Marketing Experts Reveal Top Strategies To

Arlen Robinson ([00:01].528)
Welcome back to the Ecommerce Marketing Podcast. Everyone, my name is Arlen and I am your host. And today we’ve got a very special guest, Leslie Hensel, who is the co-founder of Riverbend Consulting, an e-commerce and Amazon consulting agency whose experts and 85 plus employees solve problems from Amazon and e-commerce sellers facing account.

product listing suspensions and other difficult challenges. Leslie has been an Amazon seller since 2010 and her greatest mission is to help aspiring entrepreneurs succeed on Amazon their way. Welcome to the podcast, Leslie.

Lesley Hensell ([00:50].211)
Thank you so much, Arlen. I’m excited to be here.

Arlen Robinson ([00:52].968)
Yes, and I’m excited to talk to you. You know, we were talking before the recording and also for meeting your intro. You were really early in Amazon at 2010. You had mentioned there the Fulfilled by Amazon program launched in 2008, as you had mentioned. And so that’s like, you know, just a couple of years after they got going with it. So, I mean, you’ve of course, you’ve seen it all. So if anyone is interested in, you know.

going that route, you’re definitely the one to talk to because I’m sure you’ve seen it all.

Lesley Hensell ([01:25].335)
When I started on Amazon, it was the wild west. You could throw any product up, it would sell. Amazon enforcement, meaning them watching what you’re doing. It was a really small department back then. They couldn’t keep up with the growth. So right, I’ve seen from that to now when it’s much more challenging, but the marketplace is a lot bigger. So pros and cons.

Arlen Robinson ([01:39].008)
Yep. Oh wow.

Arlen Robinson ([01:44].628)
Yeah. Exactly. It’s the good and the bad. But yeah, I could imagine back then, like you said, just putting stuff out there, not having to optimize too much and just having it sell and get a lot of visibility. Yeah. Those, I guess, were the good old days.

Lesley Hensell ([01:57].685)
Mm-mm.

Lesley Hensell ([02:05].095)
Yeah, things have changed on that front for sure. Now you really have to run Amazon more like an old school business. Whereas then it was everyone, even big sellers, it was more like just a hustle.

Arlen Robinson ([02:11].346)
Yes.

Arlen Robinson ([02:16].488)
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Just a hustle. Well, you know, today, I’m really excited to talk to you because we’re going to be talking about, I mean, you’re really going to be breaking down to anyone that’s interested in selling on Amazon or is currently doing it about, you know, the importance of knowing your numbers, leveraging SOPs, as well as VA’s virtual assistants, and the ultimate marketing strategy. And you know, just continually addressing problems that you’ve seen and the lessons learned from these problems that

customers and Amazon sellers have seen over the years regarding product listings and selling on Amazon. So you’re gonna be kind of touching on a lot of those areas, but before we do get into all of that, why don’t you tell us a little bit more about your background and specifically how you got into what you’re doing today?

Lesley Hensell ([03:05].783)
So I am one of those typical Amazon mommy printers that you’ve heard about over the years. Moms who started selling on Amazon for some reason that had to do with their family. So prior to Amazon, I was an old school consultant. And I mean like working at an accounting firm, old school consultant, working at agencies, old school consultant. And then my older son was diagnosed with autism and a bunch of learning disabilities.

and he was not doing well in school. So my husband and I decided to homeschool him. Well, how do you homeschool a kid when mom works full-time freelance consulting and dad has a full-time job? Obviously, you can’t. So I quit doing that old school consulting and started selling on Amazon. So when my husband got home from work, I would go out, because again, this is the Wild West days, I would go out and source product.

from retail stores, I would do online arbitrage, and on the weekends as a family, we would pack and ship our orders to the Amazon warehouses. And that was how we paid for a whole lot of therapy, a whole lot of special needs school when he went back to school. And it was really great for our family. It gave me freedom and flexibility to be with the kids. So after that, I decided when he went back to school, I wanted to go back to my consulting roots.

And so I started working with Amazon sellers, specifically those that have problems on the marketplace, like their account is suspended or their listings are suspended. And now we’ve turned that, my partner and I have turned that into a business with 85 team members and thousands of clients.

