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Let's talk Marketplace
LTM 93: Our Marketplace survey: What the European Platforms have in store for 2025

Let's talk Marketplace

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 9, 2025 43:00


Welcome to 2025! In the first episode of “Let's talk Marketplace” this year, Ingrid and Valerie have ventured an outlook on the coming 12 months in the marketplace business. To do this, they asked various relevant marketplaces about their plans and to-do lists for 2025. The top topics on the agenda in 2025 will again be internationalization and the markets in Central and Eastern Europe. For example, Douglas wants to expand into Lithuania and Hungary, MediaMarktSaturn into Poland and Turkey. In addition, providers such as BOL and B&Q are courting partners from other European countries. Other topics include logistics, technological challenges and retail media, where Amazon is once again leading the way with video advertising. Note from the sponsor Taxdoo: With the new year, a number of VAT-related topics will become important for marketplace merchants: for example, the uniform VAT ID planned for the beginning of 2025 will not come until 2028. However, the first checks at the one-stop shop are likely to be carried out this year. It is also important to strictly adhere to the OSS deadlines; there are no deadline extensions due to holidays! New at Amazon: For services provided by Amazon Germany, the classic input tax deduction now applies and the reverse charge procedure no longer does. But be careful: it still applies to all other European Amazon marketplaces. The TaxTech provider Taxdoo offers assistance with such questions: https://www.taxdoo.com Chapters: 03:06 Reflecting on 2024: Achievements and Growth 08:57 Marketplace Players: Insights for 2025 11:56 MediaMarkt's Expansion and New Verticals 14:59 Kaufland's International Growth and Marketplace Efficiency 17:59 eBay's Strategy to Attract Younger Sellers 21:00 Scroutz‘s Success and Future Plans 23:01 International Marketplaces: Opportunities and Challenges 26:14 Local Heroes: The Case of Globus 27:50 Redcare Pharmacy: A Quiet Player in the Market 30:22 Douglas: A Shift Back to Core Competencies 33:08 B&Q: Expanding Horizons for International Sellers 34:45 Outlook 2025: Hot Markets and Categories 38:18 Emerging Services and Trends in E-commerce

ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
ANTIC Episode 112 - Keeping Warm with Sweaters and Hot Sauce

ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 26, 2024 74:48


ANTIC Episode 112 In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we have several Christmas ideas for you, we tell you about projects that would allow creating a new reproduction Atari 800XL, and we wet our appetites for the current Atari's hot sauce while wearing their ugly Christmas sweater … READY! Recurring Links  Floppy Days Podcast  AtariArchives.org  AtariMagazines.com  Kay's Book “Terrible Nerd”  New Atari books scans at archive.org  ANTIC feedback at AtariAge  Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge  Interview index: here  ANTIC Facebook Page  AHCS  Eaten By a Grue  Next Without For  Links for Items Mentioned in Show: What we've been up to Vox ex Machina: A Cultural History of Talking Machines by Sarah A. Bell - https://archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262375870/page/169/mode/2up?q=savetz  Intellivision: How a Videogame System Battled Atari and Almost Bankrupted Barbie by Tom Boellstorff and Braxton Soderman - https://archive.org/details/mit_press_book_9780262380553/  MIT Press: Open Access Materials - https://archive.org/details/mit_press_open_access  A Treasure Chest of Ampex Tapes Saves Early Computer History - https://www.ampex.com/a-treasure-chest-of-ampex-tapes-saves-early-computer-history/  Atari 400/800 Reference Card (Atari BASIC and Microsoft BASIC) by Nanos Systems Corp. - https://archive.org/details/1984-03-anticmagazine/page/102/mode/2up  Best of Creative Computing (Volumes I & III): https://archive.org/details/Best_of_Creative_Computing_Vol_1_1978_Creative_Computing_Press  https://archive.org/details/bestofcreativeco0003unse  Cassette repair - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGJ7GQF  Stray Pointers podcast with the ANTIC crew - Jim Lawless - https://straypointers.com/e/s2e19.htm  Recent Interview Shows ANTIC Interview 442 - Bob Stein, Atari Research ANTIC Interview 443 - Rick Reaser, Current Notes Magazine ANTIC Interview 444 - Nick Kennedy, SIO2PC and ATR ANTIC Interview 445 - Vince Cate, The Critical Connection News Ugly Christmas sweaters - https://atari.com/collections/holiday-collection?filter.p.product_type=Sweatshirts&sort_by=manual  Atari Hot Sauce - https://atarisauce.com/  Christmas Critters: https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2024/11/anuncian-demo-de-christmas-critters.html  And at AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/375904-christmas-critters-wip-game-demo/  he just released an “engine prototype demo” - https://tigerskunk.itch.io/atari-xmasdemo  And Saberman has already done a quick video on it - https://youtu.be/efP2WOLnxvY  Revive Machines is working on the injection molds of RM 800XL, the modern FPGA recreation of the Atari 800XL - Philsan69: https://x.com/philsan69/status/1856461217792999494?s=58  https://revive-machines.com/index-en.html  Clear Case Kickstarter for 800XL has begun (Nov. 1) - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seethruit/injection-molded-clear-case-for-atari-800xl-computer/  Brian Reifsnyder Designs an "Advanced Remake" of Atari's 800XL Mainboard - https://www.hackster.io/news/brian-reifsnyder-designs-an-advanced-remake-of-atari-s-800xl-mainboard-95cbc0823bb3.amp  AtariBASICs November newsletter - John Zielke - https://ataribasics.com/  Atari Addict Collector's Magazine - https://www.pixel.addict.media/shop/atari-addict-magazine  Atari Programmers Society Newsletter: https://archive.org/details/wire-taps-atari-programmers-society-newsletter-april-1986-vol-4-num-4  v1n6 1983 - https://archive.org/details/wiretaps-v1n6  Cartridge extender card for the Atari 1200XL - ReifsnyderB - https://www.tindie.com/products/5cfab/cartridge-extender-card-for-the-atari-1200xl/  Improved Keyboard on an XE - https://amzn.to/4i10QZz  Vintage Computer Center starting back up (Gavin Haubelt) - http://www.vintagecomputercenter.com  FastBASIC install/debugger - Eric Carr https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=EricCarr.fastbasic-debugger  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fOm8Mq4qFA  400 mini it is available from Amazon Germany for $54 plus shipping. - https://www.amazon.de/-/en/RETROGAMES-THE400MINI/dp/B0CRYXTL82  Upcoming Shows REMAINING IN 2024 Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we  Atari Party 2024 - Dec. 7 (noon - 4p.m.) - Quakertown Train Station, Quakertown, PA - http://atariparty.org/  2025 Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 15-17, 2025 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com  Midwest Gaming Classic - April 4-6 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/  VCF East - April 4-6, 2024 - Wall, NJ - http://www.vcfed.org  Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 12-13 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/  Fujiama - August 11-17 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2025/  YouTube Videos The Atari 1200xl - Atari's 8-bit red-headed stepchild - Power of Vintage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTLTJzZ7-I8  Atari XE memory extension (512 KB) in 2 easy ways - RetroKernal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvBkMEnONgs  Atari 65 XE vs Commodore 64 | 70s 80s Computer System Competition TV Commercial - VideoGames Replay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMNGMHKZ0w  Atari Computers Sales, Marketing Strategy 80's TV Commercial - VideoGames Replay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OA7kY9pkFxM  Atari 800 Game: Scram (1980 Atari) - Old Classic Retro Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8XRtICfBuQ  CHM: Oral History of Nolan Bushnell - https://youtu.be/izYWqhUGBGA?si=M4T43I-tJ2mp2EhA  New at Archive.org  https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-jan-1989-vol-9-num-1-atari-articles  https://archive.org/details/atari-price-list-june-1982-and-letters  https://archive.org/details/europa-america-aventuras-com-o-atari  https://archive.org/details/computer-83-special-section-the-oregonian-june-16-1983  “The Dirty Book”: https://archive.org/details/the-dirty-book-v-2-n-2  https://archive.org/details/TheDirtyBookV2N1  Referenced by - https://bsky.app/profile/lainenooney.bsky.social/post/3lbldh3w2hk2m  A Word From Our Sponsor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMNGMHKZ0w  New at GitHub https://github.com/pvbestinfoo/Atari_8-Bit_Rom_Image_File_Explorer  https://github.com/sidneycadot/sam  https://github.com/dpicken/atari-hw  https://github.com/JSJvR/atari-8-bit-utils  https://github.com/GRHOnline/Mono8bitmap  https://github.com/fredlcore/1K-RainBox   

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 11/7/24: Amazon Coupon Update | TikTok Shop Exclusive | Helium 10 Italy Workshop

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 7, 2024 21:52


New Amazon coupon change? Is live shopping finally taking off on TikTok shop? and a new way to update images by marketplace. These buzzing stories and more on this episode! We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, talk about Helium 10's newest features, and provide a training tip for the week for serious sellers of any level. How TikTok Shop is ‘reimagining' Black Friday-Cyber Monday https://www.retailbrew.com/stories/2024/10/31/how-tiktok-shop-is-reimagining-black-friday-cyber-monday Alexa is now available as a new supply source for online video ads for self-service advertisers https://advertising.amazon.com/en-us/resources/whats-new/online-video-ads-on-alexa-home-screen/ Explore Amazon's new Virtual Holiday Shop—an immersive 3D shopping experience that makes it easier to find the perfect gifts https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/amazon-shop-holiday-gifts How livestreams are taking over TikTok Shop https://www.modernretail.co/technology/how-livestreams-are-taking-over-tiktok-shop/ But that's not all—we've got some exciting updates from Helium 10 to share! Grab the chance to join us in Milan, Italy, for an empowering workshop co-hosted with Avask. Helium 10 Elite Milan, Italy Amazon Seller Workshop https://h10.me/milan - Use Code HELIUM50 to get 50% Off Your Tickets Plus, we're rolling out next-level tools like the enhanced Follow-up for bulk review tracking and the Managed Refund Service for Diamond members, ensuring you maximize your reimbursements from Amazon. And let's not forget the mighty Helium 10 Market Tracker tool—essential for honing in on specific keywords to boost your product group's market presence. Tune in to equip yourself with these serious strategies and gain a competitive edge in the Amazon-selling arena. In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 00:48 - Amazon Coupon Update 02:29 - TikTok Shop Exclusive 04:24 - Country Specific Images 06:19 - Amazon DSP x Alexa 07:42 - 3D Holiday Shopping 10:20 - TikTok Shop Lives 13:06 - Helium 10 Italy Workshop 14:10 - New Feature Alerts 17:42 - Training Tip: Amazon Market Share Tracker ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: New Amazon coupon change? Is live shopping finally taking off on TikTok shop, a new way to update images by marketplace. These stories and more on this version of the Weekly Buzz how cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our Helium 10 Weekly Buzz, where we give you a rundown of all the goings on in the Amazon, TikTok shop and e-commerce world. We give you training tips of the week and we also let you know what new features that Helium 10 has that will give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing All right, let's go ahead and hop directly into the news. We've got what's buzzing. All right, let's go ahead and hop directly into news. We got a few news articles to go over today, some of them pretty interesting. Now, this first one is going to be from, actually, your Seller Central dashboard, in case you missed it, a pretty cool update that they are doing on coupons, which may be relevant to you, especially with Black Friday coming up.   Bradley Sutton: Cyber Monday, maybe you've got some coupons plan. It's entitled percentage off coupons can now be applied on up to five items per order. So what's different? Well, before, if there was a percentage off coupon we're not talking about the dollar off, you know, like $5 off but it was the ones where you can save, like 10% off. 15% off, the customer could only use one coupon per order. So let's say you know they had, you know from your store, three different items that they wanted to get, but each of them had a 10% off coupon. The customer would have to order that three times, like three separate orders. They couldn't add all three to the cart and have that coupon work. Now, when you create a coupon in seller central you can select no for limit redemption to one per customer. Now that means the percentage off coupon can be applied to a maximum of five items per order. All right, if you select yes in that section, only one coupon is going to be allowed to order, all right. So again, for example, it gives an example here If a customer clicks a 10% off coupon, let's say the offer price is $50. Okay, and then they buy three of your items. They're going to be able to use the coupon on all three items in one shopping cart for a $15 discount total. Why is that? Well, if it's 10% off, it's a $50 item each one. That means it's $5 off, but again, we're talking about three items total of $15 off. So again, a pretty cool update here. You'll keep that in mind as you're creating your coupons here in this shopping season and beyond.   Bradley Sutton: Next article, switching marketplaces. Now is an article from retailbrew.com and it's entitled how TikTok shop is re-imagining Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now, this is interesting because they're doing something a little bit different. Now, historically, a lot of the sellers maybe I could say most who are selling on TikTok shop they're probably selling on Amazon the same product as well. Right, very rarely do you see larger sellers launching TikTok shop only products that you know they just came up off the top of their head and they're not selling it on other marketplaces. But now TikTok, it says, wants to offer US shoppers products from lesser known, smaller DTC brands that may not have the resources to operate on rival platforms like Amazon. All right, so that's interesting, ok. Now it's saying that new product launches, exclusively for Black Friday, will be on TikTok shop shelves in November. Now this is like some special new promotion that some TikTok shop sellers are going to be able to participate in. However, according to this article, it seems like you're only going to be able to participate in it if you have a product that is TikTok shop exclusive, in other words, not on Amazon or Shopify or Walmart or other websites. Now this article goes on to say how there still will be special ways to participate in Black Friday, Cyber Monday, even for bigger brands or ones that are across platforms. But how many of you guys are shipping or selling on TikTok shop these days? I've started it on a couple of my accounts and it's going pretty pretty well for not that much effort my accounts. So I think it's definitely something that you guys should consider starting on, especially if you are based in the United States. If you're based overseas, it's a little bit harder to get a TikTok shop open. But let me know in the comments below how many of you guys are selling right now on TikTok shop and how many of you are going to participate in some kind of Black Friday, Cyber Monday deals.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is going back to Seller Central. It's entitled Image Managers'. Country-specific Features Give you More Control Over Visuals. All right. So we announced something like this before, but it's kind of like a reminder by Amazon In case you didn't know. You know, historically a lot of sellers had problems when they're selling a product, you know, maybe, let's say, in USA, and then they expand to the Mexican marketplace, or they expand to Amazon Germany, right, or they expand to Amazon Japan. Well, amazon would pull in the listing information right, the images right, and maybe the rest of the listing is translated okay. But the images that share across the platform and sometimes you change your image in US well, it changes it across. You know the platforms.   Bradley Sutton: Now, for those selling in marketplaces with other languages, you want you know the images to be for that marketplace, especially if you're using infographics that have you know words on it. You don't want you know Japanese words, you know coming up in your Amazon Germany marketplace. So now Amazon's like saying, hey, we've got new country specific features in the image manage tool. Right, you can view and delete localized images that display in a specific country, such as images that contain text in the local language. So the new features in this tool are country specific image views, so you can view both global and country specific images in separate sections, and now an image deletion capability, where you can delete country specific images directly from image manager to keep your library organized and up to date. So those are two like mini features, but perhaps this whole feature of of this, this page, is new to you and you were just thinking that you could only edit your images with flat files or in the edit listing in each marketplace and you're worried that the same image would publish across marketplaces. Make sure to check out your image manager tool, especially for those of you selling in multiple marketplaces.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is from Amazon itself and it's entitled Alexa is now available as a new supply source for online video ads for self-service advertisers. All right, there's been rumblings that that there's going to be more of an emphasis on shopping on Alexa, especially if Alexa goes the generative AI route. But even before that happens, you can now, if you're advertising with amazon DSP, you can now select Alexa as a video supply source. All right, so those advertisers, if you're running self-service online video ads on amazon DSP, you are going to be able to see Alexa as an additional inventory supply that is checked by default for video line items. Now one question you might have is well, amazon is cost per click pay per click right. When is a click recorded? Well, it says here it's recorded when the customer clicks on the autoplaying online video ad on the Alexa home screen to launch the video ad in the full video screen view. So it sounds like if the ad just plays and maybe the person in their house is across the room, they just listen to it, and maybe the person in their house is across the room, they just listen to it. They're still getting that view, but you're not going to have to pay for the click unless they actually go to their Alexa device and click it to expand the video out to full screen. For now, this is available only in the United States.   Bradley Sutton: Next article, also from Amazon, and it's entitled Explore Amazon's New Virtual Holiday Shop an immersive 3D shopping experience that makes it easier to find the perfect gifts. That's literally the for those listening in their cars or on the radio and not seeing this on YouTube. That is literally the entire title for this article, and it's you know. We've talked about this before and shown you how. You know, some big, huge sellers have access to these like 3D storefronts, right? So that's what's happening, where there's going to be these virtual holiday shops. That has 3D technology powered by Amazon Beyond that will showcase different products that buyers can buy All right Now this is mainly right now for huge companies.   Bradley Sutton: It says items from sought after brands like Beats and Kim Kardashian, Kate Spade, Bumble and Bubble Coach, et cetera, et cetera. So you can kind of like you know, for those not watching this on YouTube just it's like you're going into this virtual reality for a shop and you're looking at shelves and different. There's like Easter eggs where products, their product offers, are going to come up if you find the Easter eggs on the top of the shelf somewhere or something like that. But it's this kind of like virtual reality shopping experience. Now, the reason why I mentioned this even though it probably doesn't affect 99.9% of us who aren't beats by Dre and Kim Kardashian etc. Is that again, this is kind of like a preview of what could be the future for even just regular sellers. Remember, before you know, prime video and different advertising on TV and stuff was only available to like humongous you know sellers. Services like AMC was only available to bigger sellers who are using DSP. A lot of the things that start off at the top level of Amazon sellers and brands eventually trickles down for the rest of us, and so, you know, I could absolutely imagine a world where these virtual reality based shopping experiences are going to eventually be open to the rest of us and then maybe we're going to be able to make a virtual reality like shopping kind of mall or mini room where we can have our products. Like, imagine a spooky one where I can design it and then there's coffin shelves on the wall that people can buy and bat-shaped bath mats and all of our other spooky, Manny's Mysterious Oddities products. What about you guys? How's your creative mind Like? Can you start thinking about how you would design your virtual shopping mall? Those of you who want to get a preview of how it's going to look, make sure to check out your regular Amazon app. Go to some of these big brands and maybe you'll be able to see these virtual holiday shopping centers.   Bradley Sutton: Next article is from modernretail.co and it's entitled how Livestreams Are Taking Over TikTok Shop. You know, for literally years now the four years we've been doing the weekly buzz we have been talking about articles and articles about how live shopping. Different marketplaces keep trying to make it a thing you know Amazon, et cetera and it just doesn't seem to take off in this country, like it has in China, for example, where it is huge, booming business. But now more and more we're reading about perhaps you know things are shifting and it's mainly because of TikTok shop. So this article here talks about a brand called BK Beauty. They hosted an eight-hour live stream. Remember we did a seven-hour Meganar, a live webinar, in Helium 10 a few weeks ago, where they're like, hey, we can do one better, we'll do an eight-hour live stream. And they did it at the brand's headquarters in Austin, texas, and the eight-hour live stream ended up getting them $100,000, over $100,000 of sales in eight hours. Is that worth the eight hour live stream? All right, that is pretty amazing. All right, $100,000. Now, a couple of weeks later, it says that TikTok flew the BK Beauty staff members to their own studios, the TikTok studios in LA, to do more live streams. And then now TikTok gave them like this whole big fancy setup in order to live stream again and then they ended up doing a 10 hour live stream and that was so successful that it says BK Beauty has now made live streaming a key part of its e-commerce strategy and they're going to go to the LA studio again for TikTok this month to do even more.   Bradley Sutton: You know Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns for, for live selling. But again, you know, does this mean that finally, you know, live streaming is going to take off? I'm still a little bit hesitant to say that I need to see more success stories, but I have been hearing a little bit more rumbles around live streaming lately than, like, say, last year. Um, thanks to Tik TOK shop. Uh, those of you selling on Tik TOK shop, are you doing live streaming? You don't have to do it in a fancy studio or go eight hours live. Um, you know, give it a test, uh, sign up for it. And you know, do a test, sign up for it and do a test, maybe just in your own home studio. Or you don't even have a studio, just do it in your bedroom. See how it goes. Sometimes TikTok shop buyers are kind of like open to genuine streams and videos. They don't need fancy setups all the time, but it's worth a try. I don't think you'll be able to get $100,000 in eight hours, but let's see what you can get if you do live streaming on TikTok shop.   Bradley Sutton: All right, last up, last call, all right for next week, just in a couple of days, on Monday, myself and Shivali and a bunch of other top speakers from around the world will be in Milan, Italy, for our first ever Helium 10 workshop there in Italy, all right, so it's going to be on the 11th Monday and it's going to be co-hosted by Avask, and you can get there by going to h10.me forward slash Milan, h10.me/milan, and it's going to be an all day event. We're going to have lots of networking. If you want to save 50% on the tickets, the tickets are already cheap it's only like 89 euros, I think but if you want to save another 50% off, use the code Helium 50, helium 50 upon checkout. It would be great to be able to meet you guys out there. I just talked to somebody last night on Instagram. He's like let me book my flight and get over there, I'll see you on Monday. So if you guys are in Europe, I would love to see you in Milan, Italy, on Monday.   Bradley Sutton: All right, that's it for the news this week. Let's go ahead and hop into our new feature alerts from Helium 10. Now, the first one is about follow up. All right, so, first of all, follow-up is a tool that every Helium 10 platinum member and above has access to, all right, so it's not like something that's gated at a very high level. You can set up, guys, uh, your, your follow-up for all your products to send automated review requests using either the Amazon request review or even your own custom email. But an important aspect of this is being able to measure hey, how are your review requests working? Like, what kind of engagement are you getting? Like, how many ratings and reviews are you actually getting as a result of your outreach campaign? Well, the new feature is now you can do that in bulk, all right. So how this works is right here in your follow-up dashboard. These are the rating trackers that you can actually see. You can see how many reviews requested and then how many uh ratings you received, and so you can see your request and rating conversion rate, right. So now the new thing is, go to your product ratings tab right here, and then you can do bulk the ones that are not active. So, for example, I'm going to go ahead and select the united states marketplace and I'm going to be like, hey, here's, my egg tray is not active. I see here, my large coffin shelf isn't active, so I just select as many as I can. Uh, you guys should select all in opinion, that all of your active products and then hit enable product rating tracking. All right, so if you're new to follow up, you're not going to be tracking any of them, all right, so make sure to go ahead and hit enable product rating tracking and that will go ahead and start tracking so you can see how many reviews you're getting week by week, month by month, et cetera.   Bradley Sutton: Next new update is going to be, for some of you, diamond members All right, so we've been rolling this out little by little. Uh, check your account. All right guys. So if you have a diamond account, check your account on the very top. Do you have something that says manage refund service? All right, so this is a new feature that is coming out to diamond members. Before it was only our supercharger counts, but this is the Helium 10 version of being able to get you reimbursements and refunds from Amazon, but where Helium 10 is the one that's actually going to go in and set everything up for you. Like, we have refunding. You guys know about refund genie, where we'll give you the reports for loss and damage items and then you submit it to Amazon in order to get the money back. Well, with MRS or managed refund service, we're the ones who are going ahead and fighting with Amazon for you, filing those claims and arguing with Amazon, trying to get your money back, and then Helium 10 takes a percent of whatever we find for you, all right. So, those of you who have diamond plan, you're not automatically entered into this, but let me show you what you can do. You hit manage refund service. Now mine is going to be already active, but what you're going to want to do is, if you have that, just go here. You can see in one of my accounts I got 400 bucks already back and you're going to hit set up account, all right. So hit set up account and it will like run you through the system. Again, we're only taking 15% of whatever we find. So, like, if we can't find any money that you're owed and we can't win any money for you pay us nothing, all right. So this is a new feature for some Diamond members. Eventually, all diamond members will have it later. So if you want to see if you have access to it, just go to your dashboard and see if you have managed refund service there, all right?   Bradley Sutton: Next up, let's do our training tip of the week, and this is a tool that sometimes I think people sleep on. It's been. We've had this tool for maybe four years now. It's called market tracker, all right, and this is available at all levels of Helium 10. Even if you have Platinum, Diamond, doesn't matter. I highly recommend setting this up for every single one of your product groups you have, all right, for example. Uh, I've got a product that is a bat shaped bath mat, all right. So I set it up, and the first thing that I did was I set up the very specific keywords. Don't do broad keywords like bat bath mat. Um, you know, I'm sure I get some sales from the keyword Gothic decor, but that's very broad right. I pick very, very specific keywords. It doesn't have to be your best keywords or the highest search volume. You want to pick the keywords that really define your product. So I did bat bath mat. I put bat rug and bat bath rug right, and then you put in your own products and those who you already know are your direct competitors, and then we set up the market.   Bradley Sutton: And then the reason why this is cool is the kind of things that you are looking at. First of all, is your market volume, right. So many people sometimes say, oh hey, is anybody sales down? Or I'm not sure if I'm doing really good, my sales are down. This is terrible, but sometimes, if your sales are down, there's nothing wrong with that why? And your sales are going to go down. Well, you're just staying with the market, all right. Your market share, your piece of the pie, is what matters, all right. Your percentage of how big your pie is? Now, if the whole pie gets smaller, as long as your piece of the pie stays about the same percentage, you're not doing too bad, all right. So that's what Market Tracker can do is telling you, hey, what's the size of the pie, and then what is your market share? So, like, my market share of the Bathmat market is 7.8%. And then, over time, how is your share changing? I used to have 15% of the market, look here but now I'm only at 6.9%, 7%, so I'm losing market share, right?   Bradley Sutton: The other thing that this tool does is it gives me a heads up if there is a new mover and shaker that it detects in my niche. So, for example, it's saying hey, look at this, um bat bath mat. You know, do I want to track? I'm like, yeah, that looks like a bat bath mat. I'll go ahead and track it. I don't have to be like trying to look for new products that are popping up in the in the niche. I don't have to be constantly refreshing my keywords hey, is there a new mover and shaker in my niche? No, market Tracker is going to tell me. Sometimes it's going to throw me some products that it's suggesting that could be in my niche but it's not really like.   Bradley Sutton: Look at this one here's a Halloween bat or bath rug, but it looks like ghost or something. Is this my direct competitor? Is this a bat shaped bath mat? No, so I'm going to hit ignore, right. But before I do that, I'm going to go ahead and copy this ASIN and I might want to go ahead and either. Number one, think about it as a potential expansion to my product line, like if I'm selling bat-shaped bath mats, maybe this ghost-shaped bath mat would hit my target market, right. But number two, I might test this in one of my ASIN targeting campaigns in PPC, you know, maybe a sponsor display campaign or a product targeting ad.   Bradley Sutton: Here's another one, a coffin shaped bath mat right Again, that could be a potential new product for me or at the very least somebody who might be interested in a bat shaped bath mat. They could be interested in a coffin shaped bath mat. Maybe I want to go ahead and target this product in a PPC. So again, this tool is super cool. It's been around for years, but I think a lot of you haven't been utilizing it. Make sure for each and every one of your product groups. Go into market tracker, create your market and start tracking how you're doing in your niche. Is your size of the pie increasing or decreasing, who are the new movers and shakers in your niche and what are some potential product line extensions and what are some potential targets for product targeting ads? This tool can do all of that and more, but only if you use it. So make sure to get in there today and start using it. All right, guys. That's it for this week's news. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - #7 How to Forgive the Unforgettable: How Do We Come to Resolution and Forgiveness for Others and for Ourselves.

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2024 31:42


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606 Find out more about Alicia: https://aliciamrodriguez.com Find out more about me: https://gillmoakes.com

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - #6 Spiritual Alchemy - integrating spiritual practices into everyday life for personal growth and transformation.

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2024 34:17


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606 Find out more about Alicia: https://aliciamrodriguez.com Find out more about me: https://gillmoakes.com

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - #5 The Principles of Shamanism

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2024 35:45


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606 Find out more about Alicia: https://aliciamrodriguez.com Find out more about me: https://gillmoakes.com

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - #4 When is Love, Love and When Is It Relief?

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2024 29:23


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606 Find out more about Alicia: https://aliciamrodriguez.com Find out more about me: https://gillmoakes.com

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - #3 Heeding The Call: The Heroine's Journey

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 30, 2024 25:16


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606 Find out more about Alicia: https://aliciamrodriguez.com Find out more about me: https://gillmoakes.com

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - #2 Navigating the Bardo, the Space Between What Was and What Will Be

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 23, 2024 25:06


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606 Find out more about Alicia: https://aliciamrodriguez.com Find out more about me: https://gillmoakes.com

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - #1 - The Role of Risk in Self-Discovery

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2024 32:32


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606 Find out more about Alicia: https://aliciamrodriguez.com Find out more about me: https://gillmoakes.com

Heads Together
The Shaman's Wife - Bonus Series - Trailer

Heads Together

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 16, 2024 4:45


Meet Alicia Rodriguez, my client, collaborator and friend. Alicia is one of those women who, if you're lucky enough, you'll have in your inner circle. She's wise, intuitive, kind, funny and utterly inspirational - and now I get to share her story with you. Her memoire, The Shaman's Wife is available to pre-order now, and will be widely published in September. In this exclusive interview series for Heads Together, Alicia shares some background that led to the writing of this incredible book, and also offers even more insight into the lessons we can take for ourselves from her experiences. As Alicia said to me: "I know so many women who have given away their power, often not realizing that they were surrendering their agency to someone else in the name of love. These women are successful and confident, yet something happens, and suddenly, a piece of their life is missing, and they don't know how to recover it. There's fear, shame, and embarrassment at being discovered." Alicia's been there. And she reclaimed her life using the wisdom she gained from shamanism, the very tradition that sought to capture her. This is a story of courage, resilience, and transformation that can be applied to your life. It's a story of forgiveness and the power of Universal Love. It's a story she had to share. "This is the story of the road I had to travel to discover who I really was. If it saves one person or impacts someone who needs to reclaim their life, then all the hard work and sacrifice will be worth it. Writing this book has changed my life. Perhaps reading it will change yours." Pre-Order the Book Here is the link to UK Amazon: https://amzn.eu/d/03rA5fl1 Here is the link to USA Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Jj36ew​ Here is the link to Amazon Spain: https://amzn.to/3vP4fYn​ Here is the link to Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3W4jA1S Alicia's no stranger to the Heads Together podcast - check out previous episodes: An Unapologetic Mindset with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147920044 Becoming Limitless with Alicia M Rodriguez https://www.gillmoakes.com/podcasts/heads-together/episodes/2147901606

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#566 - Amazon Listing Optimization Masterclass

