One of the most common (and costly) mistakes made by private-label product sellers is not spending enough time or effort on Amazon listing optimization.

This is especially true if the seller is new to the whole process. After going through all the considerable work it takes to successfully launch a product—you know, selecting the perfect product, picking the right price point, finding a reliable supplier, and so on—listing optimization is often an afterthought.

Big mistake.

It doesn’t matter how wonderful, perfect, or life-changing your product is. If nobody can find it or the copy doesn’t properly convey why it’s so great (in an Amazon-algorithm-friendly way to boot), you won’t get anywhere near as many eyeballs on it as you would have had you spent the time optimizing the listing.

An unoptimized listing will have fewer visits, lower conversions, and generate far less revenue than it would otherwise. No joke, an unoptimized listing for a quality product can mean thousands of dollars in lost revenue. Getting your Amazon listing right as soon as possible is that important.

To start the optimization process, you first need to develop an understanding of the different elements of an Amazon listing.

Let’s explore them a bit:

The Elements of an Amazon Product Listing

While the entirety of Amazon product listing optimization is beyond the scope of this post—one could more than likely write an entire book on the topic—the best place to start is by making sure you understand the key components/elements of an Amazon listing.

These components usually consist of:

• Title
• Images
• Description
• Key features
• Rating
• Reviews

Here’s the best advice you’ll probably ever get regarding your listing: use everything available to you.

That means taking full advantage of the 250-character limit for your title. Upload as many product images as you’re allowed. Write as much as you can fit in for your key features. You get the idea: Amazon is giving you the “real estate” you need to sell your product, so use it—all of it.

Amazon Product Listing Title & Key Features Optimization

Your title is perhaps one of the most important elements of your listing—in addition to an image, it’s the first thing shoppers will see about your product.

Don’t get too caught up in writing “for the algorithm.” It’s great to get SEO-rich keywords and phrases into your title when appropriate, but the people are the ones who will be actually buying your product, not the Amazon algorithm. If you ever have to make a choice between writing for the Amazon machine or people, go with people every time.

While it varies, the most common title character limit is 250, which is about 40-50 words. That’s quite a lot for a headline, but don’t be afraid to use it all. Include information about the product, and the value it provides, and weave in your highest priority keywords as naturally as possible.

Preparing your key features section will give you even more room to play with—about 200-250 words. In most cases, you should have five or more bullet points. Rather than listing off the technical details about your product, try to imagine what the customer would want to quickly discover about the product. The most important information should be at the top.

The key features section is also an excellent place to address and mitigate customer objections. This will be easier to come back and tweak over time after you get questions from real customers about your product, but generally, you’ll want to answer questions like “Is it compatible with my XYZ?” or “Can I use it for (some specific purpose)?”

Go back and “massage” your listing as necessary—you won’t know everything at the outset, so collect new information as you go along and edit it whenever appropriate.

Next, let’s talk about images.

Amazon Listing Image Optimization Tips

In most cases, Amazon allows sellers to upload 9 images. If you’re only using two or three, you’re seriously under-utilizing this opportunity. Remember, visuals are extremely important to people, especially when they’re buying something online.

Think about it—would you buy anything online without seeing a picture of it?

Make sure to show the product in action. Often called “lifestyle” images, imagine for a moment that you’re selling a spatula. In that case, you might show a happy father using it at the grill in the backyard. If the size of your product isn’t immediately obvious, take pictures of it in a real-world setting to give it a sense of scale.

Finally, take care to ensure your images are a decent resolution too, so they look good when customers zoom in on them (and they will).

The Selling Power of an Optimized Amazon Product Description

Shoppers should already have a great idea about what your product does, why it’s great, and whatever its special features are by the time they’ve seen the title, images, and key features section.

Serious shoppers will then move on to the description—this is your opportunity to go into more detail (approximately 300 words worth) about your product and convince them that they need to buy it.

Just like any other sales copy, you want to present the benefits, not simply the features. Make sure your copy is easy to read, relatable, and tells a story—how will this product change, improve, or otherwise positively impact your customers? What do you do better than your competition?

Keywords should be naturally woven throughout the description. They’re important and should be there, but remember, you’re writing for humans first.

Improving Your Rating and Reviews on Amazon

Obviously, the rating and reviews for your product are hugely important. This is a massive topic that we often discuss at length in our private mastermind groups here at Physical Product Pros, and there are many tactics you can use—without risking your Amazon seller account—to great success.

Having said that, the main beats are always going to be the same:

• Have a great product.
• Have great customer service.

Accomplish those two things and you’re already ahead of the game. Forget about advanced review-generating tactics until you’ve got those down pat—no method in the world can prevent angry reviews from customers who feel like they’ve been ripped off.

If you’re interested in learning all there is to know about how to cultivate amazing Amazon reviews in a surprisingly short amount of time, check out the next section…

Want a Professional to Optimize Your Listing For You?

A perfectly optimized list is no small feat, but if you want to make the most profit from your product, it’s a must. We’ve got the process down to a science here at Physical Product Pros, which is why we offer listing optimization as a service.

We’ll treat your listing as if it were our own—and our own listings have generated millions in revenue.

If you’re interested in learning more about our listing optimization service, click here.

While you’re at it, you might also want to consider becoming a member of Physical Product Pros. You’ll be invited to our private mastermind groups, gain access to thousands of dollars worth of exclusive tools, and get to speak to us one-on-one about your product and how to grow your bottom line. If you’re ready to start taking your private label business seriously, get in touch with us today.