Arlen Robinson ([04:43].916)
Wow, wow, that’s awesome. That’s a great story. It, you know, I love the stories that entrepreneurs tell me that they’ve started a business that based out of necessity. And so that’s kind of how you first got exposed to the whole Amazon ecosystem. And then you saw the power in that. And then that eventually became, you know, your career. So good stuff. Good to know. Um, you know, you kind of had those beginnings where, you know, you’ve been on both sides of the fence, you know, um,

And of course, I’m sure you’re still on the other side of it where you’re selling products, but then on the other side of it, helping on the consulting side of it, helping other businesses, like you said, navigate some of those challenging things like suspensions and listing issues and stuff like that. So that’s, I know a very important job. Well, as most of my listeners and viewers know, or at least maybe the viewers know,

from my studio background here, as you can see, market or die, which is one of the slogans I came up with. I like to think of the fact that most businesses, or really almost any business, if you don’t market your business, your business will eventually die. You gotta market it, you gotta get it out there. And so the same goes for selling on Amazon. And so we’re talking about marketing, for Amazon specifically, what are the key foundational building blocks that you would say for marketing specifically on Amazon?

Lesley Hensell ([06:10].947)
the most neglected marketing strategies on Amazon or the most important strategies, people fail to optimize their listing detail page. So that sounds so silly and basic, but I think a lot of folks still have this attitude, if you build it, they will come. I’m gonna throw my product up there and it’s so exciting and awesome and I’ll buy some PPC ads and that’ll do it.

Well, you got to remember who you’re competing against on Amazon. You’re competing against major national brands, international brands. You are competing against the OGs who’ve been there for years and years selling their products and now buyers really now that they have the option, unlike during COVID, that they can go back to the store. You need to give them the feeling like they’re in the store as much as you possibly can. So that means.

Arlen Robinson ([07:07].299)
Yeah.

Lesley Hensell ([07:08].387)
really great photos on your listing, including lifestyle images that show people using the products. The best lifestyle images, y’all, this sounds so ridiculous, but it is true. Hot women, babies, and dogs. Okay, people love images with hot women, and I’m sorry, y’all, it’s true. Hot women, babies, and dogs. And if you can fit all three of them in, like at a park with your product, you’re winning.

Arlen Robinson ([07:24].465)
Okay.

Arlen Robinson ([07:29].779)
Right.

Arlen Robinson ([07:35].286)
Right. Okay, gotcha.

Lesley Hensell ([07:36].719)
Videos, you can add videos now. They don’t have to be multi-bajillion dollar videos. People just wanna see the size of the product in reality and how you’re using it. Or instructional videos that you can do if it’s something that they’re just not sure about. Size of product is a big deal. That’s almost like being able to touch it in a store, right? If you can really show that. And then words that evoke emotion in your listing.

Arlen Robinson ([07:47].135)
Yeah.

Arlen Robinson ([07:59].256)
Mm-hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([08:06].167)
So you know at the top of that listing you’ve got those bullet points. That’s what people read. They don’t really read below that so much. Those bullet points need to say how you use the product and how it’s going to make you feel because that is the opportunity you have just like they’re reading the packaging in the store. And then the kind of advanced strategy is A plus content. So that’s if you scroll down further below the fold on the listing.

Arlen Robinson ([08:06].54)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([08:09].752)
Yeah.

Arlen Robinson ([08:13].048)
Hmm?

Arlen Robinson ([08:24].594)
Mm-hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([08:33].523)
And there are people who have photos and branding type elements and they can show other products in the product family. The reason that can be important is it makes you look bigger and more established. So if you have five products in a product family and they’re in that A plus or enhanced brand content, they call it now. If you have that there, it just makes you look more trustworthy because you’re not just a one off product being sold by some guy out of his basement.

You’re a whole family. You’re a brand. So that can help as well. But you would be amazed at how many listings out there. Do not take advantage of all the photos. Don’t have great copy. Another real advantage for the sellers we’re talking to who are here in the States or who are in Europe is that a lot of competitors on Amazon are from China and Asia, other parts of Asia.

