If you’re looking for ways to make money from home, consider trying your hand at e-commerce sales. Starting an online store that sells Kindle eBooks is one of the easier ways to make money from home.
Amazon Kindle has opened the door to a whole new world of possibility when it comes to e-commerce sales. First of all, you don’t need a large inventory to get started. All you need is the equipment to be able to write and publish a Kindle eBook, and the digital content itself. If you follow this guide carefully, you will be able to write and publish a Kindle eBook in no time and make hundreds – if not thousands – of dollars in just a few months.
Setting Up Shop
Since Amazon has established itself as the mega-store for everything digital, it only makes sense that entrepreneurs would look to the company for advice on running an online store. If you’ve ever shopped at amazon.com, you’ll have no trouble setting up your shop. Just login with your email address and you’ll be on your way to creating an online store within minutes.
To start, you’ll need a website. You can use Shopify, which Amazon recommends, to build your site. If you want to save money, you can use Shopify’s free plan, which gives you a basic website. Don’t worry – you can always upgrade your plan whenever you need to.
After setting up your website, it’s time to move on to the next step. Setting up your storefront on Amazon is quite simple too. Just log in to your Amazon account and click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen. From here, you can select ‘Business manager’ and select ‘Create an Amazon storefront’.
Once you’ve established your Amazon storefront, you can input the details of your product list and set the price for each item. Make sure that the prices you input reflect the price at which the product will be sold on Amazon.com. If you sell your product at a lower price elsewhere, you will likely lose money once you include shipping costs.
To begin selling your product on Amazon, click on the ‘Products’ link in the upper right corner of your store. You will then be taken to a page with all of your products listed in alphabetical order. To add a product to your store, simply click on the pencil icon (or equivalent) next to the product you want to add and a window will pop up asking you for more information. Fill out the requested information and click on ‘Add product’.
Selling on Amazon
After you’ve added all your products to your Amazon store, it’s time to start marketing them and driving sales. The first step is to choose a category for your products. You can use Amazon’s ‘Product categorization’ tool to help you find the right category for your product. Once you’ve settled on a category, it’s time to start marketing your product in that category. You can use the Amazon Product Review section to create and promote product reviews for your store. Since reviews generate sales, this is a great place to start.
To create a review, log in to your Amazon account and click on the ‘Product Review’ tab. At the top of the page, you will see all the product categories. Click on the category for the product you want to review and you will be taken to a page listing all the products in that category. On this page, you will see all the products that are currently ‘in stock’ as well as any that are ‘in queue’ to be shipped. To create a product review, simply click on the product you want to review and scroll down to the ‘Review’ section. You can add your own personal observations about the product, how you use it, and so on. Your review should be between 100 and 500 words. Keep it light and upbeat.
Just remember, your product review can’t be too personal or you will risk violating Amazon’s ‘Review Policy’. This policy clearly states that you must not engage in unfair or deceptive practices and you must not submit false or misleading information about your product. To submit a product review, simply click on ‘Continue’ at the bottom of the page.
Once you’ve created a product review, it’s time to drive traffic to it. Since reviews generate sales, this is a great place to start. To do this, you can use a variety of tactics ranging from SEO to paid ads on social media. If you want to learn more, visit this helpful guide from Gooya.
Earning Money
When you’ve gained a healthy amount of traffic from product reviews, it’s time to start earning money from your website. You can take advantage of Amazon’s affiliate program. By entering Amazon’s affiliate program, you will be able to sign up for a free account. Once you’ve signed up for an account, you will be able to promote products that are relevant to your niche.
You can use the ‘Product categories’ tab in your Amazon account to find products that are relevant to your niche. You can also use the Amazon ‘Product search bar’ to find exactly what you want.
If you want to save time and establish yourself as an expert in your niche, you can use a tool like Google’s Keyword Planner. With this tool, you can enter your keywords (like “SEO tips for beginners”) and get a detailed report that lists the volume of searches performed each month for up to five years.
An alternative to Amazon’s affiliate program is to create your own product review podcast. With a podcast, you can interview subject matter experts in your niche as well as prominent figures from the industry. You can then take a piece of the audio and use an SEO tool like VoiceThread to create blog posts around it. This is a great way to build a substantial audience who is interested in your content.
Publishing Your eBook
Once you’ve built a substantial audience, it’s time to start thinking about publishing your eBook. Since you’re probably wondering this as well, let’s discuss what you’ll need to get started.
You’ll need a computer and an internet connection to start. To save money, you can get a cheap laptop that meets the specifications for writing and publishing. Once you have a laptop, it’s time to move on to the next step.
The first and most critical step to publishing your eBook is to create a Table of Contents. This is a list of every single chapter (or piece of content) in your book. Each item on the table of contents should be a link (or redirect) to an individual chapter. If you have more than 15 chapters, use a tool like HubSpot’s Countdown to write them all down on a single sheet of paper. This way you’ll have a physical and digital copy to reference when you’re writing (or speaking).
The Biggest Differences Between Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing
As we’ve established above, the cost of getting started as a self-publisher is significantly less than that of a traditional publisher. The biggest difference between the two is in how they handle royalties and income after your book has been published. If you’re looking to find the lowest possible cost of a print book, consider self-publishing. Not only will you be able to get started with fewer costs, but you won’t have to worry about royalties or income either.
If you want to publish a traditional print book, you’ll have to worry about paying high printing fees and you’ll have to share the revenue from your book with Hachette (or HarperCollins) – the print publisher.
Final Thoughts
Writing and publishing a Kindle eBook is a lucrative business. Whether you decide to go with Amazon’s affiliate marketing program or create your own product review podcast, you will be able to find a way to make money from home. Make sure you’ve got a notebook or paper and a pen nearby so you can jot down any ideas that come to mind. And when you’ve got something worthy, don’t hesitate to share it with the world.