Great content is not a treat (like a massage after a workout). For any brand serious about selling on Amazon, great content is a necessity. Though Amazon Advertising might seem sexy, new, and flashy, your Amazon marketing strategy will fall flat without the content to support it. It is a waste of resources to drive consumers to your product page if the content is too poor to convert.
When brands come to us to help with Amazon content, it’s often for one of two reasons. Typically, the agencies they are working with are not getting the content right. Or, a brand has tried to do the content themselves but found it to be complicated.
In more than a decade of specializing in Amazon content, we have seen the pitfalls and high points of content creation and management. A good strategy looks at the holistic view of content, search, and conversion and focuses on the ways your content should benefit your marketing efforts.
The Product Page Supports Amazon Advertising
Amazon Advertising is a relatively new service that brands should be investing in, but there is no point spending money driving traffic to products that won’t convert. Your content should be optimized for conversion if you want to make the most of your paid ad campaigns. In addition to conversion, there are other ways your content helps your Amazon marketing strategy.
For example, if your product title contains a keyword from a user’s search, they are more likely to click. In turn, one of the drivers for Amazon’s A9 search algorithm is traffic on the page. Not only is getting consumers’ eyeballs to your page better for potential sales, but it also strengthens your search relevancy.
That said, what do consumers see when they look more closely at your product? Effective product content contains all the information a consumer needs to have their questions answered and make a purchase. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by ignoring conversion for the sake of traffic.
Keyword Optimized Content Supports Organic Search
Effectively managing your product page content means using it to boost your organic search strategy as well. Using keywords in your essential content can lead to higher rankings without paying for the privilege. Even if you are running paid ad campaigns now, optimized content will continue to drive organic search after your campaigns stop.
Though Google has dominated search to such an extent that it became a verb, Amazon (and many other retailers) have their own search algorithms. Amazon and Google do not index (consider) the same types of content. While Google indexes enhanced A+ content, Amazon does not. This means your search strategy will need to be adjusted for retailer-specific search. You can read more in this Profitero interview with Mark White, co-founder and President of content26.
It takes time and effort, but more than 50 percent of product searches begin on Amazon. Using your essential content to help with discoverability is as important, if not more so, on Amazon than any other site.
Good Enhanced A+ Content Increases Conversion
On Amazon, there are two main types of content: essential content and enhanced A+ content. Though essential content plays a bigger role in search, both are vital to your broader Amazon marketing strategy. When done right, A+ content increases conversions.
Enhanced A+ content is all about giving consumers the confidence to buy. Though some people will skim or skip the enhanced content, the consumers that are taking the time to read and research deeply need to be able to find the information.
There are two types of enhanced A+ content available through Amazon: basic and premium. Amazon made basic A+ content free to all brands in January, while Premium offers more features for a price. For more details on the differences, check out our post, “Is Amazon Premium A+ Content a Good Idea for Your Brand?” Though there are pros and cons to each, basic A+ enhanced content provides plenty of ways to break down the consumer barriers to purchase and give your sales a lift.
Using Content to Ground Your Amazon Marketing Strategy
Good content and a successful Amazon marketing strategy are not just for the big brands. Even smaller or relatively unknown brands can be successful with a well-executed plan. Here are a few ways to make sure your content is retail-ready:
- Get enhanced A+ content on all your product pages.
- Run Amazon Advertising campaigns in a way that generates smart keywords.
- Use a process to pull these keywords back into your content.
At the end of the day, your Amazon marketing strategy depends on a reliable, effective foundation of content.