And their copy is not good. And a lot of their photos, they’re all fake because they’re photo shopping people who look like Americans into their images, unlike here that you can actually take real images with real Americans if you’re on Amazon US or with real Europeans, if you’re on UK or EU site over there. People can feel that in the listing. When they read the bullets,

Arlen Robinson ([09:34].168)
Mm-hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([10:00].783)
and it doesn’t sound like American English or it doesn’t sound like British English or whatever your marketplace is, they feel that and they don’t like it because there’s just kind of a trust thing there that if you don’t care about my marketplace enough to make it sound like it’s from my marketplace and I don’t trust you. So there’s a real advantage there for US sellers in this market or EU sellers in the EU to really make sure that your listing fits.

Arlen Robinson ([10:08].056)
Hmm. Yeah.

Lesley Hensell ([10:29].571)
whatever country that you’re selling in, it seems like it’s not a big deal. It’s subtle, but think about it. You know you’ve seen one of these listings and you’re like, nah, not buying them.

Arlen Robinson ([10:39].668)
Yeah, exactly. For sure. Yeah. Everything that you’ve said, I can definitely testify to the fact that it makes a difference from being on the other side of things. Um, as I’m Amazon purchaser, I’m not Amazon seller, but I’m always on Amazon. I’m always buying things. And you mentioned a couple of key things, the, those listing details, the bullet points and you’re, you’re correct. I don’t really read past the bullet points. Usually.

I will scroll down and you’re totally right about those sellers that have a lot more information where they put more information about their brand. They may have a kind of a nice stylized logo. They may have some other particular facts about their company. When I see that, I’m like, oh, okay, you know, it’s more of an established brand. If I don’t usually don’t see anything under that, I’m like, you know, it’s a little iffy for me sometimes.

So I can definitely agree with what you’re saying. Those things definitely make a difference. And then as far as what you said, as far as those photos, the demonstrable aspect of photos where you’re seeing models with the photos, people like you said, hot women, babies or dogs, all those things make a difference. Because I use a kind of like a backpack satchel type thing and I was recently looking to buy another one. And

I was looking through a lot of listings and I remember there was a few that I saw. I really liked the style of it, but I couldn’t see it on somebody. So I’m like, all right, is it going to hang down too low? Is it too big? It really did make a difference. I kind of passed on those because I didn’t see a picture of somebody wearing it. So I didn’t really know, you know, the aspect ratio of, you know, how big was it? It’s going to go bound down past my waist, all that, all those things. Definitely makes a huge difference. And so yeah, from being a purchaser, I can agree with.

all of those kind of key. And like you said, you would think businesses would already be on this. Those are all basic things that you can just do, immediately a lot of businesses, they don’t, they haven’t gotten the memo, so to speak, and they haven’t done those things. But that’s why there’s businesses like you to help advise them. Now, speaking of other things with regards to Amazon and advising businesses and other things, what would you say are some essential metrics that

Arlen Robinson ([13:00].68)
Amazon sellers should focus on when they’re looking to have, you know, successful marketing campaigns.

Lesley Hensell ([13:08].611)
So two sets because the first set is super basic and then the second will be a little more advanced. On the super basic, a lot of small businesses and entrepreneurs who attack the Amazon problem, they don’t actually set up books the way you’re supposed to set up books. And I know that sounds ridiculous and you’re probably saying, oh, everyone does that. They don’t. And I think there’s this…

feeling that because it’s an online business that it’s almost you don’t have to do all that boring stuff. Y’all, it would come the end of the year. You need to know all the numbers. You need to know for your taxes. You need to know for your expenses and you need to know, say, know if you’ve made money. If you have marketing campaigns, if you have ad campaigns where you’re running PPC ads on Amazon or you’re running Google ads that drive traffic to your Amazon listings, you

Those can put you under really fast if you’re not watching and actually running a monthly P&L, a monthly set of books where you’re showing what you’re actually making. There’s some great software out there where you can put in all of your costs per ASIN, which an ASIN is just a fancy word for a product on Amazon. You can track by product so that you know, okay, these two are profitable, this one is not.

taking into account your marketing costs, advertising costs, as well as everything else. So that’s thing number one, and if you don’t set that up from the beginning, you could be working for free, and none of us want to do that. The second thing doesn’t sound like marketing, but it is, and that is, I call it always be improving your worst ASIN or your worst product. So on Amazon, there’s some really good data you can find about return rates.

