottles of hand sanitizer and immediately sold them all for between $8 and $70 each, multiples higher than what he had bought them for. To him, “it was crazy money.” To many others, it was profiteering from a pandemic."Support the show

Send us a textKevin Strawbridge, an experienced CEO and entrepreneur, joins the podcast and speaks about his history of working with Amazon since 2001 with JCPenney. Kevin has also been the CEO of ClickBank, and a leader of many other companies. For our listeners can you tell us about how you and I met a few years ago? Kevin and I first met when he was President of MAG Retail Group. Kevin hired me help grow Amazon sales there. Since working together you’ve referred countless of clients our way.But you’ve doing Amazon since 2001, talk about your history with that.Target website used to be run by Amazon.JCPenneyBack then Amazon was the learnerAmazon became leag gen, only 5% over lap.72,000 skusMAG Retail1-mil skusLow skus vs high skus - Low skus have to be super targetedHigh sku can shot gun approachIf starting an Amazon business what would you do?Find current company with meaningful value.Want to be inventivePoll people - 12 ideas I’ve passed onHow to grow sales right now?Hire a consultantLandmines can be avoidedSales are quicker growthSpend time learning or pay for serviceCoronaImportance of ecomRational vs irrational responseOnce in a 100 year eventPrevious Black Swan events in your business experience9/11 Black SwanImpact to business development cycle?Run your business like it’s always going to be bad like South West Airlines does.What excites you about being an entrepreneur? Create somethingSolve a problemSave time/moneyPassing ecommerce and business to the next generationWhat book are you reading or have you recently read?Built to Last by Bill CallingsSupport the show

Send us a textI’m joined by Gregg Rosenfield who is a former Clear Channel executive and owns his own media company. Gregg has been dabbling with Amazon for the past 2 years.Clear channelPrime Time - 275 employees22 P&Ls. Each newspaper had its own P&L.Find the trends.You have a plan.Budget goes down on paper. Budget to actual. Plan for that month, then what actually happened?Top Line Revenue - hard part.Control expenses is easy. Amazon4 models in AmazonWholesaleGregg’s preferred model for his lifestyleRetail arbitrageOnline arbitragePrivate LabelWhat do you wish you had known when you started out?At Clear Channel I had a technical person helping me. Wish I had more technical experience.What are you curious about right now?What’s something you’ve failed at?Brand grating issues cost $1,000 to resolve on barbie dolls.Amazon.com showed up in buy box on shortsWhat have you enjoyed the most about selling on AmazonComing up podcast on practicing not just pontificating Get amazon consulting at www.myamazonguy.comSupport the show

Send us a textSelling on Amazon is a game of finding Where’s Waldo. You need a technician to find Waldo. You know how each page has a different setting? That’s Amazon. A marketer is better at running the same playbook over and over again, traffic, and conversion. A technician can troubleshoot anything. Your Amazon company will be far more successful if they hire technicians. Mar·ket·er: a person or company that advertises or promotes something.Tech·ni·cian: a person skilled in the technique of an art or craft.Where's Waldo?Troubleshooting brand registryProduct detail page removalsLogistics and storage issuesLTL shipments, ever met a marketer who with no prior amazon experience who has made an LTL Shipment? For a technician it’s just another jigsaw puzzle. To a marketer it’s overwhelming.Now imagine telling them go to the warehouse and build a pallet - we’re going to stock out and the warehouse is behind.LiquidationAlgorithm changesAd management is technical not marketing, equation basedACOS/TACOSLocations to hire talentBetterTeam.com - shows everywhereLinkedIn got me a great hireLocal community, ChurchReferralsPast companies you’ve worked atLocal community college - I haven’t gotten this one to work for me yet.Can’t get something done, what do you do? Ticket, research, research, test.A/B testingThings constantly changingStranded inventoryAlt text keywords of photos - an SEO technical aspectLaunching new marketplacesReportingEuropeVat/taxes/customs/importsConverting inventory to MFN or FBA. Btw, here’s a great tip - create duplicate skus in your inventory so that if FBA ever stocks out, MFN is already to go.LastpassCommunication channel useSlackSkypeHangoutsVendor Central and Seller Central hybrid approachesRefunds and clawbacks. Plug for www.myrefundguy.com to get cash back from Amazon that they owe you.Multi-channel fulfillment orders.Setting up technology.Things a marketer will do better at:Content productionTaking a sales callShooting promotional videosCreation promotions and coupons, knowing when to do themProject managementSupport the show

