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Start here to post a job for candidates in the Philippines. They speak English, may have prior Amazon experience, and are hard working individuals.

Post your first job posting and get immediate candidates for $3-6 an hour.

Things you could hire an Amazon VA for:
Customer Service
Stranded Inventory
Listing Checkups
SEO
Design
Content Writing
Customer Service
Video/Audio editing
Data entry

Get Amazon Consulting at https://www.myamazonguy.com

#VA #VirtualAssistant #SellerCentral

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Why outsourcing is even more relevant today. Guest with John Jonas, Founder of OnlineJobs.PH who has 26 members of his team in Philippines.

• Why VAs
  • Get help they need
  • Focus - time back in life
• Who are they
• How to find them
• Philippines 100 mil population vs 1.3 bill in India
  • Started changing 10 years ago.
  • Culture - Super loyal. Hard working. Want to make you happy.
  • Businesses are required to use English.
• Virtual - on office
  • Business has not changed one bit 
• John has 26 employees.
  • Org chart
• Focus on deliverables instead of activities
  • Get crap done
• Just start with 1 employee. Full time hire changes your life. Don’t hire 4 employees at once.
• Outsource what you’re good at (except sales).
  • If I hire what I’m good at, I can pay others, focus on sales.
  • If you hire for what you’re bad at, you have to manage that workflow.
• 1-million resumes on hand
• Recruiting Process
  • Create a role
    • Resolve / Vision / 
  • Who do I work best with
• Skype interview - they will be nervous
• What can a VA do for an Amazon seller
  • Programming
  • SEO
  • Design
  • Content
  • Customer Service
  • Word Press
  • Virtual Assistant generic
  • Shopify
  • Video/Audio editing
  • Data entry

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A new low cost method to boost sales, spread brand awareness, and increase sales on your account. Video Demo. Step by Step guide.

Sponsored Brands – Custom Image Campaign

Sponsored Brands is an advertising method for brand registered Amazon accounts, such as yours. Sponsored Brands are Amazon ads that feature your brand logo, a custom headline, and up to three of your products. Sponsored Brands appear in search results to help drive discovery of your brand. A custom headline with custom messaging will help shoppers see your brand the way you want it to be seen. These Sponsored Brands ads will help your products be placed on the top of the search page. 

Our Method: 

With Sponsored Brands, we have a particular method in which we will set-up your campaign. 

• We will add a custom logo to the advertisement for your brand.
• We will use the new “Custom Image” cover, which takes up more real estate to your brand ad, especially on the Amazon mobile website.  Please see examples below. Brand Ads are a great low cost way to engage customers and increase sales. 
• Example Brand Ad without Custom Image:

• Example Brand Ad with Custom Image: (274 pixels taller of screen space is taken up)

compare side by side for scale:

• Finally we will make the ads target relevant product areas such as:
  • Keywords
  • Product Category
  • Competitor ASINs
  • Allow amazon to show the most relevant products from your landing page in your ad.

Why Has My Amazon Guy not Already Done this?

• In previous history, Brand Advertising has typically had a higher cost of advertising with somewhat disappointing results.
• However, the Product Image has been a game changer. We have tested this method on several of our client accounts with great success, in the way of low cost clicks and conversions. 

Please let us know if there is a particular picture you would like to use for your brand advertising, or if you have any questions or concerns. 

Standard Operating Procedure for Setting up Sponsored Brands Custom Images

1. Go to Amazon Seller Central.
2. Go to Campaign Manager 
3. Click Create Campaign
4. Select a Sponsored Brands Campaign
5. Let’s start with a low budget. ($15 to start)
6. If a company has more than 3 products, select the new product list page and add the top 5 selling products to the landing page. If a company has less than three products Select the Amazon Store Page. Target the Page which has the top selling product (if there are sub pages). 
7. Add a Logo. 
8. Add a Headline. (Make sure the headline is generic and catchy, not product oriented.)  For example, for Momstir I would use “Momstir Moments” as the headline title, with the image of women drinking. (See image below)

1. Be sure to add a logo for the company (find assets in Google drive). 
2. Check the custom image box. Be sure to add an image which is engaging. (Do not add a picture of a product bottle for example) Make sure it is a live human shot as shown above, good eye contact, something engaging and catchy. If you need help look to the listings, or email one of us to get assets from the client. 
3. First make a category targeting/asin targeting campaign.
4. Then make a basic keyword targeting campaign. 
5. Have the bid set at $1.00 to start. 
6. Click Submit for Review. 

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Amazon Delays Shipping 30 Days out into April 2020 COVID-19 Corona Impact  - Turn on MFN ASAP. Activate your merchant fulfilled capacity in Seller Central ASAP if you are affected by FBA shipments being delayed a month out. 

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Why do you need a registered trademark on Amazon? Get a Trademark today with My Amazon Guy. 