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 1, 2024 43:56


Join us on our latest journey through the innovative world of AI-assisted Amazon selling! We kick off with the transformative capabilities of Helium 10's Listing Builder tool. Listen in as Bradley guides you through the intricacies of crafting the ultimate Amazon listing, utilizing cutting-edge tools with the power of AI to enhance searchability and PPC effectiveness. We also unravel the secrets behind the Listing Quality Score, ensuring you leave with the knowledge to make your product stand out in the Amazon marketplace. Discover the future of e-commerce imagery with our dive into AI image generators, perfect for your lifestyle main images, Amazon Post, and all A+ content formats. Bradley also shares his personal experience in creating stunning visuals, emphasizing the prompt-writing process to achieve images that could even eclipse the originals. In this conversation, the power of keyword optimization comes to life as we import vital search terms into Listing Builder, setting the stage for an Amazon algorithm-friendly listing. Whether you're a seasoned seller or new to the game, you'll gain invaluable insights on making your product shine. In our final chapters, we tackle the craft of creating and optimizing Amazon listings with the assistance of AI. Bradley walks you through the process, from studying competitor listings to tailoring the tone of your product description. The strategic use of keywords is front and center, as we focus on targeting specific audiences and enhancing product visibility. We wrap up with a look at how to optimize listings against competitors and discuss the advantages of syncing listings directly to Amazon. With these strategies at your disposal, you're well on your way to mastering the art of Amazon listing optimization. In episode 566 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about: 00:00 - Mastering Helium 10's Amazon Listing Builder With AI 03:39 - Optimizing Keywords With Listing Builder 07:52 - AI Image Generator and Listing Creation 09:53 - Generating and Editing Amazon Listing Images 13:35 - Optimizing Keywords and Competitor Analysis 14:43 - Creating Amazon Listings With AI 21:22 - Optimizing Keywords in Listing Creation 25:11 - Understanding Amazon Keyword SEO Score 33:10 - Optimizing Amazon Listings With Listing Builder 33:41 - YouTube Keywords Analysis for Listing Optimization 40:38 - Creating Amazon Posts Efficiently with AI ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: 10 strategies that's going to help you craft your best Amazon listing with the help of AI, as well as even image generation and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's a completely BS-free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And this is another one in our series of Seller Strategy Masterclasses where I go deep into one of the Helium 10's tools that helps with a specific use case, and today we're going to be talking about Listing Builder. That's why I got my LB hat on right here. So we're going to be talking about everything from how to check the SEO score, about how optimized your listing is to the Amazon algorithm potentially, to how to generate images for Amazon posts, how to generate captions for Amazon posts, how to write a listing from scratch without even AI, how to use AI to write a listing in any language that you're trying to make for a new marketplace. How to import listings, how to export listings and sync them. We have a lot of strategies today. Hopefully, I don't have to split this up into two episodes. I don't even know how long this is going to take me, but this is going to be a lot of great information today that you're going to be needing in order to make your first or next listing on any Amazon marketplace that Helium 10 works on. So let's go ahead and hop into it. Bradley Sutton: Let's first talk about an introduction and overview to just Listing Builder tools so you can kind of get to know it and understand how to navigate in it. So, Listing Builder if this is your first time going into it, the way you can navigate there is through your list in under listing optimization in your menu and then hit the Listing Builder button. Now, if you've never had Listing Builder before, you're not going to have any listings here. I've got a few here because I've already obviously made some listings and done some test listings here in Project X. But this is the main dashboard when you sign in, where you're going to be able to view all of the listings that you are editing here in Listing Builder. And then there's different filters up here, like if you want to see, hey, which ones are the ones that are linked to Amazon listings, which are the ones that are synced to Amazon listings. We're going to talk about what that means later. Now one thing right off the bat is if I want to add a listing, I hit this button at the very top, add a listing. And here is where I can actually go directly to the image generation with AI tool. So there's going to be a specific training on how to use this. But if I just want to hop in and say, hey, I don't want to make a listing right now, but I want to be able to take one of my images and create something with AI, you're going to be able to do that. I can also create a listing from scratch or optimize an existing listing that I might have already. Bradley Sutton: Now, the core functionality of Listing Builder is just as the name sounds it's to build listings. So, in Listing Builder, this is a place where you can start writing your title, your bullet points, your description and even your backend generic keywords, and, if your listing has it, you can have subject matter here as well. Now, why even make a listing in Listing Builder as opposed to writing in Seller Central? Well, it's about the keywords. Obviously, Helium 10 is known for our keyword research tool like Cerebro, Magnet, etc. You've probably utilized it to get the best keywords for your product or niche. Well, what you're going to want to do is import all of those keywords to Listing Builder. I'm going to show you how to do that in a later strategy here. Now, by having all of your keywords here in Listing Builder, now you can make sure that you're using it in your listing. There's a line that comes through every time you use it. It even tells you how many times that you have used those keywords and also it shows you all the individual keywords that make up those phrases up here at the top. So again, this is so important because you could have the best keyword research in the world. But if you didn't put that keyword in your listing, are you going to be searchable for it? Are you going to be able to run PPC on that keyword? Probably not, because you're probably not even going to be indexed. Bradley Sutton: Now, some newer features of Listing Builder that we're going to talk about is listing quality score. There'll be a strategy about this, your keyword performance rank. You know I developed a formula over the course of like six to eight months where I launched tons and tons of listings and I was able to try and get as close as I could to the kind of way to optimize your listing that is most beneficial for the Amazon algorithm in ranking, and so we developed a formula so that this score will go ahead and reflect how optimized your listing is. So I'm going to show you, throughout these strategies, how to use that score to make sure that you've got the most optimized listing compared to your competitors. Now, if you have a diamond plan, you've got access to those listing scores, as well as also the ability to build your listing with AI. Bradley Sutton: All right, now, who might this AI feature before? It could be. Maybe you, like me. If I'm selling in Amazon Germany, I don't speak German. I can use Helium 10 to get all those German keywords. I don't even know what those keywords maybe mean. I can actually write a perfect sounding German listing with AI, even though I speak English, by writing English into Listing Builder and putting all the German keywords I want to rank for, and this Listing Builder will go ahead and use AI in order to write all my title, bullet points, et cetera, using those important keywords I want. Another use case might be well, maybe you're a native speaker of the language that you're trying to write a listing in, but you've got writer's block. That happens to me sometimes. Right, where I'm like man, where do I start? I want a different vibe, right? Well, in this Listing Builder AI tool, you put the description and everything, and then you can say, hey, I want this to be a humorous vibe or educational, or empathetic or inspirational, et cetera, and then this will go ahead and create your listing in your own language, but maybe you're not going to use it exactly, but at least it gets you on the right track and like, ooh, I like the way, I like where the direction this is going. Let me go ahead and hop in there and kind of like tweak it a little bit so you can do that for your listing, or even make a Amazon post captions as well. So a lot to kind of like, you know, tackle here in Listing Builder. We're going to have a total of nine, 10 strategies now that I'm going to show you how to do a lot of the things I just alluded to here in this video. So let's go ahead and hop into it. Bradley Sutton: How to create images for Amazon using AI. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, in the past, you know, our only option was to maybe take you, you know, rudimentary, kind of like ghetto looking images with our phone or something like that, or pay a lot of money if we had it, you know, for professional pictures. That's still what I do, actually, but not everybody has enough money to be able to invest in professional photography right off the bat, or maybe we did, but then now we're like, oh man, I have this other idea for an image, or I want to do this or that, right. Well, that's where AI can come in, because AI can help you create different images. Now there's a lot of different kinds of images that AI can help you with. Now our AI image generator. Let me show you what it can do. It can create main images for your listing. It can also create images in the format of Amazon Post, which is a different format than a main image. You can make A plus logo images, A plus image header images all the different A plus module types of images you're going to be able to create using this AI image generator. You also would be able to make images that are designed for best viewing on a mobile browser. Bradley Sutton: So what is the process for this? I actually pulled up a listing here of a competitor product. All right, this is a coffin shelf. That is not my coffin shelf, but I saw a couple of his images and I'm like you know what this very well could have been done, maybe with AI, or maybe he paid a lot of money for this picture. And so, like I'm like, is it possible for me to duplicate this image that this guy has of his coffin shelf on this wall? You know, for those listening to it on their phones, I'm trying to describe it here. It's just a picture of a coffin shelf on a gray wall. There's like a plant on the ground, um, some books on the table, et cetera. Right, so I just downloaded his main image of his coffin shelf and then I went ahead and started writing this prompt so, so this is the prompt I wrote. Now, what I could have done is I could have just, you know, chosen a theme here and a theme setting, but I went to go in and make a description, so I put here hey, the pictured shelf is hanging on a light gray wallpapered wall, includes subtle decorative elements such as a small plant, a few simple artwork on the surrounding wall, separately from the main image. All right, I have things such as the product scale. This is the size I want the product to look like in the image. I can have things like a void, what I don't want to see in the image. I can choose different engine models stability, ai or AWS, bedrock, titan. What is the AI style? I chose photographic. I could have chosen comic book, digital art, anime, analog film, 3d model, et cetera, and then basically let's go ahead and see what happens. You know I didn't put too many details here. Bradley Sutton: Let's hit, generate images. All right, here we go. This is what has shown up. I got four images it put. A couple of these are pretty decent. I mean, arguably, these images are maybe better than what this Amazon seller was using. You know, like this is not a good resolution that I'm looking at right here because I'm not zoomed in, but you know, I would almost say it's better than this image that this best-selling coffin shelf is using right now on their listing. So now, if I want to use it, I just go ahead and download this and I can go ahead and upload this to my listing. All my previous images are going to show up down here. This is just scratching the surface and maybe you guys are better at making prompts than me. You can even use ChatGPT to help you make a prompt to generate some higher quality images. But if you're looking to make, you know, take one image and make it in the format for A plus content or Amazon post, or change out backgrounds. You know, maybe you're doing a holiday theme, you know, for one of your listings and you want to put, like, some Christmas ornaments or some Halloween things or whatever. This is a way that you can just do it without having to like have a reshoot. So hope you enjoy using that feature. Bradley Sutton: How to import keywords into Listing Builder. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, this is pretty much the crux of using Listing Builder. Otherwise, you don't even need to use Listing Builder if you're just going to make your listing in Amazon Seller Central. But the whole point of Listing Builder is showing you, first of all, that you've used all of your main keywords and your secondary, supplementary keywords, your indexed for, and you've organized it in a way that is best for the Amazon algorithm. And that's what Listing Builder is going to help tell you. Where do these keywords come from, first of all? Okay, so that's a very good question, and you would hopefully have gotten your keywords from other tools, in Helium 10, Cerebro, for example, like let's just go ahead and say that I had done a search for bat-shaped bath mat and I had the 77 keywords as part of what I was going to target for my listing. Now you might have 100 keywords, you might have 150, you might have keywords that come from Google, you might have keywords that come from our other tools like Magnet or Blackbox. But let's just pretend that these list of 77 keywords is all we had. All right, I'm just going to go ahead and copy these to the clipboard. Bradley Sutton: And in Listing Builder. Now there's two places in Listing Builder where you can add it. You could just go ahead and add keywords here if you happen to get on this page, but I suggest doing it right here on the main first tab, which is add keywords for listing. I'm going to click on manually add keywords and all I have to do is paste all of the keywords right here. Then I hit the button add to bank and now all of those keywords are going to show up here on the right hand side. I'm going to see the search volume too. You might notice this CPS, that's competitor performance score. I haven't entered any competitors yet. That's why these are all blank. But this is now the list of all of my keywords, then it's all right here now on my main keyword bank, and what Helium 10 is doing here is it's splitting all of these keyword phrases there were 77 of them into one word, two words or three words, okay. So, for example, right now, by default, one word is chosen. So I see Gothic is a keyword that is in a lot of these phrases right here. We've got decor, we've got Batman, we've got witchy. Now I hit the two word roots. I can see home decor is something that is in some of these phrases. Three word, uh, three word roots. There's only one rugs for bedroom. That is appearing multiple times here in these phrases. But again, this is going to be the key because this is going to be your guide now, as far as hey, these were all the keywords that I found in my keyword research. I have to make sure that I get them into my listing. Uh, you know, the way the Amazon algorithm works is usually you're not going to be indexed for keywords that you do not have in your listing. All right, so again, import the keywords from wherever you did your research into Listing Builder, and then you're going to be ready to start making your listing. Bradley Sutton: How to import an existing listing into Listing Builder to edit. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, I've told you before that this is not just about creating new listings. You can also import your existing listing so you can start managing it in Listing Builder and making the updates inside and seeing how your SEO works. Another kind of strategy that I think is slept on is you can import your competitors listing into your Listing Builder. If you kind of want to see. Hey, how is their keyword density like where do they include certain keywords in their listing? Let me see how they have their SEO set up. Let me show you how you can do either of those. Right here in Listing Builder, I'm going to hit the button add a listing. All right now once I do that, I have three options create from scratch, optimize your listings or generate images with AI. Let me just show you what happens if I hit optimize your listing. It's going to be linked to my Amazon account. If you have already included your Amazon connected your Amazon account to Helium 10. And now I can just choose any one of my listings and it's going to go ahead and import it right here into Listing Builder. But, as I said before I can import anybody's listing. So, for example, here is a competitor bath mat out here. Maybe I want to see how they have their listing set up. All I have to do is copy the ASIN and then I hit create from scratch and then I choose the marketplace. So remember, I can go ahead and import a listing in Amazon USA, Germany, France, UK, Brazil, Belgium even didn't realize we had that India, Japan and more. This one is going to be from the USA. I'm going to go ahead and put the ASIN right here and then I'm going to hit start building. Bradley Sutton: Now, what Helium 10 is doing right now is it's importing the title, the bullet points and, if it's available, the description right into my own Listing Builder. So if I had a whole list of keywords now I'm going to be able to see hey, how do they have their listing all set up? Now, if you've got the diamond plan, you kind of don't need to do this, this kind of competitor checking, because we've got the competitor performance score that I'm going to talk about in a later strategy. But if you're just in the planning plan, you want to be able to have visibility with how your competitors have their SEO set up. This is the way to import their listing right into your Listing Builder and so, as you can see right here, I've got their product title, I've got their bullet points and no description, since they had A plus content. So, again, if you're getting started with your own listing ad connected from your own account so you can have a base here and just remember, Listing Builder is not just about making new listings. This is kind of like your hub where you can manage your existing listings so that later, when I show you how to sync them, it's going to be a lot easier as opposed to having to go back and forth to Seller Central copying and pasting. But even if you're not doing that, this is also another way that you can look at your competitors' SEO, with how they have the keywords placed and how many of the important keywords that you identified they have in their listing. Bradley Sutton: How to create an Amazon listing from scratch, with or without the help of AI. Now, why is this important? How can it make you money? I've said before that you know maybe you don't speak a certain language fluently that you're trying to write a listing. Well, you can get help from AI. Maybe you do speak the language fluently, but you have creative writer's block right that we all have sometimes. You might need AI to help get you started. Or maybe, hey, you speak a language just fine. You just need a place to be able to write your listing with the help of understanding that you are using all of the keywords. Well, this is what I'm going to show you how to do in less than five minutes here. Now, let's just say you're going to go ahead and write a listing with the help of AI. Now you would have hopefully already put which marketplace you're going to write the listing in and, based on that, it's going to know it has to make the listing in English, Japanese, Spanish, etc. You can write the description for the AI in any language you want your own native tongue. Now for this situation, all I'm doing is just writing a listing for the Amazon USA marketplace for that bat-shaped bath mat, and remember those 77 keywords I had found in a previous strategy. Well, I've got them all here in my keyword bank, and now what I did was I have 500 characters where I can put as many characteristics as possible. Bradley Sutton: Now you can see I only use 161 characters. This is not going to be my real listing. I'm going to use I'm just doing this for demonstration purposes but some of the characteristics I put as different phrases is like bat shaped bath rug extra thick, 32 inches by 20 inches thick, chenille, fiber machine washable, water absorbent, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The other thing I can put is the brand name, and then, where I want to put the brand name, I also have here the product name. That's what is going to show up at the beginning of the title, and then I have here what's called the tone. So we have some preset settings where maybe you have a listing where you want it to be formal, or maybe you want it to be casual or empathetic or inspirational. I chose humorous because you know, I think you need a little humor if you want a bat shaped bath mat, right? Um, I also have target audience, so I put just a couple things here, like men and women who like gothic decor or people who want to buy gifts for spooky decor lovers. There's also a section here for words and special characters to avoid. Bradley Sutton: Now, the first thing you're going to want to do is you're going to want to go ahead and make the product title. Now maybe I want to definitely include my most important keywords in my title. All right, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to edit these keywords that I'm definitely going to include in the title and choose them from my keyword bank. Now one thing you could do is just kind of like use find keywords that are nested within each other. I've talked about that in other episodes, but in this case I just chose two words. I'm like saying, hey AI, I want to have these in the title Bat Rug and Spooky Bathroom Decor. Then all I have to do is I hit this AI write it for me button and it's going to take all of this information up here that I had put in and then take a look at the keywords that I entered in. You know I had put those from Cerebro and it's going to go ahead and create a title. Now take a look right here. It made the title right here just in seconds. It says spooky bathroom decor bat rug, non-slip, water absorbent, 32 by 20 inch bat shaped bath mat with thick chenille fiber, machine washable, no creases. The perfect gift for Gothic decor enthusiasts, Manny's mysterious oddities. So, basically, it wrote a pretty decent title for me If I want to use it. Um, I can go ahead and hit use suggestion. And now look what happens. Now that I wrote this here, there is now going to be a line on the left-hand side through all of the individual keywords that I now have in my listing and it's also going to show me all the keyword phrases that I have if I have used them. So, for example, remember I said use bat rug. There's bat rug right there. Spooky bathroom decor. It's got a line through it because I used it right here in my listing. Bradley Sutton: Same thing with the bullet points. If I'm satisfied with the title, I'll just move on to the bullet points. Hit the button that says AI, right for me. And now I have five bullet points that it made. Some of these say bat shaped bat rug, perfect for goth bathroom, this unique bat man rug. And if I can hit use suggestion and look how many, it's trying to use up all of my keywords in my keyword bank, both individual and the phrases, as much as possible, and that's how I would write my listing. That's AI and how it can help. Now, if you've got the diamond plan, that's how I suggest starting your listing and then maybe just tweaking it to make sure you've used all your keywords. What if you only have the platinum plan? You still can use Listing Builder and just write it manually. You would use it the same way. So basically, you would start writing your listing manually, trying to make sure that you are using all of the keywords in your listing. Like, let's just pretend I was going to come up with this bullet point right here and I start writing this gothic rug is great for Halloween decor, something like that. Did you guys see what was happening here on the left hand side as I was writing this bullet point? Well, it started crossing out the words that I am using. By the way, if you are watching this on YouTube, you can see. If I put my mouse over some of these keywords, I can see what are the search results, the top 10 search results for that keyword. It kind of gives you an idea about, maybe, how relevant it is. If I want if that's annoying to you, I wanted to turn it off I just hit the settings button up here and I can turn this top 10 ranked products keywords off. Bradley Sutton: But anyways, I would just keep making my listing, trying to make sure I have all of the individual keywords and or phrases. Now, remember, you've got to know which are your most important keyword phrases. All right, usually you want to get at least 10, 15 in phrase form of your most important keywords and then all the rest of the words to be indexed for the phrases. You just have to have the individual words, and that's why that root keyword section is very valuable. You know, hey, I just got to get these individual words once in my listing to have a chance to be indexed for all of those other keywords. So here is another great technique of how you can completely make your listing, with or without the help of AI, using Listing Builder. Bradley Sutton: How to measure your listing's Amazon SEO score. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, if you are trying to make a listing, you don't want to just keyword stuff. Right, all fields in a listing also are not created equal. If you put a keyword in the title, it's worth more than if you put it in the description. If you have a main keyword phrase in phrase form, it's better than if you just have the individual keywords from that phrase just in random spots in your listing. There's so many things that kind of like drives relevancy for the Amazon algorithm. Now, nobody knows the exact formula of Amazon, and if anybody tries to say they do, they're full of baloney right. But you know me, what I did for over eight months was I tried to study the algorithm as much as possible you know, launching hundreds of like fake products just to be able to see the effects on the algorithm when you change keywords around and so I was able to come up with our data science team this formula that helps sellers understand the effects of placement in the listings. But again, this is not like some exact formula. I do not have special insight into the Amazon algorithm. I can only make this formula based on my observations, but it's definitely going to help you for sure. Bradley Sutton: Now let's go ahead and hop in with how you can actually use this. The first step, if you want to have a listing score, is you need to go down here to listing analysis and then hit keyword performance rank and once you get there, you are going to have this button that says add competitors. Now, once you get to the add competitors page, you are going to need to enter in all of your competitors, like right now I'm in a coffin shelf listing and it already gives me like suggestions of which ASINs I can pick. But I suggest putting your own ASINs right in here. I entered, I think, like seven or eight ASINs and then, once I do that, instantly you are going to get a full score for your listing. Now, the reason why you didn't have a score before was because it's using the competitor performance score and the search volume to be able to know what your score is. So, for example, right here, my keyword performance score is 181,011. And I can actually see what goes into it. Bradley Sutton: There's different ways that it calculates your keyword SEO score. Like, if I have it an exact match, one of the keywords for my list, it's going to give me a certain number of points If I have it a plural or singular match. What does that mean? That means, like, if the keyword is spider web shelf but then I put spider web shelves, it's still going to give me points, but not as much as if I put the exact keyword spider web shelf. If I have it in phrase match, that's a. The keyword is Gothic, coffin, spider web shelf. Well, you can see here in the title I've got Gothic and coffin together, but then spider web shelf is way at the end of the title, I still have all the keywords. So that's what's called a phrase match, where maybe a part of the phrase is together and then the other part of the phrase is in a separate part of the same section. Then I've got field broad match. That means I can have a full phrase but it's spread apart with no two keywords together in a field in your listing. And a field means the title, bullet points or description, right, and then I have listing broad match. That means maybe I have a three-word phrase and then you know, one keyword is in the title, one keyword is in the bullet points, one keyword is in the description. That's called field broad match. Bradley Sutton: So as you write your listing, this score is going to change. So, for example, here's a keyword coffin decor that it says I haven't used an exact phrase form. Let me go ahead and throw it in my bullet points. By the way, you can see, my score is 181,000. Let's go ahead and put just randomly coffin decor right here in that first spot and then, yeah, look, I got a line through coffin decor and my score now went up to 183,000. So first of all, that just shows you can manipulate this score. So, like you know, technically you could just throw keywords anywhere and get the highest score. I would like to hope that you understand that that's not the point of this tool is to just try and get a high score at all costs. You can't just keyword stuff. Nobody likes that. But that's just to show you how that scoring system works. Bradley Sutton: How to compare your listings Amazon SEO score to competitors? Why is this important? How can this make you money? Well, you can optimize your listing to get the highest score that you want to get. But at the end of the day, your goal should be to have a more optimized listing than your competitors. And if you can do that, theoretically speaking, interactions with your listing is going to help you more than your competitors. Like, if I have the keyword coffin shelf an exact phrase and I've got a coffin shelf and I have got it two, three times in my listing, Amazon knows I'm very relevant. Somebody buys my product after the search of that keyword. I'm theoretically going to get kind of like more bang for my buck with that purchase, as opposed to somebody who might be just indexed for that keyword and they've got coffin in their title and shelf somewhere in their bullet points, all right. So that's the value of this score is you're trying to make sure that you are well optimized for SEO, especially in comparison to your competitors. So how can you do that? Once you've entered in all of your competitors and you've optimized your score, you're going to want to check this keyword performance rank of your competitors and right here, as you can see, you can see that this coffin shelf I have is number one. I've got a score of 181,011, and the other listings on this page or that I imported, they all have less of a score than myself. Bradley Sutton: All right, I personally don't look too much at the title ranking and bullet points ranking. That doesn't affect things too much, but it's right here, just in case you want to see it. So again, check this frequently, because this is going to change based on your competitor listings and you want to make sure that you stay number one. If you want to, just if you're wondering, hey, did this get refreshed or not? You can just go in here, delete them from your competitors and then add them right back to make sure that it has the latest version of the listing, but use this especially against your main competitors, to make sure that you always have the best SEO score that you can in comparison to your competitors. Bradley Sutton: How to check your keyword performance for your Amazon listing. Why is this important and how can it make you money? Well, you might not be able to fully see the effect of how your listing optimization has affected that score. All right, I showed you before. You could just go ahead and put a keyword in. You can see your score move up and down. But maybe you want to dive a little bit deeper to really get into the nitty gritty of what is going on in that score scoring system. This is how you do it. If you've got the diamond plan, you've got access to this button up here called keyword performance. So just hit the open keyword performance and it's going to open this thing at the very bottom. And now this is how you can use this section. It's very, very powerful. Uh, first of all, on the right hand side, I've got this section called root keyword usage and performance and it has all of those 72 root keywords, those single keywords that make up all of those phrases, right here, and it's interesting because I can actually see, um, how many times these are used in my listing, like, for example, the root keyword sick coffin. I've got 16 times in my listing and I could see oh, it's four times in the title, it's six times in the bullet point. Now here's a really, really cool thing what, in which keywords do I have coffin in it? I can hit this filter button and now on the right hand side I can see all of the keyword phrases that has the word coffin in it and which ones I've used and which ones I haven't used, and it says I've got 49 phrases that have used the word coffin, right, and then so here's one of them coffin shelf. If I look down here I can see, first of all, how important is this keyword. Well, it has a competitor performance score of 10. What does that mean? That means that most of the top competitors are all ranking for that keyword. By the way, that's an important metric to be looking at to understand how important the keywords are. I can see title match exact phrase and also I have it as a field broad in the title. All right, so I have that keyword right there in the title. It says I've got it in exact phrase form in my bullet points and I've got it in exact phrase form in my description. So I've pretty much maxed out the points that I can get on this keyword coffin shelf. Bradley Sutton: Here to the right I can actually see some stats about that keyword. Like, should I be focused on it? Oh, wow, it's got 2,500 search volume, 20 estimated sales for a keyword. It's got a title density of 25. It's got a brand analytics data right here. So this is pretty cool in that it's going to give me a lot of data about this keyword. If I'm ranking for that keyword, that rank is going to show up right here on the right-hand side. Now, this is a listing that is not even active right now. That's why it's not showing any organic rank. Take this other keyword here. Let's just pretend for a minute that this keyword coffin knife holder is super important for this listing. Obviously not, but instantly. Just by looking at this in a second, I could have identified that. Wow, this important keyword I do not have in any phrase form or long tail form or any form at all anywhere in my listing. And if this was an important keyword, like if it has a very high competitive performance score, that's a hole in my listing. Bradley Sutton: Another way that I like to do this that actually helps me with PPC is, as I am making my broad campaigns in PPC, I want to see what are the root keywords that show up most in my listing. Remember I told you coffin has 49 keywords, or 49 keywords it's in. I probably am going to make a broad or phrase campaign, PPC for the word Coffin because it has so many long tail keywords. All right, maybe Gothic. All right, Gothic has 11 of them, so Gothic is another keyword that potentially I can go ahead and use in a broad match campaign. So, guys, this is really what's going to help you understand what is driving that score, because it's going to tell you what keywords you've used, how you've used it and where you use it in your listing. Did you use it in exact phrase form? Did you use it in the plural form? Is it just in field, broad form? And if you have important keywords that don't have a good placement in your listing, it's going to be super easy to visually see which keywords those are and what part of the listing that it doesn't even have anything in it, so that you can make sure that you can go ahead and edit your listing and get those important keywords activated. Bradley Sutton: How to analyze your listing's competitor comparison table. Why is this important? How can it make you money? Well, you know, we've been talking a lot about just the overall score of your listings. We talked about looking at the keyword performance of your own listing. Now this is the tool that's really going to bring it all together. It's called the Competitor Comparison and now, instantly, you're going to see which ones of your competitors are really well optimized for certain keywords and which ones that you are extremely lacking on. Take a look at how easy it is to use this. If you've got the diamond plan, you're going to be able to hit this button up here called open Competitor Comparison, and once you do that, it's going to open up this amazing and super detailed chart. For those of you watching this on YouTube, you're going to be able to see all of those keywords that you had identified that you wanted to be in your listing, right? I've got 111 keywords here and now I can instantly see, all right, the most important keyword, the one that has a 10 score here in my competitor performance score coffin shelf I can see how everybody has it in exact phrase form. These are all my competitors and I can see hey, everybody's got it, except one person in exact phrase form in their title, right, I can see that this coffin shelf large. On the other hand look at this not one person has it in exact phrase form in any part of their listing. So again, if this was an important keyword for me, what I'm going to be able to take from this is wow, I've got an opportunity. Then if I put coffin shelf large, it means that I'm going to be the only person in this niche to have prioritized this keyword and have my listing optimized for it. Bradley Sutton: Same thing down here. I can just easily see the keywords that nobody has in any phrase form in their listing, myself included. Like here's another one a spider web shelf. Obviously this is not irrelevant, that relevant of a keyword, right, but I can instantly have seen if it was that it's a big opportunity for me, because not one person. Not only do they have it in phrase form, they don't have it in broad form, in plural form or any other form in any part of the listing. So I can just go through and compare how I have my listing set up compared to these competitors. Bradley Sutton: So again, these aren't the old days of selling on Amazon, where all you need to do is hey, let me just throw in all my important keywords. But it's also about where you're placing your keywords and how your competition is placing their keywords. How are they indexed for certain keywords? Do they have keywords in exact phrase form? Do they have it in plural form? What do you have? These are all things in this new world of selling on Amazon that you have to be considering that maybe you didn't consider back in the old days. And having a tool like Listing Builder here, and especially with the diamond plan so you can get access to these advanced features, it's really going to help give you a leg up on the competition where, all of a sudden, your competitors will be like how in the world is this guy beating us on these keywords that we used to be getting sales from and beating them on? They don't realize that you've got this secret weapon of Listing Builder. Bradley Sutton: How to sync your listing to Amazon? Why is this important? How can it make you money? Do you need to use an outside tool to sync a listing to Amazon? No, you can just edit listings right from Seller Central. But tell me this how many of you before have tried to edit your listing in Seller Central and sometimes it just doesn't update and it might not update until you use a flat file sometimes. Or maybe you have to open up a whole bunch of cases to seller support. Well, interestingly enough, you know, the Helium 10 Listing Builder is not like guaranteed to update your listing, no matter what kind of garbage you put into it, and it's going to overwrite something on Amazon. It doesn't always work that way, but it actually has a higher contribution status than if you were to just hit edit listing in seller central. I've had situations where I tried to edit my title or bullet points in seller central and even after 48 hours nothing happened. But then I do it in Listing Builder and I hit sync and within 30 minutes that update has processed. So that's definitely one of the reasons why it's good to use Listing Builder. Bradley Sutton: The other reason is just because if you're making your listings in Listing Builder, you want this to be the source of truth, right, and not to have to remember wait, did I go to Seller Central and then copy and paste one by one the different fields? If you don't have the diamond plan at Helium 10, that's what you have to do and there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, our first tool before Listing Builder was called Scribbles and you could not sync the listings. You had to go into Seller Central and copy the title, copy the bullet points. There's nothing wrong with that. But obviously, if you have a one button push to Amazon, that is what you're going to want to use. So here's how you can use that. The first thing you have to make sure is that you've linked to one of yours in your Seller Central account. And the way you can make sure that if you did that is this button up here. It'll say link to Amazon. If you don't have it linked, mine is linked, I already linked it to a certain SKU. So all I have to do is hit this button, sync to Amazon and it's going to update whatever I have. Now, keep in mind, it's going to overwrite whatever is in your seller central, all right. So just make sure that you have everything filled out in the right way. Bradley Sutton: Now, sometimes there are certain things that Amazon does not allow you to update. Like, some listings have more than five bullet points, right, if you, if I, had six, seven, eight bullet points, it's only going to sink the first five. Another thing that sometimes doesn't sink over is the subject matter, because not all listings have the subject matter available to be written, but it does allow you to overwrite the generic keywords here as well. Now, how long does it take to update after you have hit the sync button? Could be as quick as 5-10 minutes. Sometimes it might take a day or so. It all depends on how Amazon works. So, everyone, if you have linked your product to Amazon, make sure that you are syncing your listings after you edit it in your account. Now, how you know if it has been synced or not is go back to your regular page that has all of your listings, your dashboard, and it's going to show in the status right here if it has synced or not or if there is an error. You'll also have that message. So again, everybody, make sure to sync your listings. You've got the diamond plan and that's pretty much all you need to know about creating listings and looking at SEO scores and syncing them all the way to your Amazon listing. Bradley Sutton: Now, in the next strategy, I'm going to talk about something that actually you can do inside of Listing Builder but doesn't even have to do with your listing. How to generate captions for Amazon Post with AI? Why is this important? How can it make you money? Amazon Post, for now, is a completely free service. Think of it as kind of like an Instagram newsfeed, but for Amazon. Let me show you what Amazon posts are here. I just found a bath mat company and if I went to their storefront and I hit the button post, here are their posts. It especially turns up really well on a mobile browser. This one, obviously, is a desktop browser, but you can see that they have a lifestyle image of their product and then they have got a uh caption here for each one. All right, so you've. The best practices is to create an image every day here and then make this post. Now, as you can see here, products are linked here to these posts and so obviously, the main goal is to be able to get brand followers and then, hopefully, they see one of these posts, are inspired by it, they click the product and they purchase it and you're not having to pay for any of this. Now, as I said, the best practices is to make an image every single day and a caption every single day. That could be time consuming and maybe very difficult to do. Number one if you don't have that many images, how are you going to get a different image for 365 days out of the year. Well, that's, first of all, what you could have done with that other strategy I told you about in an earlier video, which is how to use Listing Builder to create the AI Amazon Post images, right? Well, what about the caption though? Right? Watch this. This is pretty cool.  Bradley Sutton: Now, do you remember earlier I had written, with AI, this listing that was a bat-shaped bath mat. Well, if I scroll all the way down, I can actually see Amazon post sections. All right, now there are five sections right here. I just have to hit this one button. Write it for me, all right, and within seconds, it's going to write five Amazon posts based on my listing, and boom goes the dynamite. Just like that, I've got five different posts that I could use, with five different images that I might have produced from my AI image generation. Take a look at one of these. Add a touch of the macabre to your bathroom with our bat-shaped bath rug, and even put like a bat emoji. Perfect for gothic decor enthusiasts and a spooky addition to your Halloween decor. It even had a hashtag here gothic decor and Halloween rug. Here's another Amazon post it generated within seconds while I was talking there. Step out of the shower onto our spooky non-slip bat rug. Make your bathroom uniquely yours water absorbent and machine washable Hashtag bat rug. All right, so within seconds I got five different captions. All right, so there's my one week almost all finished, and then, as I showed you before, if I just hit one, I can just do one generation of Amazon AI images for Amazon posts. I would have had four or five images like that. I combine it with these and I can have one of my VAs or employees just every day. Hey, go ahead and put a new post up and I don't have to take 365 pictures or 10 photo shoots of 36 pictures each. I don't have to pay a professional copywriter to write captions. So this is a really quick and easy way that you can create this content for nearly free. That is free on Amazon. So make sure to use these AI-generated Amazon post captions along with our AI Amazon post image generation in order to get those extra views for your Amazon store and your Amazon products and get those quote-unquote free sales that aren't costing you any PPC or any professional copywriting. Bradley Sutton: All right, well, I hope you enjoyed this Seller Strategy Masterclass, where we went deep into Listing Builder. This is the crème de la crème as far as a listing creation software that is out there in the space. So make sure you use every bit of what we went over today. And is there something that we're missing? Is there something you'd like to see? Make sure to let us know. We'd be happy to take all requests and the ones that get asked the most. We'll go ahead and integrate those into the tool. A lot of the features that you saw today come from our customers asking us for them, so I hope you enjoyed this episode and we'll see you in the next one. Bye-bye now.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#538 - The Path To Half A Billion Dollars Annually - Solo Stove

