Examining Your Amazon Product Page
Likely every one of us can imagine, without prompting, what an Amazon book product page looks like. We’ve been to them more times than we can count, buying our favorite books.
We visit the product pages of our own books, maniacally watching and clicking refresh for new reviews, new changes to our rankings, new companion titles in our also-boughts.
But have you ever stopped refreshing and taken a look at your page with a critical eye?
Do you understand how all the parts of this page work together? Can you recognize when those parts are not working?
Do you know how to fix them?
What an Amazon Page Review Does
An Amazon product page is one of the most-tested pages on the internet, architecturally speaking. Amazon knows, from its decades of online selling and countless tests, what layout of facts, information and calls-to-action are most likely to get people to buy. All of that research can be a boon to you, as well, because both you and Amazon want people to buy.
The difference is, you want people to buy YOUR book, and Amazon wants the potential consumer to buy SOMETHING, over and over again.
There’s a place where your interests and Amazons split. And in that place, you have to be ready.
You control more parts of this page than you think you do.
We’re going to review 3 main sections, and collectively several others.
1. Cover
The first thing people will look at when they hit this page is your book cover. And despite our parents’ admonishments, they absolutely judge your book by its cover.
Unquestionably.
The first part of your Amazon Page Review will comment on your book cover, specifically its suitability for your chosen genre and its general eye-catching appeal.
2. Price
Next we’re going to examine the price point you’ve chosen for your book, as well as that price point’s presentation.
I see so many authors who are pricing themselves out of the market because that 70% royalty is so attractive. Selling ebooks is a volume game. In almost every case, you’d rather sell 100 copies of a book at $2.99 than 10 copies at $5.99.
Price matters, because after your cover it’s 50/50 whether a potential reader looks at price or product description.
3. Product Description
Some people call this your back cover copy or your blurb, and those people are diminishing something super powerful. Your product description is your chance to sell.
We’re going to see what copy you’ve put here–because make no mistake, this is copy, not just words.
Are you just telling people about your book, or are you selling it to them?
Categories, Author Central, Book Sample, Front Matter
Aside from those three big items, we’re also going to look at some other Product Page or ancillary issues.
- Is your book placed in the right categories to take advantage of Amazon’s referral engine?
- Have you set up your Author Central page and used it to add all the possible useful elements to your product page?
- Is the sample shown for your book the best one?
- Is the front of your book set up to capture readers, or distract them?
Some of these things are easier to change than others, but each can have an effect on your book sales. We’re going to look at what you can do in these areas.
What Can You Expect Your Page Review To Do For You?
Even if you receive 25 recommended actions, and you make all the changes, you’re probably not going to see your sales explode.
That’s not what a Page Review does.
Optimizing your Amazon Product Page is about improving your chances of convincing a prospective reader to buy. The important word in that sentence is “chance.”
No one, not me, not a million-dollar guru, can give you a list of things that will instantly work.
That’s not how any of this works.
What we can do, is show you places where we’ve seen different tactics work.