• Accurate brand representation
• Powerful search and report tools
• Ability to remove listings using your brand name
• Brand-building benefits such as Enhanced Brand Content

Do You Need a Trademark?

YES. Every brand selling their products online needs a trademark. A trademark protects your products and your brand. It means you are the legal owner of your brand, and only those who have your permission can use your brand name or logo. Without it, you have no recourse to another person or company ripping off your stuff. If you spend time and money investing in a new idea and don’t get a trademark or patent in place, someone can start selling your exact product and piggy back off your success.

How Does a Trademark Help me on Amazon?

Having a registered trademark allows you to sign up for brand registry on Amazon. Brand registry gives you access to exclusive tools and benefits, giving your products a competitive edge. With Amazon brand registry, you can:

• Have more control over Amazon product pages that use your brand name
• Use exclusive search tools to find possible brand infringement cases
• Remove listings that incorrectly use your trademarked terms or logos
• Strengthen your product listings with Enhanced Brand Content and Storefronts

WHAT IS A TRADEMARK?

Trademarks give you legal claim over your brand names, slogans, and logos. Trademarks are for protecting brand identity; they do not protect inventions or original works such as art or music. Trademarks give you nationwide protection for your brand. Other sellers will not be able to use your trademarked brand name or logo to sell products, unless it’s with your permission.

SHOULD I TRADEMARK BOTH MY BRAND NAME AND LOGO?

Some companies use both a distinctive brand name and logo, so they decide to trademark both. This can be advantageous for certain brands, but both the brand name and the logo would require separate filing, which means double the fees. For this reason, many companies feel that filing a trademark for just their company name provides enough protection.

HOW LONG DOES A TRADEMARK LAST?

Trademarks can last indefinitely as long as you continue to use the mark in commerce. A statement of use needs to be filed 5 years after the registration of your trademark.

WHY DO YOU CONDUCT A TRADEMARK SEARCH?

We run a direct-hit trademark search to make sure that your trademark is not already in use. This saves you the money and trouble of filing and being rejected for “likelihood of confusion”, meaning that your mark is too similar or even identical to an existing trademark. Please be aware that our trademark search is a direct-hit search, and not a comprehensive search.

HOW LONG DOES TRADEMARK REGISTRATION TAKE?

It can take 6-9 months before your trademark is officially registered. You should receive your initial response from the USPTO within 3 months. You can speed up the process by making sure your application is accurate and responding promptly to any office actions sent to you by the USPTO.

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World Wide Depression is looming right now. Amazon is recession proof. Ecommerce will be the first sector to recover. Cash on hand is king. COVID-19 and Corona impact.

Savvy entrepreneurs will go on buying spree in the next 14-60 days buying businesses going bankrupt because they don’t know what to do.

Ammo is out of stock

Gold prices went up $46 today https://www.apmex.com/spotprice/metalprices

New York Times coverage of looming recession

Get Amazon Consulting at www.myamazonguy.com

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Amazon is pausing inbound FBA shipments until April 5. If your company is able to ship MFN (Merchant Fulfilled) we recommend duplicating skus to offer MFN as an option to customers. When your FBA stock runs out, MFN kicks in. We keep MFN pricing $1 higher so FBA runs out first. 

This will maximize your sales during these volatile times. When many competitors stock out, you'll still be selling. If you are already active with MFN no action is needed. Or if your FBA stock has enough inventory to get to April, no action is required.

Additionally - I want to speak to the overall situation. Amazon is seeing extremely high volumes of sales right now. Most businesses are seeing record sales. Your business as well as Amazon are likely to see an increase in demand as consumers stay home and opt to buy online instead of going to a store. Amazon just announced hiring 100,000 workers to help at their facilities. We foresee an increase in demand for the foreseeable future, at least the next 2 months. 

Hello from Fulfillment by Amazon,

We are closely monitoring the developments of COVID-19 and its impact on our customers, selling partners, and employees.

We are seeing increased online shopping, and as a result some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. With this in mind, we are temporarily prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so that we can more quickly receive, restock, and deliver these products to customers.
 
For products other than these, we have temporarily disabled shipment creation. We are taking a similar approach with retail vendors.
 
This will be in effect today through April 5, 2020, and we will let you know once we resume regular operations. Shipments created before today will be received at fulfillment centers.

You can learn more about this on this Help page. Please note that Selling Partner Support does not have further guidance.

We understand this is a change to your business, and we did not take this decision lightly. We are working around the clock to increase capacity and yesterday announced that we are opening 100,000 new full- and part-time positions in our fulfillment centers across the US. 
 
We appreciate your understanding as we prioritize the above products for our customers.

Thank you for your patience, and for participating in FBA.

The Fulfillment by Amazon team

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Project Management is tricky because of all moving pieces. Joined today by My Amazon Guy Project Manager Dustin Fenton.