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 24, 2024 30:09


Listen in as Alvaro Lopez from Solo Stove shares this brand's incredible entrepreneurial journey that began with two brothers with a vision and has since flourished into a significant role in the Amazon, Walmart, and e-commerce landscape. Our conversation paints a picture of how his academic pursuits in international studies set the stage for a career that expertly intersects with the Amazon-selling industry. We also unravel the story behind Solo Stove's creation by two brothers who dared to dream beyond the confines of their day jobs, skillfully navigating the supply chain from China to North America to deliver a product beloved by outdoor enthusiasts. Join us as we dissect the intricate details of brand strategy and e-commerce optimization for Amazon and Walmart. From the leap of establishing a direct-to-consumer channel to strategic maneuvers post-IPO, our discussion with a global director of marketplaces offers many insights. We dive into the crucial role of consumer obsession and mastery over logistics, and we share invaluable tactics for brand defense on platforms like Amazon. The importance of rich content and keyword optimization to cut through the noise of a saturated marketplace is laid bare, providing a roadmap for e-commerce success. Wrapping up, our chat transitions from the tantalizing secrets of Peruvian chicken to strategic e-commerce maneuvers. We highlight the essential role of high-quality ingredients and cultural heritage in culinary success before shifting to the nuances of effective copywriting and the power of tools like Helium 10's Cerebro tool. Alvaro emphasizes the significance of localization in global branding and imparts wisdom on the 'action over perfection' philosophy that has fueled the growth of many successful brands. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to navigate the complex yet rewarding waters of e-commerce with agility and foresight. In episode 538 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Franco discuss: 00:00 - Strategies for Solo Stove's E-commerce Success  07:58 - Solo Stove's Brand Defense Strategy In Amazon 09:50 - E-Commerce Brand Strategy and Optimization 12:05 - Strategies for Brand Protection 15:01 - Emotional Branding in Marketplace Selling 18:56 - Marketplace Performance Analysis and Expansion 20:21 - Expanding Sales Channels and Branding Strategies 25:57 - Peruvian Chicken's Secret & Other E-Commerce Strategies ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript   Bradley Sutton: You've probably heard of Solo Stove, a company that does almost half a billion dollars annually and does ads with people like Snoop Dogg and more. Now, today we're going to talk to one of the heads of their Amazon business to see what strategies that any Helium 10 user has access to that help them increase to this level. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think.   Kevin King: Hey, what's up everybody? Kevin King here. You know, one of the number one questions I get is how can you connect to me? How can I, Kevin, get some advice or speak with you or learn more from you? The best way is with Helium 10 Elite. If you go to h10.me/elite, you can get all the information and sign up for Helium 10 Elite. Every month, I lead advanced training where I do Seven Ninja Hacks. We also have live masterminds and every single week, one of those weeks I jump on for a couple hours and we talk shop, we talk business, do in-person events. Helium 10 Elite is where you want to be. It's only $99 extra on your Helium 10 membership. It's h10.me/elite. Go check it out and I hope to see you there.   Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. And again I am here on the other side of the world, here in Frankfurt, Germany, and got to link up with somebody I've known virtually for a while but now got to meet in person Alvaro: from Solo Stove. Alvaro, how's it going?   Alvaro: Good, Brad, thanks for having me. Good to be here.   Bradley Sutton: Now, your accent is not a typical Swiss accent. I know you live in Switzerland. Where, so where were you born and raised? Let's talk about you, the person first of all.   Alvaro: So I'm originally from Lima, Peru, my parents, but I grew up in Washington DC, which is why you hear the accent. So just outside of DC, you know, finished secondary school, started my undergrad in Utah and took a two-year break. During that undergrad, moved around Mexico, different parts of the states for an LDS mission at the time, and then, right after I got back and got into my undergrad, moved to Spain. That's where I met my wife, who's Swiss, German, and that's what really brought us to Southern Germany. This is why you're hearing American accent.   Bradley Sutton: There you go. So how long have you been in Europe then?    Alvaro: That was in 2014. So it's been. It's crazy to think it's been a decade. Yeah, but it's been a decade, a decade exactly this month.   Bradley Sutton: Wow, where did you go to University?   Alvaro: Utah State.   Bradley Sutton: Utah State. Yeah, aggies, oh, I got it. Oh, yes, man I always try to like test myself.   Alvaro: Right, it's like randomly in a very cold part of Utah the coldest part of Utah right on the border with Idaho but it's a pretty big undergrad campus, about 25,000 students, so don't keep me honest, but the international programs are amazing.   Bradley Sutton: What do you study when you're there?   Alvaro: I study International Studies. I'm really an honor trajectory to work for the State Department at the time, and I had already met my wife prior to finishing my undergrad, and so when I finished a foreign service exam right after my undergrad, she had got a gig in Basel. She works in the biotech pharmacy industry and Basel is mostly known for the pharma industry, and I took a job at the time in e-com through some friends in my network, and the rest is history, dude.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, what was? So when did you get into e-com?   Alvaro: 2016.   Bradley Sutton: 2016? So what? What part of e-com was that? Was that Amazon, or was that?   Alvaro: Specifically, I was working through an agency at the time that was helping North American brands expand on Amazon generally, and I was a first European hire at the time to bring brands into Europe, and that's really we were able to successfully scale certain clients and from there moved around through other European companies, brought me into Luxembourg. I've worked back in between Germany and Switzerland for a few years and it's so now for almost four years. Great as a thing, yeah.   Bradley Sutton: Alright, so that's Alvaro's background. Let's talk about Solo stuff. A lot of this is that household name. I've had all kinds of cool companies like. I just interviewed somebody from Lego here now. We got Solo, so yeah for those who don't know about Solo. So what's the background of Solo? So the company?   Alvaro: Yeah, so you know, Solo stuff is a business. Of course we're in the consumer product goods industry but, like our whole goal as a brand and as a business is to help our customers connect with their loved ones and connect with the outdoors. So I'll kind of get back to that later if we go in detail. But the organization itself, two brothers founded the brand in 2010, as you see my t-shirt here I'm like repping well the company and really what they were looking. They were both entrepreneurs. They're both Chinese, Canadian origin, so both very familiar with the supply chain aspects in China, but, of course, going up in Canada, so many opportunities in terms of producing things in China and bringing it over with healthy profits in the Western market. So these two brothers were just looking for ways to find freedom from their day-to-day jobs. We're both were working at the time some pretty strenuous jobs. So they found a space and so I'm giving a lot of context. I think it's important to understand.   Alvaro: As they were iterating different product lines, they created this ingenious. What was this mini, now known as the light? But it was the original, just only Solo Stove and it was really a camp stove designed to be able to light a little camp stove within 90 seconds from twigs to a burning fire that you could cook with, with just the stainless steel concept, and so that same design and engineering is ultimately what ended up being optimized into grow I almost spoke German there close into bigger camp stoves from the light. And then, back in 2018, we ran a kick starter that introduced the bonfire range, and that's really what helped accelerate our growth and our momentum as a brand. But originally started from two brothers wanting to just have freedom in their lives, to create products that create good moments that leads to lasting memories. And now here we are as a publicly traded business.   Bradley Sutton: Public company having Snoop Dogg. Maybe some of you guys saw the ad campaign like I'm going smokeless.   Alvaro: You did go smokeless. Yes.   Bradley Sutton: So that's, that's pretty cool. Now, you're a publicly traded company. I know like I think you guys had published like in 2022. You've done over like 400 million across all platforms. Were you up last year, down last year, 2023?   Alvaro: Yeah, so from a marketplace perspective, we were up, which you felt really grateful. Obviously, last year, 2023 was really interesting year. We're kind of pretty much all brands in our sector are reconciling like post pandemic trends. So as a business, overall we were pretty flat, healthy, cash wise and profit wise, very strong marketplace and international saw tremendous growth, which we can talk about this in detail. But I view our partnership with Helium 10 as a core variable to that consistent performance. I'm really helping us understand where the market at scale really is and how we can continue to take part of that market share that we have and grow it. So, from a marketplace perspective, amazon specifically USA was up in Amazon global was up significantly year-over-year.   Bradley Sutton: What percentage? You know what once you get to a certain level. This is similar to what I talked about, Silas, who formerly from Lego is, is like what percentage is from brand search? And then what percentage would you say is just coming from people typing in you know, smokeless Barbecue pit or something? Random keywords.   Alvaro: It's a great question and actually you know it ties directly into what we can do within Helium 10 and tech stack. You guys simplify, but from what we've seen, both within the search query performance on brand analytics and seller central, and from the believe it's Frank and center said, able to remind me where we can find a search volume that I don't yep, yep, we see that the Solo Stove branded searches is almost three times bigger than smokeless fire pit. Wow, which is wow, which is unique, because there's not a lot of brands that can pretty much be synonymous to an entire market. I mean, yeah, of course. Yeah, Lego is.   Bradley Sutton: One of the only examples where it's like I don't know what you would skate toy bricks right.   Alvaro: Kleenex, I guess. So we've been really grateful that we can drive that. Obviously, in the US, Germany, Canada, UK, Amazon is definitely if not the biggest, one of the biggest search engine platforms for consumers looking for a product or looking into a product. So, naturally, the way we have our omni channel sales channels, I should say set up, we leverage Amazon as both, of course, a place where we can drive tremendous growth and profit, but also a place where we need to defend the brand. So I think from a percentage perspective, all over half of our sales come from branded search, which is really a strong attribution to our entire brand and marketing team and, of course, product development team. We can go into detail in this podcast, however you wish, but for us, a marketplace that's really critical is how are we defending the brand, how are we displaying the brand, how's our content, what's that consumer experience like and how are we defending the traffic that's looking for us so we're not losing them in the funnel? It's a critical component of our strategy.   Bradley Sutton: Interesting. I definitely want to get into some specific strategies, but one just general question I'm curious about is from what I understand, Solo Stove in the States has been kind of like a household name for a while. You're a little bit newer here in Europe. What was your expansion strategy? Like, did Amazon play a big role in trying to get your brand out here, or was it a lot of just traditional marketing?   Alvaro: Yes, so we officially. So. I was actually the first European hire fun fact for Solo Stove back in very end of 2020, going into 2021. Originally brought on as a director of marketplaces globally. First for Solo, this was pre acquisition of other brands, pre IPO, so then took that role as we acquire new brands right shout out to Oro, Kayak, Iel, Chubby Shorts. So it was really really interesting experience. And then that fall 2021 is when we launched direct to consumer.   Alvaro: Now, we had a little bit of a head start. We had some great distribution partners, some that we still work with very closely with today, that we had some organic search and so really, from the circumstance in the car that we were playing, that really helped us define, specifically in Europe, the way we're going to market is like where to put our focus in terms of marketing spend and our focus in terms of channels, like where we're actually going to sell. So we immediately noticed that in Europe specifically Northern Europe to be most specific, right between the UK, Nordics, Benelux, the Dach region, right Germany, Austria, Switzerland we knew that would be our focus. So that definitely helped us define where our headquarter would be, which is today in Rotterdam. That was extremely critical. Make sure we staff that effectively.   Alvaro: For us, consumer obsession is our fundamental. We want to make sure customers have a great experience and that logistically which we own our distribution out of Rotterdam we own all of our logistics. That's an extremely critical component. So, in terms of, like, the actual launch right, the setup is critical. Understanding which market we're going to play in.   Alvaro: I mean, these were things that were important to set up, but once actually going live to market, we're a digitally native brand. So when we went live to market, it was an omnichannel mix digitally, meaning that we focused, hyper focused on our website and across Amazon Pan Europe, and we did more our first full year being live direct to consumer than it took solo, so 10 years to do it domestically. So it was, I would say, obviously and this is with the same profit constraints that we have in the US obviously, as public and traded business, we have a responsibility to shareholders, not only to drive top line but also to drive bottom line. So we're really, really proud of that story and we've just seen year over year growth, sustaining those same top and bottom line figures that I'm alluding to.   Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome. All right, let's get back into some specific strategies. You alluded to like kind of like brand defense and putting a moat around your brand. And yes, of course, when you're that size of a company, like you guys are, it's important. But even smaller sellers, once they're building up their brand, there's going to be brand search and it might not be at the scale of a Solo Stove or Lego, but they would have to follow the same principles as kind of like you have. So what has been your strategy? I know, like Helium 10, maybe Adtomic and some others tools talk about that a little bit, but what's your strategy at protecting your brand?   Alvaro: One of the most profound conversations I remember the last three years working with Solo Stove and solo brands is a conversation I had with our Chief Digital Officer at the time, who's also one of the founders of Chubbies, Tom Montgomery, who, like what an incredible experience working under his wing for over a year. We were talking one day about like specific tactics for operating on Amazon, and one of those things actually was brand registry, and I was going into detail and he, for lack of better terms or articulating this, he just kind of stopped me and said hey, Alvaro, this is a fundamental, we don't need to go into detail here. So, when it comes to like your defense on Amazon, like make sure that the resources Amazon provides you to defend your brand, be it like the most fundamental basics being like hey, get brand registered. Make sure it's basically like an Amazon trademark right. Or maybe it's a transparency program right If you're dealing with counterfeits or unauthorized resellers.   Alvaro: Maybe it's project zero, which is a more robust element of transparency I'd say, make those fundamentals in your business. I would say that's an extremely critical component. Like, make the resources that Amazon has to give to you now, what Walmart's providing right through their seller platform, make those brand resources to defend your brand of fundamental and exhaust them right. If you're a bigger business and you need to make that cross I'd say cross department focus initiative, like with your legal team or your finance team or your CTO, do so, but just make it a fundamental like don't postpone any resource you have through brand registry. Okay, hope that kind of answers your question.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, absolutely, so definitely important. And again, you don't need to be a humongous seller. I would say brand new seller. Why not start with brand registry? You know, if you're just an arbitrage seller or something, of course, yeah, you don't even have to worry about that, but everybody should be protecting their brand. What about on the kind of like listing optimization, keyword strategy, advertising strategy? As far as protecting your brand in that sense, though.   Alvaro: Yeah, I mean indexing is critical. You know, as I alluded to earlier, we have a lot more search for Solo Stove than someone who's probably looking for a product that we sell right, similar to our core product, I'd say. But as far as like what we do to defend a brand through the listing, going again back to the principle, fundamentals, we have hundreds and thousands of assets. So this to any brand that's serious about selling on marketplace, where I mean, look, cost of acquisition is more expensive, there's more sellers, there's more listings, you need to make sure that your content is rich, right? So for us, where you know anyone can buy like a random fire pit from Walmart or from Target for 50 bucks, 100 bucks, you know why are you gonna spend three, four, five times more on a solo, so fire pit? And it's because we want to evoke that emotion of creating good moments. And so, for us, part of the defense strategy is hey, is the content, the copy, your A plus for Amazon specifically, is it evoking that emotion that you want to be associated to your brand? Right for us, it's, of course we're selling fire pits, but the end to all these means is can we evoke the emotion on that session that a customer or potential customers having with our Brand, showing that they can create good moments with the brand. I think it's a really critical component of our brand and that defense strategy from a listing perspective.   Bradley Sutton: Excellent. Yeah, I think that is something that smaller sellers sometimes think they don't have to worry about. But you know, people look at that stuff, you know, and in a cookie cutter world where maybe there's 15 people doing the same thing, similar prices, that's the kind of stuff that sets you apart and makes you memorable. What kind of advertising do you guys, you know, focus on? Do you just do pretty much everything that Amazon provides, whether it's sponsored, band, display, DSP, etc?   Alvaro: It's a great question. You know, we actually just had some pretty high-level folks at Amazon in our offices last week in Great Vine. It's really grateful for that experience because we actually had some key members from the Amazon ads team coming to the office and really give us insights into some of the new products that Amazon ads is developing. And so for us, definitely it's part of a strategy broadly is to maximize the way we utilize resources that Amazon has to offer. But as far as like the going back to like the ad console and what we're executing highly and yeah, it's across the board right we obviously see best efficiency across sponsored product, right. And then the way we define that strategy top to bottom, the funnel is critical right, defensive to offensive, and we carry similar strategies across sponsored brand, sponsored display.   Alvaro: And now we're getting to a point as a business where I mean you'll hear high-level team members from Solo, so speak about this over this coming year. But we're really trying to blur our performance digitally, right. Amazon is developing some products that is going to affect more positively performance outside of Amazon and we want to take part of that right through AMC or DSP. So that's gonna be a really critical component is leveraging the experience we have from the ad console right through the three core campaign types that we could have run into new products that they're developing and really blur both performance and our operations behind it with Amazing talent that we have in-house that historically been focused on, like paid social and Google, and trying to blur that operation, if that kind of makes sense.   Bradley Sutton: On Amazon Advertising, how does your team leverage a Helium 10 Adtomic?   Alvaro: You know the biggest, biggest benefit that we've seen with that Adtomic specifically is helping streamline extremely time-consuming things. I mean we're highly tactical, highly experienced and very, very detailed in terms of the, the campaigns and the way we're optimizing. I mean, you're probably looking at our account we have thousands of campaigns just in the US alone and then you can do the multiples of that because we put similar efforts across all of our channels on Amazon and we're in 15 Amazon stores a little bit under once you start to consider international. So what Adtomic has done really I can speak transparently with you here in person is helping a streamline, extremely time-consuming task like bulk changes, bulk edits, in a way that's not just to get it done to save time, but in a way that's it's insightful and data-driven. Yeah, to keep it simple.   Bradley Sutton: Taking a step back, you just mentioned all the different marketplaces you sell in. If you were to say, you know, just gross revenue, top five, you know, I'm safe to say US number one, what would be? Germany, number two, UK.   Alvaro: It's really interesting on Amazon. It's similar performance that we see between UK and Germany. It's funny because off Amazon our British business is more material. So it speaks a little bit to the power of, I think, of Amazon Germany, or maybe even the preference of consumer behavior. Maybe German is just again, we need to take a deeper dive in this but maybe our German customers just prefer to shop on Amazon Germany, for whatever their reason is I'll come back to your answer but an important fundamental as a brand is we want to meet our customer where they want to be met.   Alvaro: That's why omnichannel is so critical. But as far as Amazon, definitely the top four is Germany, UK after the US. Canada is up there and then in the rest of Europe between France, Italy, Spain and Holland. I think you have a pretty much flat performance competing for that fifth spot. We most definitely can scale our performance in Japan and Australia just from the data we can see in terms of search volume for our brand. But obviously Japan and Australia aren't necessarily right next to Europe, so it requires a bit more effort logistically. Yeah, that runs up the top five. I hope that helps.   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, what about any non-Amazon marketplaces that you guys are doing well in, like you know, be it Walmart or TikTok shop?   Alvaro: It's a great question. You know, domestically, 100%, Walmart's been a really great partner of ours. Obviously, they as a business have been hyper focused on developing this marketplace that can, over time, become a pure competitor to Amazon. At the moment, from my understanding, at a macro level, it's still, you know, years away from really competing with Amazon, but they've been great partners in terms of giving us the human element and time and attention and placements that I think a brand like ours deserves, considering how much branded search goes into their marketplace. So that partnership with Walmart has been really important for us. Again, going back to the notion of meeting customers where they want to be met, we've found that there's a lot of customers that want to be met there, and so we're excited and eager to double down on the performance on Walmart marketplace.   Alvaro: And yeah, man, look, I'm based in Basel, one of my favorite things about living in Basel is it's on the border with Germany, France and Switzerland, and so I have firsthand, daily I can see how fragmented consumer behavior is across those three countries and so in Europe, way more nuanced in terms of our marketplace approach. It's obviously Amazon Paniu is critical, but I mean we've got other really important sales channels to us, such as Bowl, right out of Netherlands and Belgium, Allegro, which we've heard a little bit about today in Poland, Manor in Switzerland, Galaxies something in our radar, so a few other marketplaces just because it's so much, so much more fragmented that are critical for us.   Bradley Sutton: Do anything in Korea?   Alvaro: At the moment? No, but we do have a great partner in Korea and we do have some pretty strong performance, not necessarily through marketplace.   Bradley Sutton: It's got to be some Korean barbecue, a product you have. I mean, Korean barbecue is so popular worldwide. Yeah, you know, there's got to be something you can do there.   Alvaro: Yeah, I know that for sure there. I mean, if you guys ever want to see like amazing engineering around a Solo, so I mean I hope I don't know of some of your audience if they're looking at Solo stuff. The aesthetics of the product is so simple. It's a beautiful product, but some of the things we see engineered around the Solo sale out of Japan and Korea and China not by our team is incredible. So owe them a lot of props in terms of like giving us definitely some inspiration.   Bradley Sutton: If you make an in-house Korean barbecue table or device, I would be your first customer. You know, because, like you know, like what I do in my house, you know, none of us are Korean but like I've been eating Korean food my whole life and I just only watch Korean TV and everything. But you know, I just got like this burner with a little tank of whatever it is and it's not efficient. Smoke, like you know, everywhere. I got to open up all the windows and I got to, you know, replay. It's like there's got to be a better way and I think you guys would be the ones to do it. So let me, let me beta test.   Alvaro: Don't challenge us. We're one of the key polar of ours is getting indoors, you know, with some of our core lines.   Bradley Sutton: We mentioned earlier how you, you know, did something with Snoop Dogg. You know that now that's something that, no, not you know brand new sellers or even million dollar sellers, you know should be considering somebody of that stature. But at what point should an Amazon seller start reaching out to maybe micro influencers or just you know people, people to promote their product?   Alvaro: Yeah, look, it's a much different answer today than it was even two years ago. Like, if you're coming on Amazon or you're like a newer brand on Amazon and you don't have a strategy to develop your brand off Amazon, you're going to lose. You're going to lose and it's going to make me. Maybe right now you're on a wave and trying to feel as good, but I promise you, the more you can flatten your reach as a brand holistically, the better you're going to be. In this case, like, the best example is we've been able to grow successfully on Amazon with further investments off Amazon by driving more organic search, because Amazon is a beast right, it's a massive search platform. So the more you can drive awareness off Amazon, you're still going to be technically driving awareness into Amazon. So I would say today, when you consider the basics of you, know, increased competition, increased cost, you know.   Alvaro: Then you have some macroeconomic factors to implement in terms of how consumers feel about spending, you know, their own hard earned funds into brands that maybe they've never heard of. It's a lot more nuanced today and a lot more difficult, so you want to make sure you're definitely focused on developing a brand where consumers can not only connect but have awareness about what your brand is, so they can make a more. You know, feed the funnel earlier and get to that bottom much earlier than anticipated, because Amazon, of course, is the bottom of the funnel when it comes to sales channel. Like, people are ready to shop if they're on Amazon. So, yeah, I would just strongly recommend, like, make sure you invest as much time when it comes to branding off Amazon as you do on Amazon.   Bradley Sutton: Alright, before we get into your final strategy of the day, just a couple somewhat off related topics. But first of all, if you guys want to find out more or find you know about their products, you know, just type in Solo Stove literally to any search engine or on Amazon or Walmart or anywhere. If people just want to find you on the interwebs out there is LinkedIn a good place to follow what you do.   Alvaro: Yeah, LinkedIn is great. I'm pretty private on social media unless your part of our online community. My German wife has taught me well in terms of privacy, but LinkedIn is a great platform. If you just look up, there's only one Alvaro. Alvaro, it's a very Spanish name, very difficult to Germanize or Anglicize. So if you just look up, Alvaro Lopez. All opus, you'll find me for Solo stuff. I think it's the best way.   Bradley Sutton: Okay cool. Random question why in Peruvian restaurants is the chicken so good?   Alvaro: Man, it's a great question. It's definitely a combination of the..   Bradley Sutton: You got some secret spice that you all are using or what's going on?   Alvaro: Well, actually it's funny because I was like in Utah recently and I know the owner of one of the biggest Peruvian chicken chain in Utah called a Red Fuego. If anyone's ever in Salt Lake City, I've got a couple of chains around Provo, Salt Lake City and he invested like his core investment was the kitchen and he imported it from Lima. So I think that's a core component. And then, of course, you get into the quality of the chicken.   Alvaro: I'm pretty pro animal rights here, so make sure that chicken's well taken care of. It's gotta be a healthy chicken that you're going to be putting into your diet. And then just the seasoning. I mean Peru is like I'm very biased here, but it's definitely top five culinary countries, I think, in the planet because of our mix man. It's a great balance between the indigenous ingredients and culture from the yin and beyond that the Spanish, Italian immigrants, Japanese, Chinese immigrants that came through the 19th century and just made a perfect blend of spices and herbs and that's what goes into the marinade of the chicken man. So those three things man.   Bradley Sutton: It's such good stuff, man. When I was living in LA I would always go. I forgot it was something, Inka was the name of the restaurant. Oh my goodness, so good. Yeah, um, favorite Helium 10 tool?   Alvaro: That's very difficult. Yeah, I mean to be transparent, it's a very difficult answer. I want to say the one I'm just going to complete a correlate a tool to success, and I think the way we write our copy has been critical, right cause we do index very specific things that we know have high search volume on Amazon that don't necessarily appear on our website. I say Frankenstein has been very critical in terms of, not only providing a good copy for a customer, but also getting keywords that have attacked. You know, I've added new, uh, new customers that would have never found us anyway.   Bradley Sutton: Awesome. And then if you were to have a wish list, like maybe something that Helium 10 doesn't do, or a feature or a filter or anything, what would you tell me? Because that's my goal this year is trying to get all the features we don't have yet.   Alvaro: Yeah, that's a great question. I knew you were talking earlier. You're going to spend more time in Europe, I think I think for serious brands that have I mean, you've seen now like the proliferation of great brands that are focused on Amazon. Well, a lot of these brands are going to have global reach. So I think the more resources you can offer to better localize and translate within Helium 10, I think, there's a massive market for that the more you can automate maybe it's something with ChatGPT, but something to translate and effectively localized would be critical.   Bradley Sutton: Got it, got it. All right. Something I asked the guest is like give a 30 or 60 second tip, strategy could be about anything in e-commerce or non e-commerce. Could be about anything.   Alvaro: Go ahead, yeah, I mean let me put my consulting hat on, which have been a brand operator for the last few years. So just focus on action and I think one of the most again going back to lessons I've had from the executive leads at, one of the most important things I took away from, our former CEO, John Maris. He said he'd rather have me focus on doing twice the amount of things half as good than half the amount of things really good and that, really, to be transparent, that philosophy of just iterating different initiatives, obviously targeted initiatives that can drive business, drive top and bottom line, has been really critical. In terms of finding out what sticks, doubling down on those and then the ones that don't work, quickly offloading them, have been really good. So I think just purposefully actioning items that's going to grow your business is extremely critical. You need to be. If you're not waking up every Monday, if your business is good and you're not waking up the beginning of the week, if you're not obsessed about how to double down on that growth, you're on a track to lose. And if you're losing and you're not obsessed about how to offset those losses, then you're going to lose even more.   Bradley Sutton: All right, well, Alvaro, thank you so much for coming on here. It's been great to meet you in person and thank you for taking the time out and wish you and the solo so best of success. Maybe we'll have you back on the show next year and see what you guys are doing.   Alvaro: Yeah. Thanks Brad!

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#517- Amazon Seller Success Stories from Germany & Latin America

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2023 39:08


What happens when you blend the minds of Adriana Rangel and Marcus Mokros, hosts of the popular Serious Sellers Podcast Spanish and German shows, with the world of Amazon and its ever-evolving marketplace? As it turns out, a captivating concoction of strategies, trends, and real-life success stories. From the transition from UPC codes to QR codes to new monthly networking calls for Spanish and German-speaking audiences to an imminent event in Germany - we dissect it all with our esteemed guests. We talk about special highlights featuring their recent guests. Buckle up as we take a ride through the ups and downs of outdoor sports sales on Amazon with two seasoned sellers. One recounts their thrilling journey from a booming 2020 to a challenging 2021, all leading to a triumphant comeback in 2023. Hear their plans for product expansion and driving website traffic, and learn from their experiences. From across the pond, our European seller shares his wisdom on improving product images, revealing two crucial photography tips. We also touch on the advent of a novel 3D rendering service, eliminating the need for physical product delivery to a photography studio. All this while emphasizing the critical role technology plays in growing an Amazon business. Did you ever wonder how selling on Amazon varies across different European countries? We've got you covered as we compare and contrast Amazon sales in the top five European countries: the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain. We navigate through the VAT-related intricacies in these nations and how Amazon aids in VAT declarations. Find inspiration in the story of a successful Spanish seller who has grown her Amazon business with a unique approach - collaborating with artisans in Spain and Mexico through Amazon Handmade. We also chat about avoiding burnout while scaling up your Amazon business, ensuring a healthy work-life balance. Wrapping up the episode, we shine the spotlight on two entrepreneurs who've built flourishing podcast communities and Amazon businesses. This journey is filled with challenges, triumphs, plans for the future, and valuable advice for budding entrepreneurs. So tune in for an episode filled with information, inspiration, and innovation.   In episode 517 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Adriana, and Marcus discuss: 00:00 - Tips and Strategies From SSP Spanish and German Hosts 01:19 - Celebrating Podcast Milestones and New Networking Calls 06:33 - Insights From Amazon  08:28 - Trends in Outdoor Sports Sales 14:42 - Using AI Tools for Content Creation 18:19 - Build Brand With Technology and VA's  20:50 - VAT and Selling Strategies on Amazon 24:11 - Artisan Networks in Spain and Mexico  29:19 - Uniqueness and Innovation in Saturated Niches 31:50 - Tips for Balancing Work and Relaxation 36:06 - Amazon's AI Strategy for Product Listings 37:55 - Celebrating Podcast and Amazon Success ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript   Bradley Sutton: Today we've got the host of our Spanish and German podcast back and they've got lots of tips and strategies from themselves and their guests on a wide variety of topics, such as Amazon, image creation, KDP, amazon handmade European marketplaces and much more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hey guys. Heads up, Kevin King is the new host of the AM/PM Podcast, so if you love Amazon strategy, make sure to subscribe to it. Whatever you're listening to this podcast on, take a listen to AM slash PM podcast just by searching for it on that platform. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies or serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world, and we've got a couple of our host from different parts of the world here today. We've got Adriana from Mexico and Marcus, who is in Europe right now. Welcome back to the show, guys.   Adriana: Hi Bradley, thank you for having us.   Bradley Sutton: It's really great to have you both here. This is now. We just celebrated two full years of Serious Sellers Podcast and Espanol Serious Sellers Podcast of Deutsch, and the numbers have been going up, you know, record months this year. It's really great to see what you guys have created just from zero, like literally zero, and now you've got podcasts that are listened to by thousands of people out there. We have YouTube now, you know, for the podcast. So, guys, make sure, if you speak German or Spanish, you need to be listening to Serious Sellers Podcast and Espanol or Alph Deutsch. You can search for either of that on whatever you're listening to this on, even on YouTube now. Now we're doing full videos so you can get kind of like a better vibe of it as well. So guys, this is this is really cool. And just one more thing that's new We'll go ahead and promote it right now is that you guys are now hosting in Spanish and German like monthly networking calls, zoom calls, for Spanish and German speaking community. So, Adriana, tell us about yours like, like when we just had the first one on December 6, but is it always like on the 6th, or is it going to be like the second Tuesday of each month, or how is yours going to work and how can people sign up for it?   Adriana: Yes, of course we're meeting the first Wednesday of every month, so I'm not sure what that is for January, but of course that's going to change for February as well. So basically, the first Wednesday of every month at 6pm, Mexico City time and people can sign up. They just need to visit our link, h10.me/llamadaconadriana and that's it. You can, and that way you will get the reminders and the link to join us in a live call networking call every Wednesday.   Bradley Sutton: All right Now, Marcus, you too are just had your first ever German call in December, but starting in January. When is it going to be? And also, what is the link for it?   Marcus: Yeah, we want to keep it simple. It's the first Monday of the month, 12 o'clock, and the link is h10.me/elite-de.   Bradley Sutton: All right, h10.me/elite-de for German speakers. And when you say 12pm, that's 12pm Germany time, 12pm German time. Correct, speaking of Germany. Guys, I'm going to be in Germany. I'm not sure if anybody out there is going to be in in town, but I'm going to be out there on January 27th in Berlin. I'm going to be speaking at an event and also I will be hosting an elite workshop. So if you guys are interested in going for the event I'm speaking at h10.me/germany. So h10. h10.me/germany. All right, enough of the kind of like logistics here. I think, hopefully, if you're a Spanish or German speaking person, you got enough information there to take advantage of these. Everything we just mentioned is free resources for the community. But you know, you guys, let's start off with. What I like to do is because I don't. You know, I obviously can't speak German, so I can't listen to the episodes and understand what's going on. So I'm going to first start with you, marcus. What are some notable guests you've had in the year that really had like some really cool strategies or really cool story that you can relate to us?   Marcus: Yeah, really some really awesome guests and it's hard to make any kind of selection. But one recent one was from GS1, the company who is doing the UPC codes, and the employee. He told me that they are preparing a big change. They want to go in the next couple of next years from barcodes to QR codes and they call it as a 3D code, and that will be more than just a number to identify your product. That will have like access for you to, for marketing, for example, the customer. Obviously, obviously the shop can scan the QR code, see the price, but the customer can scan it as well and you can put your promotions in it or, for example, like giveaways, anything, and he says it will even support promotions day by day. You can have one promotion set on a Monday, something different on a weekend, or like if there's like a bad batch should produced, you can add it into that QR code and the cashier will know I shouldn't sell that. So there will be a lot of functions and features coming and I mean that's where that will be a big task. They will have to change all systems in all shops worldwide. That will be something very interesting for marketing.   Bradley Sutton: Huh, interesting, yeah, I mean because you know the traditional barcodes is kind of like what the world's been used to for so long, but the move to QR and having extra information, that'll definitely be interesting. Alright, going to Adriana now, the first kind of story that comes from your mind, or Stragia, or something that's one of your guests in the last year talked about.   Adriana: Yeah, well, one of the highlights is that we had Amazon join us on a call or on an episode for the podcast, maybe a couple of weeks ago, maybe two or three weeks ago and that was great because we had the opportunity to ask them stuff such as you know, what's up with seller support, how can we best go about getting an issue fixed and, let's say, something happens to your listing, your listing is down, or an FBA shipment, or you know, these things we deal with as a sellers on a weekly basis, right, and so that was a big one. I was very excited to have them on a call because, you know, it's our opportunity to get answers right, instead of, you know, searching in forums or asking other people. It came directly from them and they gave us really interesting tips for how to go about certain issues and also they shared with us really interesting well insights, of course, but also resources on how we can learn more about the platform, etc. Right, and I think that this is very valuable because it comes directly from the how do you say, the horse's mouth? Or, yeah, I guess, directly from Amazon. So that was a lot of fun. That was two weeks ago and, as I said, for me, the main takeaway that I got from them was basically how to work the seller support system to get them to answer and fix our issue, as opposed to getting you know, like the template response that we sometimes get when they don't understand. What is it that we need help with?   Bradley Sutton: I'm curious how are your own Amazon businesses going? Like, are you, do you think you're going to be up this year than before, or how things been going for you?   Adriana: So for me, 2023 has been a good year, actually compared to 2022. 2022 was weird. I sell in the outdoors sports category, so 2020 was amazing because, of course, at least the second half of 2020, because, of course, everyone wants to be out of the house and in some place. You know that was outdoors, not indoors at a restaurant or at a mall. So it was. It was a great year sales wise, 2021 as well. 2022. It had, yeah, I experienced a deep, I would say, because everyone was, you know, out and back in the clubs and the restaurants and the concerts and all of that. So people just forgot about outdoor sports. And then 2023 came back strong. Of course, I did focus a lot on my ranking and, yeah, basically, like optimizing my listing and all of that, my images especially. I was like you know what, like if I up my conversion rate, then everything else will fall into place in a way, you know, like my ads and all of that. I do my own PPC, but I'm like you know what, as long as the conversion goes up, then I can send as much traffic as I want via ads and it should convert right, Like it should turn into sales. So 2023 was great and I'm hoping for a good 2024. I want to expand my product line and I also want to work on getting more traffic to my website and, yeah, basically growing that channel too.   Bradley Sutton: Now going back to Marcus, what about for your Amazon businesses, your communities? What's some trends that you've seen this year like, especially since your community and you are mainly selling in Europe? Like are things in? Is there inflation in Europe? Is things getting harder? Is competition getting more? What's going on in the European Amazon market?   Marcus: It's an interesting question because, like over the years, I always got that kind of question is it still worth it? Should you still start Amazon? But that somehow that dried out. Everybody knows that Amazon is big and I mean like yeah, like the whole world is in a tough time, I guess, right now. But as I see it, like Amazon sellers, they are doing good, they're doing well.   Bradley Sutton: On the strategy side. You know like one of your specialties and you have people in your community who are specialists about this is like photography and things like that what do you see as kind of like working? Now, what's some tips you can give the audience about, like how they can really make sure their image deck and or videos are really better than the competition?   Marcus: Yeah, actually I have two photography related tips and first one is from JP. He was a guest in the podcast. He's quite young guy but like living the dream, traveling to through Bali, Thailand and doing Amazon FBA. He's like selling a lot and he also started a photography business. But he has a totally different approach. He doesn't need your product. You're providing photos from your smartphone. You get a tutorial. You have to send him six photos from every site and here's a team who does a 3D rendering of that product and, um, that way he's at a price point that's just a fraction that you expect for a product photography. And, yeah, his team will do a 3D model of your product that looks like totally photo realistic and they will put it into a lifestyle photos, put it into Infographics and send you the whole products as a product shots that you expect, but without touching your products. And I mean one.   Marcus: One thing is interest. It's interesting for people who sell, who just start out, or sell products that have like two thousand five thousand dollars of revenue, but also people who don't have time, because imagine your product is being produced in China right now and you don't have a master sample right now and as soon as the first product is finished in China, you can ask your manufacturer Do these photos for me with your smartphone, send it over. He does your product shots and the moment your delivery arrives in your local warehouse, you already have your listing completed. By the way, that website is JPD Dash advertising dot com.   Bradley Sutton: And yeah, that's what I think I remember. You know, I again I remember. I don't, you know, I don't speak German, but I remember that episode because I look at the videos just just like see how they look. And he looked like a, like, a Like, almost like a, like a tick tock celebrity or something like crazy, crazy hair right, yeah, okay there. There we go cool. So that, yeah, that's interesting because Just recently, amazon announced that there's no longer going to be the three hundred and sixty degree Images that have been for a while. Like, if you look at the project X coffin shelf, it has it like we didn't we didn't put it there, amazon just did it themselves. It's being replaced with a 3D image that I think you can you can still like, turn around and then they were saying that all they need they're making some kind of app where you can actually take the images with your phone, and then the Amazon app, I'm assuming, or something, yeah, and then submit it. So that's interesting. You know Concept, because you know, like, I'm still using, like, traditional photography studios and that's. You know, logistically, you know you have to send the product there and then they you know they have to shoot it. So have you seen images that? Or have you seen listings that actually came from this model where they just take the pictures and they do it 3D and it looks realistic, or what's your experience with looking at?   Marcus: Yeah, I mean, I saw it on his listings he sells thirty thousand units a month, and he's just using his service, of course. How many units thirty thousand a month is selling? Europe, US, Japan?   Bradley Sutton: Wow, it's quite, quite busy cool all right, so that's a good one. Let's go back to a either a strategy or some kind of cool story from your experience.   Adriana: Yes, going back to technology, per per Marcus comments I feel like many people, many sellers, that want to Be able to grow without having to invest all of their money into, you know, launching a ton of SK use or Paying people to to write blog posts for them or kindle books for them, etc. I am seeing how many people that come on the podcast. They say how they Work with either either they do and themselves, basically they they use to create content. They are using this To, such as me, journey, etc. Ai tools basically to help them create content, to help them generate user generating content, etc. Right, and so I chatted with Casspin. She was episode 90, actually episode 100 a couple weeks ago and she was telling me how she will.   Adriana: First of all, the way she Gets ideas on how to expand her product line. She goes to her competitors stores and she's like, okay, let me see what else they're selling, right, and they some. And she sometimes finds ideas that way for complimentary or supplementary products to grow her product line and she says that it's actually very easy to launch this new SK use because, of course, you already has the Relationship with the manufacturer and it's a matter of basically just sending other products that can be, that can actually, you know, sell on their own or become kids, right, or become a brand new SK you and she was telling me how she even launches act With every SK you that she, or with every main product that she launches on their her brand. And so, of course, she, she can do this very easily because she can either get a BA to write it for her that that content for the Kindle book, or she can do it be a chat GPT, which I think it's like you know, this is something we couldn't do maybe a year ago, right, and that way, she, of course, she adds a thank you card inside of the store and then you know, for them to get the free Kindle book, because it's, I feel like people see a Kindle book Like a more valuable, I would say, gift as opposed, as you know, like just like a regular, regular PDF. And so you know she tells them that they will, that she will give them that Kindle book, access to the Kindle book, for free.   Adriana: And then she gets that email and then, of course, through email marketing, basically she sends a coupon For, you know, 10% off, 20% off, so they shop the product via her Shopify page, basically right, and that's how she starts creating her email list. And then, of course, she has when, when people visit her site, her Shopify site, they see that she has, you know, six or eight SK use, right, and so people, I feel like six or eight SK use, it's a good enough quantity to you know, for people to see like, oh, you know, this is a legit brand, right, like this is not a brand that you know, only has one product and that's it. And she says that it's like a fairly easy and it doesn't exhaust her, basically her resources to launch up, you know, like a complete brand off of one product. Really, you know she finds the main product and then she gets ideas on what else to add, what other SK use to add and, of course, grow her Shopify brand.   Adriana: Get that images from either me, journey or, you know, get different variations of the content, charge EPT for the, for the text, for the Kindle, or, if you want to, I mean you can create the first draft with charge EPT and then have a VA. Basically, look, you know, do some editing on on on her part, and that's about it, and I was like, okay, I mean that sounds like like something we can all do. Even I feel like when I have some guests in the podcast, I tried to find Useful information for sellers that are starting out and that maybe they have a full time job right and they don't have, you know, eight or 10 hours a day to put into this business. Or, and maybe they don't have a ton of you know money to put into the business. So, finding ways to basically leverage technology and leverage you know help from VA's etc. To to build a brand and, you know, have a brand in a matter of maybe six months.   Bradley Sutton: Okay, she doing this in English or Spanish English, in the US market English, okay, all right, cool, marcus in. Let me give you a couple scenarios here. Talking about Amazon Europe, under what scenario would you suggest somebody in or outside of Europe to, or would you suggest that they only launch in one marketplace to start like, hey, you know, go ahead and start in UK, or go ahead and start in Germany? Or would you always recommend you know, you should go ahead and take advantage of the Amazon Europe network and at least start in a few marketplaces? Is there a scenario where you would suggest one or the other, or it's all one or all the other?   Marcus: I mean, like it's up to you If you're from the US, you could start in UK and you already can reuse your listing, your PPC campaigns, because it's the same language. Germany is the biggest market. That would be also a great test if your product works in Europe and if it works in Germany, you could go to the smaller markets. I mean, france is still a quite big, italy and Spain as well, and then it gets a lot smaller. But yeah, that could be a good strategy to start in one of the bigger countries to test your product and then go all Europe.   Bradley Sutton: Okay Now, as far as those smaller ones go, like are there any that you think is going to one day become, you know, better than the others? Because I think the core five is the UK, germany, Italy, france and Spain, and then like there's a big gap, you know, between all of the new ones Like I forgot, like Netherlands and Poland and a bunch of others. Like are there any of those lower ones that you think are better than the other? Or they're all kind of just like equally low?   Marcus: Yeah, I mean, it's a question of the population and I guess, like the Scandinavian countries are also very interesting. But yeah, you already named the top countries for the moment.   Bradley Sutton: Okay. So now I'm just curious about like VAT and things like that. So let you know, there's obviously not an Amazon in every country, so I'm assuming that, or you correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm living in Austria, am I ordering from Amazon Germany? Or what website am I using if I'm just living in that country trying to buy something?   Marcus: Yeah, actually, austria shares the website with Germany. You order from the German website.   Bradley Sutton: And then. So in that case, like I know, like with for VAT, do I have to have VAT in every country? I'm selling things in from day one, or it's only until I hit, like a certain kind or amount of revenue in that country. Is it by country or by marketplace? But and what I mean by that is all right, well, there is no marketplace in Austria, so does that mean I never have to have a VAT for Austria? Or or how even does this work, because I've never sold it?   Marcus: over. That's a good question, and that's where it gets a bit complicated. So Austria shares the website with Germany, but there are warehouses in Austria and as soon as you got your products in the warehouse in that country, then you have to register for a VAT number in every single country that you have your products in and regardless how much you sell. Yes, and Amazon has has has a program for that, where they help you with that VAT declarations.   Bradley Sutton: Back to Adriana another story or strategy that you can share with us.   Adriana: I interviewed Noemi from Spain I know there's a big, big community in in Spain that basically they, they do Amazon full time and she was telling me how actually she works with another two partners I have one of her partners here at the podcast too and she was telling me how she is growing her Amazon business through Amazon handmade. And I was like, oh interesting, because I mean, yeah, I mean I guess we usually we focus on, you know the regular Amazon program to launch you know products. And she was telling me how she works with people, people that artisans I wait, yeah, that's the correct term, right, artisans, is that a term in English?   Bradley Sutton: Yeah, I mean, that's English, but it's too fancy for my language. But I know what that means.   Adriana: Yes, she basically so. She likes doing, you know, handmade stuff for herself too. But she started basically connecting with artisans in Spain, apparently and I didn't know this I mean, I've traveled to Spain for, for vacations, but I haven't, you know, spent much time there. But she was telling me that there's a big, big network of artisans in Spain and of course, as she was saying this, I was like, oh my God, I mean I'm from Mexico and of course, there are a ton of artisans here in Mexico, like a ton, ton, ton, especially cities such as, like, of course, Mexico City, Guadalajara, etc. And she was telling me how she has scaled this, because that thing I guess the first thing that comes to mind to us Amazon sellers were like, yeah, but how are we going to scale this, this business? And she's managing I mean she's, she's managing to scale her business because she, of course she doesn't do or like work on this product herself, of course, right, Like she has a network of artisans.   Adriana: And I was, I was thinking, as she was telling this to me, I was like yeah, that's true. I mean I see, when I travel to the US, how much more expensive, or like highly priced, these products that we manufacture in Mexico are selling in the US, right? Only because they're like unique and they are and they are just like more attractive than you know like the regular products. And I was like, oh, wow, this is interesting. Like I guess I always knew that there was that option over there, but I just didn't see how we could scale that. But it makes sense. I mean, if you just work with artisans and you already know, you know like you start and of course one artisan connects you with another artisan and that's the way it goes and she's I mean, she sells a lot of, you know, at the end of the day, a lot of units of different SKUs and you know the price point.   Adriana: That's at least where my mind went right. I was like you have no competition really, because if it's something very unique, then of course you can play with your pricing strategies, but usually you won't be concerned with you know someone else, that competitor, lowering their prices or you know going 30% off. You know of the sales price, etc. So I was like that's interesting. I mean, even you don't have to be selling a ton of units a day to be making good money, because if you have 40% margins or 50% margins or even more, because I've seen in, you know in the US at the retail shops how they sell Mexican or yeah, artisan you know this type of products and they sell and I'm like what the hell like, do people buy these products at this price? And I know how much they go for in Mexico. So I was like, oh, this is very interesting. And so I thought that was a very interesting. I think that was episode 98 with Noemi. She's based in Spain and yeah, I mean, Spain has a big next to us.   Bradley Sutton: Is she doing all of this in Spain, or is she doing this in Amazon USA?   Adriana: No, amazon. No, she's doing it in Spain and I think she expanded already to Europe. Basically, you know how they have that.   Bradley Sutton: I didn't even know there was Amazon, handmade in Europe, in Spain and other. Okay, interesting yeah. It's like oh interesting because definitely a way to make it the key, that of that you mentioned, there is the no competition. You know, like, like. This is a very unique product. It's not a cookie cutter, you know, by definition. So I like that Back to Marcus. One last story or strategy from you.   Marcus: Yeah. One last story that's from Michael. He doesn't sell on Amazon. He runs an Amazon agency called me to you, but he's like the Amazon detective. He's every day on the website looking what is Amazon testing right now? What, what did they change right now? What do other sellers miss? And he's like he comes with the craziest things. And one thing he told me, like would you start to sell a drinking bottle on Amazon? I mean that's like super competitive, me probably not, yeah, and I mean everything is the same. You just fill water in it and that's it. So it's difficult to stand out and there's a company they found a way to differentiate themselves. It's called Arup and they have a small cartridge on top and you can get it in all kinds of flavor, like sherry, melon, whatever. And when you drink your water you still drink 100% water, but you breathe the sherry flavor. So your mind is drinking like sherry juice, but you're still drinking 100% water. But the thing is he pointed out that they just sell the bottle and the cartridges. But if you have, like, all your different flavors and you want to change them during the week, what do you do with your cartridges? So you need like airtight, sealed box for it and people are searching for that. You can see it in Cerebro but they don't sell it. They just concentrate on their bottle. So every Amazon seller should find like an imagine like Apple are selling just their iPhone and you can sell chargers and cases, like I bet there's like in every niche there's something, yeah, and it's a big innovation and the company is just focusing on the product. So, yeah, that was a really awesome takeaway to look for.   Bradley Sutton: Two things there. Number one is never think that a niche is 100% saturated, because there's always, like, a fresh idea you could bring. And then number two you don't always have to be the one that has that idea, you know, let somebody else come up with the idea. But then how can you take advantage of that? Like, is there a unique storage or a unique accessory that's needed?   Marcus: Maybe even a coffin shelf to store your cartridges.   Bradley Sutton: Hey, there you go. Hey, coffin shelf to store your water bottle cartridges. I'll get on that Okay An episode. I'll give you guys, or everybody here, a preview of a coming episode. I'm launching some new project X products and one of them is a bat shaped bathroom mat or rug and that potentially might make a coffin one as well. But you know, the possibilities are endless and that's one of the ways that you could also get into saturated niche is take a saturated niche like bath mats you know like they're going for like $10, you know who knows how they're even making margin on it. But then do you bring in a unique material like make a bamboo one, or make a coffin shaped one, or a bat shaped one for like spooky. So you can almost take any niche on Amazon that's saturated and just come in with a unique idea or unique design or unique material and now all of a sudden it's not saturated because you're the only one who has that. All right. So I'm going to ask for your final strategies, your 30 second or 60 second tips. How can they find you guys on the interwebs? They know how to find your, your, your Helium 10 podcast, but both of you have, you know, audiences and communities out there. Marcus, how can they find your communities on the internet?   Marcus: You can look on YouTube for Amazon FBA by Marcos and everything else is linked inside the videos.   Adriana: For me, my YouTube channel is Adriana Rangel Vende. Just like that, adriana Rangel Vende, and yeah, in there, there you can find everything else that I have going on, and I have a free like 90 minute like masterclass. I would call it because I go from product research to like keyword research, to what kind of keywords you need to put in your listing, et cetera. So, yeah, I would. For people that maybe need some free resources to kind of like figure out how this works, I would advise you check out that video. Adriana Rangel Vende in YouTube.   Bradley Sutton: All right, adriana. Like, do you have any last, maybe 30 second tip or parting words of wisdom for the audience out there?   Adriana: Yes, well, you know, one topic that I've seen guests come with and share with us in the podcast has been basically focusing, you know, at the first. You know, when we start our business in Amazon, we usually focus on launching products right, and launching new variations, and doing your PPC and ranking and all of all of these activities that we have to, of course, take care of. But one topic that has been coming up very often in the in our episodes here at the podcast is that we at some point, especially maybe like two years into the business, we need to focus on growing our team, right, because if not, we'll get burnt out at some point, right, like I know that happened to me and now I'm working, I already have a VA and, of course, I already have a designer that helps me, of course, with my you know, my products, my listings and also for my thumbnails for my YouTube channel. Like, he helps me for a ton of things, and I feel like that is the way. You know, that marks a big difference between someone that is making, of course, a few thousand dollars a month in Amazon and, you know, the seller that is doing several dozen thousand dollars in Amazon a month.   Adriana: Right, because you cannot do it all by yourself, and also so you keep your motivation right, because at some point, whatever it is that you are doing repeatedly and that you're doing for 10 hours a day or 12 hours a day, after 18 months or 24 months you're burnt out. As much as I mean you can love it, but still you know your body gives out. So that is something that I would like people to start thinking about. Maybe this is your first year in Amazon and that's fine, but maybe start listening to you know these episodes where people such as Rolando and I know you had Rolando Rosas in the podcast because he speaks English too you know Juan David as well talked about this, rod as well talked about this, and I think it's just like very important to start planning this before it's like, before we're like burnt out and it's too late, right, and that way we get we can scale faster and just like with less effort.   Bradley Sutton: What's your Adriana, what's your hobby or what you do to take your mind off of work? You take off your mind off your Amazon business, to you know. Relax like what do you do for fun.   Adriana: Yeah, well, before I got into this whole Amazon business world, I was in the art business. So I of course like to, you know, business museums and you know, if I can business museums with friends and all that that you know, the better, of course. But I try to yes, to, even if it's like at nighttime, right, like I try to consume content that it's not, or like even listen to podcasts that are not like business related. I basically try to put you know if it's after 8pm, even though, even if there's like this really good podcast episode, I'll watch it tomorrow at 6pm or whatever when I take a break from work. But I try to put like hard limits because I just do it. I mean, I just do it for the business, right, like I remember I saw this at the other day that says that says something about your performance of tomorrow basically depends on your recovery tonight. Right, you know something in that frame of words and so I think it's just very important because we talk about, we go on YouTube and we saw, we see everything about. Yeah, you know you can scale to blah, blah, blah and you can be making all this money, but you have to be feeling okay, right, you know, your body has to be healthy and your mind has to be healthy as well. So that is something to we cannot ignore, that, even if that doesn't sound like you know, like the sexy tip, I feel like that's as important, or even more. To grow a business, scale it to as big as as you want, really.   Bradley Sutton: Now, I like killing two birds with one stone. So my advice to you if you wanted to do that, go to the museum while listening to the podcast in your headphones, and then now you can kill two birds with one stone, all right. So, marcus, what about you? One last 30 or 60 seconds strategy or tip for our audience.   Marcus: Yeah, one tip I learned that will make a lot of changes. Amazon recently announced that they will look for title images that are not meeting the terms of service and they will use AI to change that. They will download your image, remove everything that doesn't belong there in their opinion and upload it again, and that is something you don't want. You don't want an AI to touch your title image. Yeah, and Michael from AMZboost, a product photographer, he told me, just use your picture, space number nine. Nobody looks there. Put a title image there that will meet the terms of service and because what Amazon is doing first, they will scan your product photos and check if there is something that is compliant to the terms of service and they will put it to spot number one as your title image. And if they don't find something, they will change it in their terms. So that's an awesome hack.   Bradley Sutton: Wow, I never heard of that one. That's a really good one, All right, cool. And then same question to you also is you know, like me, that sometimes we can get and Adriana, we can get burnt out and if we put too much emphasis on work. So what are your hobbies, what are you doing to take yourself out of work when you need to relax?   Marcus: Yeah, my hobbies are working out. I've got my home gym in the basement and that's also a good place to listen to something. Or I go for a walk at the beach with my yeah EarPods in and listen to a podcast. That's where I get new content.   Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome, all right, well, guys, thank you so much for joining us. Wish you the most of success. You guys have had already a lot of great success. It's going to be really cool to see the next milestone for you guys, I would say is like hitting that 10,000 downloads per month. I never thought that would ever happen, but the numbers that you guys are doing are getting close to that, so it's probably within the realm of possibility. But I wish you the most of success with your podcast communities and also your Amazon businesses, and we'll see you next year.  