Arlen Robinson ([14:37].953)
Yeah.

Arlen Robinson ([14:44].208)
Right.

Lesley Hensell ([15:02].491)
for your products. And if you have a product with a high return rate, you’re getting killed. You’re losing money because you eat the fees associated with selling the product, or at least most of those fees, and yet they take away the revenue from it, and it might not be resellable if someone opened and damaged the package. You got to pull it back, all these things. A lot of that actually relates to the marketing on Amazon because people will think

Arlen Robinson ([15:08].855)
Mm-hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([15:30].467)
They didn’t get what was promised to them. They didn’t understand the product because your listing detail page wasn’t clear. There could have been a promotion that was confusing to them. In addition, a big part of marketing strategy on Amazon is product reviews and store feedback. You can look through your product reviews and store feedback and find out which products have problems. So all of these are mechanisms to decide every month

And it doesn’t matter if you’ve got three products or you’ve got 3,000 products. You’ve always got a worst ASIN. So that means every month you’re looking through this data and deciding which one is the worst one, which one is performing the worst, most returns costing you money. And a lot of the fixes are on the marketing side. It’s fixing your listing detail page, better photos, better copy, improved product packaging a lot of the times.

Arlen Robinson ([16:05].014)
Yeah.

Arlen Robinson ([16:14].937)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([16:25].6)
Mm-hmm. Alright.

Lesley Hensell ([16:26].987)
And then sometimes it goes more to product quality issues. You could find out your QA is lousy. There are other problems you could have at your business. You could even find out that you just shouldn’t be selling that product. I had a client who was selling Nike clothing. They were approved to sell Nike clothing, which is highly competitive. And he had this one set of products that had a super high return rate.

Arlen Robinson ([16:40].941)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([16:48].035)
Hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([16:52].871)
And we narrowed it down and figured out that for some reason Nike was manufacturing all of that particular line too small. And everything was being returned as too small. So he returned it all to the manufacturer after we figured that out by looking at his numbers. But he had continued selling that stuff even though the return rate was awful and the feedback and the reviews were terrible until we raised our hand and said, hey, you got a problem here.

Arlen Robinson ([17:00].76)
Oh, okay.

Right.

Lesley Hensell ([17:18].847)
So we all on Amazon work really hard to get those reviews and that seller feedback. It’s not just to get other people to buy your products. It’s not just to get the star ratings and look good. It’s also feedback for you so that your team can figure out how to do better. And when you do better, you make more money.

Arlen Robinson ([17:19].073)
Yeah.

Arlen Robinson ([17:28].44)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([17:37].992)
Yeah, yeah, that’s good to know. Yeah. I’m from reviews. You’re right. These days, people aren’t afraid to give you specific details. Because I’ve seen these reviews where people are posting photos. I’ve seen reviews where people are, you know, they’re showing damaged product, poor packaging, all of those things. And you’re right. Yeah, as a business owner, you know, you may kind of, you know, squirm a little bit, because of course, you know, you don’t want anyone to see any of those negative reviews initially, especially if there’s photos, but

you have to take it as a lesson and just as a way to improve your business. So yeah, I can definitely see, see that fact. Um, now I spoke to, to this a little bit at the beginning, um, with the respect to standard operating procedures for business, which is very important for any business, as well as the use of virtual assistants, which is huge these days. Um, so how can both of these aid to the, um, marketing efficiency for, for Amazon sellers overall?

Lesley Hensell ([18:36].899)
So first I gotta say I personally have two VAs and then we have a lot of VAs in Riverbend. In that business I have a personal assistant who’s a VA from the Philippines. She’s amazing and changes my life every day and I’m not exaggerating. And then I also have a VA who works in my Amazon store which is fantastic. So I say all of this is someone who really, I walk the walk on this one y’all.

Arlen Robinson ([18:42].071)
Okay.

