A quintessential part of any commercial business is advertising, and when you’re selling on Amazon, it’s even more crucial.
Thankfully, Amazon offers some advertising tools for its sellers, including the use of pay-per-click or PPC advertising.
What is Amazon PPC?
Amazon’s PPC tool, also known as sponsored ads, is a way for sellers to advertise their products on the online marketplace. The merchant only pays for ads when a customer clicks on them, so if you know how to use it right, it can be hugely beneficial for reaching your intended audience.
If you’re new to selling on Amazon and want to learn the basics about the best Amazon PPC strategy to employ, we can help.
This guide covers it all including costs, types of sponsored ads, and tips for creating the ultimate advertising strategy using PPC.
What is Amazon PPC?
Amazon has a handful of advertising campaigns that its sellers can utilize to increase the reach of their audience and help their products to stand out.
One of the most commonly used are sponsored ads, also referred to as pay-per-click advertising.
Pay-per-click advertising is by no means a new advertising method, but it’s one that’s utilized best in places like the Amazon marketplace.
An Amazon PPC ad can be either a sponsored product ad, sponsored display ad, or sponsored brand ad, so there are a few different ways you can utilize this approach.
With PPC advertising, your listings will become more visible and each time someone clicks on one of these ads, you’ll pay a fee to Amazon.
This means you’re only paying for the advertising that works and not wasting money running other campaigns with no idea if they’re effective or not.
How Can Amazon PPC Earn You Money?
One of the biggest issues with selling goods on Amazon is that it’s such a crowded marketplace.
PPC and sponsored advertising were created to solve this very problem and help you to stand out among the competition, which gets your products noticed and ultimately increases your sales.
The influx in traffic that Amazon receives and the fact that there are other 350 million products for sale at any given time means you have to do what you can to get noticed by customers. Using PPC ads along with aiming for a better ranking organically is the only way to do that.
Not only will PPC ads be beneficial to your overall sales but because you’re only paying for the advertising when someone actually clicks on it, you know it’s not a waste.
Although it doesn’t guarantee that everyone clicking on your sponsored ad will go on to buy your product, you have a much greater chance of being seen when they do.
What Does It Cost?
An important aspect of any advertising strategy is budget and if you’re trying to determine the costs of advertising on Amazon, there’s a lot to consider.
In general, a PPC campaign will cost you between $0.05 and $10.00 per click, with factors like target keywords and the current market all impacting the final price.
Not just anyone can purchase PPC ads on Amazon though, as you need to bid for specific keywords and win your placement on the product page. Your bid dictates what you’d be willing to pay Amazon for every click your listing gets, and it sets the order of products.
If everyone was able to use PPC ads, you’d only see sponsored products which would make it harder for the customer to find what they want.
Although the price of Amazon advertising is rising, you can easily recoup costs when your products start to sell. It’s important to understand the various sponsored ad strategies and create a strategy that works for your store, so you can make the most of these costs and bid on the right keywords.
Types of Amazon PPC Ads and Strategies
Amazon has three types of sponsored advertisements that third-party sellers can use, and determining the right one will ensure it has a big impact.
These are the three options for PPC ads that you can utilize for your Amazon store, each with customizable settings to target exactly what you need.
Sponsored Products Ads
These are the most popular type of advertising used by Amazon sellers, accounting for around two thirds of PPC ads.
A sponsored product ad is one that appears at the top of the results once someone has searched for a specific keyword that you bid on. The listing will show ‘sponsored product’ on it so the customer is aware that it has paid to advertise if they look close enough.
Within the sponsored product ads, you can choose either manual targeting or automatic targeting. Automatic occurs when Amazon selects the keywords that best relate to your product, and they can be either close match, loose match, complement, or substitute.
Manual targeting is chosen by the seller and can work out cheaper, but takes some research to find the most effective keywords.
Sponsored Brands Ads
Amazon’s sponsored brand ads were formerly known as headline ads and they’re about promoting your brand or store as a whole, rather than just one product.
The visuals that these ads create are bigger and more vibrant than a sponsored ad, so they can catch the eye of a potential customer easily. To qualify for this type of ad, you must have a registered brand in your store.
There are a few different types of brand ads, including a store spotlight or a product collection, featuring at least two products, the brand’s logo, and a short tagline.
The video brand ad format gives you between 15 and 30 seconds to showcase a specific product. The placement of these ads also differs, and they can be at the top of the search results or the bottom of the page.
