If you’re new to ecommerce and online business, you might know Amazon.com to be the ‘ecommerce darling’ of the moment.
But Amazon is one of the oldest and largest companies on the internet and has built an empire that offers multiple opportunities for entrepreneurial businesses to make money online.
Whether you sell physical products, digital products, are an affiliate marketer, an author, speaker, consultant or expert in your field, Amazon has several avenues for you to market your products.
It also offers an unparalleled opportunity for you to use the site to gain visibility for your business.
In fact done the right way, you can use the site to build your own “Amazon Empire”.
To have a vision of what Amazon can do for your business, you’ll want to start right with the slide presentation below.
Consulting firm faberNovel recently put together a slide show on Amazon’s business model and strategy that will shock, surprise and amaze you.
Filled with insights that you can apply to your own business the “Amazon’s Hidden Empire” preso is a must-watch for all smart, savvy entrepreneurs.
So how can you build your own Amazon Empire?
By implementing multiple streams of Amazon income, including:
Generate physical products sales through the Amazon Marketplace, Amazon Pro-Merchant Account or through an Amazon Web-Store
Create and sell Print-on-Demand books and DVDs using Amazon Create Space. Publish a book to establish credibility in your niche. Create a “How-To” DVD to merchandise with your products.
Leverage the 300%+ growth in digital product sales projected by 2015 by publishing through Amazon Kindle Publishing
Harness the power of affiliate sales of millions of products with the Amazon Associates Program
Host your webinars, teleseminars and digital courses in the Amazon Cloud (and saving hundreds or thousands a year in traditional hosting/bandwidth fees in the process)
Tap into Amazon’s massive database of customers, including their best “Prime” customers who come back to shop on Amazon at least once a month. You’ll have access to customers you couldn’t get any other way
Give your business visibility on one of the highest trafficked, most respected sites on the web. A place where people come ready to buy products and information
What makes Amazon unique is that it’s the ONLY online marketplace of its caliber that offers opportunities to such a broad spectrum of business owners.
Whether you’re an author, information marketer or physical product seller (or all three!) Amazon has a program that you can use to build your online empire!
What are your questions about building your empire on Amazon?
Tell me below!
Lisa, I have tried to get approval to sell in the clothing and accessories (bags and luggage) departments on Amazon and have been unsuccessful. I have tried a few times, even using the product ads as a outside seller, I could do that but offered to sign up for the pro merchant account, had a web site of my own and still could not get approval for this category which required approval. Any thoughts or ideas to get into this category of Amazon?
Hi Ellen,
In a closed category, Amazon will generally only approve you if you already have a strong presence somewhere else (either your website and/or eBay).
For example, a client of mine recently went through this process for the Amazon jewelry category. She has a beautiful website and a successful (and fully branded ) store on eBay. It took quite a bit of work to submit the application and make sure that she had dotted every “i” and crossed every “t” – but when she submitted her application she was approved.
The branding and presence is a big deal for them. Because those categories are so valuable to them, they are really looking for the entire package.
It can also help if you have experience selling on Amazon under another category – in fact there is so much opportunity on Amazon, even if you can’t get into your primary category, I’d recommend pursuing a second niche and sell those products on Amazon.
Good luck!
-Lisa
I am German, based in Bali Indonesia.
We are selling via our website and also via eBay.
We would like to start also with Amazon.com
Can we register from overseas. We are based in Bali and ship from there.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks very much for your sharing, I did not know there is so much we can do with Amazon in creating multple streams of Amazon income.
I knew Amazon Affiliate Program was hot, so in late January, I created a website http://www.TheIMRunner.com journaling my experiment selling a product The Seiko Running Metronome which I purchased from Amazon for my running. So far so good, I must say, though the income is not much (the product is rather lowly priced) it is consistent. I am planning to add more product to test out the process further.
Once again, thanks for the info and looking forward for more Amazon tips.
Cheers,
Keith.
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for this information! In the past few months I have been using Amazon exclusively to market my books. I publish mostly for the Amazon Kindle, but am trying to learn how to use the publish on demand books also.
Hi Toni,
That’s excellent! Kindle publishing is a huge opportunity for people to publish books in thousands of niche markets. Amazon Create Space (which is their print-on-demand service) is very easy to use AND gets your products in front of Amazon Prime customers (they’re best customers – and those who on average shop with Amazon more than once a month).
I have two DVDs on Create Space that I co-published with Jim Edwards and am working on a book that I will publish through Create Space now. Digital publishing is only in its infancy and it will become part of all online businesses – so I’ll be talking a LOT more about publishing on Amazon Create Space, Kindle etc. in upcoming blog posts and in my newsletter.
-Lisa
Lisa,
I was working with a company that showed me how to find a niche and how to “market” my niche and find things like keywords and improve my ranking. I should never have spent that kind of money however here I am with a sight that has no sales that has been up for 5 months. EBay has been good but I am having a hard time with Amazon sales. Your emails and information have been very useful. What could I do with my amazon store to improve my visibility to get more sales? Seriously frustrated. I really need to show my husband this is worth spending more time to make it a regular income.
Hi Karen,
I’m sorry to hear that the company who was supposed to help you didn’t come through. Unfortunately, most of those multiple thousand dollar programs do not deliver what they promise. Based on what you said, I recommend focusing on your marketplace sales first (eBay and Amazon). (Not sure if you have an Amazon website or are selling through the marketplace.)
You first need to start with your products and see if there is a demand for them. Take each of your products and search for it on Amazon, then look at the Amazon product rank. If the rank is high (in the upper hundred thousands to a million plus – then there is not enough demand for your products. If that’s the case, it’s best to clear those out and source new products. If there IS a demand for your products, then you need to look at your pricing compared to your competitors. If you are selling from an Amazon website, then it’s all about layout and conversion (without seeing it, it’s hard to give specific pointers.)
But it all starts with your product line. That’s the engine of your business. If the products are not in demand, then no amount of marketing will sell them. So that’s the first place to look to figure out what needs to be improved!
It can be done – but you must do it in a methodical fashion, looking at things step-by-step.
-Lisa
Hello Lisa –
Would amazon let us sell our digital content: tutorials mostly via Amazon? Like place orders etc …
Yes, you can sell digital content via Amazon Create Space or through Kindle Publishing. Create Space is Print on Demand Publishing – where they print one book at a time upon order. However, you can only sell digital content via Kindle Publishing.
Awesome madam!
Lisa, I run an online computer technical services business. Could amazon help in this situation? Always looking for more ways to promote and grow my business. Thanks!
Hi: I’m a little confused as to where to start. I don’t have a store on eBay or Amazon. I have sold a few items on eBay. Do I have to develop an eBay store before I can work with Amazon ? If Amazon is the most “merchant friendly” then i would like to start there.
Thanks.
~ Christie
Lisa, how can I get more info on hiring you as a consultant ?
I read your web page but have some specific questions about what you can help me with.
~ Christie
I have tried to sell my book on decluttering via Amazon but was completely stymied by their insistence on a bank account in America! I am in Australia.
I want them to pay into my Paypal account (they can TAKE money from there, why not send it there?) or my credit card (they can TAKE money from there too, so why not send it there?). Any ideas on how to get around this? Flying to America to start a bank account is kinda counterproductive for me.
Hi: I sell fashion products on our website and have tried selling them in Amazon. But, since new clothing is restricted and subject to Amazon’s approval to sell there… each time I’ve requested … they’ve turned me down. Is there a way around this so I can sell our clothing items in Amazon?
thank you
Is there a way to tap into Amazon’s database to use their product information for my web app? A way to grab their database of books, authors, etc and of course have people clicking-through to purchase on Amazon?