Anyone who has ever tried to sell a product or service knows that, without advertising, the process is akin to trying to nail jelly to a wall.  Traditionally, advertising was restricted to expensive print, TV and radio ads but, with the advent of the internet, came fast and easy selling – and advertising.

With an incredible 51% growth year on year, Amazon advertising is used by a huge percentage of online sellers to great effect.  Although Amazon Advertising may seem baffling and complex at first, it can pay dividends when used properly so, we’ve put together the following guide to help you get to grips with this effective and affordable advertising option.

Overview of this article:

1. What’s it all about?

First of all, forget what you probably think of as advertising.  For most of us, the word conjures up stunning visuals accompanied by slick wording designed to convince the reader that they need or want that product.

Amazon Advertising is different in that adverts on Amazon are often ‘in disguise.’  If you’re confused, bear with us – all will be explained, we promise!

Amazon’s adverts (also known as sponsored products) are a simple but clever way of optimizing sales without traditional advertising methods.

At first glance, an Amazon Ad or sponsored product looks just like a normal product listing – because that’s what they are!  Simple but clever, sponsored products will appear on the regular product listing but will be higher on the list and more visible.  Do a quick search on Amazon and you’ll see that a lot of products which top the lists are discreetly marked ‘sponsored’ in pale grey on top of the product listing – these are Amazon adverts.

Amazon Advertising works on a pay per click (PPC) basis – which is exactly how it sounds in that you pay only when somebody clicks on your advert. Advertising is bought auction style – say you’re selling a digital camera; you would pick a keyword or words to be used in searches and, then, you would decide how much to bid on each word.

For example, in this case, your keywords would be ‘digital’ and ‘camera’.  How much you bid will depend on the cost of the item that you are selling – although people may click on your ‘advert’ that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will subsequently buy the product so you need to remember that you will be paying the bid price for each click regardless of whether a sale is made.

2. Advantages of using Amazon PPC

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One of the main advantages of using pay per click is that it is as low cost as you want it to be.  You choose the bid amount that you’re comfortable with rather than a set price for a traditional style advert.

As you have full control over the management of your advertising, you can increase or decrease the bid amount on your products at any time depending on your budget and sales. You can even pause or stop your PPC adverts at any time should you need to.

A further advantage of PPC is that it’s generally only targeting potential buyers. A traditional advert will reach a huge number of people but, only a small percentage of those people will currently be in the market to buy that product.  Because PPC adverts work through search engines, they are only targeting specific people who are already looking to purchase that particular kind of product.  Amazon shoppers rarely log on in order to browse – they’re almost always there to look for one specific item.  Put simply, traditional advertising throws out a wide net in the hope of catching a few fish, whereas PPC uses a smaller net but in the right place.

3. Getting started

Before beginning to advertise on Amazon, you will need an Amazon or vendor account.  These are quick and easy to set up and instructions can be found on the menu at the bottom of the Amazon page.

PPC Advertising is not available for all products and, excluded products/services include:

  • Alcohol
  • Free offers or sweepstakes
  • Gambling products or services
  • Medical or pharmaceutical products
  • Aerosols
  • Knives
  • Illegal drugs
  • UV or self tanning equipment