As the dramatic leader in online book sales, success on Amazon means success for your book. Optimizing your book’s retail page, taking advantage of the marketing, promotional, and content opportunities that Amazon offers, and generating social proof through reviews is imperative to Amazon’s algorithmic driven marketplace and connecting with book buyers.

The graphic above is a brief overview of the Amazon ecosystem and the ways that you can maximize success.

Discovery

Richness of content on the book page is imperative for connecting with readers through search. Be sure that relevant keywords are prominent in the book title, subtitle, and description. Also take advantage of formatting options such as bullets, bold, and italics. And don’t neglect selecting categories and keywords to best position your book to achieve bestseller status.

Traffic

As much as we’d like good books to magically jump in front of the right readers, books don’t sell themselves. You must have a plan to drive traffic to your Amazon book page so that those readers have the opportunity to convert to buyers. In terms of paid advertising, consider Amazon sponsored, headline, and product ads, as well as PPC advertising through Facebook and other social networks. Ebook promotions are also an effective way to generate traffic, sales, and reviews.

Reviews

Reviews are the social proof that converts browsers to buyers. They add keyword strength to the book page and insights into what is resonating (or not) with readers. The more books in the hands of readers, the larger the pipeline of potential reviews. Encourage reviews from your network, seed books through ebook promotions, and yes, give your book away.

Conversion

Along with reviews, adding key pieces of content to your Amazon book page can dramatically increase the conversion rate of ads. Activate your Author Central profile and add your blog feed, photos, and videos; add visual interest and highlight your book’s selling points with A+ page content; be sure endorsements and editorial reviews are visible on all editions.

Questions on how to optimize your Amazon book page for success? Tips to share on how you improved your own book page? Contact Greenleaf’s marketing team at marketing@greenleafbookgroup.com.