Sponsored Display Ads
A sponsored display ad is shown on an affiliate website or within an app, including Facebook, Google, and Netflix. These are displayed to people who have visited your product detail page previously, in an attempt to lure them back.
As with the brand ads, you’ll need to have a registered brand to qualify for this type of advertising. This type of approach is best if you want to gain visibility in a crowded marketplace, so it’s not always about promoting a specific product and hoping to attract a buyer.
Tips for Creating An Amazon Ad Strategy
Amazon has designed its advertising tools to be easy to use, but you still need some smarts to create a strategy that’s effective.
Follow these tips for a successful Amazon PPC strategy that will build traffic and sales for your store.
Tick all of the boxes first
Make sure you meet the requirements that Amazon has for PPC suitability.
This includes being eligible for buy box, shipping to customers within the United States, a registered seller central account, and a registered brand if you plan on using display ads and brand ads.
Play around with your options
Don’t commit to any type of advertising on Amazon without testing them out first.
Spend some time looking at the various PPC ad campaigns and using both automatic and manual targeting for the keywords. You’ll likely find one is the better fit for your store and within your advertising budget as well.
Utilize keyword research tools
Take your time to research keywords if you’re using manual targeting. You’ll want a good mixture of competitor products and related keywords to make them effective.
Investing in an Amazon PPC tool or software is recommended for this process, or you can use the ad reports from previous automatic campaigns for inspiration.
Up your bid
When choosing the bidding price for keywords, it’s best to make your default bids between 50% and 100% higher than what Amazon recommends.
This will give you a chance to win against the competition.
Use negative targeting
Focus on negative targeting as well, which is the selection of keywords that you don’t want your product to show up for.
These are keywords that don’t usually convert to a lot of sales, so you’re wasting your money bidding on them.
Be patient
Give your ad campaigns at least two weeks of running time before assessing how effective they can be.
You won’t be able to get a true indication of the results after just a few days, so be patient before you go making changes.
Review your ad reports
Each week, review the ad reports to see what needs to be done and don’t be afraid to adjust the keywords as needed.
This will ensure the keywords remain relevant and you’re always running the most competitive ads. Make sure you’ve let them run for at least a fortnight first though.
Use long-tail keywords
Don’t be afraid to focus on long-tail keywords if you’re using manual targeting, especially when you’re trying to advertise a new product that might not have a good organic ranking.
You can usually bid on these for cheaper and they can be just as effective if chosen correctly.
5 Simple Steps for Advertising on Amazon
Before you start an advertising campaign, it’s worth spending some time learning the system that Amazon has.
These are the simple steps needed to implement your advertising strategy once you’ve come up with a plan.
- Log into your seller central account and click on ‘advertising’. Follow the prompts to create your first ad campaign.
- Choose which type of campaign you want to utilize, whether it’s sponsored products, sponsored brands, or something else. You’ll need to decide which keywords to target and choose the products you want to advertise.
- Assess the costs of the advertising campaign and come up with a plan that suits your budget. Play around with some of the settings to ensure you’re spending only what you can afford to.
- Once the campaign starts, track your success by looking at metrics like conversion rates, clicks, and traffic. Make adjustments as needed and assess again once the campaign has ended.
A Smart Strategy for Amazon Selling
Without a smart advertising strategy, your online store will fail to thrive, and utilizing Amazon’s PPC approach is the easiest solution.
Spend some time creating a strategy that works for your brand and see how much of a difference these sponsored ads can make to your store.
Related Questions
Advertising is a major part of any e-commerce store and if you’re selling on Amazon specifically, it’s worth knowing what options are available to you.
We’ve answered a few more questions about what’s possible with an Amazon selling account when it comes to advertising, so read on to find out.
Where Do Amazon Ads Appear?
Depending on the type of sponsored ads you’re using, you’ll find that they appear either on the Amazon home page, underneath product details, and within the search results in a higher placement.
Sometimes, Amazon advertising might also be found on a third-party website or app.
Do I Need to Advertise My Amazon Store?
Yes, it’s essential to advertise the products you’re selling through Amazon to reach a larger audience and stand out from the competition.
The best methods for advertising Amazon listings are sponsored product ads, sharing product listing links on social media, using SEO to optimize listings, and partnering with influencers who can promote your store.
What Is An Amazon Headline Search Ad?
Amazon Headline Search Ads are found at the top of a search result page to give your products greater visibility and are now called sponsored brand ads.
This advertising campaign operates on a cost-per-click basis so you only pay if a customer clicks on your ad, regardless of whether they buy the product or not.
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