From Indies Unlimited:
Amazon ads can be a big opportunity for authors looking to up their sales especially during a time where it’s difficult to write the next book (like now, for instance). But if you don’t know how to use them intelligently, they can also be a big waste of money and time.
In this article, we’ll look at 9 tips all authors can use when advertising on Amazon, including:
- How to get your book appearing next to the biggest authors in your genre
- Why it’s okay to lose money on some ads
- How you can make sure your book doesn’t end up in the wrong hands
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1. Choose Manual Keyword Targeting
Keywords play a huge role in ads because they help you control where your ads appear and who sees them. By default, Amazon chooses keywords for you to target–but you can select your own keywords for your Sponsored Product ads. You can do this by selecting ‘Manual targeting’ and then scrolling down to add your keywords.
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Sure, you can let Amazon do the targeting for you, but doing it yourself will allow you to explore more options and find better opportunities. You can find ad keywords in plenty of the same ways you’d find regular keywords, there’s even a dedicated tool inside Publisher Rocket to help you do just that.
It’s important to have at least 200 keywords in each of your ads–yep, you heard right… 200 keywords.
2. Target the Books of Authors in Your Genre
Using your ads to target a popular author in your genre can be an effective strategy.
If shoppers are already searching for the author, and your books have some similarities, you can use ads as a chance to get in front of your ideal readers.
Selling books through these keywords can also be a way to get yourself on the ‘also-bought’ section for that author. Though, that’s entirely dependent on whether the person who’s on another author’s page buys their book and then clicks on your ad and buys your book too.
If you’re targeting authors who write books like yours, and you understand your target market and have books that fit it, this could work out for you. Especially in markets with voracious readers.
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You may be wondering why “also-boughts” are important. Well the “also-boughts” are one of the main ways Amazon suggests new books to their readers. So, if your book makes the “also-bought” section for a well-known independent author in your genre, there’s a fair chance that you’ll get sales. I wouldn’t suggest you go for traditionally published authors like J.K. Rowling, though, as those types of keywords will be highly competitive and cost you too much for little return.
3. Target Books on the BookBub List
In a similar way to the previous tip, you can target books that have been recently featured on the BookBub daily email — these books get thousands of downloads, and you can take advantage of that.
Also, books that appear on BookBub will more than likely be less
competitive than the big-name authors in your genre. For example, it’s going to be cheaper to target an indie author who writes vampire fiction than it would be to target the Twilight series.
Thanks to BookBub promotions, there’s a good chance these keywords will lead to traffic.
Link to the rest at Indies Unlimited