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#515 - Generative AI & Crazy Data Strategies for Amazon Sellers

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 5, 2023 42:06


Join us on a journey as our special guest, Ritu Java, takes us from her beginnings in India to her experiences in Japan, ultimately transforming her into a data-driven entrepreneur. With a unique perspective on the blend of culture and commerce, Ritu shares insights on how she leveraged her expertise in data and analytics to excel in Amazon PPC strategies. You'll also hear her intriguing tales of running an Etsy store from Japan and overcoming the complexities of helping Amazon sellers worldwide. The conversation doesn't stop there. Discover how AI has become a game-changer in running Amazon PPC campaigns as we discuss our personal experiences combining AI with other data sources to optimize campaigns. Listen as we unveil the advantages of using chat GPT for keyword research and translation over traditional methods like Google Translate. This episode offers a unique perspective on integrating AI into workflows and SOPs, driving efficient and effective results. We also underscore the value of incorporating AI into Amazon PPC strategies for successful product launches and campaign management.   To cap off this enlightening conversation, we tackle the future of Amazon selling and the role AI plays in it. From generating keywords for Amazon searches to creating images for sponsored brand ads, we unravel how chat GPT and mid-journey can elevate your selling game. Don't miss out on our tips for creating effective lifestyle photos and the significance of close-up product images. We also shed light on the evolution of Search Query Performance on Amazon and share our strategies for effectively managing and analyzing data. In episode 515 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley and Ritu discuss: 00:00 - AI Power for E-commerce Sellers 07:54 - Utilizing AI for Amazon Sellers' Success  09:05 - AI in PPC Strategy With Chat GPT 20:52 - Search Term Modifiers and Word Order  23:04 - Enhancing Amazon Ads With AI 31:24 - Generating Posts Using Canva and Amazon  32:19 - Utilizing Search Group Performance Data 33:47 - Optimizing Data Strategy for Efficient Analysis  41:23 - Convert Snapshot Data to Time Series ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got a first time guest who I think is probably top five in the world these days as far as actionable Amazon strategies, and she's going to give us an absolutely value-packed episode full of tips on generative AI, PPC and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. How can you get more buyers to leave you Amazon product reviews? By following up with them in a way that's compliant with Amazon terms of service? Bradley Sutton: You can use Helium 10 Follow-Up in order to automatically send out Amazon's request, a review emails, to any customers you want. Not just that, but you can specify when they get the message and even filter out people that you don't want to get that message, such as people who have asked for refunds or maybe ones that you gave discounts to. For more information, visit h10.me forward slash follow-up. You can sign up for a free account or you can sign up for a platinum plan and get 10% off for life by using the discount code SSP10. Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show. That's a completely BS free, unscripted and unrehearsed organic conversation about serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. We've got a special guest today Ritu. So, first of all, we're going to get into your backstory about how we can even talk in Japanese, because that's something that's crazy. Were you born in Japan or were you born? Ritu: I was born in India, but I lived in Japan for 17 years. Bradley Sutton: So from what age? Ritu: You want to know how old I am. Bradley Sutton: No, no, no. From what age were you living in Japan? Ritu: Mid-20s. Yeah, so mid-20s. Bradley Sutton: Also was, so you didn't go to school in Japan. Ritu: No, I didn't. I went there as an adult. I was working at a company and I take company 17 years. Bradley Sutton: Yes, that means you had to have gone there when you were a child. Then because you can't be over 25 years old. So I don't know what's going on here. Ritu: That is very cute. Bradley Sutton: I was all the reason. I was asking if you grew up because I wore this shirt today. Do you recognize this character here?  What is this? Ritu: Yes Doraemon. Yes, I grew up with Doraemon when I was a little over there, that's awesome. Bradley Sutton: Yes, I grew up with Doraemon when I was a little over there, that's awesome. I know a little bit about you, but I for some reason had this idea that you actually grew up in Japan and that was why you were so fluent in language. Once you go as an adult, it's a little bit harder, unless you really immerse yourself in the culture. Ritu: I did. I really immersed myself in the culture. I went there just for a year, honestly, and ended up staying 17. It's so crazy how that place had such a big impact on me. It was such a stark contrast to where I grew up, which was India. Bradley Sutton: Whereabouts in India. Ritu: In Delhi, the capital city of chaos that's how I describe it from chaotic to super orderly. You can imagine what a difference, that is A stark difference from the world I knew. I was just drawn to the calm and the orderliness of that place. How things were punctual, everything happened as expected, there were no surprises, everything was planned in so much detail, which I kind of liked. I think where I'm at right now is a nice middle ground, because I think I like the chaos. It has energy. It has a certain type of progressive energy that all of us need, especially as entrepreneurs. We need that energy to be able to kind of keep moving forward. But then I also like the organizational skills that I picked up while I was in Japan, because you need that to have good execution. I think best of both worlds is what I'm trying to be at right now, trying to draw from both my cultures. Bradley Sutton: Then did you go to university in India. Ritu: I did. I'm an engineer. I did my electronics engineering from India. I went back to school much later in life. I went back to school in the US and I did a course in data science, which is why I'm very attracted to PPC and data and data analytics and that sort of stuff. Bradley Sutton: When you graduated with the electrical engineering degree, did you start working in India, or is that when you went to Japan? Ritu: Yeah, I started working right away and I started working in India and I worked for an IT company and it was a pretty long stint there as well, like I was very interested in technology right from the start and it kind of aligned with my life's goals and stuff like that. At the time. I mean, little did I know that I would completely switch at a certain point. When I was in Japan I worked for not only the company that I was in India, I kind of went to their Japan office and I started helping them out. But then later on I switched to a more technical role at a school, at a high school, American school in Japan, and then I had my kid and took a break from work and then I kind of dealt in a little bit of entrepreneurship. I started running my own business. I had an Etsy store. Yes, in Japan, while I was in Japan, I started my Etsy business selling jewelry. It was like kind of one of a kind jewelry and I realized that, gosh, it's not enough just to create a listing and people are not going to flock to that listing. So I had to teach myself a whole lot of stuff like marketing advertising. So I learned Facebook ads, Google Ads, blogging, YouTube, all of that stuff. Bradley Sutton: So Etsy in the United States, or is there an Etsy in Japan? Ritu: No, there's an Etsy in the United States, but I was selling on the US market from Japan. So I was producing my stuff there, but I was shipping it worldwide wherever there were shoppers. But shipping costs are exorbitant. Sending stuff from Japan it's very expensive. Yeah, so mostly was attracted to the data side of things. Yes, I have both left and right brains, because the creative side was just all my creations, the jewelry that I made. But then I needed the data science side of things to kind of round things off and make money out of my business, because everything we do here is based on data and I know he's intended the data company. So is PPC Ninja. We might think that we're in the business of selling goods, but actually we're in the business of leveraging data. So that's why it was so important for me to get that knowledge and make sure that I'm kind of ready to go with my own endeavors. Bradley Sutton: Now. So, Etsy was kind of like your first online marketplace. Now, did you ever end up selling on Amazon or did you go straight into software and consulting etc. Ritu: Yeah, so I've never sold on Amazon, but I've helped businesses sell on Amazon. So it's basically the data side of things. So, I only sold on Etsy. I sold on my own website for a bit, but then I have never sold on Amazon myself. But PPC is where I'm focused on. Bradley Sutton: Okay, cool. Now you talked about having an analytical mind, and that's kind of like what you're known for. When you've spoken at events like Billion Dollar Seller Summit and others is especially in the last couple of years, you're one of the go-to people as far as AI and things like that, now me, I'm a little bit behind. I use even on this podcast, we use AI to generate title options and transcripts and things like that, but I would say I'm not one of those full force ahead like, hey, ai is going to replace hours and hours of work. I haven't really adopted it to that effect. So, the typical Amazon seller what are some things that you don't have to be a seven, eight, nine figure seller but just like any Amazon seller if they have not started utilizing AI to help them in their operations or business? What are? Let's take it to that spectrum first. What are some things that you think that any Amazon seller could benefit by utilizing AI? Ritu: Yeah, there's so much. Actually, the magic happens when you start combining things. So AI by itself may not be the be all and all of things, because it's not going to operate in a silo. You've got to combine it with other pieces of data that you have access to. For example, just this morning I was preparing for a new product launch for one of our clients and I'd got all my data from Helium 10. I was at the stage where I have to come up with some keywords for broad match campaigns. I wanted to make sure that all the right keywords are in there, not just the long tail ones with high search volume, but I wanted to make sure that I'm capturing all the seed combinations of important words that make sense. So what I did was I exported the Helium 10 cerebral analysis and I fed it to chat GPT and asked it to come up with two words and three word combinations of seed keywords that would perfectly describe this product. Now what I'm going to do next with that is basically convert that into broad match modifiers, which basically means you add a plus sign in front of all the seeds and then I'm going to create campaigns with it. So that's something that I do at every launch. I generally don't skip that step. It's an important one for me. So, in addition to all the long tail keywords, I will come up with enough seed words that will run at a slightly lower bid but will be like a discovery campaign for me through the broad match modifier channel. So that's kind of one thing that I do. Ritu: Then, like yesterday, I was doing another one for another client, where we have a list of keywords that we discovered from the search query performance report, which is kind of this new, very valuable piece of data that Amazon is giving us these days. So from there I was able to come up with a structure for sponsored brand headline ads and I didn't have to do the work. I just fed that entire list to chat GPT and said, hey, organize this into groups of very related words and then give me a headline ad which is less than 50 characters, because that's the amount Amazon will give us. And then it did that for me. I also gave it one other important instruction, which is to make sure that one of the keywords or a very close variant of that keyword in the group must be included in the title, and that's basically my way of saying, hey, I want this to be a lower funnel ad, not a generic kind of upper funnel ad, because my sponsored brand ads tend to be more focused on ROAS rather than brand discovery and brand awareness. So those are some of the ways that I'm using it almost on a daily basis. I had switched to chat GPT plus a long time ago. I've been paying for it and it's totally worth it. Bradley Sutton: So there's how much is it for somebody to subscribe to? Ritu: that it's about $20 a month. It's not much at all, yeah, it's just $20. And what it gives you is all the beta features, all the new stuff. So right now you can actually upload files very easily. You can upload any kind of file to almost any kind of file to chat GPT and then ask it to analyze, analyze the file and then you can ask it a bunch of questions. So it's just made life so much easier. And I mean I think sky is the limit with what you can do with AI. It's like I always, always feel like I'm not using it enough, even though I'm using it probably quite a bit more than a lot of people, but I still feel cautioned to use it more. Bradley Sutton: Okay, interesting, interesting. So there's some of the ways that you can use it in PPC. Now I remember you presented something. I've seen you speak, you know, various times, but I don't remember which event, this or what it was. That might have been a billion dollars, but where were you doing? You were doing like translation, using like Helium 10 because, like you were doing research, you weren't translating the English keywords. That's obviously a big mistake that some sellers make. Hey, I've got my Amazon USA listing, let me just translate it. Or let me just translate the keywords. No, you need to do the research in that marketplace. So you switch Helium 10 to Amazon Germany, for example, but if you're not a German speaker, you just see all this Deutsch keywords and you don't really know what it means. Or so they're doing it in Amazon Japan and they don't speak Japanese like you, so they might not know. So what's your? I'm not sure if it was AI or just something in Google you were doing to kind of like make that process a little bit easier. Ritu: Yeah. So what we've done is we have integrated chat GPD right into Google Sheets, and we had to write a little bit of code for that. But once we did that, what's happened is that we have these ready to go sheets where we simply change the prompt and add a bunch of keywords and then it will just translate into whatever language, right? So? And I've noticed that any translation done by chat GPD is way better than Google Translate and I've tested it, especially in Japanese, because I can read it. I know that the quality is much better. Ritu: Just to give you an example chat GPD will use the right combinations of Kanji and Hiragana, whereas Google Translate will not. It just doesn't do a great job. And if I tell chat GPD to give me a translation in all four different scripts, that's, kanji as well as Hiragana, Katakana and the Roma G, it will give all those to me. It's a no-brainer to use chat GPD for that sort of thing rather than Google Translate and then other languages as well. Like we're just onboarding this client that has four markets and we have no speakers of those languages on our team. But with chat GPD, we can simply include that into our SOPs, into our workflows and just use those sheets to kind of get the final product out. So it's really great the combination of Helium 10 and chat GPD workflows. They work really well for us. Bradley Sutton: Okay, cool. Now going back a little bit, just remember you were talking about broad match modifiers. There might be people out there who don't know what that means. Can you explain that a little bit? Ritu: Yeah, yeah. So a broad match modifier is a type of broad match, so when you're setting your add up, it'll still be a broad match. However, by simply adding a plus sign before every part of the keyword which means if it's a two word keyword, then both the parts will have a plus sign in front of them what you're gonna ensure is that the buyer search must include those words in exactly that format in order for that match to happen. So this eliminates any kind of kind of synonyms or related words that Amazon might try to kind of connect to, which you don't think need to be there. So at this point, amazon is even replacing exact matches with weird sort of words that it thinks are similar. So we don't want that, because we've done all of the research to find out which exact version of that keyword is giving us the highest search volume, so we wanna stick to it. Ritu: In order to make that happen, we're actually finding ourselves doing more and more work with broad match modifiers, because all the other match types are being weird anymore. Like exact matches are not behaving like exact matches. Same thing with phrase match and broad match anyway, always was a bit too broad and it was always kind of giving you all kinds of weird matches for sponsored brands, but then it started doing the same thing for sponsored products as well, and that makes it a little challenging. It can be wasteful. So yeah, broad match modifiers is a great way of making sure that your matches are clean and that they don't bring in kind of extraneous, superfluous words that you shouldn't be targeting. Bradley Sutton: Do you use that 100% of the time when you have a broad campaign? Ritu: So you always have if it's a three word phrase. Bradley Sutton: You'll put the plus in between each of the. Ritu: Yes, 100% of the time. We've been doing it for the past two years and we actually future proved ourselves because we knew this was coming. It's kind of like Amazon always follows Google. So we knew this was coming because Google introduced broad match modifiers first. Now they've already sunset it. So I don't know where this is gonna end up for Amazon, because what I've heard and I don't wanna just speculate, but what I've heard people say is that Amazon might be moving toward a future where there aren't any match types. There's only a word, there's only a keyword, and then it figures out how to match it the best way. Now it's plausible, especially in this AI world. It's plausible that that might happen. But in the interim, I'm betting on broad match modifiers and exact match. Of course, can't do much about the fact that Amazon isn't treating exact matches the way they ought to be treated, but that's the best we have right now. Bradley Sutton: So what would the difference be between using broad, doing broad target with modifiers compared to phrase for the same, the same, you know, like coffin shelf, like. So if I do coffin plus shelf in broad or coffin shelf in phrase, what's the difference in the potential? You know showings of that keyword. Ritu: Yeah, no, I think the showings of that keyword might totally depend on the bids and they might also depend on relevancy. So it's very hard to predict which of the three match types are gonna win. You know that's been a struggle. I mean you can't really say if you put coffin, what was it? Again coffin shelf. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, coffin shelf. Ritu: Yeah, if you say coffin shelf broad coffin shelf phrase and say coffin shelf exact, what we would want it to do and what would be logical is that if I had a higher bid for exact match, then you know all the searches should come in match through exact match. But that's not always the case. You know, we've seen so much variability there. It also depends on which campaign, you know, starts out those keywords and then each campaign has its own story, its own history. Because let's say, you combine that keyword with a bunch of other keywords and let's say those other keywords got a majority of the early data points, like it started hitting some other words coffin longtail words Before it hit your coffin shelf word, then what happens is that this word starts getting starved of impressions, the other words start to take dominance and these words that get starved of impression give you the false impression that they're not working, whereas it's just a matter of how things started off, like what were the set of searches on that day, on that very moment that Amazon decided to match? Ritu: And then it's going to just take its cues from whatever little data it has in the beginning, because that's all it has to play off of, and then it just keeps giving more and more and more impressions to the early data points and everything else just gets ignored, you know. So it's like a game Like PPC is a game that you know you've got to be able, you've got to be willing to keep playing, trying different things, different ways, moving things, you know, trying it in a different match type, in a different campaign, restarting, stopping, all of that you know. Bradley Sutton: Okay now you know like, for example, if I just do you know, going to this same example, you know coffin shelf, no modifier and broad. You know, yeah, nowadays you know something crazy can come up with, like, you know, spooky decor.You know, potentially it could even come up not even including the word, but ones that are traditional, would be like, you know, coffin shelves for men, coffin shelves for women, but then also it could be coffin shaped shelf, like it could insert a word, or shelf shape like a coffin. You know, like changing the order, but if I put that modifier in there, does that force it, in your experience, to be only longer tail, like it's coffin shelf has to be in there as a phrase and then it's only putting words at the beginning or the end, or still. It could switch it up a little bit. Ritu: Yeah, it will switch it up. So coffin shelf could be shelf coffin even. As long as the word shelf and the word coffin both exist in the match, it will match. Yeah. Bradley Sutton: Okay, going back to Helium 10, now I was looking at, I did it. I still haven't seen your replay of your presentation you did for Helium 10 Elite a few months back. But I was looking at your slides and there was something that you were talking about magnet and seed keywords and just by looking at the slide I couldn't tell what the strategy was. So can you explain what are you doing? I'm not sure if this has to do with chat, gpt or, but just how are you using magnet in a unique way? Ritu: Yeah, so what I do is basically I start off my keyword research by looking at audiences, like who is the right target audience for a product, right? So that's my first step. Now the audience list will help me figure out what words these people use. So if it's a garlic press and let's say there's five different types of people, there could be just regular straight up chefs, there could be restaurant owners, there could be whatever. So there's like five or six different types of people who might use a garlic press. Ritu: Now I ask ChatGPT to tell me all the words that these audiences or avatars are likely to use when they search on Amazon. So I'm actually starting from a suggestion of a seed keyword. That's my starting point, and then I use those seed keywords that chat GPT generates to go and dump that into magnet. And then I use the expand option the second one, not the first one and that basically gives me all of the keywords and their search volumes, and that's what I need Basically. Ritu: I wanna kind of run it by search volume information to figure out if it is really a word that I should be going after. Now I don't always come up with those words, probably because the search volume is too low, in which case I don't need to worry about it, but I can still use that information as broad match modifiers to just generate some sort of discovery. So like, for example, eco-friendly. I don't know if there's any sort of garlic press that's eco-friendly, but let's say someone in that audience wants an eco-friendly garlic press made out of bamboo or whatever. I will still create broad match modifiers that have those important words in that combination so that I can at least start to do some keyword research through an ad rather than through existing search volume data. Bradley Sutton: Okay, cool, switching gears from keywords now to images. I know you've talked about mid-jurdy Canva. Have you played around at all with the new Amazon one that they made kind of for sponsored brands? And then, if so, what's your results? I've had very different, like some of it are absolutely terrible, but then I know that part of it's because I don't really know how to prompt them. I'm not very good at prompting, but what's your experience with the new Amazon AI image generator for sponsored brand ads? Ritu: Yeah, I mean it's not bad for someone who's really struggling with image creation in general, but it's not really usable for every case right? In some cases, it's gonna be hard to come up with the perfect background for your image. The other trouble I have with it is that the product image is too small on the canvas, and that's not how I like my sponsored brand headline ads Generally. This is a tip actually for our listeners when you create a sponsored brand lifestyle photo, the biggest mistake people make is that they fully capture the lifestyle setting in which that product is being used, but then the product itself is so tiny. That's a big mistake. That shouldn't be the way right. The way to do it is to have the product front and center. It has to be blown up right in the middle and then you could maybe suggest what the background is. You might just use suggestive creatives rather than have it in absolute terms. It's being used in the setting that it's being suggested, so for that reason I generally like to request for zoomed in, highly close up type of images so that we can have better conversion rates. Ritu: And there's a story that I just wanna share here real quick. We had one client with a dog product and the product was being used on a dog that was sitting in the lap of a woman on a sofa, and then there's a living room in the background so you can imagine the size of the product. It's like so small you can't see it right. So then what we said to this client was give us a zoomed in image. So then they zoomed right in, so all we see now is the pop and we see the product. Right. So it completely changed the metrics for that ad and then we started using that particular image for many other of their sponsored brand headline ads, and then the rest is history. Ritu: They really started growing after that. But the point is that close up images are more important than pretty images, right? So pretty images anyone can create pretty images. You wanna make them highly converting images and for that reason I might not use the Amazon's AI generated images right away, unless they become better, unless they can kind of keep the product as the hero it needs to be, front and center. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out any prompt that can help me get to that stage, but I'll keep testing. I'm not sure yet. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, so then what outside of Amazon? Then, like I said, I know you're using like mid journey, which is another one that's not too expensive it isn't like 10 bucks a month or something like that to use mid journey, or yeah. So then what if somebody is like all right, you told us what some basic stuff that people how chat GPT for 20 bucks a month can help Amazon sellers. What is something that Amazon sellers of any level can use mid journey for? That's kind of simple and definitely adds value. Ritu: Yeah, I think mid journey is definitely the leader and if you can learn to use it, there's nothing like it yet. But even straight up, chat GPT is now getting pretty good with images, so you can describe whatever you want and then it is connected to dolly in the back and then it generates those images and gives them back to you right in your chat GPT prompt, right. So if you have the paid version, then you can start testing that as well. Bradley Sutton: Okay, so let's say I've got all right, I've got a pretty nice image. You know, maybe it's a white background image or something of my product. Would the first thing I should do with experimenting with AI and mid-journey and things? Would it be making an infographic? Would it be trying to make a lifestyle? Like I remember in the early days of AI, like you could never put a human being in there because they would have like 17 fingers and just crazy faces and stuff like that. But like what should I do then? What kind of images? Or is it not really don't use it for your main images, but use it for, like, the sponsored brand and sponsor display, things like that? Ritu: Yeah, so okay, I think we need to think of images as layers, just like we think of layers in Photoshop. Right, there's layers like a background layer. So if you want just the ambience, the mood, the background, you generate that layer independent of anything else. That's one way of going about it. And then you layer in your product. You have your kind of no background product. Then you can always place it right in the middle, do those sorts of things. So it would probably be a two or three step process where you think of each layer separately, even the humans. You could bring humans in from a different source. You can get humans from there, you can get your backdrop from somewhere else and then you can get your product from your own product images and put them together. That would probably give you the best results. Ritu: But if you tried to have mid-journey to all of that, you might experience some failures there or some surprises with, like you said, 17 fingers and stuff. Now, mid-journey, the latest versions of it are getting better and better, so it's very human-like and it doesn't appear awkward. The facial expressions aren't awkward anymore, so that's good news, just means that we're going in the right direction. It's only gonna get better from here. So I would think of layering as one concept, and then, of course, where you wanna apply it is another thing infographics. I don't think chat, gp or even mid-journey would be good for infographic other than just generating the background for it, because text it still doesn't do a good job with text. You'll have to use some of your other tools for text. So again, it's layering, combining tools and coming up with the concept. So yeah, those are some of the ways in which you can use images. Ritu: Now posts is another interesting one. A lot of people are using mid-journey for generating posts, and that's a good way of generating lots of posts content, because Amazon doesn't allow you to repeat an image twice. So what you can do is you can have Dali or even Canva. I've used Canva AI, which is different from Canva normal. I can explain the difference, but anyway. So Canva AI can generate based on your description of what kind of backgrounds you want, and then you just slap in your photo your kind of hero image on top of it and there you have your posts. It takes barely any time to create like 20 different posts and most people don't realize this, but posts are free advertising. I would highly recommend generating posts on a regular basis and take advantage of it. Bradley Sutton: I've seen them more in search results lately too. Ritu: Posts. Exactly, it's one of those widgets that comes up. Bradley Sutton: That never happened, like six months ago or something. But, now it's right there on page one, so it's important to do, I agree. Ritu: Yeah. Bradley Sutton: All right. So earlier you talked about search group performance. I love search group performance. My self is just like it's stuff that three, four years ago we would have. I would have bet a million dollars that Amazon would never release this kind of data to the public, and Amazon definitely has come a long way. What are some other ways that you're using search group performance, analyzing the data that Amazon gives? Ritu: Yeah, so search group performance. Like you said, it's unbelievable that Amazon is actually sharing this information out, so it's really up to us to take advantage of it as soon as possible. Almost feel like time is of essence here, because everybody's going to have access Everybody has access to that information. But right now most people are in the state of overwhelm. They're like, oh, I have this great data, but I don't know what to do with it. So most people are stuck at that stage. Ritu: But if you want to take the next step, then I would suggest start downloading those reports right away, because these things also get lost. Amazon discontinues things that you think they're going to be giving us forever and forever. For example, the brand analytics data that used to be I don't know millions of rows has certainly been compressed to just 10,000, and so on. So I mean there's a loss there that cannot be replaced. So I would say, number one start downloading your at least your monthly data at the ASIN level and then stitching all that data together, and by stitching I mean maybe putting it into a data warehouse. We use BigQuery in order to bring data in, and the way to stitch it is by making sure that your reports have some extra columns like the date column has to be there Then you have to make sure that you have the brand name in it and you want to make sure that your market is in this, so that when you stitch all that information together, then you can use a single report like a looker studio to dip into the data warehouse and you can basically use switch filters to switch between your different markets. So if you plan your data strategy well, then you will be able to use it more efficiently than just using it in a throwaway style, which most people do. Ritu: Most people go download a report, they look at it, they stare at it and they're like, ok, whatever Done, and it's thrown away. You don't want that. You want a system. You need an ecosystem for managing your data so that you can look at those from time to time. You get a month over month review. You get a month over month trend. You can see if anything has lost its search volume over time. It's so easy to check that at a search term level. Once you have stitched all that information together and is available in maybe something like a looker studio, how about something that's good? Bradley Sutton: it's important to understand the you know, like how to get started and not just like, all right, let me. Let me just look at search career performance or this data, just, you know, in the UI on on Amazon. But then what's the next step? Now I've got everything in my data warehouse and stuff like, for example, me. One of the things I like to look at in search career performance is comparing the conversion rate by the keyword for for just the overall niche, compared to my own. You know my own conversion rate. But you know, I think that's probably one of the most no brainer things. What are some other maybe not so common things that you're looking at when, when you get all of that data into your, your data warehouse, and start you know, start looking up stuff? Ritu: Yeah. So one of the things that I find really interesting is the average price per search term. So this is you know, amazon gives you the average price and that, basically, is a good indication of whether that search term is going for cheaper products or is it going for slightly more expensive products. Just to give you an example, let's say you have the word lotion right Now. You have a $50 lotion by L'Oreal, maybe, and you have a $5 drugstore brand Same thing, selling lotion. But if you're going after, if you're looking at the search term lotion, whatever, daily lotion or whatever and if you see that the average price for that search term is going at $6, let's say that's the average price of the product being sold. That is telling me that, no matter what I do to compete on that, on that search term, it's going to be hard because I'm going to be competing with lots and lots of cheaper brands. So we actually have filters on our search terms or search query reports, so that we only look at those searches that are in the ballpark of our products price point. That basically eliminates a lot of the noise, because otherwise you might be led into thinking that gosh, this is a great keyword and then you spend lots of money on it and ends up being a high cost scenario. You don't want that. So you look at both of the things one that you mentioned, which is what we call strength, keyword strength, which is determined as a ratio of purchase share and impression share. If you can get that ratio to be above one, then that's a good keyword. That is strong, inherently strong, because you're winning more of the purchase share than you're winning of the market, which basically puts it in a good spot. Ritu: And then the second one would be the filter on price. The third filter I would put is search volume, because, again, we don't want noisy, insignificant terms to distract us. And I think the fourth filter I would put there is data sufficiency, like how many sales have you had for that keyword over that period of time? So yeah, those would be the four filters to kind of get everything else out. And then, yeah, I mean that would be our way of figuring out which search terms are good. Then the other use cases of that would be to stitch that data with your ad data. So when you stitch those two together you can find gaps in a systematic sort of way, not just like a one off, throw away kind of way, where it's always being merged and it's always coming together and you can always see these are the ones that I'm not advertising yet. And then, yeah, I think those were the two main ones. Ritu: The third, slightly more advanced one, is when you want to figure out if a search term is good for product A, product B, product C, product D off your catalog because they might be sharing those keywords. Then you can see relative strength across your different products and see where you want to channel your information. Now that comes with the caveat, and that caveat is that there's a very high halo sales ratio on Amazon, which means you might be directing traffic to one of your product variations and something else is actually getting picked up eventually. So you need to know all of the. You need to know all those pieces in order to make the right decision and essentially in terms of using your, your traffic source as a fire hose, literally, and saying, okay, I want to direct it to this product and not to this product. Unless you know what the halo sales are, you could be off. Bradley Sutton: Yeah. Yeah, well really great stuff. Now, before we get into your last strategy you know, maybe it could be a PPC strategy, since that's your specialty how can people reach out to you if they, you know? How can they find you on the interwebs if they want to? You know, get some help with some of the stuff that you've been talking about today. Ritu: Yeah, absolutely so. I'm on LinkedIn. I'm pretty active there, so just look up my full name, Ritu Java, and you should be able to find me there and just say hi and I'll be happy to help. Yeah, and other ways, you can just reach out to our website, ppcninja.com or anywhere else. You see me. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, awesome. Now we have some of we do on our show. We call it TST. That's the 30 second tip. So you know you've been giving us lots of great tips and strategies, but what's like a hard hitting one you can give us in 30 seconds or 60 seconds or less. I'm not going to cut you off, go ahead. Ritu: So I think that you know we're all sitting on tons and tons of data and we don't know how to use it. I would suggest start thinking of strategies to use your data by connecting them up. Every piece of data that we get from Amazon or other sources, whether it's keyword rank tracking or search volume data, or your ads data or organic data. Also, you know competitor data and stuff like that. It's in different locations, it's hiding behind wall gardens and stuff like that. Ritu: You want to figure out a system to bring it all together, and I would recommend using a data warehousing strategy to start bringing everything together so that you can start looking at it holistically. So I would recommend start to think of simple ways in which you can convert your snapshot data into time series. That that would be my advice, and time series is basically for people who don't understand that. It's basically assigning dates to all your downloads. If you're downloading a business report, make sure you add a column and put the date there so that that becomes a way of identifying when that event happened. When you're connecting so many pieces of data together. Bradley Sutton: Awesome, Awesome Well thank you very much. Thank you so much for your time. Ritu: Than you so much Bradley. Bradley Sutton: This was really awesome, awesome and we'll definitely be having you back on the show sometime next year to get your latest strategies. Ritu: Awesome, we'll look forward to that. Take care, Bradley, have a good one.  

