Creating an Amazon seller account and finding great products to sell on Amazon is only the first step to start your Amazon business journey. Maybe finding great products is a stepping stone to success, however, getting products in front of consumers starts from listing products on Amazon.

Are you struggling to list products on Amazon? Don’t worry, this guide will help you to not only list products on Amazon but also optimize the product listing.

Steps to List Products on Amazon

I assume that you’ve created a seller account on Amazon. To list products on Amazon, you need to login to your Amazon seller account. After landing on the dashboard of your Amazon seller central page, you need to click on “Add a Product” under the Inventory drop-down menu.

Based on your preference, you can choose from the following three methods on the Add a Product Page.

1. If you want to list the existing products, you can search by the product name or product ID. After choosing the products, you need to provide information such as item condition, price, item quantity, and shipping options.

2. If you want to upload multiple products at once, you can go with “bulk upload” appear at the right of the screen.

3. If you want to upload a brand new product that is not selling on Amazon now, you can click on “Create a new product listing”.

Then, choose your product categories and subcategories to classify your product and from there you’ll be prompted to fill in your product listing information ( Product ID, Product Name, Brand Name, Manufacturer, Unit Count).

And then, you have to provide your product titles, descriptions, and other elements of the Amazon product listing.

Let’s take a look at the elements of Amazon product listing and how to optimize it to rank higher on Amazon.

Key Elements to Optimize Amazon Product Listing

1. Product Title

When it comes to drafting a product title, you have to keep in mind that it is the first thing that customers see and which makes them take the first step of action.

Make sure you add product attributes/features that are more relevant such as color, dimensions, benefits, and any other.

Remember, you need to include the most relevant keyword on the title, but make sure it’s easy to read.

Amazon states that neglecting the following four criteria can make a product be search-suppressed:

1. Titles must follow the recommended length of your product category characters, including spaces.

2. It should not contain promotional phrases, such as “free shipping”, “100% quality guaranteed”.

3. Titles must not contain characters for decoration, such as ~ ! * $ ? _ ~ { } # < > | * ; ^ ¬ ¦

4. Titles must contain product-identifying information, such as “hiking boots” or “umbrella”.

Other than these four requirements, Amazon provides some title standards which you need to take into consideration:

• Titles should be concise. Amazon recommends fewer than 80 characters.

• Don’t use ALL CAPS.

• Capitalize the first letter of each word except for prepositions (in, on, over, with), conjunctions (and, or, for), or articles (the, a, an).

• Use numerals: “2” instead of “two”.

• Don’t use non-language ASCII characters such as Æ, ©, or ®.

• Titles should contain minimal information that helps to identify the item and nothing more.

• Don’t use subjective commentary, such as “Hot Item” or “Best Seller”.

• Titles can include necessary punctuation, like hyphens (-), forward slashes (/), commas (,), ampersands (&), and periods (.).

• Titles can abbreviate measurements, such as “cm”, “oz”, “in”, and “kg”.

• Don’t include your merchant name in titles.

• Size and color variations should be included in titles for child ASINs, not the main title.

2. Product Description

Customers usually skim through the information, however, it doesn’t mean that the descriptions are not important.

If a customer decided to scroll through your product listing, it means that they are interested in your product, looking for additional information and they are more likely to make a purchase.

So, make sure you include information that is more relevant and what customers are looking for. Include keywords but don’t overboard it.

3. Bullet Points

As we stated earlier, customers usually scan through the information, and with bullet points, you can provide customers the information they want in a more specific manner.

You can add up to 5 bullet points, make sure you include your most specific keywords, the unique selling point of your product, product benefits over product features, other compelling factors if any.

4. Product Images

It’s obvious that product images are the most essential factor that attracts buyers. Remember, customers are buying products online, they can’t able to touch or feel the product as they do offline.

So, it’s your responsibility to attract them with high-quality product photographs. You can provide lifestyle images, close-up shots to present the complete view of the product. Also, don’t forget to consider the Amazon product image guidelines.

Amazon guidelines state that:

Product images submitted to Amazon must meet the following technical specifications.

• TIFF (.tif/.tiff), JPEG (.jpeg/.jpg), GIF (.gif) and PNG (.png) format.

• Image pixel dimensions of at least 1000 or larger in either height or width preferred.

• sRGB or CMYK color mode.

• File names must consist of the product identifier (Amazon ASIN, 13-digit ISBN, EAN, JAN, or UPC) followed by a period and the appropriate file extension (Example: B000123456.jpg or 0237425673485.tif)

Note: Spaces, dashes, or additional characters in the filename will prevent your image from going online.

Amazon’s Product Image Standards:

• The image must be the cover art or a professional photograph of the product being sold. Drawings or illustrations of the product are not allowed.

• The image must not contain gratuitous or confusing additional objects.

• The image must be in focus, professionally lit and photographed or scanned, with realistic color, and smooth edges.

• Books, Music, and Video/DVD images should be the front cover art and fill 100% of the image frame. Jewel cases, promotional stickers, and cellophane are not allowed.

• All other products should fill 85% or more of the image frame.

• The full product must be in the frame.

• Backgrounds must be pure white (RGB 255,255,255).

• The image must not contain additional text, graphics, or inset images.

• Pornographic and offensive materials are not allowed.

5. Backend Search Terms

Keywords that most of the sellers have an ultimate focus on. It’s obvious that to rank higher, get visible in front of the right audience, you need to use keywords.

That’s where the Amazon backend search terms come to the rescue. However, it also has certain guidelines you need to follow:

Amazon states that:

• Stay under the length limit (250 bytes).

• Include synonyms.

• Include spelling variations, no need for misspellings.

• Include abbreviations and alternate names.

• You can use all lower case.

• You don’t need punctuation, such as: “;”, “:”, “-“.

• Separate words with spaces.

• Don’t repeat words within the Search Terms field.

• No need for stop words such as “a,” “an,” “and,” “by,” “for,” “of,” “the,” “with,” and so on.

• Use singular or plural, no need for both.

Also, Amazon highlighted the prohibited use of search terms:

Violating these rules may result in your ASIN being suppressed and action against your account.

• Your brand or other brand names

• ASINs

• Profanity

• Temporary statements such as “new,” or “on sale now.”

• Subjective claims, such as “best,” “cheapest,” “amazing,” and so on.

• Abusive or offensive terms

 Conclusion

If you are a new seller planning to list products for the first time on Amazon or an experienced seller who wants to sell different product lines, optimizing the listing will make you earn more money on Amazon.

By following the above-stated steps, you can create a listing that helps convert your customers and rank higher on Amazon.