SEO and Opening an Amazon Store with Katie Danziger, Founder Nomie Baby

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The founder of Nomie Baby, Katie Danziger, had a background in promotional marketing before she founded her business, Nomie Baby, so it's no wonder she was an early adopter of the Amazon store experience. The experience for her has been positive and profitable. From an SEO standoint, her online retail store does compete with Amazon product pages selling her product. Even though she wants the sales at Amazon, she also wants sales at her own retail shop. So she did become more aggresive there with special discounts on her website.

"Katie D" (as we call her here at Tin Shingle, because I am referred to as "Katie HM") contributed this insight Tin Thingle in order to share with fellow business owners how her experience. In fact, Katie D does more than share her own insight, she shares insight that a friend gave her as well. Here are both answers:

FROM KATIE DANZIGER, FOUNDER NOMIE BABY

Katie Danziger"We keep hearing that during these challenging economic times, it is more important than ever to be creative and flexible, and as far as sales are concerned, focusing on internet sales may be the best way to go right now.  Therefore, my first step was to join Tin Shingle, set up time with co-founder Katie Hellmuth Martin to revamp the nomie baby website to make sure that it was as user friendly and SEO optimized as possible.  The next step was to join Twitter, set up my Facebook fan page and reach out to other online stores, sites and blogs to help spread the word. 

"I then heard about the power of Amazon as a great way for entrepreneurs to sell their products. I contacted a friend who has had an Amazon "store" for about 6 months to find out her thoughts and ask whether it has been worthwhile, and what's involved. While she did say that it takes some time to set up, in the end it has been worth the monthly fees."

THOUGHTS AND INSIGHTS FROM KATIE'S BUSINESS FRIEND

“It's great, as we are able to get to people who don't find us otherwise (in searches) and it's also great to be able to look at our marketing because of the "people who viewed this also looked at ___" function.  To get started you have to set up a separate seller account and decide how you want to do it do you want to just be on but you do fulfillment, or do you want them to warehouse and ship your items for you.  If you go to the seller section to set up the account.   It can be a little confusing because if you don't have a UPC code or ISDN number you have to set it up as an independent seller, and getting your items in the right category sometimes takes a little work.  They have a good customer service/technical service email or phone, so just get in touch with them.  I couldn't possibly start to tell you how to actually set up the whole thing, except to say it takes quite a while, so don't think it's going to take just a couple of hours...but I think it's worth it!”

 

Comments

I have been selling Celebrity Chef The Game on Amazon for a while now, and have been quite pleased. It's a good marketing arm, as people find my product there who might not find it through my own site, and I think it does lend some credibility to new products to be able to say they are also sold on Amazon. That said, I am sure there are ways to optimize the experience that I am not yet taking advantage of, and I definitely need to spend time to figure it out - it does take a fair amount of time to do set up/admin etc.

Recently, I also decided to let Amazon fulfill all my orders - both those made on Amazon and those made on www.celebritychefthegame.com. The process has been smooth, they get better shipping rates than I can on my own, and again, I do believe having things fulfilled through Amazon does create more trust for someone who might still be a bit cautious about buying something online through a small one or two product shop.

You do need to pay attention to their rules for categories. Even though Celebrity Chef! The Game is geared towards adults, it falls in their toys and games category, and they have really stringent policies/benchmarks to allow anything in that category to be sold in November and December of each year, which of course is prime selling season!

I recommend trying it out, and would be happy to answer any questions.

Good luck!

Cori Snyder Schuman
Celebrity Chef! The Game

Thanks for the info, Katie. I'd really love to have more info about selling jewelry on Amazon, vis a vis price points, handmade vs production jewelry, etc., but this is a good starting point.