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
Helium 10 Buzz 11/2/23: Amazon Email Marketing | Premium A+ Update | Bad Review Removals

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2023 24:10


We're back with another episode of the Weekly Buzz with Helium 10's Chief Brand Evangelist, Bradley Sutton. Every week, we cover the latest breaking news in the Amazon, Walmart, and E-commerce space, interview someone you need to hear from and provide a training tip for the week. Walmart Announces Black Friday Sale Details and Previews Early Deals https://www.cnet.com/deals/walmart-announces-black-friday-sale-details-and-previews-early-deals/ EU Store Transparency Report https://assets.aboutamazon.com/cd/28/4d02dd2e41ec8c6d1bc341e9d919/amazon-eu-store-transparency-report-jan-june-2023.pdf Bad Review Removal https://www.linkedin.com/posts/h10bradley_dont-remember-getting-this-notification-activity-7125484541426708481-WmJx/ Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit's collaboration with brands and law enforcement result in global raids https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/policy-news-views/amazons-counterfeit-crimes-unit-successful-raids-worldwide Exclusive: How Walmart is using AI to supercharge its holiday plans https://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-how-walmart-is-using-ai-to-supercharge-its-holiday-plans-190849969.html?guccounter=1 Shopify merchants seek AI boost for key sales decisions https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/shopify-merchants-seek-ai-boost-key-sales-decisions-2023-11-01/ TikTok tests new ways to embed commerce into the in-app experience https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/tiktok-tests-new-ways-embed-commerce-in-app-experience And don't miss our deep dive on how to generate unlimited Amazon Post graphics using AI. Let's discover how to elevate your business and create engaging content for your customers. It's an exciting time to be in e-commerce, and we're here to help you navigate it!   In this episode of the Weekly Buzz by Helium 10, Bradley covers: 01:12 - Amazon MYCE 02:37 - Walmart Black Friday 03:38 - FBM Update 04:22 - Premium A+ Content 05:21 - Amazon EU Details 06:33 - UK SAS Program 07:24 - Bad Review Removal 08:22 - Amazon CCU 09:41 - AI Everywhere 12:30 - Follow Helium 10 x Pacvue on TikTok 13:05 - ProTraining: How to Generate Amazon Posts using AI 19:48 - Helium 10 New Features Alert 23:48 - Did Bradley Hit 1 Mile? ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos   Transcript Bradley Sutton: Amazon's allowing sellers to send emails to customers for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There's new requirements for premium A plus content, amazon's now sending emails out when they remove bad reviews, and there's tons of new AI news in the e-commerce world. This and much more on this week's weekly buzz. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I am your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our weekly buzz. We give you a rundown of all the goings on in the e-commerce world this week. We also let you know what new features Helium 10 has and we give you a training tip of the week that'll give you serious strategies for serious sellers of any level in the e-commerce world. Let's see what's buzzing this week, all right? So first of all, if you're watching this on YouTube, you see I'm moving a lot. Well, I'm trying to be the first ever newscaster here to do a whole news segment while walking a mile on a treadmill. So that's what I'm doing. You guys know I've been trying to push health and wellness this year, so I'm trying to put my money where my mouth is and do some exercising here. Live on this show. My goal is to do one mile before this broadcast is over. Anyways, let's go ahead and hop right into the news. There's lots going on, all right. The first news article of the day is actually from Seller Central. It's on your dashboard and you may or may not have known this, but you can do marketing emails, all right. So now what you can do. This article here is talk is entitled increase visibility of your holiday deals with marketing emails. And so if you're a brand registered, you're able to use manage your customer engagement tool to you know market, to repeat purchases from existing customers and also your brand followers. Like you know, maybe you've gotten some brand followers thanks to Amazon Post, and if you take a look at this article, it talks about that. You're you can offer percentage off discounts, seven day deals and product launch announcement emails, and they're especially saying hey, you should try and do this during Black Friday and for Cyber Monday. So where you can do this, you can hit the link for manager experiments right there in that article. You go to your manager customer engagement page, you hit create campaign, you select your brand and then basically, what you can do is you can hit market product or promote a promotion and then you can market to recent customers brand followers or more and once you hit the next on this entry form, you're going to be able to pick your product and write the email, put the delivery window and more. So a lot of cool stuff that maybe you haven't taken advantage of, but if you've got some brand followers, you're going to be able to go ahead and take advantage of that. Bradley Sutton: All right, the next article of the day is actually from CNET and it's entitled Walmart announces Black Friday sale details and previews early deal. So this is kind of like a cool because it gives you kind of like a timeline of what is going on on the Walmart side. So they've actually got multiple events. So, like the first one is actually starting Wednesday, November 8th, you know, super early, at 3pm Eastern time, and Walmart plus early access goes from 12pm Eastern time. The second event starts on November 22nd and then Cyber Monday, November 27th, and so I'm bringing this out because you know if Walmart is going to be pushing these deals, that means there's going to be more traffic on Walmart.com, and if you're selling on Walmart.com might be a great opportunity to do some kind of discount or promotion or just be expecting extra traffic, so don't think that you have all the way until Black Friday, Cyber Monday, in order to start getting some more traffic on Walmart. It's starting as early as November 8th, according to this article. Bradley Sutton: Next article is also from your seller central dashboard and it's entitled update on default handling time for seller fulfilled orders. So if you're doing seller fulfilled or FBM, you know traditionally you've had like two days in order to fulfill the orders. But make sure to check your dashboard. There's some new news. It's talking about how more than 85% of seller fulfilled orders are shipped within one day. So it's going to start putting by default one day, all right for the order window, and so I think this, you know this could be good because, if I'm assuming that, if this happens now, customers are going to see one day less as far as the estimated delivery time and obviously that's going to help your conversion rate, theoretically speaking. So check out that update in your dashboard and see if that affects you. Bradley Sutton: Next update is again your seller central dashboard a lot of the news articles in your seller central dashboard that you need to be checking out and it's entitled update to premium A plus content eligibility requirements. All right, so the new update is that first of all, I think before you actually had to have like 15 approved A plus content modules to be eligible for premium A plus. Well, now All you need is five All right, so five in the last 12 months. And then also you need a brand story module published on all of your brand-owned product listing. So again, premium A plus content allows you to put like really unique information, like video and other things. So if you're able to do that, make sure to qualify yourself for that. You know, so you can also get, even if you only have one or two products. You can still get qualified by having that brand story and then doing five times, getting some kind of A plus content approved, even if it's for the same listing. Bradley Sutton: Next up, there is an article from Amazon Europe and it goes it's just called a transparency report and it goes like super into detail about tons and tons of facts and figures of what's going on on Amazon Europe and, like you know what they do to protect sellers and things. But the thing I wanted to show is the number of monthly active users for Amazon on the customer side for each of the countries in the EU. Now, obviously, uk is not in the EU, so that's not here. But if you guys thought that the number one country was Germany, you would be right 60 million active users. What do you guys think is the number two country? Number two country is actually Italy at 38 million, number three is France at 34 million and number four is Spain at 25 million. Those are the only ones that are in that bracket. The next one is Austria, with five million monthly active users in that country and there's not even an Amazon Austria, so they're probably shopping on Amazon Germany or one of the other marketplaces. So again, check the link in the description below. Kind of interesting if you guys want to see this whole EU transparency report. Bradley Sutton: Next article, again going right back to the seller central dashboard, but this time in Europe. All right, so if you are in Europe, you now are able to get a SAS or a strategic account services representative. You know sellers in the US have been using this to do tricks like what's called anything in the buy box. We've had that on the podcast before. But again, you UK and EU sellers, go to your seller central dashboard. You've got this notice. That's not on the US side, but you are now able to register here for the SAS plans and it's actually migrating a couple of the existing EU plans where you were able to have some kind of rep into this SAS core You'll rep service. So make sure to check the dashboard. You'll see a link that will allow you to go ahead and see if you can apply and then see if you qualify. Bradley Sutton: Next up there's this email that I got this week from Amazon. I hadn't seen it before. I'm not the only one who's gotten a lot of sellers I've been getting it some this week, some last week, some the week before where Amazon is now letting you know when they remove bad reviews or reviews from bad players on Amazon. So if you look, I put a link in the description on one of my LinkedIn posts where I talk about this. But here this is how the email looks. It says we remove product reviews from bad actors. All right Now, by bad actors. It doesn't mean Owen Wilson, sorry, bad joke, but anyways by bad actors. It means you know, whatever, they're probably abusing the system somehow. But I got an email that said hey, we notice there's some bad actors. We removed X and Y and Z reviews. You know happy selling pretty much. So I'm curious did you guys? Have you guys gotten this? Click the link below to my LinkedIn post and reply there. Let me know if you've gotten this email or not. Bradley Sutton: All right, for the next article, we have a theme song for it. Yes, we are talking about the Amazon department called the Amazon law and order CCU the counterfeit crimes unit. That actually is a real thing, guys Amazon counterfeit crime units. If you guys are listening on the radio or the your radio in your car or something, hopefully you heard the law and order theme song right there. But anyways, amazon has had this CCU, this counterfeit crime unit, where every month they seem to be doing new things to kind of crack down on counterfeits out there, and so they have a latest update that gives and kind of updates on the kinds of things that they've been doing. They did like raids, like crazy raids on with 150 Chinese law enforcements in China to like kind of like break down this smuggling ring on a bunch of fake products that were coming out. They took action against counterfeit rings across Europe. But this, this department, is doing some some cool things to try and break down on the bad players that are out there. So make sure to take a look at the link that we left in the comments below or in the description below, so you can see the kind of steps that Amazon has been taking to keep Amazon clean from the bad players. Bradley Sutton: All right, the last few articles we're going to talk about are all about AI, and it's kind of crazy how AI is just taking over every marketplace, as being like in the news. Last week, as you guys know, we talked about the announcement on Amazon how they have now generative AI to help make images. We're actually going to have a demo of that in just a couple of minutes here. But now even Walmart is getting in on the AI. Bandwagon says how. This article from Yahoo Finance talks about how Walmart is using AI to supercharge its holiday plans, and it's talking about how they're using it to try and distribute the inventory across the country a little bit better across there, more than 4,000 stores and this is going to be able to allow them to deliver same day to more locations by having the right inventory in the right distribution centers and stores Again, a benefit for Amazon sellers. Bradley Sutton: Moving on in this AI craze, there is an article out of Reuters about Shopify Says. Shopify merchants seek AI boost for key sales decisions. So make sure to check out this article, where it talks about Shopify's new kind of like features that are now featuring AI. And then, of course, not to be outdone, TikTok shop is testing new ways to embed commerce into the in-app experience, according to insiderintelligence.com. Now, this was almost the most interesting story for me, because they're rolling out this kind of like AI tool that can use AI to identify products in videos and suggest similar items for sales on its e-commerce marketplace. This isn't using the affiliate program. Bradley Sutton: Now, this is interesting because, like, what that means is, let's say, somebody has got a just dancing video or they're doing a Amazon or a TikTok shop or a TikTok live or something, and then, in the background, all right, they've got I don't know some barbecue. Well, it sounds like what's going to happen is the AI is going to try and like, detect if any TikTok shop seller has a that exact barbecue or something similar, and then give a suggestion to somebody who's watching this regular TikTok video hey, do you want to buy that product that you see in there? You know, I mean, people follow these influencers and they want to copy them. They want to have what they have. They want to have their same furniture or have their same phone case and stuff. Now, without the influencer even promoting directly other products, TikTok shop is going to be promoting other TikTok shop products from there. Now I think the influencers might get a little bit upset, because this article talks about that. They're not actually going to get any affiliate commission for this. Anyways, this is interesting Another way that AI is being used. All right, that's it for the news this week. Bradley Sutton: Now, before we get on into the next segment, one quick thing. Speaking of TikTok, do you know that Helium 10 has a TikTok page? Guys, make sure to go to it, add it. Go to your TikTok app, search for Helium 10 pack view. All right, helium 10 pack view, no spaces, and then you'll see tons of videos from our social media team. Like Sydney, we've also got clips from this podcast and we've also got educational content on there. So again, give us a follow, like a couple of the videos to help the algorithm. Helium 10 pack view is the name of our account. All right. Bradley Sutton: Next up, we've got our training tip of the week, and this is a great one by Shivali. She's going to be talking about Amazon post, but did you guys know that you can actually have an infinite number for free of Amazon post, that you can post pictures every day and you don't have to make new images by yourself, or you don't have to take new pictures and you don't even have to make the captions. Guys, all right, it is completely done by AI, thanks to Amazon and thanks to Helium 10's new AI feature for Amazon posts. You guys want to find out how to do it. Shivali is going to explain how in this next video. Shivali: Hi there, Shivali. Here I want to talk to you about Amazon posts, which is a really powerful tool that you can use to elevate your business, create engaging content for your consumers, all while showcasing your products in a way that tells the story behind your brand. Now there are a lot like social media posts, but you can't just copy over the product listing copy and images. There has to be some intentionality, because it has to be visually appealing and attention grabbing. Let's take a look at an example. You can find Amazon posts by selecting the storefront underneath the product listing page and navigating to posts here. As you can see, it's not just a plain image with boring description. In fact, it's designed to be visually appealing and catch your attention, and that's what you really want. This brings me to my next point, which might answer your question, and that is what if I don't have a bunch of photos laying around from a fancy photo shoot? Well, that's what AI is for. You can use Generative AI to generate the content that you need. It can create images, captions and even suggest the best times to post for maximum visibility. It's kind of like having a creative assistant right at your fingertips, making your Amazon posts look like a million bucks, even if you're on a budget. I'm going to show you a quick and easy way to enhance your sponsored brand campaigns on Amazon. So I'm going to go ahead and navigate to my Advertising Panel, click Campaign Manager and, once I have that open, what you will want to do is select the sponsored brand campaign that you want to try this with. If you don't have one, no worries, you can just create a new active sponsored brand campaign and then, once that page has loaded, you are going to click on Create so Creative is on the left-hand paneling once again and then select Edit Creative. Shivali: Here comes the fun part. So you select Custom Image, click Change Image and then click Choose an AI-generated image. So this is in beta at the moment of recording, and what you will want to do is select whichever product that you want to try this with. I'm going to type in an image description, so this one's quite simple. It just says Product Hanging on Wall in a Bedroom, above the Bed with a Gothic Bed Frame. I would click Generate and ideally, what you would see on your end is multiple image options. Then you would go through and select the ones that you like that you find appealing. As you can see, we were given three outputs based off the query that we inputted, so I would then go ahead and open each one of these up and click Save to Creative Assets. I'll show you where these are getting saved in just a moment here, but let's go ahead and click Save for each one of these. All right, let's X out of that and then, once we have that stuff saved, it's going to be in Creative Tools, underneath Creative Assets, right here. Shivali: This, guys, is your gallery of images of your creative assets that you can really use anytime that you have generative AI images being saved. This is where they are being funneled. So what I'm going to do is just click this three dots icon and click Download and then, once I have that downloaded, I can then go into my brand content, go into Posts and begin creating a post. Let's select Manny's Mysterious Audities and then click Create Post and upload our image. Here I have the AI generated image, click Open and, as you can see, for us it's saying the image is too wide because, again, this design was built underneath our sponsored brand campaigns when we were trying to just generate AI based image. Keep in mind that this has saved us a lot of time and money and efforts in just being able to get images without actually having to do a photo shoot. So it's pretty simple to throw this image then into a sizing machine or even something as simple as Canva to resize it and then upload it. Shivali: After that I'm also going to need a caption. So what I'm going to do is go into our listing builder and as long as you have the product characteristics, the brand information, product name, tone, target audience, etc. Filled out at the top of your listing builder, then you can actually go all the way down to Amazon Posts or just select the tab right here and click Write it for me. I did already go ahead and click Write it for me, just to save a little bit of time so you guys can see it. But, as you can see, it's really good. This pulls from your keyword bank, it helps with your generated search volume and it absolutely makes your Amazon posts process a lot easier. Let's jump back into Amazon Posts and get that pasted in and once you have that part filled out, you can just add in your product. I'm going to click Add. Mine says out of stock, so it says one available. ASINs won't show in your post and posts have to have, of course, at least one ASIN in stock to be visible, but this was just an example. I wanted to go through and show you guys just how easy it is to generate images and captions so you can quickly create posts even if you don't have access to a wide gallery of images. Go ahead and click Submit for review. As long as you've followed along and you've created this with me, I hope you guys recognize that, with this new AI generation tool and the listing builder tool with Amazon Posts, now you really have access to a never ending supply of Amazon Posts. So with that, we look forward to seeing your content on Amazon. Bradley Sutton: Alright, thank you very much for that, Shivali. So, guys, that's available. I believe you might have to have diamond for some of that feature functionality inside of Listing Builder, the feature that she talked about for Amazon Post or creating those images that's pretty much open to anybody. So, guys, you, there's no reason anymore for you not to do Amazon Post. You can generate the images now for free and then, limited amount, you can generate captions for free, so you don't have to always be thinking about what am I going to write for a caption. So, guys, get into that now. And we've got announcements coming soon. Guys, that's going to make that process even more easy because we have an exclusive Helium 10 as an exclusive arrangement and access to a certain I can't really, you know, completely spill it, but a certain data point and a certain functionality that only Helium 10 has for the next few months, and we're going to try and give you guys that functionality as soon as possible. Stay tuned for more, all right. Bradley Sutton: Next up is a brand new feature that we're going to start doing weekly. Helium 10 is actually launching new features every week, guys. You know, sometimes you guys might not know everything that we're releasing. So here in the weekly buzz. Starting this week, we are going to start letting you guys know in a special video here what all we have launched in the last week so you can see if it benefits you and then make sure that you and your team use it. All right, so this week's Helium 10 new feature alert, let's hop right into it. The first one is actually on your dashboard in Helium 10. All right, or it's actually in a couple places. So you just go to your insights dashboard right here as soon as you log into Helium 10, if you've got the diamond plan on the above, you've got. You're going to see all of your information down here at the bottom. That's not new. What is new is that now, if you put your mouse over any of your products, you have this whole new widget of information that is going to come out where you can see the BSR in the parent category, the BSR in the sub category of your product, your listing age, you know who's, what seller has, the buy box, what your current price is, the review count. Now, that's for your product. So maybe you're thinking like, well, I already know all of my product stuff, but the other thing is on our competitors page. All right. So we have a competitors page now. If you're tracking your competitors, you can also again now mouse over and then you're going to see all of that same information. So that's a one cool thing that just got launched in Helium 10 insights dashboard. Bradley Sutton: A couple of things now in Cerebro. If you're in Cerebro and you do a multi-ASIN search, one of my favorite filters were the advanced rank filters. Now they are no longer called advanced rank filters. I just wanted to let you know we change the name so it's a little bit more easier to understand what the advanced rank filters do is. It allows you to filter out and say, hey, I want to see at least this number of the competitor ASINs and this multi-ASIN search are ranking between this and this right? Well, now, now in those headings, if you guys want to find those features, it's right down here and it's called number of competitors. This is the filter the artist, formerly known as advanced rank filter, one which really kind of like confused some people. So again, what you're looking for is number of competitors, and then you put a minimum and maximum here of of how many of the competitors you want to kind of be ranking a certain range. All right, so if you put in 10 competitors and then you put a minimum of two and a maximum of five, basically, what you're saying is, hey, of these 10 competitors, I want minimum two and maximum five of them to be ranking between X and Y. And that's where you go to the very next field, which is called competitor rank. So you can say, hey, I want these to be ranking between one and 20. I want to know all the keywords, or at least two of these competitors, but a maximum of five are ranked page one, position one to 20. So, again, this is not a new filter. Is this a new name? And I'm just kind of reminding you guys about it. Again, it's called number of competitors and competitor rank. Bradley Sutton: Now, if I actually go in and hit the show historical trend, we've got a small update feature there. This comes directly from you guys. So if I hit this, I can actually go in and pull out hey, show me the certain ranks, let's say, of June 2022. And now what you see? When you see this search volume, like before, we just picked the last week of this month. All right, so this is showing me the ranks of all of these products during the month of June of 2023. But now what this search volume represents that you see in the search results. Again, this is by, you know, customer request. It is now showing for that month of June, the week that had the highest search volume. All right, so 1468 was what the highest search volume was during the month of June. All right, that's it for this week's Helium 10 new feature alerts. Well, guys, that's also it for this week's Weekly Buzz. As you can see, I didn't hit my one mile goal here on my Apple watch. I only got 0.67 miles in. I'm going to have to keep walking for the next 20 minutes to hit that one mile. Anyways, guys, thanks for tuning in this week. We'll see you next week to see what's buzzing.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#505 - Amazon Launch Strategy + Q&A Session

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 31, 2023 34:49


Unlock the secret to a successful Amazon launch strategy in our latest episode, where we discuss the fundamental aspects of the Maldives Honeymoon launch and Bali Blast pre-launch strategies, including keyword research, test listings, PPC campaign setup, and much more. We promise to equip you with an arsenal of tips, tricks, and strategies to help your product launch be successful. We'll kick off with the importance of sending relevant signals to Amazon, particularly when exploring a new niche - a component many entrepreneurs often overlook. Shifting gears, we'll discuss how the Amazon Recommended Rank can be your secret weapon in product visibility. We'll walk you through optimizing your test listings, and share real examples of how to enhance your titles and send targeted traffic to specific keywords. We're also sharing how this strategy works in the Amazon Germany marketplace and all other Amazon marketplaces in the world, providing you with a comprehensive understanding of different markets and how the strategy adapts accordingly. Lastly, we'll dive deep into the world of Amazon PPC campaigns, bid modifiers, keyword tracking, and the power of product bundling. And if you're confused by Amazon fees or finding a reliable 3PL - we've got you covered. We'll explore fee structures, pricing strategies, and 3PL selection to ensure you're set up for success. Plus, we'll answer all your burning questions in our monthly Q&A session. So buckle up for a jam-packed episode filled with actionable insights, personal anecdotes, and real-world examples designed to elevate your Amazon selling journey! In episode 505 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about: 03:32 - Amazon Launch Strategy  08:04 - Understanding Amazon Recommended Keywords  11:29 - Maximizing Amazon Impressions 13:03 - Utilizing Test Listings for Product Launches 16:37 - Launching and Ranking Products in Amazon Germany  25:59 - Surviving and Thriving Amidst Price Wars  28:31 - Launching a Product and 3PL Recommendations 31:25 - Launching Product at the Right Time  34:19 - How To Get Monthly Q&A for Serious Sellers Club Members ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On YouTube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we've got a recap strategy session on Amazon launches and we answer all of your questions live, such as how to do keyword research on combo product listings, how to set up PPC campaigns and more. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you looking to learn how to sell on Amazon? The freedom to get course, made by Kevin King, is one of the most popular courses ever created for Amazon sellers. It's got over 90 modules and 40 hours of detailed, step-by-step training to help get you started on your entrepreneurial journey. Now this course costs $997, but Helium 10 actually covers that cost of the course for any Helium 10 member. Find out why tens of thousands of students love this program by going to h10.me forward slash freedom ticket. Don't forget that if you do sign up for a Helium 10 account, don't pay full price. Use our podcast discount code SSP10 to save 10% off for life. Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of the Serious Sellers Podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is a show that is our monthly ask me anything and presentation. So once a month we open this up to all of our Facebook groups and our YouTube channel etc. To open up to any questions that you guys might have for me about Helium 10 and a lot of the functions, but we always start out with like a mini training session as well. Now we actually have this every week in our Serious Sellers Club. So for our serious sellers club, which are automatically enrolled in, if you've been selling on Amazon for over a year and do at least $500,000 a year of revenue, you're in our serious sellers club. This is something we give to them, as well as our Helium 10 elite members, every week, but once a month we open it up to everybody. So that's what we're doing today. We want to make sure that you guys just get a little taste of what happens behind the scenes here. But anyways, what we're going to be I want to present on while you guys are getting your questions ready and putting them in the chat. Bradley Sutton: Is Amazon Launch Strategy, all right. So we just had episode 500 come out where we talk about a recap of the Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy, which that goes way, way more into detail on that. So you should definitely go to that episode 500 for a recap. And then another one that I want you guys to look at is what we call the Bolly Blast Strategy. That's like your prelaunch strategy. We just make up funny names for for stuff because it's easier to remember. But go back to episode 466 and 467. All right, episodes 466 and 467. You can go to h10.me forward slash 466 or h10.me forward slash 467 to go to those like prelaunch strategies about how to do your keyword research and how to set yourself up for success. But let's just focus for next. You know, five minutes or so on the, just the actual launch strategy, and I'm going to be doing this this week. I'm relaunching something and launching something. I'm always doing tests, as you guys know, and I'm going to be losing this exact strategy this week for this new launch. But basically, if you've done all the right keyword research, you know part of that Bolly Blast Strategy that I was talking about. Basically, what you want to do is is set your listing up to make sure that you have the most relevancy signals sent to Amazon. Bradley Sutton: Now, this is something new that we hadn't talked about in previous episodes of the Maldives Honeymoon Launch Strategy. Right, we just said, hey, start your. You know, do the right research, start your listing, get ready to get ready to go and you know you're off to the races. But what I've noticed in the last year is a little bit of a I guess you could say algorithmic, you know, shift a little bit, where the effects of not being relevant from day one to Amazon is kind of like far reaching, like it's going to mean that you can't get, you can't get impressions in your PPC. Obviously you're not going to start ranking for certain keywords. And so one of the new things that I have been suggesting when you're launching, especially in niches that are not that competitive and that there's not that much, you know, established sellers, this is probably not the same thing as launching for collagen peptides or garlic press or something like. Or you know, neck pillow or something like that. Like, I would think that if you have optimized your listing the right way, probably Amazon knows what you are from day zero or from day one, right, but even in that situation it's not 100%. But especially if you're in a newer niche where there's not that much data out there, any little thing could mean that Amazon is coming completely confused about your product. And this is how I discovered that. Bradley Sutton: So I did some testing, test launches on this coffin bath tray, like a think of like a regular bath tray where you're just chilling your bathtub. You got a tray that goes over your your bathtub and you put your candles on there and your books or whatever. So I had some, some test products that I was launching and from day one, like I could not get, it didn't rank me right away for coffin bath tray and I wasn't even getting that many impressions in PPC, if any. So some some zero at all on some keywords that were highly relevant to coffin bath tray, which is what the product was, and it's not like oh, I didn't make my listing in the correct way or anything like. No, I had this in my title, I had that keyword in other places in my listing. I did the list. Trust me, guys, I did the listing the right way. By the way, I'm sure this has happened to you guys. How many of you guys have launched a product in the last year or two where you're one of your, some of your main keywords? You couldn't get impressions in PPC or it was like impossible to rank in the beginning. Has that ever happened to you? I'm sure it has. But basically now there's a way to predict that. Bradley Sutton: So you look at Amazon recommended rank this is in helium 10. All right, this is in helium 10, uh cerebro. That is actually a live feed from Amazon. Now there's no, there's no metric in Amazon called Amazon recommended. We made that name up, but where that data comes from is directly from Amazon. It's in real time, all right. It's not some estimation or some aggregate uh information. It is actually uh directly from Amazon in real time, and what it's referring to is is which keywords Amazon thinks is most relevant to your listing. Now, in the past, this one data point that we've been getting for years, it was only for in the context of Amazon PPC. All right, it's the keywords that Amazon suggests that you uh advertise for the most in PPC, but now it's kind of more. Bradley Sutton: For over the last year I've been noticing these, this trend, where it's a great indication of just in general, what Amazon thinks your product is. All right, you know what. I wasn't planning to do this, but but let's go ahead and and maybe just do a live demonstration Throw me a random product in the chat that that's got some, um, that's got some decent reviews. It's been on Amazon for a while, like maybe it's got a thousand reviews or more, where the keyword should be kind of obvious what Amazon thinks uh for. All right, here we go. I see somebody threw in something. Bradley Sutton: Aubrey says recipe box. All right, let me look that up. Recipe box or book box? I guess it's a box. I never heard of this uh product before. I think I think I, um, I misspelled it, but that's fine, all right, let me. Let me just show you guys what we're looking at here. All right, here we go. So this is a recipe box. All right, let's pick one that has a lot of reviews. Uh, heart and berry recipe box. It's kind of weird, though it hasn't had that many sales at least. Oh, there are 200 sales for this one. Um, 300 sales for this one. Let's maybe use this one right here. All right, sensory for you recipe box. That's pretty hilarious. Let's just take a look at this box really quick. Okay, I see what this is. All right, now I'm going to put this into helium 10's cerebro. Let's go ahead and go into cerebro here. All right, here we go. All right. Bradley Sutton: So now, as you guys know, the the regular helium 10, you know, we've got all of our organic keywords and and sponsored and and and all that information. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to sort by Amazon recommended rank. That's one of these columns right here. Okay, you guys see that right here. All right, amazon recommended rank by me sorting it right when it goes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. What this means is this is the the top keywords that Amazon thinks you should advertise for. But take a look at these top keywords, guys. Look at this 10 recipe box. Recipe box. Recipe keeper box. Recipe box cute. Is Amazon confused about this product? No, absolutely not. It knows exactly what this is. All right. Now I don't know if this is going to work. I'm just going to go and pick an older, an older listing here. Bradley Sutton: Let's go to like to page something that's not doing very good for recipe box. Let's go to like to page three. Maybe there's a brand new product here. Let's see, is there? Is there still a box that allows me to choose the top new products? There used to be a filter here that says like brand new products. Maybe it's not here anymore. Oh, here are new arrivals last 30 days. Let's take a look at this. All right, so this is last 30 days. Okay, perfect. Now I'm going to go to like something that's like way at the end here, like that's not ranked on page one, something that was brand new. All right, here we go. This is not a recipe box, but this is a tea leaf storage container. All right, let's take a look at this. I'm going to take this asin right here, copy this. Actually, I'm just going to run it directly in Cerebro. I'm going to hit this button and go run in Cerebro. So this is not a recipe box, obviously, but it's a. It's a newer product and if I'm looking at this, this product, it looks like a rectangular tea. Oh, tea leaf storage in here. That's probably what this product is. All right, but I'm just curious what is Amazon going to think that this is? Let's take a look right now. All right, let's go to Amazon Recommended and again, I obviously did not choose any of this. I have never looked at tea leaf boxes in my life here. But let's go ahead and do the same thing where we sort by Amazon Recommended rank and look at this. All right, this is not too bad. Bradley Sutton: Now, the number one keyword this has made a little bit worried. It says coffee tea, and the number two keyword says storage container. But there it is right. There. Tea box is number four tea storage, but a lot of okay. So this kind of is a good. This kind of is a good example here guys, look at. Do you remember how on the recipe box, how in the recipe box all of these keywords had recipe box, the top recommended rank, like there's no doubt what Amazon thinks is this product. But notice this newer product. It's got some random stuff here. Like it does have the good keywords here. But then look at this. It says can storage is the number three keyword, coffee container it's not necessarily a coffee container. Seal container T10, okay, well, t10 might be a good one. Empty tins all right. So this is interesting here because, as you can see this newer product, can you see how Amazon is a little bit confused, maybe about what it is? All right. So that's why, right here, how this can be powerful. Bradley Sutton: What I suggest doing when you are how does this tie into launch? All right, what I suggest doing is do a test listing, all right, because if Amazon is confused about your product, guess what's gonna happen as soon as you launch it day one. You're not gonna get top impressions right away for a keyword that Amazon doesn't think is your product, right? Sometimes it takes a little tweaking, like should you maybe tweak a little bit of your listing optimization to make it more relevant. Yeah, you gotta tweak that to get this Amazon recommended number fairly high and to see if you can get these impressions. So when you do a test listing, this is the reason why Number one is for Amazon recommended. Number two is to make sure that from day one you're gonna start getting impressions. Now, if your Amazon recommended is non-existent for an important keyword, it's probably it's gonna be difficult usually to get those PPC impressions. Bradley Sutton: So now the question comes in well, what can you do to influence the Amazon recommended rank? Well, sometimes it is about listing optimization. Usually, if you don't have any of your title, you having your title, well then Amazon will figure out what it is. Sometimes it's sending traffic to a certain keyword search. We talk about that a little bit in episode 500, about the kind of things you can do to make sure that Amazon gets that relevancy signal. But the point of this discussion is about making that test listing. Is, if you just launch your product and you're having to figure things, these things out, like all right, how do I send this relevancy signal? Do I need to change a part of my listing somewhere to make sure Amazon knows where my product is. And let me do this test wait an hour for it to update. All right, let me see. Does this have an effect on my PPC? What's happening during this time? Time is being wasted right In, like your honeymoon period and initial velocity. Bradley Sutton: You want to kind of like start off your product with a bang from day one, where you're potentially getting clicks and sales and ads of carts and different things from organic customers out there. Well, if you're having to spend all your time trying to fix things, you're accumulating days of bad like interactions with your listing right and then so it's gonna be that much harder to write the ship. So that's why in episode 500, I was recommending people to make this test listing do all these like test and figure this stuff out beforehand like on a quote unquote fake listing. Now, when I say fake listing, you still have to have a real UPC. So you have to pay 10, 20 bucks for a UPC. You're wasting, but for me it's invaluable. Bradley Sutton: Testing, get everything right so that you know what you need to do to your listing to get your Amazon recommended. Rank up what you need to do to your listing to get those PPC impressions, and then now on your real listing from day one day zero. Now you're starting off on the right foot, and sometimes it's not just about optimizing your listing. It might be that you have to send some traffic to a certain keyword. Well, at least, instead of trying to figure out what that traffic is, you already figured it out on your test listing and now you can just go ahead and start off doing that from as soon as you make your listing live. So again, that's just like a summary of the. You know the recent differences in the Maldives Honeymoon strategy. Again, go back to h10.me forward slash 500 to get you know all the details, and then I show some of my, or I talk about some of my tests. I did that that brought me to this conclusion, but I hope that is going to that episode, plus the 466 and 467 about how to set up your listing, should help you have a good launch. You know whether you're launching here in Q4 or going to launch in Q1, these strategies definitely should help you. Bradley Sutton: So now what I want to do is open it up to questions. Okay, js says how do you run a test listing before you order inventory? No, no, this is not before you order inventory. This is you've already got your inventory ready to go and it's probably in Amazon almost, or on the way to Amazon. At least it could be at any time during this time. It could be before you order inventory, but to me I wouldn't do it. That that's way too far in advance. I would do this test listing like one week before you're ready to actually launch, and the reason is is you want the freshest information. You know you want to do something three months beforehand and then basically it's out of date by the time you're launching three months later, right? So this strategy is to have all inventory handy and start with a dummy listing. Yes, that's what I do. That's what I'm literally doing, literally today. I'm doing that on one launch. I'm relaunching some holiday related products that are going to be good in December, and so I'm doing a test listing to just like check what's going on right now. But, like, the product is already on the way to Amazon from my warehouse in California, so it's going to be there in like four or five days. So, yeah, that's what's going on there. Good question Farhand says if we launch in Germany, then what strategy is the same strategy? Bradley Sutton: All right, so everything that I just showed you guys right now. You can also do for Amazon, germany, as far as looking at the Amazon recommended, and Cerebro, as far as you know, sending the traffic you know to your listing. Everything I mentioned today absolutely is applicable to the German market. Here we've got somebody who said how to rank a product which is a combo of two different products. Okay, great question. So there's different ways to do it. All right, and I've done it both ways. I've done a product where I have the exact same product and I make two separate Asins for it because the keywords that can go for it are different, and I was just like you know what I want to kind of like tailor, make my listing and the image and the copy for people searching for this thing, but the product could be used for something completely different and so I made a completely separate listing for that. So that's one way to do it, not very recommended unless you're in a very niche thing, like I am, if you've got like two products, like I don't know, like I'm looking here at my desk, like like headphones and a microphone right Now. Bradley Sutton: Number one you want to make sure that you are relevant for the customer who is most likely to buy that product and who is the customer that's most likely to buy a headphone and microphone combo? It is somebody searching for headphone and microphone. So you've got to find the keywords most related to somebody looking for that combo, right, which is different for every product. Obviously it could be for this one, it could be podcast, podcast beginners kit or something Headphone and microphone combo, right. Those are words specifically for somebody buying a microphone. But then what I think you're asking is sometimes maybe somebody's searching for headphones but they're like oh, there's headphones and microphone together. I might go ahead and buy that. Well, yeah, now you've got to optimize and be ready for those headphone only related keywords and the microphone only related keywords. So it's kind of like you are doing three different keyword research. You're doing the research on other products and other keywords that have already the same combo that you have. You're doing research on the ones that have just one of the products and a research on ones that have the other one of the products, and then what you're going to want to launch on for me is going to be still the keywords. That is most likely to get you a sale and that's going to be on the combo products, right. So, or the combo keywords. So that would be my suggestion to you there. Bradley Sutton: Great question from Dan says is there a Helium 10 workflow chart checklist to help launch a new product on Amazon? It's pretty much that, that, those podcast episodes I mentioned. Now we're going to make that into like a PDF form soon. A lot of customers have been asking for that. But if you want to like it to go through a checklist to make sure you've done, you've done everything you can on the keyword research, you've done everything you have on the listing optimization, again, go to episode 466, then 467 and then 500. And those three episodes is kind of like my virtual checklist of everything you need to do, from the keyword research to listing optimization, pre-launch and then launch. Bradley Sutton: Now that the CLA says Bradley, what do you suggest? Create a campaign with each ad with all three match types, or create one campaign with one ad group containing all three match types? I'm not 100% sure I'm understanding, but if I understand what you're saying, basically what I would do is or what I would do what I do do is I make separate campaigns, each with one ad group, and it's a different match type. So I always start with one exact match campaign. Okay, I have another campaign that is a broad match. Usually. I have another campaign that's auto, and then I'll have two different product targeting campaigns. One is an asin targeting campaign and then one which, and then one that is a sponsor display campaign. But yeah, if you're talking, if that's what you meant by the match types you know, like broad, exact and auto, yes, I always keep those in separate campaigns, personally, in atomic Of course I'm talking about. Bradley Sutton: Kassar says new launch in Canada market. Give me some tips about how to rank in Canada. 100% the same. So everything Kassar, that I said today about launch, I obviously was talking about the US market, but that would be the. That would be also the Canadian market, german market, whatever you're launching, and you would use those same strategies. Everything works. Or back to Dota says I have gold cross necklace as phrase, match and gold cross necklace as exact in the same ad group. At which point should a performing keyword be moved as an exact keyword? Yeah, so, so again, for me, I wouldn't have that when I set up my campaigns. And helium 10, atomic, I keep the, the, the match types separate, all right. So what, what I'm going to have is I'm going to have a. Let's just say I don't have gold cross necklace as an exact match, but I have gold cross. Gold cross, all right, or no? No, no, let me say gold necklace as a phrase match, right? Okay, I set up atomic rules to say if I get two orders at a certain a cost or below, to go ahead and suggest to get that and make it an exact match in my Exact campaign. So then, if gold cross necklace, which is a phrase match from gold necklace, if gold cross necklace gave me two orders at 25% a cost or whatever you know I had chosen for that, it's gonna actually suggest to me to hit a button and it's gonna move it to my exact match campaign which again, is separate from my phrase match campaign. Bradley Sutton: Very important, in my opinion, to keep things separately for this reason, so that you could kind of like segregate what's going on as far as the a different, as far as your different campaigns and match types go. Constance says, when creating a new manual exact single word campaign, would you suggest to go above the suggested bid and do placement strategy a hundred percent for product pages and top of search to collect data or burn money? Yeah, somebody asked me this before. I'm old school, alright. So me personally, I don't use the placement strategy. That does not mean that it's bad or that you shouldn't do it, it's just because I have a system that's been working for me for years where I just changed my actual bid instead of doing the placement. You know, you know the bid modifiers and it works for me. Now, if you want to play with the, you know the top of search and stuff like that, there is nothing wrong with that. I know plenty of a very successful Amazon sellers who use that. But me personally, I keep everything in atomic, just strictly about the, the bid, and I'm looking at my keyword ranks right In atomic you can actually see, if you're tracking that keyword and keyword tracker, where you are ranking and sponsored. So that's why it's easy for me to like just modify my bid, because if I have boost on and keyword tracker, I know exactly where my sponsor that is showing up, if it's showing up in in 10th or 15th or 1st or 2nd, and so I know that. Alright, let me raise my bid up. Alright, then I'll get a little bit higher rank theoretically, alright. So that's that question. Bradley Sutton: Dauda says Bradley, how can we get a one-on-one call with you? So this is for helium 10 elite member. So I do one-on-one calls Once a month with any helium 10 member who wants it, and there's also group calls we have. So if you're part of helium 10 elite program, yes, you can have one-on-one calls with myself and also carry. Alright, daniel says my product is a two-piece set One main product and one complimentary product. I made sure that both are purchased together and I'm using 80% keywords for the main product and 20% for the complimentary. So wait, daniel, is your ace in just one ace in, or are you having people or do you have some kind of deal where it's like buy one and then Get this one for X percent off or something? If both of you, if this is just one ace in, daniel, what you want to do is Exactly what I said about 10 minutes ago. I don't know if you caught that, just rewind on this, but you want to make sure that that you're focusing on the Combo keywords, where people might be searching for both together, and then, yeah, going For the individual keywords as well, because sometimes this is differentiation. Maybe you, maybe there are no combo keywords out there and you just put this bundle together because you know that people will probably buy it, even if they search for just one, then yeah, then all you have to worry about is the individual Keywords. I'm not sure about 80% keywords for the main product and 20% for the complimentary. It depends on what you think has the most search volume for somebody who would buy that product, because maybe the people who buy the complimentary product are more likely to buy the combo and in that sense, you shouldn't just be Giving it 20% of the keyword keyword juice. Right there. Bradley Sutton: Kassar says when a good selling product, people start the price war, how to survive to maintain your organic rank in the product. Yeah, well, first of all, sometimes you just can't. Let me just say that right now. I know that's bad news for some of you. Sometimes it just gets so crazy that you just can't make money. You're just gonna have to cut that product after you sell out, all right. That being said, you know, like the coffin shelf right now for Project X, we've got tons and tons of competition and they're just doing some ridiculous pricing. You know, like we're, there's no way they're making money on it due to I know what shipping costs, right? So what I decided to do? I'm doing the opposite. I'm going up in price. I'm raising the price by like three or four or five dollars and I added about three or four or five dollars of cost To my product because I'm expanding out, like I'm doing some like really cool box that I'm going to use and I'm adding some trinkets to the coffin shelf to, and so my theory is that, hey, I'm gonna catch the customers who are looking for a more premium style of product and if this doesn't work, you know what? There might come to be a day where I have to stop selling the coffin shelf, and right now I can still sell it for a higher price. But if sales ever go down to zero, I am not gonna get in a price war. You know where. I'm not gonna put the coffin shelf for 19 dollars when I used to sell it for 32 dollars. No, so sometimes you just can't Compete. At that you you'll have to cut the courts. But Enhance your product with different, with different things, and go for that more premium look, and you know you could have some some action there. Bradley Sutton: Mario says Quick question Should I negate an important keyword for my product after having spent 25 dollars on it and zero sales, when the product itself is 40 dollars? This is a good question. Now, if you, if it's one of the main keywords like this is what people would search, before just blindly negating it, you've got to figure out why people are not converting. All right, so I would look in search query performance for that keyword and look at the Competitors who are getting high clicks. You don't know who's getting high purchases, so you know you could do that. You could look in brand analytics and see who is the top three Clicked and then is there one of them who is getting a lot of sales. And then I'll just take a look at that listing and ask yourself why is somebody clicking on my competitors listing after searching for the same keyword and they're buying my competitor product but not mine. So you've got to ask yourself what is the reason why they're not. Bradley Sutton: Now, if it's a keyword that you just think is relevant to your product, are you were hoping is relevant to your product? Well, in that case you might have been wrong. So, where that cutoff is for you $25, you know if that, if you got, for me it's almost more important the number of clicks. Now, of course it's important how much you spend, but if I only got 10 clicks and that was what cost $25. That might not be enough data to say, hey, I need to negate it. So it should be like 2025 clicks, 30 clicks even, or yeah, if you get 30 clicks and you don't get a sale, you're probably not gonna get a sale. And again, all of this can be done right there in atomic, so you don't have to. You know, look at this manual. Amazon is regularly increasing different types of fees and squeezing the profits. Please guide on pricing strategy while remaining in Competition. So so, yeah, this is why you have to have your helium 10 profits Active and connected to your account and be monitoring that, because you've got to really keep an eye on the PPC cost. You know the other fees no, amazon is not charging that much. You know Amazon increases fees, but it's it's pennies that that Amazon increases. Bradley Sutton: If that affects you, you've got bigger problems. All right. If Amazon increasing the fulfillment on something from 73 cents to 81 cents and that kills your bottom line, you've got some other problems. That's different than just Amazon, all right. The one that really affected some people, which I can empathize with, is Amazon doing away with the small and light program that really affected me. That wasn't just a matter of pennies. You know that's like a dollar worth of profit off of our bottom lines a lot of us, you know, if we didn't do anything. So it's very important to make sure that that is. That is a setup. All right, we got one more. Ali is in the green room. We'll bring up Ali to the stage. Ali, how's it going? Hey Brad, how are you Pretty good on yourself? Excellent, yep, go ahead. Ali: So I'm just launching my new product. I just wanted to know that, is it better to launch in the fourth quarter or should I wait till January and then launch it? Because you know, right now the competition is really high and the sales are high, but my budget is not that much. Initially I have the budget, but I'm trying not to spend too much so that I can, you know, learn the game first and then go big. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, it depends. It depends on on on the market. You know like if you've got a product that is still gonna, you know like if you're selling a Christmas tree ornament, well you better launch it now because you know you're not gonna do very well in January. But if it's something that is too expensive to launch now, because the traffic is so high that the amount of sales it's gonna take to get to you to page one is is going to be too much, that's a personal decision. You know you might have to wait. Ali: Yeah, page one, you know there's not a lot of reviews on. The maximum number of reviews are like 100 or 150 or something, but the search volume is a lot and it says not a seasonal product. So I think it would do well in any season. That is the thing. Bradley Sutton: Yes, so those. That's the thing. You have to wait because the other thing is, like you said, maybe the search volume is very high right now, meaning it'll be very expensive to launch, but if this is the window where People have 50 and 75 and 100 reviews, but if you wait until February, everybody now all of a sudden has 400 views, yeah well, it's still gonna be expensive now because it's gonna. It's gonna cost you more to get you know, to get the velocity. So so there's, there's almost no right or wrong answer per se. Ali: Yeah, I mean personally. Bradley Sutton: I have never, ever, waited until Q1 to launch something. If I have something, I have the product in here and it's October, November, I'll go ahead, and I'll go ahead and launch it. Ali: Okay, so can I ask one more question? Okay, I decided to go through the PA 3PL route. You know I'm not I'm not delivering the product directly to Amazon. So I was looking into it and I really can't find some reliable website or somewhere to find 3PL. So do you have any ideas about that? Although that's a very immature question, but I did just try out hubhealyum10.com. Bradley Sutton: So there are some 3PLs there, hub.helium10.com and the Helium 10 users have like reviewed some of them, so I would take a look at the ones, look at the reviews and then go from there. Ali: Okay yeah, okay. Bradley Sutton: Okay, all right. Dan says this listing builder have all the features of screw, but you shouldn't be using. No, nobody, guys should be using scribbles anymore. I don't even know why we have that tool still active, like, like listing builder 100% took it over and it's way better than scribbles, all right. So, yeah, you should only use a listing builder. And if you have trouble syncing the listing Check with support, you know, make sure that you the the SKU that you're editing. All right, make sure that it is the original contribution skew. All right, make sure it's the original contribution skew, otherwise it's not gonna sink. But yeah, when, whenever I have trouble getting a listing updated, usually actually in listing builder, it actually updates better than if I try and do it myself. Bradley Sutton: A real estate Emporium says if our product is selling good, you recommend adding new variations or more products in the same niche. No right or wrong answer here. It's different for everything you got to choose. I've done both ways Before. Where I've added new variations, like a new colors, because I see the demand Sometimes, I'll just, instead of that, I'll launch a new product like, instead of a regular egg tree, a stackable egg shelf. So you can go both ways. That's a beauty about Amazon. All right, guys, that's all the time we have today. I was glad I was able to get to a lot of questions. Sometimes it takes you guys just a little bit to get Loosened up to be able to ask questions. So thank you guys, very much for joining us again. This is something we do every single week for our Serious Sellers Club and Helium 10 Elite members, but once a month we open it up and we repurpose this as a podcast episode. So thank you guys for joining us and we'll see you again next month when we open up this. Ask me anything. Thanks a lot, guys. Have a good rest of your day.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #40 | PPN | How can photographers find their place in the art market? - with Thomas Werner