Send us a textAmazon Advertising Attribution Setup.Amazon took away some nifty stuff with APIs and ability to track sales into platforms like Facebook this past summer. They are now rolling out new tools and functionality to everyone but in a more controlled format called “Attribution” which is in beta for Amazon advertising.Here’s what you need to do:Register for Amazon AttributionAccept the invite by email.Create user loginCreate tracking ID for productHelp maximize your return on investment (ROI) and grow your product sales. For the first time, you can measure the impact of search, social, email, display, and video media channels based on how consumers discover, research, and buy your products on Amazon. Amazon Attribution’s unique conversion metrics — including Amazon detail page views, purchase rate, and sales — give you a comprehensive view into how each of your marketing tactics contribute to shopping activity on Amazon.Here’s an example of what you will see when you are registered. A code that can be used to track into Google Adwords:Support the show

Send us a textI sit down with Andrei Lozovik, owner of New Wave Swim Buoy, a million dollar brand. https://www.newwaveswimbuoy.com/. This guy is the best in the business at crowdsourcing content. He drives more earned traffic through social media so I’m excited to talk to AndreiHow did you start your amazon businessWhat did you learn along the wayWhat did you learn in the last week?Why have you never been to China?What other places have you sourced? (Taiwan)So what does your chart look like?I’m a one man band. How does that work?So how are you the best in the business at crowdsourcing content?InstagramContent creationCrowdsourcing contentFB adsSwagQuality of posts# of posts a day for New WaveAmazon Social / Amazon Postshttps://myamazonguy.com/advertising/amazon-social-adopts-facebook-like-social-posting/So what mistakes or trials have you overcome along the way?Europe boxing - EU removal fee $11k to remove inventory.Removal fees have gone up, covered that in my last podcast.California patent or EPA troll?Suspended accountGoing to Australia, not expensive mistake. Test and learn.Product failuresBiggest flop?Support the show

Send us a textSpider Web Tool:Yasiv.com is an interesting tool we came across and wanted to share with you called “Yasiv”. You can put in any ASIN (Product) into it and it will spit out all the items connected to the listing. According to the tool it’s an “Amazon visualization that shows similar items based on ‘Customers who bought this also bought…’ data from Amazon.” There’s nothing immediately actionable, so it’s just for insight purposes. You may even find it fun to see what products are connected. Reviews most helpful not auto sorting to top. Pinterest Ads:https://ads.pinterest.comAmazon Attribution:Be sure to enable your Amazon attribution for it too. https://advertising.amazon.com/amazon-attribution?ref_=a20m_us_gw_aalmFBA removal order fees:Removal fees are charged per item removed. Typically, removal orders are fulfilled in 14 business days. However, removal order processing may take 30 business days or more during the holiday season and peak removal periods.Disposal fee is now the same.https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/help-popup.html/ref=ag_200685050_cont_xx?ie=UTF8&itemID=200685050New Tracking automation for Multi-Channel Fulfillmenthttps://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/headlines.html?id=2882308250231093773&ref=nslp_all_1_2882308250231093773_ttlIntroducing a tracking website for Multi-Channel Fulfillment ordersMulti-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) sellers and their customers can now use a new tracking website to get real-time updates on the location of their shipped packages.Sellers and customers can visit Swiship any time to enter the tracking number provided when the order is shipped and get the latest updates. The site provides tracking information for all MCF orders, regardless of carrier.For customers: Shipment notification emails will link to the tracking site. To make sure your customers get these notifications, provide their email address during fulfillment-order creation.For sellers: After the order has shipped, the tracking number in the Shipping section of the Order Details page will link to the tracking site.With MCF, you can sell products on your own site or another e-commerce site, and Amazon will pick, pack, and ship those items from your inventory stored in our fulfillment centers. To learn more, visit Fill orders from other sales channels (Multi-Channel Fulfillment).Support the show

Send us a textAmazon has gone from 2 day shipping to 1 day shipping to PRIME NOW. Selling on Amazon is no longer just about listing a product. Non-sophisticated sellers are going to go under, and sell to other complex selling machines. You need to open up manufacturing in the USA right now.You need to get in on all the new programs:Social PostsFeedback Whiz https://www.feedbackwhiz.com/?r=v4er9qatHelium 10 https://crushtrk.com/?a=427&c=7&p=r&s1=Shipping to Canada from USA FBA New Beta Display ads with Retargeting and Past PurchasersConsulting at www.myamazonguy.comSupport the show