Lesley Hensell ([19:06].227)
because it makes a huge difference. The great thing about selling on Amazon is you can do it at a large scale with a small number of people. Your money is really going to product development. It’s not going to people. And one of the keys to doing that is finding folks who can take over tasks from you as the owner, the entrepreneur, and run with it. Because most of us who sell on Amazon don’t have offices. There are mega sellers out there with big offices.

People like me, we don’t have an office. We just have these virtual folks who work at different places around the world. So what’s super important is to find tasks that you can outsource, document the heck out of them, and then train someone else who’s less expensive than you are to do those tasks. So perfect example on Amazon is customer service messaging. People send you messages.

Arlen Robinson ([19:55].454)
Yeah.

Lesley Hensell ([20:03].659)
and you have to write them back and sometimes give them refunds or send another product. There’s no reason for an owner of a business to do that, especially since they can cause a lot of stress and anger. Any task that causes you stress or anger or distress, you should outsource to someone else. You don’t need that in your life. So that’s a perfect example of you have 10 or 20 customer service messages you develop over time that are your standards. And then you have a VA.

Arlen Robinson ([20:23].172)
Sure.

Lesley Hensell ([20:32].855)
who’s cutting and pasting and then just putting in the tracking number or whatever the appropriate box for them to fill in for that message. But you can train, like my concept I talked about a few minutes ago, the always be improving your worst ASIN. A VA can do 90% of that work by downloading the spreadsheets, looking at the reviews and helping choose what that ASIN is. And then you as the owner, your only job is to actually do the fixing or assign someone to do the fixing.

Arlen Robinson ([20:41].1)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([21:00].312)
Yeah.

Lesley Hensell ([21:03].139)
So it’s the scalability. You can scale a business so much faster and cheaper on Amazon than any other business model I know of. There are so many very experienced VAs who are overseas. Lots in the Philippines. There are many in Costa Rica, also in India and Pakistan who have incredible Amazon knowledge.

Arlen Robinson ([21:10].916)
Mm-hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([21:29].431)
such a high level of knowledge and great English skills. And they are very cost effective. And you can also, if you’re really smart, have some like in Costa Rica and some of the Philippines so you follow the sun. You’ve got people around the clock.

Arlen Robinson ([21:32].6)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([21:44].092)
Okay, right, right. Yeah, good, good to know. Yeah, I mean, that’s, you know, just kind of goes to show how these days, everything is so, so global and the ability to access these type of talent and people that have this type of experience, you know, in all of these other countries. Um, number one, making it, um, a lot more affordable. Um, cause of course, those are the places, their cost of living is totally different than what’s in the U S and so, you know, to get a lot of things done.

by outsourcing is very cost effective for businesses. I know that’s very attractive, but then also, like you said, just the ability to just get that knowledge and get that expertise. So it’s really almost no excuse for a business to do certain tasks where you can easily just outsource that because Amazon is so, I guess you could say so global, the amount of…

the knowledge base of people that are familiar with doing certain things is so widespread and yet it’s not too hard to find the right person. Now, as a seller, of course on Amazon, I know you’re familiar with all of the changes that Amazon has made over the years. I’m sure you’ve of course have seen it all since you’ve been selling since almost the beginning of the FBA program. What would you say are some strategies that you would recommend for

adapting to Amazon’s changing marketplace, whether, you know, they change criteria, where they changing policies. Um, what, what would you say is the best thing to do to adapt to these changes?

Lesley Hensell ([23:22].383)
So the most impactful changes tend to be in my wheelhouse, unfortunately, which is the enforcement area, which no one likes to talk about. I’m like the, I’m a consultant no one ever wants to use in that particular vein. And that’s where you get accounts suspended, you have warnings for violating policies, all of that good stuff.

Arlen Robinson ([23:33].828)
Okay. Right.

Lesley Hensell ([23:50].667)
So the number one problem for sellers in that arena is they just don’t pay attention. And it’s because they’re focused on the cool, fun part of the business where they can really have an impact. That’s what we all wanna do, right? Develop a new product. You make the money at the buy. We all know that, right? Not when you sell the product, but when you buy it. So you’re making great deals, you’re developing new products. That’s the cool thing. And they tend to ignore the whole account health section of their account.