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 2, 2023 57:36


On this PPN Camera and Inspiration episode, Marco interviewed a photographer, professor of photography, former gallery owner, and consultant for the creative industry, Thomas Werner.  Thomas is also the author of the book. “The Business of Fine Art Photography”.    This show is sponsored by MPB.com: www.MPB.com   Inspirational Photographer of the Month: Thomas picked Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf. From Erin Olaf's biography: “Erwin Olaf is an internationally exhibiting artist whose diverse practice centers around society's marginalized individuals, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019 Olaf became a Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands after 500 works from his oeuvre were added to the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Taco Dibbits, Rijksmuseum director, called Olaf “one of the most important photographers of the final quarter of the 20th century”.”   You can also find out more about Erwin Olaf's amazing work by visiting his website: https://www.erwinolaf.com/art How can photographers find their place in the art market? In the main segment of this show, Thomas gave some valuable tips on how photographers can prepare to enter the art market starting at a local level and how to proceed to pitch their work to galleries. But in order to also be financially successful, you need to treat this as a business and continue to expand your network and customer base through different channels.   If you want to dive deeper into this topic after listening to this episode, you can buy Thomas' book “The Business of Fine Art Photography” here: Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ZFRXfp   Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month - Thomas picked three books:   1. Appearances: Fashion Photography Since 1945 by Martin Harrison An artistic look at the development of fashion photography Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ZDhwxn   2. “The Invisible Dragon” by Dave Hickey A book about the nature of beauty and desire written by an art critic Amazon: https://amzn.to/3rCO663   3. “Air Guitar” by Dave Hickey A fun book with essays about life and art Amazon: https://amzn.to/46crsR4     Links to Thomas Werner: Web: https://www.thomaswernerprojects.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thomaswernerprojects/ Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/  Eigen Energie Wende: https://www.eigenenergiewende.de   Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) which will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: LUMINAR NEO (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? We would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review of our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon
#496 - New Keyword Automation Feature: Workshop And Q&A

Serious Sellers Podcast: Learn How To Sell On Amazon

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2023 35:07


Are your competitors outranking you on Amazon? Discover how Helium 10's brand-new keyword automation feature is your secret weapon to gaining an edge in the Amazon marketplace. Our host, Bradley Sutton, will be your trustworthy guide to navigate you through the intricacies of this game-changing tool that can monitor your competitors' keyword rankings and advertising, saving you tons of time and exposing potential opportunities for your Amazon brand!  As we explore the ins and outs of the new feature, together, we'll dive into the comparisons with Cerebro and discuss the customization options that put you in control. Not only that, but I'll also be answering your burning questions, from setting up competitors and product tables on your Helium 10 Insights Dashboard to finding organic report keywords that have led to sales. And because we value your input, we'll share how you can submit suggestions to Helium 10 to enhance your experience. Here's to bigger, better selling on Amazon! In episode 496 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley talks about: 00:00 - Q&A And Keyword Tool Announcement  03:37 - Suggested Keywords And Insights Dashboard  08:56 - Keyword Tracking and Discovery for Products  12:34 - Upgrade To The Diamond Plan For More Features  17:56 - Setting Up Competitors And Ranking Keywords  21:12 - Replace Keyword Tracker With Insight Settings  25:13 - New Tool For Managing Amazon Refunds  29:05 - Submitting Suggestions To Helium 10  ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup  (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: youtube.com/@Helium10/videos Transcript Bradley Sutton: Today we're answering all of your questions live with our monthly Ask Manny thing feature, plus debuting a brand new Helium 10 tool that's gonna save you hours of time every month by Automagically telling you what new keywords you or your competitors are ranking for that you didn't even know about. How cool is that? Pretty cool, I think. Are you afraid of running out of inventory before your next shipment comes in? Or Maybe you're on the other side and you worry about having too much inventory, which could cap you out at the Amazon warehouses or even cost you storage fees? Stay on top of your inventory by using our robust inventory management tool. You can take advantage of our advanced forecasting algorithms, manage your 3PL inventory, create PO's for your suppliers, create replenishment shipments and more all from inside inventory management by Helium 10. For more information, go to h10.me forward slash inventory management. And don't forget you can sign up for a free Helium 10 account from there, or you can get 10% off for life by using our special podcast code, SSP. Bradley Sutton: Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of the series sellers podcast by Helium 10. I'm your host, Bradley Sutton, and this is the show that is our monthly Ask me anything where I go over like a new tool release or a new feature that maybe you guys haven't had a lot of experience using. That's what I'm gonna be doing today. I think it's gonna be a new feature I'm gonna be showing and then we open up the rest of the show to live questions from the audience. That is about Helium 10 or some, something that maybe you need some help with learning how to use, or maybe you want to know a strategy question that relates to Helium 10. We are going to get to all of your questions today, so let me go ahead and show the Helium 10 project X dashboard. Now I want you guys to be on the child view. I mean you can actually be on any of the views parent, child or skew but just to keep everybody on the same page, everybody click on child for me down here on your table, your product table, okay, and let's go to Keywords here on the right hand side. Hit keywords Right and then, once you do that, actually, first of all we got to make sure you guys have enough Competitors here. Bradley Sutton: So one of the first things I need you guys to do is Open up and just make sure you have competitors, because if you don't have competitors, this is not even gonna work, all right. So, for example, I open, I hit the triangle. All right, a right under the the little icon in the inside stashboard. You're gonna hit that little upside-down triangle to open up the Expansion. And then you're gonna want to hit competitors. All right, and right here you should show your five main Competitors of who you're competing with. And if you see something here and you're not the one who did it, that means Helium 10 is the one who, kind of like, assign your competitors. But you guys know your competitors the best. You can change this if you want. So, like, for example, somebody else on the who's in this account put this bat shelf as my competitor. You know what? I don't think that's my competitor. So I'm gonna hit edit competitors and I'm gonna get rid of that bat shelf and let's add another, coffin shelf, which I know is a better competitor. We'll add this one Right there. Okay, add selected competitors. There we go. All right, so I've got five competitors. So does everybody have competitors? Five competitors once you do. Bradley Sutton: I want you now to hit this new thing that you guys probably didn't even see. It's kind of funny. We don't even have a new, a new little tag on here. I want you to hit suggested keywords, all right. So so Casey asks when are we at in Helium 10? This is your regular dashboard, all right, so this should be on your dashboard, all right. So now, again, just just to show Casey where we're at. I'm on the main dashboard, I scroll down to the my products table and I'm in child view and I am now on keywords, and then now I'm going to hit this button, suggested keywords, all right. So hit suggested keywords, and this is something you need to have a diamond account for to fully get the full access, the competitors you might be able to to actually set up. But, yeah, you need a diamond account to be able to to run this. All right now, take a look here. Now. These are keywords that I believe I'm not tracking yet and what it's doing. This is what's cool, guys. This is what I've always been kind of like. Teasing is going to be coming to. Insights Dashboard is now automatically. We are kind of like running Cerebro in the back end for you, like on a daily and weekly basis, comparing you versus those five competitors that you added, and we are now letting you know. Bradley Sutton: Maybe there's a keyword that your competitor is ranking for newly that you're not. Maybe there's a keyword that they're going to advertise for that you're not, or that we show. Maybe you're not even indexed for. So this is just the start. So the first thing that you have to do hopefully you've done that a long time ago, because I'll show you some other insights that come from having Competitors. But now, once you have the competitors, you've got this suggested Keywords here, all right, and then take a look. This is going to tell you what, where these keywords are coming from. So look at this Gothic wall decor. There's three competitors who are ranking for it, all right, and here's the search volume and then the competitor performance score. This is kind of like a score based on how many competitors are ranking for this keyword and how high they are ranking for it. So, let's say, out of five competitors, all five of them were ranked in the top five. This competitor performance score would be like a 10 out of 10. Bradley Sutton: This is this is nothing new. This is literally directly from a Cerebro. All right, this is directly from Cerebro. What's going on in there? So this is not a new metric or anything right. It's just new that we're automating it for you. Now everybody has their own preference as far as, maybe, what keywords you want automated, like, like, or what keywords you want to have suggested. So what I want everybody to do with me right now is go ahead and go into customized settings. I want everybody to hit customize settings and this is what is going to be the basis of your keyword harvesting, or automation on what you want Helium 10 to inform you about. So you can, for example, put it's gonna check once a week. You could say you want the search volume to be at least 500, or maybe you want to, for whatever reason, put a Mac search volume Like. I don't know why somebody would want to do that, but hey, there might be somebody out there who wants to do that and if you are, if you can, you will go ahead and put a Macs when there the position rank. Bradley Sutton: This is. There's something wrong here. We're gonna change that. This is supposed to be the competitor feature here, so this is gonna be where their rank. All right, so this position rank means your rank. Forget that. This really means the rank of at least one of your competitors. So we'll change the language on this in a little bit, so it's a little bit clearer. Advanced rank filter. These are directly from Cerebro. We're gonna change the language here so it's more easy for you guys to understand. Basically, this means where at least how many of your competitors is ranking for. Remember, you put five competitors there, hopefully, and so you can put a minimum of one and a maximum of five here, right? So maybe you want to see keywords where at least two competitors are ranking high for right this advanced rank filter two or two again, we're gonna change the wording on here so it's a little bit clear. Maybe by the time you're listening to this podcast it'll be ready to go those of you listening to the replay and basically you're putting the rank range. Bradley Sutton: So if I put right here two, advanced rank filter number one, I put a minimum of two and then advanced rank filter two, I put between one and let's just say 25. That means I am telling Helium 10 for automation. I want you to let me know if there is a competitor. At least two out of my five competitors are ranking between one and 25 on page one for the rank. Now I think if you do this position rank, this might be yours, where maybe you're like, hey, maybe I am not. We're gonna change the wording. I know this is very confusing here, because we're just taking the raw data from Cerebro Position rank. I believe this is probably gonna be we're gonna have it here where it's my own rank. Like, hey, maybe I want to know the keywords where I'm not on page one, right, but my competitor is right, it's gonna be very, very customizable what you're gonna be able to do here, and later you're gonna even have the sponsored ranks right here. Okay, like hey, show me where I am sponsored. I am not advertising for this X keyword, but my competitor all of a sudden is at top of search. All right, will automatically get those keywords for you. Bradley Sutton: Now, these keywords are also based on my products. Like you know, you might not have certain keywords that you're tracking, that you are actually ranking for and you didn't even realize it. Like that always happens to me, like when I run Cerebro on my own listing, and you guys probably do too. You're like, wait a minute, sometime this month I was ranked five for this keyword that I didn't even know was relevant to my listing, right? Oh, let me start tracking that. Well, if you wanna start doing that, we're gonna automatically harvest those keywords for you as well and let you know right here. Bradley Sutton: So again, keyword suggestions based on my products. What you wanna put here is your kind of like qualifications here for what keyword. That is going to be All right. Your search volume, where your organic rank is in a certain range, and if you want the word count, you're like, hey, you only wanna see keywords that have at least one word, or at least two words, or three words, or four words. You will be able to do that and then, now, going forward, you're gonna get these suggestions automatically without you having to run Cerebro anymore. And just remember, guys this is something that I hope is already part of your process the manual version of this you should be running Cerebro on your product, like once every two weeks, to find new keywords that you're ranking for. That you didn't realize. You should be running your Cerebro, you versus your top competitors, to see where they are ranking, that you're not or that you need to improve on right. But now, instead of you having to manually run Cerebro and compare reports from last week to this week, et cetera, et cetera, we are automatically doing that for you. And then you are eventually again, if you have the Diamond Plan, you're not only gonna see that down here in the suggestions. You are going to get insights when those triggers happen. Bradley Sutton: Now, let's say you wanted to delete some keywords from this list. You're like, no, I don't need to see this anymore. That's gonna come here under deleted suggestions, ones that you delete. We're gonna definitely kind of like play with this a little bit, based on the feedback, on do you want this just to be snoozed, maybe, or do you want it permanently deleted? We can definitely work, work on that with you guys, but you know we need more of you into this tool, now that it's brand new, and working on it to let us know what kind of view you can get. So this is like something that's super cool. Bradley Sutton: I've been kind of teasing this for a long time that we're going to have this level of of automation where we're doing the heavy lifting for you. And then this is just the beginning, guys. I mean anything that you are doing in Cerebro and magnet and and you know, black box, just imagine those things us doing the work for you and just delivering the results. It's like you, you know, using Helium 10 almost as your virtual assistant, where we just deliver the results to you and you don't have to do the manual labor yourself anymore. So I want everybody listening to this podcast or listening to this live feed to go in number one. Bradley Sutton: Those of you with a diamond plan, and I hope you can see this If you have a platinum plan, you need to upgrade already yesterday to diamond to be able to get some of these features, like the historical Cerebro and now this, where we're even doing the Cerebro for you. But, by the way, I should probably throw a coupon If you guys are interested to try out the diamond plan. I'm not sure if this coupon code is going to work, but the one that for sure works is SSP10. So SSP10 gives you 10% off the diamond plan If you want 20% off for six months. I almost don't want to give this coupon code out because I don't think it's a good deal. But you can do SSP20 and save 20% off for six months. The reason why I don't think is a good deal is because after that now you can't use a coupon for like a year, and so it's going to end up being more expensive anyway. So I suggest just using the SSP10 and then try out the diamond plan so you can give this a try. Bradley Sutton: But I want you guys all working on this and hopefully you can see the value Now. You're going to know, hey, where's your competitors getting sales from on keywords that maybe you didn't even have on your radar, where are your competitors focusing their PPC spend that you didn't even realize, and you're going to see which ones your index for. Like, I don't think the index checker is working yet. This is something that's completely in beta, but, as you can see, there's going to be a column here where maybe you're like, wait a minute, gothic wall decor, I am not index for this keyword, so it might give you an indication that, hey, I need to probably get my, you know, get my indexing fixed on this keyword in the in the first place. Alright, alright. Bradley Sutton: So now for the rest of the show. This is going to be your show, guys, where you can ask me any questions, and let me go ahead and go back up and see what kind of questions we have. Remember, it could be questions about this. It could be questions about any tool in Helium 10 or how to do something. That's why I'm here to help. Like once a month, we actually make this open to everybody, but this is something we do actually every week in our Serious Sellers Club group of the six, seven and eight figure sellers. But once a month we go ahead and open this up to everybody and put this on the podcast so you guys can all benefit. Bradley Sutton: Alright, let's see. I saw an older video where you mentioned that subject matter would post in Seller Central. Even if you can post it, can't post it manually on the listing. Is that still the case? For very few categories now Amazon has taken it out of a lot of character. I actually announced and I was mistaken, I thought Amazon took it, took it out of every category, just because of all my listings, like in in the home and kitchen, had it taken away. But I was just on a call, like three days ago, with somebody who's selling in the jewelry category I believe jewelry or accessories, clothing and accessories category and they had subject matter right there and they were able to definitely update it with Helium 10 listing builders. So there might be some, some categories where you still have access to the subject matter, right? Bradley Sutton: Another question here from Rashid Dear Bradley, do you know how to find organic report words that made sales? Alright, so in Helium 10, what we have is that's exactly kind of like what this is for. Alright, what I would, I just demonstrate because you know in Cerebro. You know, first of all, you don't know the exact organic sales that come from keywords outside of about 30 to 40 percent that show up in search query performance. Okay, so the ones that show in search query performance, you usually about 30 percent of your search sales. That's because it's those sales that happen within 24 hours. So you can kind of see there and that's going to come to Helium 10 eventually once Amazon opens that up in the API. Bradley Sutton: But the more holistic way you can get it done right now I've seen more keywords is just looking at the keywords for somebody's like in the top 10 positions and the search volume is like more than five or six hundred, because it's usually you're. You didn't get to that position unless you had some, some sales that were coming from organic search, right, and so that's just one of the ways that you can find out which keywords are bringing sales to a competitor is by looking at their organic rank for the higher search volume Keywords, which is what you've historically been able to do in Cerebro and now you can do on the inside dashboard. All right, tomer says. Tomer says what does it mean based on my product? Does it mean that the keyword improved in ranking? No, so, for example, you're already tracking keywords, probably in keyword tracker, and if one of your keywords goes up or down, you know we'll let you know based on that insight, like like you've already had that. We've had that for like three months where if a keyword goes up by a certain percentage that you specify or goes down, we'll give you a message. But there's other keywords that you might not be tracking already in keyword tracker because you didn't realize they're important. And so what you do is you specify the insight to let you know when you are ranking highly for a keyword that you were not tracking already, and then you specify exactly what you wanna see, or when you wanna see that happen, like if it's a minimum X number of search volume, if it's within a certain rank range or it's just ranking at all, you wanna get a notification on. You set that and then we'll send that as an insight and then you can choose to either track it or ignore it in your keyword tracker. Bradley Sutton: Dennis says how do you set up competitors for your products? All right, let me just show that to you one more time here On your Insights Dashboard. You go down to your products page, Dennis, all right, and then you hit competitors okay, and then you either have to do edit competitors if there is none here, or add competitors if there's none, or edit competitors here and then you choose which ones you want to use right here and that'll give you the competitors. Dennis, all right. It says I have a listing that shows I am ranked on many keywords in the top five. By the way, everybody, whatever you're watching this on, help the algorithm out. Give it a like, give it a thumbs up or a like or a super like or something on Facebook, YouTube or LinkedIn, whatever you're watching this, just to help the algorithms out. Anyways, Facebook user says I have a listing that shows I am ranked on many keywords in the top five. Bradley Sutton: When I click the arrow to show the search through Amazon, none of my listings really show up. Suggestions on why? Well, you've got to make sure that you are, first of all, like. If you're outside of the country, make sure that you have a zip code that is inside of the marketplace you are looking at Like. So, if you're tracking Amazon Germany, you've got to make sure that your regular Amazon, you know, shows Germany, just to make sure that you're indexed, all right, and also to make sure that you are looking at the right search results and, at the end of the day, what you see in Keyword Tracker, if you see it fluctuating a lot, you need to turn on boost, because boost checks different browsing scenarios. Bradley Sutton: It checks different addresses, it checks, you know, like if you're logged in, logged off. It checks a whole bunch of different browsing scenarios, cause, remember, you could be showing up differently based on where the person is searching, what kind of browser they're using, et cetera. So to turn on boost, we're checking 24 times a day all those different browsing scenarios and if on your computer it's showing that you're not ranked, I guarantee what you'll see on boost is some of those checks. It'll be a blank, meaning that, yeah, sometimes you're just not showing up in the search results. All right, we're gonna bring somebody up from the green room here with a question How's it going, Josh? Josh: had mentioned about being able to see how competitors are targeting it using PPC. Is there anything PPC specific in the tool that I missed when you were walking through it, or how can we? Bradley Sutton: Yeah, it's not that part is coming, so the first phase one is we're showing you the organic rank. Phase two, which will be coming soon, probably next week or the week after, is the same exact thing that I showed you guys on the organic rank. There will be a separate settings where you're gonna be like show me in the sponsored rank where I'm ranking or not ranking per se on this keyword in sponsored, but my competitor or X number of my competitors are all ranking for it. Josh: Because I was gonna say that being able to see sponsored next to organic is helpful for our own, but to be able to see that for other teams, yes, yeah, so it's gonna be yeah, we start with the organic and then we'll be doing the sponsored next. Bradley Sutton: Cool thanks. Josh: Thanks, Bradley. Bradley Sutton: All right, no problem. Edison from YouTube says will this function replace the keyword tracker tool? It doesn't necessarily replace it, but it kind of does the work for you. So instead of having to go I didn't show this function today because it's already been there, remember you know what I'll just go ahead and show it right now. So, Edison, what you can do for the keywords here. This is actually showing my keywords that I'm tracking in keyword tracker. All right, so it's actually right here on the dashboard, like I technically don't have to go into keyword tracker. So in that sense, I guess you can kind of consider it replaces a little bit, but I still like going into keyword tracker. Bradley Sutton: But the beauty about this is you set up the insights, all right, so that instead of having whether it's on keyword tracker or whether it's here in the Insights Dashboard, instead of having to go every day and check this, you set your insight to trigger when. Let me show you where that settings is here. Hold on insight settings. Let me show it here keyword types. All right, you're gonna hit insight settings, you're gonna hit keywords and then you're gonna hit the three insight types and then, when the organic keyword drops or your sponsored rank drops or your keyword suggestions based on competitors, and you can actually customize that by hitting the settings here for your competitors. All right, so you can actually get the information. And it looks like it's not customizable. Yeah, I thought it was. I'm pretty sure there's a way to customize it of when you get an insight that your organic keyword drops or raises, that's gonna be the new one that's gonna come up to when your organic rank increases, like maybe you were on page two, you wanna know when you get on page one, et cetera okay. Bradley Sutton: Hope the answer is your question, Edison, all right. Colby says will Helium 10 ever be accessible via API? Could be, again, pretty much, I think for some of our larger customers they have API access for, like enterprise customers. If it's something that will be available on the backend for just any platinum or diamond or elite member, that's to be determined if that's gonna be available. But just like I told people who are asking for the KSA marketplace, you gotta let your voice be heard. So make sure to submit a suggestion in Helium 10's dashboard of say, hey, we would love to have API access. All right, let's keep going here. Bradley Sutton: Miko Lodge says will Helium 10 have listing builder for UAE? I sell in the USA and UAE would make it awesome to be able to redo my UAE listings in the listing builder. Yes, that is coming. I actually have that available in my Helium 10, but I don't think it's available to everybody yet. So that's coming imminently where it's not gonna be too much. I mean you can technically do that, miko Lodge. Now, all right, listing builder Like build your listing for UAE because it's English. It's still English and you would just put your UAE keywords in there. But the real benefit is gonna be once we have it open for Japan, for example, like you maybe ran Cerebro for Japanese keywords, right, but you don't have the slightest sense on how to create a Japanese listing, even though you have the keywords, because you don't speak Japanese. Well, now, soon you'll be able to push a button and create a Spanish listing for Amazon Mexico, create a Japanese listing for Amazon Japan, et cetera. So that's definitely coming for you, and I would assume that would include UAE as well. But if, for some reason, uae is not showing up on the listing builder dropdown, just send that to customer support and maybe they haven't released it yet and just ask them when that's gonna be released. Bradley Sutton: All right, let's say Rasha is asking a question about Amazon refunds. We'll have to check on that. We're gonna keep this to like the Helium 10 related questions here. Now we have a new refunds tool that actually is gonna go out and look Like if somebody is asking for a refund outside of the window I personally don't know what that window is, I thought it was 30 days that Amazon customers can do a refund and then, if Amazon refunds them outside of the 30 days, I believe we've got the new refunds tool that will go out and make a case. So if you guys are interested to get in on that service, let me show you. I don't have the exact link right here, but let me just show you guys how to find that. On our website you just go to the Helium 10 dashboard, go to tools and go to operations, and then you're gonna wanna hit managed refund service. All right, so that's different than refund genie, where you have to file everything. Go to manage refund service and get a free demo of it, and with this tool you're going to be able you're going to be able to stuff that has to do with Amazon logistics and all kinds of different scenarios where Amazon might owe you money, including what you were talking about, where Amazon might have refunded a customer when they weren't supposed to. We'll be able to go ahead and show that for you. All right, let's keep going here, all right. Facebook user another person who did not click the link so I can't see their name. Bradley Sutton: So, since we're talking keywords, one of my competitors is Amazon's Choice for 16 keywords with a total search volume of about 72,000. That seems like excessive favoritism. Will they ever level the playing field? Well, I mean, first of all, like Amazon's Choice is always changing. Like they're doing tests now where instead of Amazon's Choice it'll say overall pick. Like maybe you guys have seen that sometimes. I don't think it's favoritism at all. Like they, amazon definitely has a formula. How that formula works nobody can tell you because sometimes it makes zero sense, right. Like I've seen an Amazon's Choice in the coffin shelf be one that I know is not even getting sales for coffin shelf. Literally it's not getting sales for coffin shelf. Even the Amazon data will say it and somehow it gets Amazon's Choice. So I don't think anybody knows what the formula is, but they do have a formula and I don't think it's favoritism necessarily. That's actually why Amazon has been doing some of those changes they've been doing because they're trying to not show favoritism. They've been trying to show the reviews in a different way so that maybe some of the older sellers who have tens of thousands of reviews they don't have as much advantage. The older sellers, they hate that new way that reviews are showing sometimes because it takes away their advantage, right. So Amazon's trying different things but I don't think Amazon's showing favoritism per se. Bradley Sutton: Ryan says Helium 10 Sell and Scale was epic. Any plans for another? Oh, yeah, for sure. We wanna do something with Sell-In Scale. We couldn't do one this year or around this time because, as you saw, amazon did Amazon Accelerate this month and they've got Unboxed right after that and like there was like a million events around this time, which is when we had done Sell-In Scale last year massively successful, and we definitely wanna do something for Sell-In Scale soon, potentially maybe some different continent We'll have to see about that, you know might take the Sell-In Scale show on the road, as it were. Bradley Sutton: Another user says "'How can you submit suggestions to Helium 10?” Great question. Let me show you exactly how to do that. Go to the top, and where is it". I think it's right. Oh yeah, right up here. This button here. Okay, first of all, guys, this is something that you might not have seen before. This is powered by AI. Instead of always looking at the, instead of always opening up a chat down here, hit this button and you can ask questions like like, watch this. I don't even know if this is gonna work, because this is brand new. I'm gonna say how can I check what keywords my competitors are ranking for? Let's see if that even works. All right, and if I do that, what's gonna come up? Let's see. Watch this fail on me just because AI doesn't like me, cause I always bad mouth AI. Oh no, there, it is right there. Look at that. To check what keywords your competitors are ranking for. Bradley Sutton: Use Helium 10 Cerebro. Here are the steps. So, guys, yeah, this is pretty cool, but anyways, right here at the top, before you hit AI or before you ask AI a question, this comes up and one of the options says I have an idea I want to share with Healing10. That's what you guys click. And then, hey, I want to have the KSA marketplace. Hey, I want to have API, like you guys said. Hey, I wanna have sponsored ads faster and in Insights Dashboard, whatever you guys want, hit that button. So again, just to show you where it was, on the very top of your screen, right to the right of what's new, there is this like kind of like a magnifying glass, or I don't know. This is not a magnifying glass, it's kind of like it has stars on it, mixed with a magnifying glass. Bradley Sutton: Just hit that and then that's how you can find that button. All right, question from YouTube. I don't know why this is turning into an Amazon or a Helium 10 suggestion. It's not me. You guys should be doing this to you. You should be submitting it over there, but we'll discuss it here. Modar says I'm tracking competitors on X or in a daily basis for changes and reviews BSR active sellers and I have a dream that, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, Modar, you can do this. Modar says again let me read the question for the people listening to this and who can't see it I'm tracking competitors on a daily basis for changes and reviews BSR active sellers and I have a dream that one day, Helium 10 can do this for me. I'm gonna bring Josh back up to this stage. I'm gonna give him a quick quiz here. All right, Josh, you're a power of Helium 10 user. Did you or did you not know that Modar can actually do this already? Josh: You can do it using markets. Bradley Sutton: Yeah, Market Tracker is definitely one, but there's a easier way. Even Do you know about that one? But yeah, you mentioned something I didn't. I wasn't even thinking about it Like Modar, you should definitely do that. On Market Tracker, you add your competitors to your market. You can definitely see their BSR changes and things of that. Josh is thinking all right, all right, josh and Modar are gonna learn something right now. Here we go, guys. All right, let's go to the Insights Dashboard Once you're tracking your competitors, which is what I showed you, guys, how to do today. It's not just for the keywords. All right, guys, we are going to show you what is all of these things. If something changes, not only if their BSR changes, but if their monthly sales, like, drastically change, get this. If all of a sudden, they add a coupon like some of us like to check our competitors like oh man, my competitor added a 10% coupon, I better go ahead and add a 10% coupon too. We're gonna let you know. So if you are tracking competitors in your Insights Dashboard, Modar, all you have to do is set up your insight and you will know if any of those things have changed and you no longer have to track that next, right, like you're saying every day. Bradley Sutton: And then Jake here mentioned another tool. So Josh Menzin, Market Tracker. Jake mentioned Listing Analyzer. Yes, listening analyzer too. You can track that, but still you have to like click stuff right With Insights Dashboard. You just set it up. That's the beauty about Insights Dashboard. It's about automation right, instead of you having to click stuff and you do the heavy work. We live in 2023. So heavy work is considered three clicks of a mouse. That's heavy work for a lot of people. I understand. Time is money, but instead of you having to do that heavy work, we're doing that work for you. And look at this Modar says can you believe that I used to do this tracking for over 40 ASINs? This is a lifesaver. All right, I'm gonna bring back Josh for one more quiz or one more question. All right, Josh, instead of saying wow, can you believe that, I would say how cool is that? And then you would say Josh: I don't know where you went, but pretty cool, I think. Bradley Sutton: There we go. Josh got that. I know he's a podcast listener. All right, so, Modar, instead of saying wow, can you believe that? The phrase goes how cool? Is that? Pretty cool, I think. All right, cool. Any last questions for the day, guys, again, just to recap, we went over adding competitors to your Insights Dashboard and setting up the setting so that you can get insights which are coming next week on the key actions that are happening on your keywords, so that you no longer have to run Cerebro once every week or once every two weeks. You no longer have to check Cerebro on your own product to see if you're ranking for new keywords that you didn't realize. We're doing all of that work for you, unparalleled in this industry where you have that kind of automation. So really great that the team added that and I hope you guys get a lot of benefit from that and all right. Well, guys, thank you so much for joining us. Bradley Sutton: Again, if you are a Serious Sellers Club member, look out for your email. You get invited every week. Or if you're an elite member, elite members and Serious Sellers Club members get access to this. If you're wondering how you become a Serious Sellers Club member, you are automatically a Serious Sellers Club member if you have had over $500,000 worth of sales in the last year and you are on a Helium 10 account that's connected to your Amazon account. If you're not getting these emails, make sure to reach out to support and they'll hook you up with the private Facebook group that we have for it and then get you in there right away. We do this every single week, usually on Mondays, and then once a month, like this time, we do an extra one that goes out on the podcast. So thank everybody for tuning in and we will see you, Serious Sellers Club members, next week and the rest of you guys at the end of October. Have a great rest of your week. Bye-bye now.