Is project management different than another field with Amazon?

·         New things occur consistently – you must be abreast of new changes and trends with little warning

·         Amazon and eCommerce gives the project manager slightly less control than you would have in other industries. It is their site. Their customers. You must adapt to their ecosystem. Amazon constantly throws curve balls.

What kind of tools do you use to be a good project manager?

 ·         Google Sheets are a lifesaver.

·         We use sheets in order to track projects, make new listings, track keyword creation, etc. I pretty much find a way to use Google Sheets on a daily basis. I have my own personal sheet which helps me manage some of my projects and time management.

·         We use Asana as well for project management. This software is easy to use and allows us to keep track of daily, and weekly tasks. It also allows us to share information and progress with clients, when applicable.

·         We use Harvest for time tracking and billing.

·         The final tool that I use is my memory. I have an excellent memory and use this to help me check in with every client. For me I think about each client daily and ask if I have done anything for them in the past couple days. If not, I look at my tools and their accounts, see if anything can be done, react and reach out to them.

How do you feel project management is a cultural issue? :

·         Project management should be a focus on everyone’s mind.

·         Focusing on project management should be done from the top down and part of the culture. If the boss does not have a focus, neither will the employees.

·         Managing project management can be tricky.

How does a manager/boss tow the line between micromanaging projects and assigning with no follow up?

·         I believe the best approach is to clearly outline expectations and have a periodic checkin with each team member to see how they are doing on their tasks, ask where stress points are, and see where their projects can improve. This leaves the power within the team members hands, while checking in to make sure things are moving alone. Gives accountability.

How do you take your current project management process and continuously tweak it without interfering with the actual work?

·         Every business, organization, and agency can improve their processes in project management.

·         The key to success is identifying not only protocols, software’s, and tools which foster growth in PM, but also identify employees who excel at this.

·         Use these employees to help guide other employees and shape processes.

·         Always get feedback from your entire team.

·         Listen to feedback from clients as well.

·         Your team and your clients (constituents, customers) will help give a clear picture of where your organization is in terms of project management, where you can improve, and strong areas which can be grown upon. 

Good project management leads to an increase in output, which leads to more traffic and conversion and sales.

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UPDATE: The Man With 17,700 Bottles of Hand Sanitizer Just Donated Them

"A key political and economic issue, and one that has been debated after every natural disaster for at least the last half century, is this: Should we allow market prices to rise temporarily following disasters and allow entrepreneurial “price gougers” to temporarily play a role of providing critical supplies during the “gap period” at elevated prices, or should we suppress market prices with government price controls?"

An economic analysis of market prices v. price controls post-natural disasters reveals superiority of market prices:

Amazon Cracks Down on Price Gouging, Sellers Hoarding Thousands of Hand Sanitizer:


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Merima Makelja is our special guest today, she is the Design Director at My Amazon Guy and has developed hundreds of ASIN A+ enhanced brand content. Thanks for joining me Merima. 

Steven: A+ content is now recognized by most sellers as the most important thing they can do to increase sales outside of ad management. So I’m excited to have you talk about what it takes to do good A+ content. For our listeners, if you need help with getting your trademark or brand registry we will link you to other resources. We’re jumping in right where you can access and start making + content. 

• So Merima, what does it take to have great A+ Content?
  • Images that stand out + high quality graphics + great copy
  • Include your best product features
  • Why does your product stand out from competitors? 
  • Include things you may not have had space for in the bullets/images
• What can you say or not say in the content?
• Typical reject reasons?
  • Warranty/guarantee information
  • Unverified claims
  • reviews/testimonials/quotes
  • Links or references to other sites - including email addresses
  • Includes restricted keywords ( some examples - guarantee, weed, environmentally-friendly)
• We charge $500 to make a design at MAG. Merima - How long does it take the My Amazon Guy team to develop A+ content (4 business day turnaround) 
• Is A+ content more about traffic or conversion? (both, explain)
• In terms of best practices, lots of words, or less words?
  • A+ content is meant to be visual - include graphics & images but don’t neglect text
• What’s your favorite module? 
  • Steven: Mine is the product grid comparison
• What are these alt text keywords behind photos? Are they important?
  • 100 characters behind each image, help search rankings on and off amazon
• How do you do keyword research?
  • Helium 10 kw research on your own product + leading competitors
• Tell me about A+ content A/B testing new feature.
  • About finding the right A+ content to boost sales
  • Only for high-traffic SKUs
  • Run 2 different A+ contents during the same time (6-10 week) - see which A+ has a higher conversion rate and leads to more sales
• Outside of A+ content, you also build websites. What’s your preferred platform? (Shopify, explain why)
  • Quick set up, easy UI
  • Integration with other sales channels such as amazon/ebay

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