Arlen Robinson ([24:01].196)
Yeah. Right.

Lesley Hensell ([24:18].571)
So a lot of problems can be headed off if you’re just aware and spend the time in account health. Amazon has tried to move away from suspending at the drop of a hat, taking down products immediately without an opportunity to appeal. They give a lot of warnings. So if you pay attention in that section, they’ll send you a warning and say, hey, you’re breaking this rule, fix it, and you can go fix it. It’s also really helpful.

Arlen Robinson ([24:18].848)
Hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([24:48].163)
to be part of Facebook groups, to follow people on LinkedIn who are experts, and also to go to events or to be part of a mastermind. One of the challenges of selling on Amazon is that in your community, like if you’re an accountant and you want to meet other accountants, that’s really easy. That’s not hard to do. There’s an accounting association and there’s chamber of commerce meetings and you can go hang out with accountants and talk about the new accounting rules.

Arlen Robinson ([25:07].14)
Hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([25:17].615)
Amazon, you might not know anyone in your town who sells on Amazon, it might be hard to find them, it’s very challenging. So if you can find a physical group, like a meetup group, or some Facebook groups, or LinkedIn groups, it is really a great way to make sure that you’re staying abreast of the news. Amazon is not really great about announcing things. They’re really good at announcing stuff like, hey, we have this cool new feature, but anything that could like,

Arlen Robinson ([25:44].845)
Hmm.

Lesley Hensell ([25:46].947)
cause you a problem, they don’t really announce that so much. It just kinda happens. So, like if you follow me on LinkedIn, hi, as an example, when these things happen or when people start getting in trouble for certain things, I post about it a lot. And so you gotta kinda find your people out there and find your tribe who can help you stay abreast of the good, bad, and ugly.

Arlen Robinson ([25:50].857)
Yeah. Right.

Arlen Robinson ([26:01].909)
Okay.

Arlen Robinson ([26:05].86)
Hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([26:12].02)
Yeah, yeah, that’s good to know. Yeah, those. Yeah, unfortunately, you know, on their side of the fence. Yeah, those things that can hurt you. Yeah, they’re not necessarily going to announce them too much. Yeah. Well, you got to have you got to have associations with people like you and people that are kind of in the know based on experiences that they’ve had to be able to, you know, make these changes. So, yeah, good. Very good to know.

Well, Leslie, as we get ready to wrap things up, I wanted to see, I know we’ve covered a lot of great tips, but I wanted to see, are there any final two tips that you’d like to share for long-term marketing success on Amazon that you’ve seen that has helped you in some of the businesses that you’re consulting with?

Lesley Hensell ([26:54].031)
Absolutely. So one of my very favorite things that I have seen really stellar sellers do is take a product and get a licensing agreement to go with that product. That is a great way to make money on Amazon because you’re leveraging someone else’s proven brand or character. So an example of this might be that you have some kind of a children’s product.

Arlen Robinson ([27:07].841)
Okay.

Lesley Hensell ([27:23].467)
and you go get some Disney licensing to match up with that. There is a lot of money to be made and it’s on products that you wouldn’t think of. There are products in the pet category, in the travel category. Imagine what you could get the Duck Dynasty guys to sign on to or Animal Planet or all of these companies, they don’t manufacture all those products you see with their branding on them or their face. They sell someone a license. So if that’s a…

Arlen Robinson ([27:27].404)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([27:31].853)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([27:46].692)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Lesley Hensell ([27:50].687)
a homework assignment that you’re willing to take on as a seller. It really makes your likelihood of success ten times as much because you’ve got that brand going with you. So think about your hard to buy a Christmas gift or a birthday gift friend for right now and you’re not sure exactly what they like, but you’re sure that their kid loves Hannah Montana. I mean, pick anything. They’re going to go search for that character or brand.

Arlen Robinson ([28:12].544)
Right.

Lesley Hensell ([28:17].275)
on Amazon and you want them to pull up that product. So that is one of my very favorite strategies ever. And I’ve seen it have great success for so many people. So any kind of licensing, that’s like one of the best marketing things ever, ever. And then, and then, and then my second suggestion is you really need to figure out the Google thing if you’re gonna sell on Amazon

Arlen Robinson ([28:19].993)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([28:32].369)
Okay, that’s awesome.