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Camera and Inspiration #39 | PPN | How we deal with change in photography with Valérie Jardin

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 30, 2023 58:15


On this PPN Camera and Inspiration episode, Marco interviewed French-born photographer Valérie Jardin. She is probably best known for her street photography, and she has workshops in many places all over the world, she is also a photo book author.   This show is sponsored by MPB.com: www.MPB.com Inspirational Photographer of the Month: Valérie picked Saul Leiter who is a constant inspiration for her. Next to his fantastic photo books, Valérie also talked about a film documentary about Saul Leiter, which she highly recommends anyone to see. The Documentary is called: “In no great hurry” and it can be rented or purchased here: http://innogreathurry.com/.   You can also find out more about Saul Leiter's work by visiting his foundation website: https://www.saulleiterfoundation.org/ Change in photography and how we deal with it: In the main segment of this show, Valérie explained how she has been dealing with and embracing change in her photography career. She talks about how she switched from commercial- to street photography, to teaching workshops, and how she has dealt with starting and ending her active podcasting career. Marco also took some notes on how Valéries' “worry less and do what you love” approach could fit into his future photography career. Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: Valérie's pick: “The Business of Fine Art Photography” by Thomas Werner.   From the publisher's description: “This guide for aspiring and exhibiting photographers alike combines practice and concept to provide a roadmap to navigating and succeeding in the fine art photography marketplace locally, domestically, and internationally.” The book is published by Bloomsbury Academic and has 251 pages Amazon: https://amzn.to/44xJfAo   German Street Photography Festival at PHOTOPIA  that Marco mentioned:  German Street Photography Festival is a part of PHOTOPIA 21. - 24. September 2023 (Hamburg, Germany) https://www.photopia-hamburg.com/en/ Links to Valérie Jardin: Web: https://valeriejardinphotography.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valeriejardin/ Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/  Eigen Energie Wende: https://www.eigenenergiewende.de   Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) which will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: LUMINAR NEO (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review of our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #38 | PPN | Water People Stories - The creation process for meaningful photo projects with Dr. Pia Parolin

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 27, 2023 60:18


On this PPN Camera and Inspiration episode, Marco interviewed the biologist, photographer, and author Dr. Pia Parolin on the show. Pia has published different books in the field of biology and in the field of photography. With her latest photo project “Water People Stories”, she uses the access and skills that she has in both professions, to make her scientific work more accessible to the broad public.   This show is sponsored by MPB.com: www.MPB.com   Inspirational Photographer of the Month: Pia picked Russian-born American photographer Anastasia Samoylova. Anastasia's work revolves around environmentalism, consumerism, and the picturesque. She has exhibited her work in many museums worldwide. She has also published several photo books with some of the finest publishers in the industry. You can find out more about Anastasia Samoylova's work by visiting her website: https://www.anasamoylova.com/ Water People Stories - The creation process for meaningful photo projects: In the main segment of this show, Pia shared how she started her latest photo project “Water People Stories” - the project combines her work and skills as a scientist in wetland ecology and as a photographer for street- and documentary photography. Pia realized that scientists are often good at communicating their results amongst themselves. But they are usually not that good at communicating it outside the scientific world. Pia wants to change that with her new photo project, where she combines her scientific experience and access with her photography. In this project, she wants to tell individual stories about people all around the world, and how water impacts their daily lives. For those people who live in urban spaces, access to water is taken for granted. But that is not the case for people all around the world, and climate change and global warming may have a negative impact on the water supply for many more people in the future.  Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: Pia's pick: “Floridas by Anastasia Samoylova". From the publisher's description: “Evans witnessed modern Florida emerging in the 1930s, with its blend of cultures, waves of tourism, stark beauty, and blatant vulgarity. He photographed there until the 1970s, making Polaroids that still feel contemporary. Samoylova inherits what Evans saw coming. With intelligence and humor, she picks her way through the seductions and disappointments of a place that symbolizes the contradictions of the United States today. In Floridas, photographs by Samoylova and Evans are presented in parallel, weaving past and present, switching between black-and-white and color imagery…” The book is published by Steidel and has 192 pages Amazon: https://amzn.to/471qfwR Photo Festivals that Marco and Pia mentioned:   German Street Photography Festival is a part of PHOTOPIA 21. - 24. September 2023 (Hamburg, Germany) https://www.photopia-hamburg.com/en/   Regensburg Festival of Photography 23. - 26. November 2023 (Regensburg, Germany) https://festival-fotografischer-bilder.de/   Open Your Eyes Zurich from September 8. - October 15. 2023 (Zurich, Switzerland) https://openyoureyesfestival.photo/de/ Links to Pia Parolin: Web: https://www.piaparolin.com/ Instagram: @piaparolinphoto YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCha1UoRqcGOud_W_cyJCFjQ Facebook: pia.parolin   Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/  Eigen Energie Wende: https://www.eigenenergiewende.de   Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) which will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link. Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: LUMINAR NEO (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings) And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review of our shows on iTunes. About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #37 | PPN | How to publish your photo book with Martin U Waltz

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2023 43:43


On this PPN Camera and Inspiration episode, Marco interviewed the photographer, author, and educator Martin U Waltz on the show. Martin has published three different photo books with three different publishers in the past 12 months and shared his different experiences and tips as a photographer about the process of photo book publishing.   Martin was also on the previous PPN Camera and Inspiration podcast episode #28, where he shared tips on how to get your photos into a photo exhibition. You can go back and listen to this episode here: https://www.photopodcasts.com/podcasts/camera-and-inspiration-28-ppn-how-to-get-your-photos-into-an-exhibition-with-martin-u-waltz This show is sponsored by MPB.com: www.MPB.com Inspirational Photographer of the Month: Martin picked Tunesion-born photographer Skander Khlif. Skander is a documentary photographer who is based in Munich, Germany. He describes his work as “documenting life in public space by telling stories while retaining a note of mystery.” Martin is very impressed by Skanders work, whom he describes as a wanderer between worlds and cultures with a vast portfolio of extremely creative and well-composed images. You can find out more about Skander Khlif's work by visiting his website: https://skanderkhlif.com/stories How to get your photo book published: In the main segment of this show, Martin shared valuable information and different approaches on how to get your photo book published by a publisher. His information is based on the different photo books that he has published with different publishing houses in the past and covers the main steps from the photo book idea, selecting and contacting publishers, to the writing and photo selection process. Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: Martin's pick: “Harry Gruyaert” Photographs by Harry Gruyaert. Martin picked the photo book: “Harry Gruyaert” by Magnum photographer Harry Gruyaert. From the publisher's description: “Born in Antwerp in 1941 and a member of Magnum Photos since 1982, Harry Gruyaert revolutionized creative and experimental uses of color in the 1970s and 1980s. Influenced by cinema and American photographers, his work defined new territory for color photography: an emotive, non-narrative, and boldly graphic way of perceiving the world… …Gruyaert's images are autonomous, often independent of any context or thematic logic. This volume, the first retrospective of his work, is a superb overview of his personal quest for freedom of expression and the liberation of the senses.”  The book is published by Thames & Hudson and has 144 pages Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NuuU1b   Marco also mentioned the three books, that Martin has recently published and talked about on the show:   Streetfotografie made in Germany 357 pages in German, published by Rheinwerk Verlag Amazon: https://amzn.to/46vIk5K   Next Level Streetfotografie: 256 pages in German, published by dpunkt Verlag Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NvwW1g   Berlin Unseen: 208 pages in English and German, published by teNeues Verlag Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PEBrsT   Links to Martin U Waltz: Web: https://www.StreetBerlin.net    Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/  Eigen Energie Wende: https://www.eigenenergiewende.de   Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) which will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: LUMINAR NEO (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review of our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.  

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #36 | PPN | Motivation to start new photo projects with Sean Tucker

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2023 53:00


On this PPN Camera and Inspiration episode, Marco invited the inspiring photographer, author, and YouTuber Sean Tucker who has been on Marco's interview wishlist the longest and who has been requested to be a guest the most by PPN listeners. Sean was invited to this show because Marco had the feeling, that we all could use an inspirational jump-start right now, to get our creativity going and to either level up on current projects or to get inspired to start new photo projects.   This show is sponsored by MPB.com: www.MPB.com Inspirational Photographer of the Month: Sean picked Canadian-born photographer Joey Lawrence (Joey L.). Sean is impressed by how tasteful Joey creates his portraits and how meaningful his work is. Joey has some personal projects like the tribes of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia, the guerrilla fighters of Kurdistan, and Holy Men in India, where he mixes natural light and strobes to create very striking images. You can find out more about Joey L.'s work by visiting his website: http://joeyl.com Here are some behind-the-scenes videos of the three photo projects:: http://joeyl.com/onset/videos Motivation to pick up your camera and start new photo projects: In the main segment of this show, Sean shared different approaches to get in the right mindset to think about new projects or to level up on existing projects. Making friends with change and “embracing the suck” is part of the process, that helps us to explore and expand our mental, creative, and technical mindset for future photo projects. Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: Sean's pick: “BYWAYS” Photographs by Roger A. Deakins. Sean is inspired by Rager A. Deakins as he is one of his favorite cinematographers who has done some of the most beautiful films of the last 20 years. Deakins' photos in this book are from rural North Devon and the neighboring seaside dating back as far as 1971. Sean likes the way Deakins frames his images with the same eye that he has when he composes his movies - but without the famous actors and lighting setup.  So it is like the purest version of his vision to Sean. The book is published by Thames & Hudson and has 160 pages Amazon US: amzn.to/43eROAq Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/43DNURv Marco's pick: “The Meaning in the Making (A Philosophy - for the Creative Life)” by Sean Tucker.   Author's description: This book contains personal stories interwoven with the psychological, philosophical, and spiritual practices which help me stay a mentally healthy, inspired, and motivated "maker of things." I may be known first and foremost as a photographer, but this book has been written for anyone who makes anything; from filmmakers to musicians, and from painters to writers. So, no matter what your chosen creative outlet is, this book is for you. The book is published by rocky nook and has 328 pages   rocky nook (English version): https://rockynook.com/shop/print/the-meaning-in-the-making/#   Amazon Germany (German version): https://amzn.to/3C07hZh   Audiobook (English) version: https://www.seantucker.photography/store/the-meaning-in-the-making-audiobook Links to Sean Tucker: Web: https://www.seantucker.photography  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seantuck/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seantuckerphoto  Twitter: https://twitter.com/seantuck  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/seantuckerphoto     Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/  Eigen Energie Wende: https://www.eigenenergiewende.de   Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) which will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: LUMINAR NEO (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review of our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #35 | PPN | AI and Toy Photography a fun discussion with Scott Bourne

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2023 57:40


After a longer than anticipated break, Marco invited back his friend and PPN co-founder Scott Bourn to the 6. PPN birthday anniversary show. They did some catching up on what they had been up to since the last episode aired and then covered Scott's new photo genre “toy photography” which later transitioned into covering the good, the bad and the implications that Ai photography may have on the industry and society.   This show is sponsored by MPB.com: www.MPB.com Inspirational Photographer of the Month:   Scott picked Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto (born 1948 in Tokyo). Scott is particularly impressed that Hiroshi Sugimoto has reinvented himself and his photography many times and always became a true master at the genres that he worked at. Sugimoto has won many international photo awards and exhibited his work in museums and galleries around the world. You can find out more about Hiroshi Sugimoto by visiting his website: https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com   Here is a video interview where Hiroshi Sugimoto talks about his diorama work: https://youtu.be/q9GiyPbLYPg Toy Photography and some pros and Cons of the Development of AI in Photography.   In the main segment, Scott explained how he got into toy photography and shared some insights on his pre- and post-production approach for his impressive photos. In his process, Scott also saw lots of advantages to partially using AI in his post-processing workflow and has since embraced it and pushed his work to new frontiers. This led to an interesting discussion between Marco and Scott on the recent developments of AI in photography and how this may influence the photo industry and society in the future. Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: “Conceptual Forms and Mathematical Models” by Hiroshi Sugimoto.   Scott was so inspired by the work of Hirosho Sugimoto, that he also picked his book: “Conceptual Forms and Mathematical Models”. The photos in this book show the degree of perfection that Hiroshi Sugimoto strives for in his images. Capturing still life forms in technical perfection while creating interesting museum art is what can be learned from the images in this book. The book is published by: Hatje Cantz; Illustrated Edition (24. March 2015) 96 Pages   Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/41DHb9y   Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3olvHZB Links to Scott Bourne: Web: http://toyphotographs.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bourne.scott/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottbourne  Vero: vero.co/scottbourne   Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/  Eigen Energie Wende: https://www.eigenenergiewende.de   Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) which will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: LUMINAR NEO (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review of our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

The Human Risk Podcast
Kirsten Morehouse on Stereotypes

The Human Risk Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2022 66:23


How can stereotypes — particularly those relating to gender and ethnicity — drive us to draw the wrong conclusions? If I say the word American, you're more likely to think of a white person. If I say the word Doctor, you're more likely to think of a man. There's a famous riddle involving a surgeon (link below) that you may have heard, which has an obvious answer that we often struggle to find. Obviously, that is, if you look beyond stereotypes. It's something that my guest Kirsten Morehouse has researched. Kirsten is a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, with a secondary field in Data Science, where she works under the supervision of Professor Mahzarin Banaji . Kirsten is also the co-president of Harvard's Women in Psychology (WiP). She uses behavioural and computational methods to study humans' attitudes and beliefs about social groups, especially beliefs that conflict with consciously held values or ground-truth data. I'm interested in this subject because although stereotypes — like other forms of bias — can serve a useful purpose, or at least did for our ancestors — they can also drive very poor decision-making. If we want to mitigate human risk and get the best out of people, we need to recognise where inaccurate stereotypes cloud our judgement.To learn more about Kirsten and her research, visit her website: https://kirstenmorehouse.wordpress.com/ To read the surgeon riddle research we referred to on the show: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2022.100044 For more on her colleague Tessa Charlesworth: https://tessaescharlesworth.wordpress.com/ To learn more about Caroline Criado Perez and her book ‘Invisible Women' - https://carolinecriadoperez.com/To pre-order my book ‘Humanizing Rules: Bringing BeSci to Ethics & Compliance' visit:
Direct from the publisher US: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Humanizing+Rules%3A+Bringing+Behavioural+Science+to+Ethics+and+Compliance-p-9781394177400Direct from the publisher DE/CH/AU: https://www.wiley-vch.de/de?option=com_eshop&view=product&isbn=9781394177400&title=Humanizing%20RulesDirect from the publisher UK: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Humanizing+Rules%3A+Bringing+Behavioural+Science+to+Ethics+and+Compliance-p-9781394177400Amazon US : https://www.amazon.com/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?Amazon Germany : https://www.amazon.de/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?

TheOutliersInn's podcast
Episode-78; Holi-DAZE

TheOutliersInn's podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2022 43:18


Video Version https://vimeo.com/theoutliersinn/holi-daze About the Podcast This episode of The Outliers Inn finds the hosts, JP and Mule, a bit dazed and confused from the very start; as in, who's going to start?! holi-daze JP starts by sharing that the year went by in a flash because of engagements and travel and this has left him a bit Holi-DAZED coming into the end of the year. This includes having to fight the horde on Thanksgiving Sunday and spending his 60th birthday in an airport hotel awaiting a return to Frankfurt (but at least the good folks at Saison at Newark Airport made a kind birthday gesture). Mule shares that he won't travel from Thanksgiving through the New Year unless a dire emergency. The conversation turns from travel to that seasonal sport; gift shopping. JP postulates that “women shop, guys buy” going back to pre-history when the women foraged, and the men hunted. As such, JP has relied heavily (exclusively) on Amazon-Germany for his Holiday shopping (bonus that you can buy all manner of legal beverages on Amazon-Germany). Come give a listen and enjoy a hot toddy as you do…

The Human Risk Podcast
Hilary Sutcliffe on Trust

The Human Risk Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2022 58:23


What do we mean when we say we trust a person or an organisation? It's a word we use a lot that we intuitively understand. Trust plays a vital part in how we interact with others. If we trust someone, we're more likely to engage with them. If we don't, we might avoid engaging them or expend extra effort in keeping an eye on what they're up to. But what makes a person or organisation trustworthy? Does it matter as much as we might think, and what does the presence or absence of trust do to us? My guest Hilary Sutcliffe has been exploring trust for several years, so she's ideally placed to answer these questions and a whole lot more. Hillary is the director of Society Inside, a not-for-profit that supports responsible innovation. She's also the founder of TIG Tech - a group that promotes the idea of trust in governance for tech companies.In our discussion, we look at what trust is, why it matters, what the seven key drivers of Trust are, how trust plays out when it comes to technology and innovation and a whole lot more.You can learn more about Hilary and her work at Society Inside here: https://www.societyinside.com/ Hilary's LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilary-sutcliffe-01235220/For more on TIGTech and Hilary's work on trust in technology - https://www.tigtech.org/aboutHilary's YouTube channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/@SocietyInside/videosOn the show, we discuss: Rutger Bregman's book Humankind - https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/humankind-9781408898956/The Inter-American Development Bank Report on Trust: https://www.iadb.org/en/news/more-trust-will-power-stronger-recovery-latin-america-and-caribbean-idb-report The Edelman Trust Barometer: https://www.iadb.org/en/news/more-trust-will-power-stronger-recovery-latin-america-and-caribbean-idb-reportBaroness Onora O'Neill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onora_O%27NeillDoctor Roger Miles: https://www.drrmiles.com/aboutRoger previously appeared on the show: https://www.humanriskpodcast.com/dr-roger-miles-on-conduct/Pierre Benoit Jamie - https://ifris.org/en/membre/joly-pierre-benoit/Matthew Syed's Book Rebel Ideas - https://www.matthewsyed.co.uk/book/rebel-ideas-the-power-of-diverse-thinking/To pre-order my book ‘Humanizing Rules: Bringing BeSci to Ethics & Compliance' visit:
Direct from the publisher US: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Humanizing+Rules%3A+Bringing+Behavioural+Science+to+Ethics+and+Compliance-p-9781394177400Direct from the publisher DE/CH/AU: https://www.wiley-vch.de/de?option=com_eshop&view=product&isbn=9781394177400&title=Humanizing%20RulesDirect from the publisher UK: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Humanizing+Rules%3A+Bringing+Behavioural+Science+to+Ethics+and+Compliance-p-9781394177400Amazon US : https://www.amazon.com/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?Amazon Germany : https://www.amazon.de/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?

The Human Risk Podcast
Professor Aaron Ahuvia on Why We Love Things

The Human Risk Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2022 63:27


Why is it that when we really like an object, brand or activity, we say that we ‘love' it? How can we fall in love with brands, things and experiences?I'm an Apple fanboy, I love my Peloton bike, and given the time of year, it would be remiss of me not to mention how much I really like Christmas markets in Germany.What's happening when I feel that way? On the face of it, this doesn't exactly make much sense. Fortunately, it's something my guest can help us with. Based at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Aaron Ahuvia is a Consumer psychologist & marketing professor who studies how we come to love things that aren't people. Aaron's book “The Things We Love: How our Passions Connect Us and Make us who we are” shows that we are far less “rational” than we think when it comes to our possessions and hobbies. In fact, we have passionate relationships with the things we love, and these relationships are driven by influences deep within our culture and biology. Some of our passions are sudden, obsessive, and fleeting; others are devoted and lifelong affairs. Some turn dark: we become hoarders or would prefer to destroy certain objects rather than let anyone else own them. And as technology improves, becoming increasingly addictive, one wonders: might our lives become so dominated by our emotional ties to things that we lose interest in other people?You're going to — pun fully intended — love this episode. To find out more about Aaron and his book, visit: https://thethingswelove.comYou can see his faculty page here: https://umdearborn.edu/aaron-ahuviaTo pre-order my book ‘Humanizing Rules: Bringing BeSci to Ethics & Compliance' visit:
Direct from the publisher US: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Humanizing+Rules%3A+Bringing+Behavioural+Science+to+Ethics+and+Compliance-p-9781394177400Direct from the publisher DE/CH/AU: https://www.wiley-vch.de/de?option=com_eshop&view=product&isbn=9781394177400&title=Humanizing%20RulesDirect from the publisher UK: https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Humanizing+Rules%3A+Bringing+Behavioural+Science+to+Ethics+and+Compliance-p-9781394177400Amazon US : https://www.amazon.com/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?Amazon Germany : https://www.amazon.de/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humanizing-Rules-Bringing-Behavioural-Compliance/dp/1394177402/ref=sr_1_1?

Pelo Buddy TV
Episode 108 - Hannah Frankson on Tread, Peloton Black Friday Sales, Target Power Zones, App Pricing Tiers in 2023 & more

Pelo Buddy TV

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2022 70:09


Welcome to Episode 108 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. Note that we won't have an episode next week (Nov 27) but will be back on December 4th. This week we cover the following topics: Hannah Frankson is now teaching Tread classes and had her premiere class this week. The Peloton Bike & Bike+ now highlight the current power zone you should be in, based on what the coach calls out. Peloton announced their Black Friday sales, which is free accessories with purchase of hardware. Both PSNY & PSL will be closed with no live classes from Dec 23-25 and Dec 30-Jan 1. John shares his first impressions of the Peloton Row after having his delivery this week. Peloton is using RXO for deliveries, which is a spin-off company of XPO. Peloton is now available on Amazon in the UK, and will be on Amazon Germany in the coming weeks. Peloton has shared they plan to have new pricing tiers, a freemium option, and locked content next year for Peloton Digital users. Mariana Fernandez & Denis Morton have new yoga classes designed for riders & runners. Peloton honored Veterans Day & Armistice Day with special classes & badges The newest artist series is *NSYNC, and JC also was the guest on LOL, Cody this week. Last week saw a Carly Rae Jepsen artist series after her LOL Cody appearance. Several new “Extra 10” classes were added to the library this week. Olivia Amato talked about a Taylor Swift “Midnights” class she recorded. Peloton will have 4 different live bike bootcamp classes the day after Thanksgiving. Anna Greenberg shared that she will be back teaching classes in January. There were several classes in the middle of the week with members live in the studio during class. Matt Wilpers & Ash Pryor are hosting a meet & greet in California on Nov 19. Peloton had a new holiday themed apparel drop this week. Ally Love was on The Today Show Anna Greenberg was on “Yoga | Birth | Babies” podcast Jess King was interviewed on The Today Show John & Amanda share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-108/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by Amanda Segal (#Seglo3) and John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania).

My Amazon Guy
Best Product Launch Strategies at My Amazon Guy FBA Weekly Q&A - with Jason Mastromatteo 09.02.2022

My Amazon Guy

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2022 96:09


Best Product Launch Strategies 00:00 Introduction10:38 Account suspension13:10 How to shift targets from Auto campaigns to Manual? 13:55 ​Which keywords should the parent's title focus 14:56 Methodology for managing stock to prevent stock out?​17:07 How often do you post on Amazon posts18:04 Search term report 19:08 ​Shopify Dropshipping VS Amazon Online Arbitrage 20:27 Text character limit for Brand Story and A+ Content​20:51 There's no way to remove Amazon from selling used or returned products.22:38 MAG files trademark applications for UK sellers.23:15 PPC campaigns evaluation and bids strategy25:13 ​Process to sell in the UK as a huge Amazon US seller.​25:47 What is the best way to launch beauty products26:41 How to create of promo.28:44 Access to Premium A+ content criteria30:10 ​How to increase impression count?30:47 ​How to best market/launch a product34:56 Product Variation/Parentage36:40 ​Sponsored display vs sponsored brand campaigns vs sponsored products.​38:26 How to increase IPI score​40:16 Parentage/Variation40:46 Attribution Links​43:25 Get a full update45:24 ​Include Catalog of products and Brand story to product inserts  46:06 Enroll the parent only to Vine if the products are in parentage46:31 To compete against a close competitor that keeps reducing prices. You need to             demonstrate the  value of the  brand of the product​49:41 Amazon category restriction51:06 ​All sales velocity increase the organic rankings51:43 Trademark, Brand Register, and Brand name change​52:59 Amazon bidding strategies and Broad Modifier KWs54:06 Make sure the listing is attractive with highly relevant keywords55:51 Best launch strategies01:00:02 Marketplace issue could be bad targeting or PPC or KW01:01:25 ​Change of Category​01:02:01 A lot of categories especially auto parts get extra bullet points 01:04:01 Best launch product strategies​01:05:21 ​Error when changing GS1 UPC.01:06:38 ​Access to Global Permissions 01:07:52 NARF only works for US Marketplace to CA, not CA to US01:08:25 How long is the Honeymoon period?01:08:41 ​Product Image Gallery section in the mobile view not showing​01:09:06 Auto Campaigns, Keyword Targeting & ASIN targeting01:09:24 ​Amazons customers & questions removal request01:10:24 Premium A+ Content for additional video and images01:12:17 ​Use exact match highly relevant high search volume keywords01:14:07 Manufacturer's barcodes01:15:00 Invoice and a Letter of Authorization for Amazon's approval to sell a brand01:16:33 Cannot merge the listings with the same product, duplicate ASINs01:21:02 Product Warranty concern01:21:50 Attribution links work for other marketplaces as well 01:22:02 Keyword ranking issue on Amazon Germany. ​01:23:44 Words prohibited on Amazon like weight loss01:25:06 ​Amazon cramped down restocking limits in preparation for Q401:26:29 Create Removal order randomly01:27:21 How transfer US stores and brand story to other countries?01:28:59 ​Honeymoon period to the additional Variation of the Parent01:29:43 Only run campaign to your most popular child01:29:53 Do Social Media promo code for Amazon01:31:10 Apply at My Amazon Guy careers section01:32:04 VC inventory upload can still be updated manually.                 Check your permissions if you cant manually edit it. 01:34:22 ​Apply at My Amazon Guy and go to careersSupport the show

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners,

Many of my big seller friends in the UK made millions of pounds and Euros before Brexit. Same is true for the 7-figure clients in my mastermind. But after Brexit, many went from €1 million or more a year in Europe to a handful of Euros. It's been a painful road back for some of us. So is selling into Amazon Europe still viable? And if most of your stock is in the UK to start with, how do we cross the EU barrier? There seem to be so many issues. Between VAT registration, "indirect representatives", and customs declarations, it can seem very intimidating. Add in the vagaries of the German and French governments and it can feel like it's not worthwhile. There are two reasons to rethink this position. Let's look at the opportunity first. Firstly, the size of the opportunity is bigger than ever. The pandemic boosted sales in Germany as it did in all Amazon marketplace. Relative to other marketplaces, Germany is the 2nd biggest in the world. Relative to its own size 2 or 3 years ago, it's huge. Either way, it's a huge market. Secondly, if you're facing barriers, so are your competitors. If you can solve this problem, you face much lower competition than you would in equivalent UK or US markets. But what about all those niggly problems? Luckily, all is not as bad as it seems. For starters, companies exist that specialise in solving exactly this kind of problem. Companies like Global Ecomm Experts in fact! Then also, the practices have been stabilising between the UK and EU. Plus, some countries are easier to deal with than others. Find the smoother path into Europe via those countries, and it all becomes much more doable.   What You'll Learn Understanding the Pre-Brexit and Post-Brexit economy The current situation and how this will benefit your business What's the next step, Post-Brexit? Customs and the importance of having an Indirect Rep The best way to scale your brand! The complications of EFN Resources Get in touch with Global Ecommerce Experts Connect with Andy Hooper

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast
How to Ship to Amazon Germany From UK with Andy Hooper

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2022 24:01


Many of my big seller friends in the UK made millions of pounds and Euros before Brexit. Same is true for the 7-figure clients in my mastermind. But after Brexit, many went from €1 million or more a year in Europe to a handful of Euros. It's been a painful road back for some of us. So is selling into Amazon Europe still viable? And if most of your stock is in the UK to start with, how do we cross the EU barrier? There seem to be so many issues. Between VAT registration, "indirect representatives", and customs declarations, it can seem very intimidating. Add in the vagaries of the German and French governments and it can feel like it's not worthwhile. There are two reasons to rethink this position. Let's look at the opportunity first. Firstly, the size of the opportunity is bigger than ever. The pandemic boosted sales in Germany as it did in all Amazon marketplace. Relative to other marketplaces, Germany is the 2nd biggest in the world. Relative to its own size 2 or 3 years ago, it's huge. Either way, it's a huge market. Secondly, if you're facing barriers, so are your competitors. If you can solve this problem, you face much lower competition than you would in equivalent UK or US markets. But what about all those niggly problems? Luckily, all is not as bad as it seems. For starters, companies exist that specialise in solving exactly this kind of problem. Companies like Global Ecomm Experts in fact! Then also, the practices have been stabilising between the UK and EU. Plus, some countries are easier to deal with than others. Find the smoother path into Europe via those countries, and it all becomes much more doable.   What You'll Learn Understanding the Pre-Brexit and Post-Brexit economy The current situation and how this will benefit your business What's the next step, Post-Brexit? Customs and the importance of having an Indirect Rep The best way to scale your brand! The complications of EFN Resources Get in touch with Global Ecommerce Experts Connect with Andy Hooper

Amazing FBA Amazon and ECommerce Podcast, for Amazon Private Label Sellers, Shopify, Magento or Woocommerce business owners,

Selling in Europe has been a goal for many Amazon sellers. Whether you're based in UK or USA it's always a siren call. But is it worth the hassle? Many of my big seller friends in the UK made millions of pounds and Euros before Brexit. Same is true for the 7-figure clients in my mastermind. But about post Brexit? Is it still viable? There seem to be so many issues. Between VAT registration, "indirect representatives", and customs declarations, it can seem very intimidating. Add in the vagaries of the German government and it can feel like it's not worthwhile. If that's how you feel, it's worth thinking again. For starters, Amazon Germany and Amazon UK together account for well over 2/3 of all European Amazon sales. And with German sales being even bigger than UK ones, they are problems worth solving. Particularly as you're not the only seller facing these problems. And on the other side of barriers to entry are: less competitive markets! We talk to the specialist in solving these issues, Andy Hooper of Global Ecommerce Experts.   What You'll Learn The opportunities of selling Amazon in Europe The benefits of expanding your market to Europe The main reason why people are scared in selling in Europe Understand VAT Compliance and get yourself ahead with your competition Finding the common red tape issues The benefits of being an entrepreneur instead of a shipping agent The pains of shipping in some areas in Europe Resources Get in touch with Global Ecommerce Experts Connect with Andy Hooper

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast
How to Sell on Amazon Europe with Andy Hooper

10K Collective e-Commerce Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2022 23:40


Selling in Europe has been a goal for many Amazon sellers. Whether you're based in UK or USA it's always a siren call. But is it worth the hassle? Many of my big seller friends in the UK made millions of pounds and Euros before Brexit. Same is true for the 7-figure clients in my mastermind. But about post Brexit? Is it still viable? There seem to be so many issues. Between VAT registration, "indirect representatives", and customs declarations, it can seem very intimidating. Add in the vagaries of the German government and it can feel like it's not worthwhile. If that's how you feel, it's worth thinking again. For starters, Amazon Germany and Amazon UK together account for well over 2/3 of all European Amazon sales. And with German sales being even bigger than UK ones, they are problems worth solving. Particularly as you're not the only seller facing these problems. And on the other side of barriers to entry are: less competitive markets! We talk to the specialist in solving these issues, Andy Hooper of Global Ecommerce Experts.   What You'll Learn The opportunities of selling Amazon in Europe The benefits of expanding your market to Europe The main reason why people are scared in selling in Europe Understand VAT Compliance and get yourself ahead with your competition Finding the common red tape issues The benefits of being an entrepreneur instead of a shipping agent The pains of shipping in some areas in Europe Resources Get in touch with Global Ecommerce Experts Connect with Andy Hooper

Live the More
#022: War in Ukraine - Safehaven in Budapest w/ Stacy Sample

Live the More

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2022 49:11


In this second, special edition of the Live the More podcast, John interviews Stacy Sample with One Collective about a shelter for refugees in Budapest  who are fleeing the war in Ukraine. The shelter not only provides housing and food (breakfast and dinner every day), but also meets needs for refugees trying to resettle elsewhere.   To give to the Budapest Shelter fund, click HERE ("Giving to Support: Budapest Refugee Relief [80US3593]"). These funds help pay for the Shelter's rent, food, etc. To give specific items to the refugees at the shelter, Stacy and her team have set up an Amazon.de (Amazon Germany) list for you to shop from—found HERE. To give to Stacy and her ministry in Central Europe, click HERE ("Giving to Ministry of Sample, Stacy [30US3276]"). Stacy's email: stacy.sample@onecollective.org. ____________ Have you subscribed to our podcast yet? If not, we encourage you to subscribe so that you don't miss out the great content and conversations to come!  Would you consider leaving us a review on iTunes? Click here to subscribe and review in iTunes. We would love to hear what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you! Connect with us! Instagram | johnmiltonjordan // allisoncjordan  

