Looking for a new way to boost your Amazon business? Join John and Ian Smith from Evolve Media in the latest episode of the Amazon Agency Insights Podcast.
Dive into the world of YouTube monetization as Ian reveals how he transformed 11,000 YouTube subscribers into a thriving half-million-dollar business.
What will you learn?
Think subscriber count is key? Ian reveals why engagement matters more.
How do you convert viewers into clients? Get actionable strategies for effective lead generation.
Looking to go global? Learn how to attract and retain international clients.
Whether you're a seasoned Amazon seller or just starting out, this podcast will equip you with the tools you need to amplify your reach, enhance your influence, and boost your income.
Don't miss out—tune in now and start transforming those views into revenue!
Download our guide (7 Steps From Operator To Business Owner):https://www.sellercandy.com/7steps --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connect with John Cavendish: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jgcuk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejohncavendish LinkedIn: https://hk.linkedin.com/in/thejohncavendish
Seller Candy is the expert operations arm of your Amazon business. We provide outcome-driven support for time-consuming and challenging Seller Central issues so you Never Have to Talk to Seller Support Again! With Agency-Level security practices and an experienced team who’s been through the thick of it, we give sellers bandwidth on demand without the hassle of hiring, training, or managing.
Looking for a new way to boost your Amazon business? Join John and Ian Smith from Evolve Media in the latest episode of the Amazon Agency Insights Podcast.
Dive into the world of YouTube monetization as Ian reveals how he transformed 11,000 YouTube subscribers into a thriving half-million-dollar business.
What will you learn?
Think subscriber count is key? Ian reveals why engagement matters more.
How do you convert viewers into clients? Get actionable strategies for effective lead generation.
Looking to go global? Learn how to attract and retain international clients.
Whether you're a seasoned Amazon seller or just starting out, this podcast will equip you with the tools you need to amplify your reach, enhance your influence, and boost your income.
Don't miss out—tune in now and start transforming those views into revenue!
Download our guide (7 Steps From Operator To Business Owner):https://www.sellercandy.com/7steps --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Connect with John Cavendish: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jgcuk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejohncavendish LinkedIn: https://hk.linkedin.com/in/thejohncavendish
Seller Candy is the expert operations arm of your Amazon business. We provide outcome-driven support for time-consuming and challenging Seller Central issues so you Never Have to Talk to Seller Support Again! With Agency-Level security practices and an experienced team who’s been through the thick of it, we give sellers bandwidth on demand without the hassle of hiring, training, or managing.
I would rather have 10,000 views on a video and 100 subscribers, versus a million subscribers and a thousand.
Speaker 2:
Hello. So in this video, we're going to be talking about monetizing your Amazon knowledge. This is part of a series talking about Amazon agencies and how to make money from what you've learned about selling on Amazon, and part of that is acquiring clients, and I have the opportunity today to talk to Ian from Evolve Media and he is the best guy I know at acquiring leads and clients from YouTube. So, ian, welcome to the episode.
Speaker 1:
Hey, what's up, john? Thanks for having me, man, I appreciate you giving me that big compliment.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, seriously you are so first I want to start with some results. So I mean, you've been running YouTube for how long and what kind of results have you had from YouTube?
Speaker 1:
So you know, it's kind of weird because the growth on YouTube has been slow. I have 11,000 subscribers on YouTube but I don't really let that like. Like that doesn't dictate the size of my business. I mean, I don't have a big business. We do around a half a million bucks a year and we have a small team and not much cost. So that's good money for us, but it's all in the back of 11,000 subscribers from YouTube, right, I think where we've done a good job is getting those people off YouTube.
Speaker 1:
So we use YouTube as like a free traffic kind of a thing slightly free traffic, and I'll explain that later. But we get some good international organic ranking from that. So we'll get clients in Japan, China, UK, Australia, like all over the globe, as well as the US, watching the videos. And then they come off of YouTube and I get them into my funnel through a lead magnet, a free digital download, and I get them onto my email list. And I think that's really where the magic happened is because I use that free digital download as bait to get them off YouTube and then I can get them on a Zoom call and then ultimately I can turn them into a client a lot faster, I feel faster than if I was to just make YouTube videos and not have a call to action in that way.
Speaker 2:
Love it, cool. So you're making content. In that content, you're asking them to take some kind of action. And what's the? What's the action that you most often ask them to take?
Speaker 1:
So I always say look, if this video is helpful for you and you want to learn more about optimizing your Amazon listing or skilling your Amazon business, then go get our free Amazon listing checklist. And I coupled that with a couple of other things, so an organic ranking ebook. So we've got a checklist, we've got an ebook and then also a free listing audit. Now the free listing audit is basically them jumping on a zoom call with me and they do get value. But at the same time it's kind of a sales call, Because on that audit call I'm going to be looking at, they're going to be pulling up the screen and be looking at their listing and be saying, hey, look, here's where you could improve this image, here's how you can improve your A-plus content.
Speaker 1:
You know you should have a video here. Here are some other types of videos you should be having. Looks like you don't have alt image text, you don't have good keywords here. You're not putting as much keyword copy on your listing. So I give them a full audit, I give them some value on the call and then I say look, we can help you revamp your content, your copy rank higher, organically, increase your conversion rate. So I try to give value before I try to get value from them.
