Amazon FBA Case Study: New Product Research Looks For Keywords Instead

Welcome to Episode 2 of Project X!

In this episode, we’re going to learn the different ways to FIND products (and keywords).

[If you missed Episode, one, you can find it HERE]

We’ll go over why it is important to identify keywords FIRST, and how they can lead you to great product opportunities.

And we’ll be covering a critical step in our strategy and that is how to identify the products we wish to validate (we’ll go over validation in episode 3).

The reason we do this special kind of research in the way we do it is because…

You simply must identify keyword opportunities first, that later lead to product opportunities.

Looking for products you might find saturation. That is because many products for sale that are easily found already are.

Looking for keywords, on the other hand, can identify products that are still lucrative.

Here’s the thing…You HAVE to do the keyword research anyway. Keywords are how you get found on Amazon. Without attaching your product to a keyword you won’t be seen on the platform.

Another critical thing to note; one reason many would-be sellers might fail could be because they are doing the same thing everybody else is doing. Looking for products and opportunities in the same way.

STOP copying other people. Doing things the old fashioned “private label way,” using the Amazon search bar…this doesn’t work anymore. We will teach you a better way!

The Method

There are three places to find product and keyword opportunities:

• Amazon’s Back End
• Online but OFF Amazon
• Offline (in real life)

The How…

First, we use Helium 10’s Black Box and its filters to find opportunities. This is how we narrow down 450 million product results.

See, Black Box has this huge database of information from Amazon, and by setting certain parameters in the filters, we can get back a manageable set of keywords or products to do further research on.

Our Results

Back End of Amazon

Parameters:

• Under “Products” tab
• Category – Patio Lawn & Garden
• Monthly Revenue – $5000 min – (validates that it generates SOME sales)
• Review Count – 100 max – (low reviews indicates a newer market or fewer competitors, typically)
• Review Rating – 3.5 max – (low rating but still generating sales means there’s more demand than supply)
• Number of Images – 4 max – (if they’re not taking advantage of all the space available likely the listing isn’t good so it will be easy to compete with)
• Price – $15 to $30 – (prices too low may not be profitable enough, and prices too high may be prohibitive to start with)
  

Keyword/Product opportunities found:

• “BBQ spray bottle”
• “Baby shower seed packet party favors”
  

Next method parameters:

• Under “Keywords” tab
• Category – Kitchen and Dining
• Search Volume – 10k minimum – (this shows some decent demand)
• Review Count – 150 max
• Word Count – 2 minimum – (1 word is just too broad)

Keyword/Product opportunities found:

• “Egg cartons” 

New search:

• Category – Home and Kitchen
• Search Volume – 30k minimum
• Review Count – 100 max
• Work Count – 2 minimum

Keyword/Product opportunities found:

• “Burrito blanket”

Online NOT Amazon

Sites:

• Etsy
• Blogs (blog owners get paid for having traffic, so they are doing research on cool products)
• Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or Indiegogo
• Uncrate
• Fancy
• Pinterest

Parameters:

• Pinterest – started with the idea of “sugar skulls”
• Added a product component “sugar skulls decor”

Keyword/Product opportunities found:

• “Coffin bookshelf”

Offline (in real life)

Locations:

• Markets
• Trade shows
• China
• Yiwu

Parameters:

Use your eyes. Look for things that stick out. Anything that interests you enough to look closer, touch it, or play with it. If it wins your attention, note it.

Associate the products you see with a keyword. Go broad. Write down all of the keywords for later research.

Keyword/Product opportunities found:

• “Hand axe”

Recap of 5 keyword/product opportunities we identified:

1. BBQ Spray bottle
2. Baby seeds
3. Egg cartons
4. Burrito blanket
5. Hand axe

In Episode 3 we’ll go over how to validate these ideas.

In the meantime, comment below and tell us…

What was the most interesting lesson?

Which of the 5 keyword opportunities look like the best?