Live the More
#015: Reflections on the Baby Box w/ Author Nikki Colby

Live the More

Play Episode Play 49 sec Highlight Listen Later May 19, 2021 51:23


In Seoul,  South Korea,  Pastor Lee Jong Rak and his wife, Chun-ja, are doing something EXTRAORDINARY. The elderly Korean couple have created "The Babybox," a place where mothers who are afraid to keep their babies can leave them safely to be cared for or receive counseling and strength to face the challenges of being a young mother.  International author Nikki Colby joins us on Episode #015 of the Live the More podcast to tell us all about the remarkable story of The Babybox, how it impacted her life as she traveled to Seoul and teaches internationally with Korean students, and what God is speaking to her about the power of love to conquer fear. Friends, this is a good one. Please join Nikki and me as we dive into the beauty of the Korean people, honor-shame culture, the power of grace and rescue, and the incredible true story of The Babybox. Nikki's book, No Fear in Love: Reflections from The Babybox, can be found HERE on Amazon.com (US); it can also be found on Amazon UK or Amazon Germany.  ALL the proceeds--yes, all of them--go directly to the Babybox in South Korea.  The Baby Box websitegodslove.or.kr (click for English in upper right)Nikki's website (about the author, blog, current projects, contact details)nikkicolby.comBook Illustrator on Instagram@daybyday.doodle_____________Have you subscribed to our podcast yet? If not, we encourage you to subscribe so that you don't miss out the great content and conversations to come!  Would you consider leaving us a review on iTunes? Click here to subscribe and review in iTunes. We would love to hear what your favorite part of the podcast is. Thank you!Connect with us!Instagram | johnmiltonjordan // allisoncjordan Website | https://livethemore.com/

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #34 | PPN | How Artists can build up resilience through adaptation - with Jeffery Saddoris

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 13, 2021 68:53


Artists have been hit hard in the past 12 months of the pandemic. Yet some have managed to make the best out of the situation and created amazing new projects and ways to distribute their art. In this episode, we take a closer look at ways how artists can build up resilience through adaptation. Marco invited the artist and podcast creator Jeffery Saddoris to the show, for an inspiring discussion about this topic.     This show is sponsored by COSYSPEED: www.COSYSPEED.com and Luminar photo editing software: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4    Jeffery Saddoris is a New York based artist who was born in California was born in California and became a technical theater major in college. After working on scenery and costume design at different theaters in the US, he changed directions and became an Art Director at Universal Studios. Since High-School, he has always explored photography and painting as a hobby and merged both passions together in mixed media art. After many years of practicing and teaching photography, he wanted to share and discuss the creative process in photography and art with the world. After six years of co-hosting the popular podcast On TAkin Pictures, he now produces his own series of podcasts on creativity like “Process Driven”, Iterations”, or “In Between”. He’s also the author of a great photography guide “Photography by the Letter” (link: https://jefferysaddoris.com/photography-by-the-letter/ ). Inspirational Photographer of the Month: Jeffery picks Philippe Halsman (1906 - 1979) as his inspirational photographer of the month. Philippe Halsman is especially known for his portrait photography of famous people. He has shot many cover photos for magazines like LIFE, TIME, and VOGUE magazine. You can check out his work on his website: http://philippehalsman.com  Main Topic:  In the main part of the show, Marco and Jeffery discussed how artists can build up resilience by adapting to the new situation. They share how adapting has sometimes even helped them to expand their creative horizons and workflow and also what they have done to stay physically & mentally healthy during this difficult time. Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: “Once” by Wim Wenders Wim Wenders is not only one of the greatest minds of contemporary film - but he also manages to transform his art of poetic storytelling into photography. “Once” can be viewed as a visual travel diary that Wender’s captured during his trips around the world when he scouted out movie locations. Publisher: D.A.P./Schirmer/Mosel Hardcover with 256 pages   Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2QkKEtD  Wim Wenders: https://www.wim-wenders.com/photo/once-photographs-by-wim-wenders/  Here are the links to Jeffery’s work, podcasts, and social media accounts: Website: https://jefferysaddoris.com  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jefferysaddoris/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/jefferysaddoris Podcast: https://jefferysaddoris.com/everything/  Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@jefferysaddoris    Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Clubhouse: https://www.joinclubhouse.com/@marcolarousse  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

Gadget Chats
Gadget Chats Podcast S3 E2

Gadget Chats

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 2, 2021 61:21


#GadgetChats #TechValor #GadgetGoddess http://gadgetchats.com https://paypal.me/GadgetChats https://gadgetchats.redbubble.com Would you like to try Visible wireless it is on Verizon’s network and it will save you a ton of money? GG’s my referral code for $5 off: https://visible.com/referral/TFHdf Wanna join GG's Visible Party $25 unlimited service: https://visible.com/p/GadgetChats Mint Mobile referral link, we both get a kickback from Mint: http://fbuy.me/o-iR8​ Hire Tech Valor @ https://techvalor.net FREE | How To Share Any Program Audio On Streamyard | Adobe Premiere Pro & Rush Instructions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egCer6gbhRo How I do My Makeup For Livestreaming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88wKMUPSUpE Getting My Hands Unboxing Ready with Kiara Sky Dip Powder System https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSKYXJQeJto CREATOR SHOUTOUT Emily Wilson KEY Chats Podcast https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4iqlXGjM7wGsrSC0RyiF3g https://www.instagram.com/key_chats/ https://twitter.com/EmmyRoseWilson https://anchor.fm/key_chats ~~~DEALS & STEALS~~~ Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G $1200 https://amzn.to/31C20Vx Go to Amazon Germany and log in with your US account. On the item page, the price is $1311.48, but it drops to $1193.01 when you check out. This phone can be shipped to the US, and the shipping fee just costs ~$13. ***TECH PURCHASES*** Spigen LG Thin Fit case Review here: https://youtu.be/mP7owVQgpZE Purchase here:

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #33 | PPN | Can Photographers and Gallerists be friends? - with Bastian Hertel

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2021 51:51


In this episode, we take a closer look at the relationship between photographers and photo gallerists. And to cover this topic, Marco has invited photographer and photo gallerist Bastian Hertel to the show.   This show is sponsored by COSYSPEED: www.COSYSPEED.com and Luminar photo editing software: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4   Bastian Hertel is a German photographer and photo gallerist. He is self-taught and his photography focuses mainly on street photography. Bastian has a very personal approach to his photography as he is trying to find subjects that fit into or reflect his personal emotions at the time when he is photographing. About 3 years ago, he wanted to bring his photography into the “real world” and opened up a photo gallery that focuses on street- and landscape photography. https://www.erstereihe.hamburg   Bastian picked Michael Wolf as the PPN inspirational photographer of the month. Michael Wolf was a German-born artist and photographer who started his career as a photojournalist and entered the art world quite late in his career. He became very famous quickly after releasing his “Life in Cities” and “Tokyo Compression” series. Bastian likes the consistency in Michael Wolf’s work approach by structuring his topics and working very consistently on his subtopics that also fit into a larger main topic. His work was exhibited all over the world and he won many photography awards. Michael Wolf died in 2019 at age 64. You can check out his work on his website: https://photomichaelwolf.com   In the main part of the show, Marco and Bastian discuss the topic if photographers and gallerists can be friends. In order to answer that question, they look at how a gallery is run and what is needed in order to bring a photographer's pictures onto the gallery's walls. This conversation can be very valuable for photographers as it gives a look behind the walls of a gallery and creates an understanding of what is needed in order to make the photographer & gallerist relationship work. Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: “Saul Leiter: Retrospective - Haus der Photographie / Deichtorhallen Hamburg.” Saul Leiter’s book “Retrospective” was published along with the retrospective exhibition at the Haus der Photographie / Deichtorhallen in Hamburg in 2012, one year before Saul Leiter died. Leiter saw himself as a painter and loved the color but color photography was regarded as “low art” for most of the 20th Century. But Saul Leiter managed to become one of the great pioneers of color photography in the art world.   Publisher: Kehrer Hardcover with 296 pages   Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2P8yRhw Publisher Info (ENG): https://www.kehrerverlag.com/en/haus-der-photographie-deichtorhallen-hamburg-saul-leiter-retrospektive-978-3-86828-258-0?___from_store=de Here are the links to Bastian’s work, gallery, and social media accounts: Web: https://www.bastianhertel.de Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bastianhertel/ facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bastianhertelphotographer/   Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1 Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/   Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and creating stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #32 | PPN | Inspiration for photo assignments and projects - with Valérie Jardin

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 30, 2021 45:11


To start off the new year for our PPN listeners, Marco has invited back his photographer friend Valérie Jardin to share some inspiration for photo assignments and projects with the audience.   This show is sponsored by COSYSPEED: www.COSYSPEED.com and Luminar photo editing software: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4      Valérie Jardin is a French photographer, currently residing in the United States. She is self-taught and worked for several years as a commercial photographer. Today, Valérie is known internationally through her workshops. When she is not teaching others the art of visual storytelling, Valérie is a prolific author, a speaker, and a podcast producer of the bi-weekly show Hit The Streets with Valérie Jardin. She is also an official X-Photographer for Fujifilm USA. She lives and breathes in pixels   Valérie picked Neil Kramer from the US as the PPN inspirational photographer of the month. Neil has inspired Valérie with his photo series that is documenting his life with his ex-wife and 86-years-old mother inside his two-bedroom apartment during the lockdown. Neil is a great example of how a photographer can find inspiration and a photo project even in the most limiting circumstances. Neil and his photo series have been covered by international media outlets, such as NBC’s The Today Show, The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan Japan, and more.  You can check out Neil’s work on Instagram: @neilochka https://www.instagram.com/neilochka/    In the main part of the show, Valérie and Marco discuss ideas on how to find inspiration and approach photo assignments and projects.    Current projects by Valérie:   ON ICE: https://valeriejardinphotography.com/on-ice   Objet du Jour: https://valeriejardinphotography.com/objet-du-jour Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: “Street Photography Assignments - 75 reasons to Hit the Streets and Learn.” by Valérie Jardin.   In this book, Valérie offers 75 hands-on photo assignments for photographers, that can get you inspired and motivated to go out with your camera and improve your vision and skills.  The book is published by: rockynook and has 204 pages.   Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/3iYZ3pQ  rockynook: https://rockynook.com/shop/photography/street-photography-assignments/  Here are the links to Valérie’s work and social media accounts: Web: www.valeriejardin.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valeriejardin/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hit-streets-valerie-jardin/id1155913704   Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate it if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and create stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #31 | PPN | What are the positive things that we take away from 2020 - with Scott Bourne

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2020 58:52


Marco invited back his friend and PPN co-founder Scott Bourn to the traditional “end of the year in front of the virtual fireplace” Camera and Inspiration episode. 2020 was a very tough year for many of us, but instead of focusing on the bad (which there was plenty off) Scot and Marco looked at the positive things that they have done and learned in the past 12 months. And some of the things they would not have been able to do without the pandemic slowing them down in their regular routine.   This show is sponsored by COSYSPEED: http://bit.ly/cosyspeedbags and Luminar photo editing software: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4    Inspirational photographer of the month: Scott picked Richard Sibbald who is one of Canada’s leading photographers. Richard has been photographing the world’s most celebrated musicians, movie stars, models and rock bands. And he is the photographer that captured the images to this month's photography book pic “Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass.” You can find out more about Richard Sibbals by visiting his website: http://www.richardsibbald.com Or you can listen to Scott’s interview with RIchard on Scott’s podcast: https://www.bigscottymusic.com/post/big-scotty-guitar-podcast-4 What are the positive things that we take away from 2020? In the main segment, Scott and Marco share how they have dealt with the many restrictions of the Corona year 2020 and what positive effects they were able to generate for their photography and other fields that could benefit their career in the long run. Here are some of the projects that Scott and arco mention during this segment:   - Marco produced a Corona photo documentary series and organized a group photo exhibition in a gallery with a virtual live vernissage and artist talk (in German). https://youtu.be/hB4H2sFSa9g   - This is a view at the magazine for the exhibition: https://youtu.be/nRfeeK1HzLk - The magazine can be purchased here: https://www.erstereihe.hamburg/products/magazine-stand-der-dinge-corona-krise-2020   - Scott was not able to follow the migratory birds around the county this year, so he focused on his other passion and made portraits of his guitars: https://www.guitarportraits.com   Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: “Geddy Lee’s Big Beautiful Book of Bass” by Geddy Lee. Geddy Lee is the vocalist and bassist from the famous rock group Rush. He owns a huge collection of guitars that he had photographed by the inspirational photographer pick of this month, Richard Sibbald. This is a massive book (408 pages) full of beautifully arranged and photographed guitars. If you are into music or need some inspiration how a “product” photo like a static guitar can be filled with life and captured in a worthy manner, then this book is for you!  The book is published by: Harper Design; Illustrated Edition (18. Dezember 2018) 408 Pages Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/38HYN9W Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Geddy-Lees-Beautiful-Book-Bass/dp/0062747835/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=geddy+lee+book+of+bass&qid=1609011563&sr=8-1   Links to Scott Bourne: Web: https://scottbourne.online  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bourne.scott/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottbourne  Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottbourne  Podcast: https://picturemethods.com/category/podcasts/    Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: http://bit.ly/ppnluminar4 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and create stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

It's Always Day One
Florian Nottorf

It's Always Day One

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 31, 2020 42:20 Transcription Available


Florian provided me with unknown insights into Amazon Germany that truly came as a great surprise to me. Having built a software company in the advertising space over the past 3 years, in Germany, he's fabulously well placed to advise on ad strategy and Europe.In this episode we discuss:How unprofessional the DE marketplace is and how there is still vast opportunity thereWhy the marketplace needs people to waste money on advertising4 different functions of Amazon Advertising and why you must be aware of each of themWhere he's identified the greatest opportunity in Amazon EU and how to capitalise on it

Astro Spiritual Insights
Gautama Buddha - The Tathatagata

Astro Spiritual Insights

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2020 8:51


Through this podcast, I narrate a short extract from my new book "Beauty of Acceptance - Tathata". You all can avail a copy on Amazon. The book is available in print - on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Canada, Amazon Germany, Amazon Japan, Amazon Australia sites. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/addittyatamhankar/message

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Photography and Gear #25 | PPN | Lens Lens Baby! Creativity and lenses with Craig Strong - founder of Lensbaby

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 1, 2020 57:00


We have received a lot of questions about finding photography inspiration during the dull and grey winter days. And while the gear is usually not what takes the first spot on our shows in order to find new creativity, sometimes a unique piece of gear can help you to see your surroundings in a new way. And one company that has been dedicated to making this kind of gear and accessories is Lensbaby. Marco invited Lensbaby founder and CCO Craig Strong to the show to get some behind the scenes insight on how Craig came up with the initial idea of the first Lensbaby and how the company and product line has evolved since then. And which of the current lenses will help you to achieve what effect.   This show is sponsored by: Marco Larousse Photography Workshops http://bit.ly/StreetPhotographyWorkshops   and   Skylum Luminar 4 - The cutting edge photo editor https://bit.ly/ppnluminar4  (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings) Here are the links to the Lensbaby products that Marco and Craig cover on the show:   Lensbaby Composer Pro 2 This lens uses an optic swap system that offers different flexibility for different effects:   Sweet 35mm Optic f2.5 - (spot of focus surrounded by blur effect) B&H: https://bhpho.to/39c3kRb  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/32D8Ae0    Sweet 50mm Optic f2.5 - (spot of focus surrounded by blur effect) B&H: https://bhpho.to/3cfeZAB  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2I6Hgey Edge 35mm Optic f3.5 - (Slice of focus effect) B&H: https://bhpho.to/2VDh4jN  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2vstcJN  Edge 50mm Optic f3.2 - (Slice of focus effect) B&H: https://bhpho.to/2PCK6wb  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/32BNNYm  Sol 22mm - (Selective-Focus Lens for m4/3) B&H: https://bhpho.to/2uE4DJo  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/32GIXZD    Sol 45mm - (Selective-Focus Lens for APS-C & FF) B&H: https://bhpho.to/3ahdKPl  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2TfpRHj  Trio 28mm - (Compact 3 in 1 lens with three different effects) B&H: https://bhpho.to/38eclYo  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2uNaH2w  Burnside 35mm - (Swirling bokeh plus outer Vignette effect) B&H: https://bhpho.to/2VzZwoA  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2PBvPQo  Twist 60mm - (Sharp center subject with a twisty background effect) B&H: https://bhpho.to/2I4F7jM  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2VxNGeH  Velvet 56mm - (Soft velvet glow wide open and crisp vintage look stopped down + Macro)  B&H: https://bhpho.to/2PynTPO  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2Tw5Gn6    Velvet 85mm - (Soft velvet glow wide open and crisp vintage look stopped down + Macro) B&H: https://bhpho.to/3874k7G  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2vsvNU5  Which Lensbaby is right for me? with Craig Strong (YouTube): https://youtu.be/NdqIYrdmP-E Links to Lensbaby and Lensbaby Resources: Web: https://lensbaby.com   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lensbabyusa/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lensbaby     Twitter: https://twitter.com/seeinanewway   YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8jSBVHpxLOLo3lqAApAd5w     Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: https://bit.ly/ppnluminar4 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings) And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #30 | PPN | Balancing your photography passion while dealing with restrictions of life - with Bryan Minear

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2020 63:58


Marco invited Bryan Minear to the PPN Camera & Inspiration show where they discussed how to follow your passion in photography, choosing a photo style and genre, while dealing with the restrictions of our daily lives. Bryan is based in the midwest of the United States and found his passion for design and photography at an early age. He is a designer and photographer and his skills, the quality of his work, and his open mind make him a very popular person to be around. Companies such as Fujifilm, Capture One, and Gnarbox made him their brand ambassador. He also joined the podcast community with his own show on creativity called “We the Creators Podcast”.   This show is sponsored by Luminar 4: https://bit.ly/ppnluminar4    Marco will be speaking at this WORLD PRESS PHOTO event on February 27th, 2020: https://worldpressphotoausstellung-oldenburg.de/programm/street-photography-poesie-des-zufalls/    Inspirational photographer of the month: Bryan picked two famous photographers as the inspirational photographer of the month:    Edward Weston (Born 1886 Illinois - Died 1958 Carmel by the Sea) One of the most important US photographers of the 20th century and co-founder of the f/64 collective. He is known for his artistic B&W photography and he turned ordinary objects like peppers, cabbage leaves, or halved onions into surrealistic pieces of art. You can find out more about his work by visiting his website: https://edward-weston.com    Brett Weston (Born 1911 L.A. - Died 1993 Hawaii) was Edward Weston’s son. His father took him out of school at the age of 13 and made him his photo apprentice. Edward followed into his father's footsteps but found his own style of photography. He focused a lot on shapes through macro photography as well as shapes in urban space. You can find out more about his work by visiting his website: http://www.brettwestonarchive.com Main Topic: How and why to choose your genre in photography and your style / Do you really choose your genre or does your genre chooses you?   Bryan and Marco share their experiences and thoughts on how you can find your style and genre of photography - during their inspiring discussion they also concluded that sometimes your genre finds you. Besides tips on what you can do in order to find your genre, they also touched on the advantages of being an amateur photographer - as the lack of financial interests by having to take pictures to sustain your income, you are free to take pictures of people, things, and places that may not be commercial interesting but that can put you in the spotlight as an artist.  Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: “Aeroglyphs & other Nocturnes” by Reuben Wu. Reuben Wu is a British photographer, born 1975 in Liverpool. He is also the co-founder of the electronic band Ladytron. An introduction to the book from the publisher: “Simultaneously reminiscent of the slick, neon glow of sci-fi aesthetics and the cryptic symbolic language of ancient petroglyphs, Reuben Wu’s work is clean, yet mysterious. His photography hovers somewhere between the mythic and the surreal, between dream and memory, with an undulating sense of temporality slipping between the ancient past and the imagined future. Light and land are entwined equally at the center of Wu’s practice. By affixing lights to drones and using them to illuminate select parts of the landscapes he photographs, Wu draws precise geometric marks that hover in the air like beacons, harbingers, and signs. His work is concise, yet versatile in concept, offering new ways to approach the human relationship to nature, technology, and the overlay between past, present, and future.” The book is published by: +KGP 30 Pages $28 at: https://www.krisgravesprojects.com/book/aero  Links to Bryan Minear: Web: https://www.bryanminear.com   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bryanminear/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bryanminear   Twitter: https://twitter.com/bryanminear   Podcast: https://www.bryanminear.com/wethecreators/     Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: https://bit.ly/ppnluminar4 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and create stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

Into The Video Game
Episode 132- Cheeky Rumors

Into The Video Game

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 8, 2020 109:32


NEWS: Sega merging division into Sega Group Corporation- 1:58 Rumors of a new Sonic Adventure game?- 2:53 Pokemon Company releases two Facebook Pokemon games- 7:10 Pokemon Direct coming- 8:00 Unknown Switch SKUs, Platinum announcements, and fighter pack deadline all point towards a Nintendo Direct soon- 15:42 Super Kirby Clash downloaded 4M times- 18:53 Retroarch adds screen text reader for accessibility- 20:43 Console manufacturers are still spending millions on TV ads, Sony spent the most, but Xbox had the most reach in 2019- 22:03 Phil Spencer shows off Xbox Series X processor- 23:00 Vestaria Saga is the latest game from Fire Emblem's creator; Shouzo Kaga- 27:43 The Witcher 3 hits new records on Steam with release of Netflix series- 29:34 CD Project Red and Andrzej Sapkowski reach agreement over The Witcher license- 31:09 Vince Zampella taking over DICE LA- 36:10 Assassin's Creed Ragnarok leaks on Gamestop Italy and Amazon Germany- 39:28 Xbox Game Pass adds GTAV, Tekken 7, Fatal Bullet, and Frostpunk- 44:55 Silent Hills Art Director Masahiro Ito is a core member on an unknown new project- 50:35 Taiwanese supply chain tips off Digitimes newspaper regarding Switch Pro models in production- 52:49 New LOTR game where you play as Gollum- 1:05:09 TOPICS: What launch titles may we see for the PS5/Series X?- 1:08:00 What's DOTA 2 like in 2020- 1:15:54 The wonderful and terrible world of Empire at War mods- 1:31:01

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Camera and Inspiration #29 | PPN | Looking back at the past decade of photography - with Scott Bourne

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2019 75:40


Marco invited back his friend and PPN co-founder Scott Bourn to the traditional “end of the year in front of the virtual fireplace” Camera and Inspiration episode. And as this is also the last show of the decade, they look back at the past ten years and how it has influenced the world of photography.   This show is sponsored by COSYSPEED: http://bit.ly/STREETOMATIC    COSYSPEED Lens Pouche Indigogo campaign: http://bit.ly/fundlenspouch    Inspirational photographer of the month: Scott picked Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto (born 1948 in Tokyo). Scott is particularly impressed with the Diorama photography that Hiroshi Sugimoto creates. It is a great example that there are many different areas in photography away from the very common themes that are worth exploring and that can lead to an excellent portfolio and make a photographer famous in a niche genre, too. Sugimoto has more work that is worth exploring and he has won many international photo awards and exhibited his work around the world. You can find out more about Hiroshi Sugimoto by visiting his website: https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com Here is a video interview where Hiroshi Sugimoto talks about his diorama work: https://youtu.be/q9GiyPbLYPg   What has happened in the past decade of photography? Some of the important photographers that have passed away in the past decade:   Robert Frank 1924-2019 - 94- Swiss / American Photographer. He was working for Life, Vogue and Fortune Magazine. In 1955 he received a Guggenheim grant that allowed him to do a social documentary in the USA for 2 years. Frank took 28.000 images during this time and 83 of these images were curated and published in the book “The Americans” that turned out to be the most important photo documentary of the 1950s in the US.   Peter Lindbergh (1944-2019) - He was a German fashion photographer. His image of five young models in downtown NY made the cover of the British Vogue in 1990. This started a new Zeitgeist in fashion photography after the high-gloss and make-up overkill era of the 1980s. He created a new understanding of female beauty with his black and white raw and alluring film images.   Fred Herzog (1930-2019) - He was a documentary photographer who was born in Germany and migrated to Vancouver Canada in 1953 where he documented the seemingly unspectacular everyday life of the city with his Leica on Kodachrome film.   Terry O’Neill (1938-2019) - He was a British celebrity photographer - He documented celebrities like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Elton John and so on. And he did it mainly in a candid photography style.   Robert Freeman (1936-2019) - He was also a British photographer who is known as the Beatles photographer.   Ara Güler (1928-2018) - Ara was probably the most influential Turkish photographer so far. He was also a Magnum photographer that traveled the world and captured many amazing images with his analog camera on B&W film. But most of his work portraits his home town Istanbul - his portfolio is an amazing visual history of this city. His nickname was the Eye of Istanbul. https://www.magnumphotos.com/newsroom/ara-guler-1928-2018/   Ren Hang (1987-2017) - He is regarded as a controversial Chinese photographer who was known for taking nude portraits of his friends. But he suffered from depression and took his life at age 29. His work is currently exhibited at the ℅ Berlin photo gallery it runs until February 29th, 2020.   Ben Martin (1930-2017) - He was a staff photographer for TIME and LIFE magazine who covered many memorable events like presidential debates between Nixon and Kennedy, JFK’s funeral, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights events.   Pete Turner (1934-2017) - He was one of the first masters of color photography. He started to experiment with colors as a teenager and his work merged the lines between art and commercial photography. He loved breaking the rules and this made him one of the most influential photographers of all time. Some of his stunning color photos can be seen in the book Color of Jazz. His most famous photo shows a giraffe silhouette with a bright red sky and purple ground.   Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015) - She was a US photojournalist and Magnum member. She focused most of her work showing people who lived at the fringes of society. Her images display the empathy that she must have felt for her subjects.   Saul Leiter (1923-2013) - He was a US photographer and painter. His street photos of New York are beautifully captured and many resemble the look of a beautiful painting.   There are countless more amazing photographers that we did not cover here - many not as famous as they would have deserved to be but that have created amazing work. And we’ll continue to pick one photographer on each PPN Camera and Inspiration show in the future. But if you want to share other photographers that you feel very strongly about just add that photographers' name with a quick explanation of what you like about his or her work to the show notes below. Inspirational Photo Book Pick of the Month: “Born Free and Equal - The Story of Loyal Japanese Americans ” by Ansel Adams. An overview from the publisher: “On February 19, 1942, U.S. presidential order forcibly removed more than 110,000 persons from their homes to one of ten "war relocation centers" across the country. All were of Japanese ancestry, but two-thirds were American citizens. Ralph Merritt, then director of Manzanar War Relocation Center, asked friend Ansel Adams to photograph the center, set against the remote mountains of California's Sierra Nevada. The resulting effort, Born Free and Equal: The Story of Loyal Japanese Americans, written and photographed by Adams, was released in 1944 to the American public as a book and exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Reeling from the impact of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and unable to make the distinction between American citizens of Japanese ancestry and the Japanese enemy of war, Adams' message was essentially lost on the American public.” The book is published by: Spotted Dog Press 128 Pages Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Born-Free-Equal-Japanese-Americans/dp/1893343057 Links to Scott Bourne: Web: https://scottbourne.online  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bourne.scott/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottbourne  Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottbourne  Podcast: https://picturemethods.com/category/podcasts/    Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast Spotify: http://bit.ly/PPN-fm Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR software: Link: http://bit.ly/PPN-Luminar3 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   About this show: On the monthly “Camera and Inspiration” podcast show of the PPN - Photo Podcast Network, Marco and usually a guest discuss the essence of photography and how to photograph with more intent. Determining the “why” before the “how” in photography is essential to understanding your subject better and create stronger images. In each episode, they introduce you to an inspirational photographer of the month and also share an inspirational photo book of the month.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
Q&A #25 | PPN |Best of PPN Q&A from 2019

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 12, 2019 75:06


So many great photography-related questions were sent to PPN this year and Marco picks some of the best questions as a roundup to get you motivated and inspired for your photography projects in 2020. Please submit your photography-related questions to us here: http://www.photopodcasts.com/contact.html    This episode is sponsored by: Marco Larousse Street Photography Workshop: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops    Skylum Luminar 4 - Supercharge your image editing and organizing http://bit.ly/PPN-Luminar3    Here are the questions that Marco answers in this episode:   Hi Marco, I have been listening to Scott and you for many years on different podcasts. But I love how you run and structure PPN. This has become my favorite podcast channel. As a listener for many years, you now have finally convinced me to start a photo project for 2019. But now I’m sitting here all excited but without an idea what kind of topic to choose. Can you help me with some advice on how I can come up with a good personal photo project? I’m an avid amateur photographer but do have some free time for photo projects. Thanks for all the hard work and great shows!   Question from: Willem, Rotterdam, Netherlands Link to Marco’s “Hamburg Unstaged 2017” street photography project on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qo2YUDUgV5I Hi Marco, You have mentioned in the past that photographers should not work for free because images have value and there is quite a high direct cost involved with photography (like camera, lens, training, storage, software, computer, etc.). But would you consider to work for free for a charitable non-profit organization? I have been approached by a local organization and would like to hear your opinion if I should make an exception here? Love the shows! Regards, Soeren Question from: Soeren, Stockholm, Sweden Hi Marco, I have been shooting my first events and weddings this year. I shoot in color and often with a flash. Most of the time the color and white balance on the subject is pretty spot on, but the background with artificial room light is sometimes completely off and looks distracting. How can I get more consistent results throughout the frame? Question from: Helen, Portland, Oregon   Gear and apps discussed in this question:   Rogue Gels Filter Kit (Set of 20): B&H: https://bhpho.to/2ZuHmnv  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2T5A5bs   MagMod Professional Flash Kit: B&H: https://bhpho.to/2ZISYUd   Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2MF2unx   App with info for Gel Color Filters:  Lee Swatch for iPhone: http://itunes.apple.com/app/id882232668 Lee Swatch for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leefilters.com     Hey Marco, just a quick general question: Would you prefer one camera with either a zoom lens or with two prime lenses? Question from: Marcel, Vienna, Austria Hello Marco, I have a gear and marketing related question for you. I am working part-time as an event and wedding photographer. On my jobs, I use a Fuji X-T2 and a Fuji X-Pro 2 with prime lenses. My clients are always satisfied with the results that I deliver. But especially at weddings I often see guests with much bigger and more expensive DSLR cameras taking pictures as well. And sometimes I get asked if I plan on upgrading to a pro camera any time, soon - or similar questions. I know that my images are good, but do you think that it would help to upgrade to a larger kit in order to look more professional and maybe charge more money for my jobs in the future? Question from: Steve, Hong Kong Gear discussed in this question:   Battery grips for Fuji: B&H: https://bhpho.to/2SvvvFl Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2RNOK92    Battery grips for Olympus: B&H: https://bhpho.to/2SvFfPX Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2Gc89yV    Battery grips for Panasonic: B&H: https://bhpho.to/2SyEENE  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2RIKrf9    Battery grips for Sony: B&H: https://bhpho.to/2SyF8mW  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2UGO3ju    Battery grips for Canon: B&H: https://bhpho.to/2SChhm6 Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2TAacjj    Battery grips for Nikon: B&H: https://bhpho.to/2SxvBwh  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2DbFoOY I’m having a hard time judging the true color of my printed photos. I have a calibrated LCD monitor and a calibrated ICC workflow. The images come out in my studio the way I want, but when I bring them to hang at a customer's house or display them at a coffee shop, they often have a different color tint. How can I avoid this? Question from: Matthew, Ontario, Canada   Gear discussed in this question:   Philips Hue White Ambiance LED Light Starter Kit B&H: https://bhpho.to/2PIWsC2  Amazon Germany:https://amzn.to/2qKhrvU        Hi Marco, 2019 is the year I want to seriously improve my photography. I do have some basic skills but somehow my photos are boring and I don’t get a lot of encouraging comments or likes for them. I do enjoy the inspiration on the PPN shows, but can you give me some extra homework or inspiration to live and breathe photography in 2019? Thanks!   Question from: Julia, Oakland, California   Hola Marco, I am really inspired by the inspirational photographers that you have interviewed and introduced at PPN. I have looked at many of their images and this has challenged me to take an iconic photo one day. I am an avid amateur and know how to take good photos. Some of my images have been printed in a local newspaper already. I know that this is not an easy question to answer, but what can I do to achieve my dream one day? Question from: Juan, Madrid, Spain Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link.   Check out the Skylum LUMINAR 4 software: Link: http://bit.ly/PPN-Luminar3 (use the discount code “PHOTOPODCASTS” at checkout for extra savings)   And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/  YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/ppn-apple-podcasts  Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/PPN-GooglePodcast

PPN - Photo Podcast Network
We Shoot Mirrorless #28 | PPN | 4 new mirrorless cameras and more.

PPN - Photo Podcast Network

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2019 62:02


Marco has invited back his friend and long-time mirrorless camera reviewer and expert Mathieu Gasquet. Mat and his significant other - Heather - are also the founders of www.MirrorLessons.com / and www.MirrorlessComparison.com. This show is sponsored by: COSYSPEED - The fastest camera bags in the world. http://bit.ly/STREETOMATIC  and Skylum Luminar - The cutting edge photo editor http://bit.ly/PPN-Luminar3  Marco’s Street Photography exhibition: “Poetry of coincidence” will be shown at ErsteReihe.Hamburg Gallery from November 21st to December 7th. Google Map link: https://goo.gl/maps/PGaP9uhmHibQTURE6    Nikon Z50 Nikon is entering the mirrorless APS-C sensor market with this camera. This camera uses the Z-mount and offers a 21MP CMOS sensor with a 209-point Hybrid AF System. But unlike the Z6 & Z7 it does not have in-body image stabilization. But it’s also smaller and lighter than the Full Frame Z-Siblings while still offering Nikon-like grip and ergonomics. The 90° tilt-up and 180° tilt-down LCD is unique but may interfere with tripods if you want to use the LCD as a selfie screen.   Nikon Z50 B&H: https://bhpho.to/2reW1Xv  Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/35iefpW  Olympus E-M5 III The new E-M5 III shares a lot of features of the E-M1 MK II. It has a 20MP m4/3 sensor with a 121-point phase and CDAF and a 50MP high-res mode as well as 30 fps burst and 10fps with continuous AF shooting modes. On the video side it shoots 4K up to 24p and Full HD up to 60p is supported. The EVF now moved from an LCD to an OLED system which should improve the viewing experience. And Olympus continues to make their cameras more weatherproof - a feature that I have started to appreciate - when it works - in recent months. The E-M5 MK III is now IPX-1 rated. Bluetooth has also been added for better connectivity with your mobile devices.   Olympus E-M5 III B&H: https://bhpho.to/2Xzrfol    Amazon Germany: https://amzn.to/2XxmnjB   Sony a9 II After 2.5 years in production, Sony’s flagship sports camera gets a refined update. While the sensor and amount of AF pixel stayed the same, the new processor improves overall responsiveness and AF tracking reliability. The mechanical shutter can now shoot 10 fps. A second UHS-II SD card slot also improves the ability to offload the images fast to SD-cards. But the upgrade from 100 Mbit to a built-in Gigabit Ethernet port plus implementation of 5GHz ac Wi-Fi also helps to offload the images quickly to the photo agencies.   Sony a9 II B&H: https://bhpho.to/34cqILW     Leica SL2 Leica announced an update to their Full Frame SL camera line. The camera has a 47MP FF CMOS sensor with CDAF and now finally a 5-axis IBIS is built-in. A 187MP high res mode enables the user to create huge high-quality prints. And a 5.76M-dot OLED EVF is also a useful improvement. The camera allows for 10 fps burst shooting with mechanical shutter and locked AF which drops to 6fps in continuous AF mode. And pretty much all of these are the specs of the Panasonic Lumix S1R, too. But the Leica does have a different body design and it has a beautiful top plate LCD as well as 2 SD-card slots instead of the 1 SD and 1 XQD slot on the S1 and S1R. What’s lacking on the Leica is a tilting LCD screen. At launch, the SL2 is priced at $6000 US and is about twice the price of the Lumix S1R.   Leica SL II B&H: https://bhpho.to/2KDRAg3    Panasonic Lumix S1R B&H: https://bhpho.to/2IoT9zJ Mirrorless question of the month: Hello Marco, I have my Olympus EM-10 for 3 years now. Time to upgrade? Not so sure, I'm wondering if I rather keep it until I will start to see mechanical or electronic issues? The new EM-10 and 5 mark III are more capable (better image stabilization, more pixels, better Continuous autofocus...) but I still enjoy my ''old'' camera and knows its limitations. I think I would rather invest the money in lenses, travels or workshops, no? What do you think? Question by: Christophe, Canada We have a PPN Photo Podcast Network group at Flickr (click link) that is open to our listeners and photos taken with all mirrorless camera brands. If you want to join just let us know through the "request invitation" button on the group and drop us a quick line there. We'll add you to the group then. And please ask for the invite via the web browser and not via the Flickr App. The invite process via the app has not been working reliably. You can also submit an image using the Instagram hashtag #WeShootMirrorless   We have picked our monthly featured photographer and image from the submitted photos. Our monthly We Shoot Mirrorless feature photo and photographer of the month is: Andrew Ha - Street Meat (click for the link to the image on Flickr). See his image at the bottom of this page. Links to Mathieu Gasquet (Mat): Web: mirrorlessons.com Web: mirrorlesscomparison.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirrorlessons/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mirrorlessons Twitter: https://twitter.com/MirrorLessons    Links to Marco Larousse: Web: www.MarcoLarousse.com  Twitter: @HamburgCam Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marco.larousse/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarcoLarousse1  Workshops: https://www.marcolarousse.com/street-photography-workshops/    Links to PPN: Web: www.PhotoPodcasts.com or PPN.fm Twitter: @Photopodcasts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photopodcasts/ YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/PPNPhotoPodcastNetwork  Please support our show by using our B&H affiliate link (click here) or Amazon Germany link (click here) that will not cost you a penny more than when you are buying at B&H or Amazon without our link. And please share this podcast with your friends and subscribe via Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, or search for “PPN” in your favorite podcast app. We would also love to get your feedback. Is there anything that you want us to cover on the show in the future? And we would appreciate if you could take a short moment to rate or post a quick review for our shows on iTunes.   For more information on Marco Larousse follow him on Twitter: @HamburgCam   About this show: On the monthly #WeShootMirrorless episode of the “PPN - Photo Podcast Network” show, Marco and a guest will discuss news from the mirrorless camera world related to innovations, trends, gear, and accessories. And they will introduce mirrorless camera brands by interviewing the respective managers of those manufacturers. They will also invite pro photographers who make their living working with mirrorless cameras to share some tips and tricks about their workflow.