Speaker 2:
Awesome. Yeah, you've already given a lot of value, I guess, on your YouTube channel and you've built that know like trust over a decade. When did you start YouTube?
Speaker 1:
Well, the start of YouTube for me was way different than like the now YouTube. Like, I didn't start making business videos Like in the beginning, it was just random, but it was actually about music, because I like to make music back in the day in college and stuff. I would say I started making business YouTube videos in 2017. I really kind of started it, but still, I mean I was. You know, we're in 2024 right now, so that's three, seven years ago. But still, like, when I look at the growth of my YouTube channel, it's pretty sad and it's because I know it's sad because, like, it's only 11,000 over seven years. But I think it's because I've been so niched into this Amazon space and there's not a ton of keyword volume for Amazon sellers but there is a good amount of saturation of videos. There's a lot of videos that are created in this Amazon space and so there's this offset of, like, small demand big supply Awesome.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and I think I mean, at least from my point of view you're focusing on quality over number of subscribers. You know these are actually potential leads for you as a business, not necessarily just. You know, make money online in 2024, which would have massive reach potentially but no, not many people are going to ask you to optimize their listing and produce video content for them.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, and I more value my email list size versus my YouTube subscriber count and really I more value the views of each video and the view duration of each video over subscriber count. I guess I'm just saying subscriber count because that's how a lot of people value a YouTube channel is how many subscribers do you have? But little do they know that the subscriber count is kind of irrelevant because I've seen people with a million subscribers and they get like 300 to a thousand views on a video. I would rather have 10,000 views on a video and a hundred subscribers versus a million subscribers and a thousand views on a video.
Speaker 2:
That makes sense and I love the email one, so we'll do another video on email in the future. So how'd you come up with YouTube ideas? Final question, like how do you decide what you want to record about?
Speaker 1:
Well, I think it's just being in this space, so there's a lot of different ways. So I do follow some Amazon newsletters. You know I got a good amount of subscriptions for Amazon related content that comes into mind, so sometimes I'll get some ideas from those guys, different influencers in this Amazon space. I'll use ChatGPT quite a lot, or not so much ChatGPT I just say that because everybody knows ChatGPT. I actually, like Claude Claudeai is my favorite. Amazon and Google actually co-invested in Anthropic and so it's a pretty powerful, awesome platform. Claude is really good.
Speaker 1:
Sometimes just ideas will come to my head and then sometimes they're inspired by Zoom calls. Like I was telling you before we started this video that I was talking to a seller that's a new seller launching a product on Amazon and as I'm giving them guidance as far as how to launch their Amazon business, they have all these questions as far as brand registry and they want to make all these claims. And I'm like, hey, you need to pump the brakes on all the claims because Amazon could suspend your listing if you're trying to make like all these crazy claims and they're going to ask you to back up things. And so you know, sometimes just one-on-one consults and listing audits will give me ideas for videos.
Speaker 2:
Awesome, and I suppose my final question is, if someone's watching this and wants to get started with using, you know, using YouTube as lead channel, making YouTube content, what's kind of the top one to two to three things that you'd recommend? Cause I'm sure people ask you all the time like I want to start a YouTube channel and what should I do.
Speaker 1:
So, dude, honestly, there are so many things that you could be doing. I actually was just talking with Rob from Gatita and he's a big YouTube guy and basically we were nerding out on YouTube stuff and essentially there are a hundred million things you could be doing, but the one thing that you should do is just gets to shooting videos. Don't worry about the SEO optimization, don't worry about all the crazy titles and this and that. Like literally just make a video and put it out there and wash, rinse and repeat or whatever the saying is, but like, just getting the wheels moving is way more important than overanalyzing the situation and ultimately not making any action. Not taking any actions and actually getting started.
Speaker 1:
So just getting started. Even if your production quality is bad, even if it's just with a cell phone, even if you're saying, um, and you know not speaking well on camera, or if you don't have an editor, just get started, edit it yourself. Cobble together something, because posting consistently is way better than trying to put one video out there that's super polished but it's one video. You know, 10 or 20 videos that are sub par are way better in YouTube's eyes, and the viewers too, than one super polished, amazing video.
Speaker 2:
Love it Volume. So volume is the answer, at least when getting started. So if anyone wants to work with you at Evolve Media or hire you to be their YouTube consultant, how can they reach out and get in touch?
Speaker 1:
So our website is emaamzA-A-M-Z dot com. That's a quick little URL to get to Evolve Media Agency dot com. If you are selling on Amazon and you want access to our free Amazon listing checklist, then go to A-M-Z checklist dot com. I've been hearing some issues that that URL may not be working, so you can also go to Zahn checklist dot com. It all goes to the same place. Basically. You'll be able to opt in and then you'll get my calendar booking and you can book a call directly in my calendar. We can jump on a Zoom call, just like this, and be able to connect and I can give you advice and information on starting to create videos for.
Speaker 2:
YouTube and.
Speaker 2:
TikTok and TikTok, so love it. Thank you so much for being here, ian, and as before, as always, I'm John from Seller Candy. If you are having any issues with Amazon seller support, whether that's suspended listings, plans of action, or you just hate dealing with them on a daily basis, do reach out to us. Head to sellercandycom. If you want our guide, which is seven steps from transitioning from operator to owner in your Amazon business, you can head to sellacandycom. Slash seven steps, number seven S-T-E-P-S. So thanks so much for being here and see you soon, ian. Thank you, john, see you later.