Throwback: Don't Let Amazon's Changes Dim Your Profits

In this episode, the host interviews Amazon and e-commerce expert Bradley Sutton, who shares actionable strategies for successful Amazon product launches. Bradley discusses natural keyword integration, backend optimization, and advanced Helium 10 tools like Historical Cerebro and inventory management. He highlights the importance of monitoring Amazon listing changes with alerts to avoid costly mistakes, and offers advice on budgeting for product launches. The episode concludes with Bradley’s personal recommendations and tips for staying informed, providing valuable insights for Amazon sellers aiming to optimize listings, manage finances, and scale their businesses effectively.

Chapters:

Introduction to Bradley Sutton and Amazon Listing Strategies (00:00:00)
Bradley shares his background, passion for Amazon, and discusses incorporating top keywords into product listings naturally.

Where to Add Keywords in Listings (00:01:15)
Explains ideal keyword placement: bullets, description, backend search terms, subject matter, and special features fields.

Special Features Field and Indexing Speed (00:02:47)
Describes the special features field, its rapid indexing, and cautions against keyword stuffing since it appears on the listing.

Advanced Helium 10 Tools for Launches (00:04:15)
Introduces Helium 10 Elite tools like Historical Cerebro for seasonal keyword research and their advantages over traditional methods.

Sponsored Ad Placements and New Page One Strategies (00:06:46)
Discusses the proliferation of sponsored ad placements on Amazon’s first page and the need for updated launch strategies.

Three Actionable Takeaways for Product Launches (00:08:37)
Host summarizes three key takeaways: title keyword density, running CPR via Amazon ads, and budgeting for initial losses.

Financial Acumen and Scaling Successfully (00:10:57)
Emphasizes the importance of understanding financials, budgeting, and cash flow to scale an Amazon business.

Bradley’s Most Influential Business Book (00:12:07)
Bradley recommends "The Four Disciplines of Execution" and explains its impact on goal setting and business growth.

Underutilized Helium 10 Tools for Sellers (00:13:59)
Highlights inventory management and alerts as underused tools, sharing a cautionary tale about ignoring alerts.

Where to Follow Bradley Sutton (00:16:45)
Bradley shares where listeners can follow him: Serious Sellers Podcast, Helium 10 Facebook group, and Instagram.

Links and Mentions:

Tools and Websites
"Helium 10 Listing Analyzer": "00:01:51"
"Helium 10 Cerebro": "00:05:09"
"Helium 10 Black Box": "00:05:53"
"Helium 10 Alerts": "00:14:13"
"Helium 10": "00:15:07"

Additional Resources
"Brand Analytics": "00:05:09"

Books
"The Four Disciplines of Execution": "00:12:07"

Podcasts
"Serious Sellers Podcast": "00:16:45"

Social Media Links
"Helium 10 Members Facebook Group": "00:16:45"
"Bradley Sutton on Instagram": "00:16:45"

Key Takeaways
"Alerts for SKUs": "00:15:07"

Transcript:

Josh 00:00:00  Today I'm super excited to introduce you to Bradley Sutton. Bradley is passionate about everything Amazon and e-commerce. He can talk about anything really. Launch strategy. Keyword research, the Amazon algorithm and everything in between. He has launched hundreds of products on Amazon for himself and clients, and he is privileged to host the most listened to podcast in the world for Amazon sellers. The Serious Sellers Podcast. Meeting helium ten customers around the world is his favorite thing to do with that. Welcome to the show, Bradley.

Bradley 00:00:33  Thank you for having me here. It's great to be here.

Josh 00:00:35  My question to you, Bradley, is you talked about add some of the top keywords into your listing. Where do you add them into your listing? because I could foresee an issue of, for example, maybe you're selling a calendar, right? And a pen. There's one particular type of pen, or it's a set of markers or something, right. That keeps showing up in the the frequently bought together. But those are very kind of two very different products.

Josh 00:01:02  Right? So how would you go about incorporating the marker top keywords into calendar type, you know, a calendar type product and where do you put them right. Does it matter? Is it bullets? Description. Back end.

Bradley 00:01:15  There's a couple of different ways. So like the most ideal way is just to get it as organic and natural as possible. You know in there. So like the you know perfect situation would be like for example, let's use that gothic, candle holder. You know, I could like, say in one of the bullet points or description, like, you know, hey, you can put a gothic candle holder on top of the coffin shelf and then you have a real spooky, you know, effect or whatever like that. You know, like something that actually makes sense. That's not that's not keyword stuffing. Yeah. You know, sometimes that doesn't you know, you're not able to do that most of the time though, if you really think about it. I mean, if two products are complementary, there's a way to tie it together.

Bradley 00:01:51  I mean, otherwise it wouldn't be complementary with each other. Like like there's got to be a way. But in the extreme circumstances where there's not, of course you've got your search terms, your back end search terms. most Categories still have hidden the subject matter like you can't do it in your edit listing, but like once you create your listing, if you use like helium ten Listing Analyzer or you or your advanced user of flat files like in helium ten Listing Analyzer, we still have the subject matter and even though you don't see it there, it still works like we can tie it in the API in the back end. And then so there's usually 4 or 5 more lines of 50 characters. So you can put some of these keywords and then another one where it's very limited. But like if you just can't put it anywhere, is is this this back end feature that, that categories like home and Kitchen have that's called special features. And that doesn't help for ranking. But special features is like the most it's the craziest field I have seen in Amazon in years where I could put something there.

Bradley 00:02:47  And I'll get index for it, like in less than 60s, you know, really, you know, if you change your title or your description, sometimes it takes like up to a day for you to get index or for you even to show up. You change something in the search terms. Like it was amazing that hey, like within 15 minutes you could be indexed, you know, like in the old days, this one is like less than 60s. And I could I prove that two ways. You know, using that special URL, that Ajax URL that that shows what's in the back end, or by actually just running index checker to show that, hey, this wasn't indexing then 60s later it is. So, it's it you have to be careful that you can't keyword stuff like you can in search terms and subject matter because the special features it's actually this is kind of a positive and a negative. the positive of course, is that, you know, you can index almost anything at all, even if like sometimes st...