Amazon Book and Product Reviews: 6 Steps for Positive Online Exposure

Reprinted from a blog post of Phyllis Zimbler Miller as a National Internet Business Examiner.

Amazon today is such a behemoth site that it’s hard to grasp the possibilities for marketing your brand on Amazon, which you can do even if you’re not a book author.

And these opportunities are made more confusing because Amazon frequently changes its features and procedures.

Still, the site does have opportunities if you have an account, which means you’ve once bought a book or product through the site.

(When my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT came out in April 2008 I had to get my own separate account — rather than sharing an account with my husband — in order for me to have an author account.)

Here are the steps to starting to get positive online exposure for your brand, book or business through Amazon:

Step 1: Sign into your account.

Step 2: Click on the words YOUR PROFILE under the GO button at the top right-hand side of the screen.

Step 3: Click on the words EDIT YOUR PROFILE near the top right-hand side of the screen.

Step 4: Fill out your profile. (Note: I had to change my name from that used by my Amazon account based on my credit card to my author name – Phyllis Zimbler Miller.)

For marketing purposes, what you fill in for your SIGNATURE is very important because that’s what automatically appears every time you write a review on Amazon. (Mine currently says: Author, MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL, and Internet Marketer)

Step 5: Now search for a book or product on Amazon about which you want to write a review. If you’re a novelist, it makes good sense to write a review of a novel you’ve just read. But if you’re an online clothing retailer, you can still write a review of a novel.

The point is to write short and well-written reviews that catch people’s attention and get you noticed because of your automatic Amazon signature. (When someone clicks on your signature, it links back to your Amazon profile page, where you can include a URL of your website).

Step 6: To write a review scroll down any book or product page until you reach: Create your own review

Click on this, follow the instructions, and voila! Your Amazon automatic signature is now visible on this book or product page.

Put on your thinking cap to consider how you can use review opportunities to promote your online brand, book or business. And there are actually more advanced strategies for getting noticed on Amazon, but reviews are a good place to start.