I have decided to create my journey, for how I actually hit these numbers and what my goals are for the future. My current stats are below and it's only been a month.
I've gotten lots of PMs about how I generated these numbers so quickly. Questions like: Where do I get my manufacturer, where is the source of traffic, and so forth. Hopefully, I will be able to answer all of your questions and you can learn from this journey thread.
Right now my goal is to reach 30,000 dollars per month on Amazon. Then once that goal is completed, 100,000 dollars a month. And after that the sky is the limit.
How do I decide to actually sell product on Amazon?
Most of my sales are done through FBA and some portions FBM. I use Jungle Scout & Merchant words. These are wonderful to do keyword research for Amazon. The number one contributor to your success on FBA, is your keyword research. This will make or break your business on Amazon. I do not drive paid traffic to my Amazon listings. 100% is organic traffic. This means I am dependent for Amazon to give me traffic.
This will require the use of Amazon SEO. What I do is look for keywords that have a high revenue figure on Jungle Scout Pro, competition score of 5 or above, low number of Amazon results, and moderate to high search volume. You can get search volume statistics from http://merchantwords.com
Once I find a keyword that has achieved the metrics I want - then I look at Chinese manufacturers. I go to Alibaba and other similar Chinese sites out there in order to get the product manufactured. What you want to do is have a good idea of how much the product costs, and how much it will cost to ship to FBA.
You want to buy small quantity product from the Chinese manufacturer. 10-20 items that is shipped by air to your FBA warehouse. What you want to do in this stage, is to actually test whether or not this product will sell. You don't want to spend thousands of dollars of inventory, only to find out that the product you are selling is worth nothing. It's best to spend 200-500 dollars upfront to test each keyword that you find. If they sell quickly, then you have found your winner. It's best to avoid the Chinese manufacturer if possible in the testing stage. Just buy 10-20 items from any online retailer out there and ship it to your FBA warehouse. The idea isn't to make profit on these 10-20 items. You want to get breakeven or at least some loss, to test whether or not your keyword is valid or not.
If your keyword has failed? Move on to next keyword. You only wasted 200-500 dollars testing your idea. If it works? Start ordering large quantities from Chinese manufacturers. Make sure you 30-50% of the payment upfront and pay the rest later, when the order is delivered. Do it via escrow to ensure the safety of payment. Be direct and clear with the manufacturer. It reminds me of a time where I had to manufacture a t-shirt with a basic design on it. I told the Chinese supplier to put no pockets on the t-shirt. Guess what these fuckers did? They put a pocket on the t-shirt and actually wrote "no pocket," as the text of the t-shirt. -_-
Very important to have direct and clear communication with Chinese manufacturers, or you it will cost you in the long run. You can get images from the suppliers or you make your images. (You should be inspecting the product quality of the product. It's recommended to order sample from the supplier, before you commit to any large order.)
Once, the items are shipped to FBA - now your job is to make sure you are properly kept in stock. Your job at this point is to handle customer disputes and return requests. You should have less than 2% complaints from customers and/or return requests. If it's more than that, you are doing something wrong.
On-page SEO is important for your Amazon listing. Make sure you add lots of images, write detailed product descriptions with the keywords that you want to rank for, (customers actually read this!) don't forget to put the keywords that you want to rank for in the keywords section, and more importantly make sure you handle your UPC barcodes!!!
Amazon requires you to put barcodes on your products. Most people buy second hand bar codes and slap it on their products. Bad idea! Buy it from official website and you will be good to go. You can get your products removed and account banned if you don't do it the legit way. Don't make this mistake if you care about your account in the long run.
Ok, so at this point you should know how I got so much success so far. The road isn't easy, but it's definitely doable if you have the patience and guts to do it.
I am following this exact methodology with 5 more keywords that I selected from Jungle Scout. I am currently in process in making listings, testing these keywords out, and being in contact with suppliers. Will keep you guys updated about my efforts in this journey.
From now on I'll keep posting my stats every week & keep posting here if I do something different. Ask me anything & I would love to answer any of your questions..