Lesley Hensell ([28:47].335)
Amazon results pop high in Google. So what can you do to your detailed page listing to make it pop high in Google? Or what kind of Google ads will drive traffic to the right places for you? I have known of sellers who will buy Google ads that actually go to their business webpage and redirect to Amazon. So they’re buying a Google ad.

Arlen Robinson ([28:51].172)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([29:10].504)
Oh wow. Okay.

Lesley Hensell ([29:14].775)
that is actually sending traffic to Amazon, and it’s not inorganic. So really important on Amazon, all the traffic that you create as a seller needs to be organic. If it’s inorganic, meaning you paid someone to buy your product and give a review, Amazon doesn’t like that. They’ll enforce against you. If you’re running ads, though, that just direct your product, that’s organic traffic. So if you can solve that Google puzzle, you can really, really outpace your competition.

Arlen Robinson ([29:20].28)
Hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([29:25].356)
You

Arlen Robinson ([29:29].362)
Yep.

Arlen Robinson ([29:36].792)
Mm-hmm.

Arlen Robinson ([29:43].256)
Gotcha, gotcha. Well, great, those are some awesome tips. Leslie, that for sure. Licensing, which I can see is really key as well as optimizing for Google. Two big things I know that any business for sure should focus on, whether on Amazon or not actually. There’s definitely things that you should probably look into. So this has been an awesome conversation, Leslie. I really learned a lot. I know our listeners and viewers have as well.

Lastly, before we do let you go, I always like to shift gears just so our audience can get to know you a little bit better. If you don’t mind sharing one closing fun fact about yourself that you think we’d be interested to know.

Lesley Hensell ([30:19].983)
So I have walked the 200 mile coast to coast across England. It’s a 200 mile hike and I’ve done it twice, once with each of my boys. My older one when he was 12 and my younger one, he was nine years old and one year outside of chemotherapy. And for both of them, it was a life-changing experience to build their confidence, but I gotta tell you, it was also a life-changing experience to build my confidence.

Arlen Robinson ([30:29].555)
Oh wow. Okay.

Arlen Robinson ([30:37].921)
Oh wow.

Arlen Robinson ([30:47].58)
Okay, gotcha. That’s awesome. So 200 miles from coast to coast. And how long did it take?

Lesley Hensell ([30:54].983)
I did it with the first boy in 16 days and the second in 15 days.

Arlen Robinson ([30:59].952)
Okay, wow, that’s awesome. Well, quite an accomplishment there. Congratulations on doing that. I mean, that’s definitely something that, you know, anyone can aspire to, to do something like that. And I’m sure it was pretty scenic as well. So I know you saw a lot.

Lesley Hensell ([31:15].479)
beautiful there and you meet so many people along the way who are all struggling with you. And I’m actually still friends with several people that we met but I’ve become a huge fan of how can I challenge my kids to do something they think is impossible and I really think it has driven their confidence as they’ve grown into young men.

Arlen Robinson ([31:20].832)
Yeah, yeah.

Arlen Robinson ([31:25].027)
Okay.

Arlen Robinson ([31:29].028)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Arlen Robinson ([31:34].688)
Okay. Okay, that’s awesome. Well, good to know. Well, Leslie, lastly, before we do let you go, if you don’t mind sharing with our audience the best way for them to reach you, if they wanna reach out to you and pick your brain anymore about Amazon or anything under that sun.

Lesley Hensell ([31:52].387)
So you can connect with me on LinkedIn at Leslie Hensel. My website is rive And I’ve also written a book called The Amazon Incubator to help sellers to set up their businesses for success. And you can find it at the amazonincubator.com. It’s available at all the major bookstores.

Arlen Robinson ([32:12].028)
Okay, that’s awesome. Well, definitely, we’ll definitely have the link for both of those sites in our show notes so people can check that out and definitely highly encourage them to do that and link up with you on LinkedIn so that you know, you can, they can pick your brain a lot more about Amazon selling. Well, this has been awesome talking to you, Leslie. I’ve definitely learned a lot on my end and I know our listeners have as well. And we really appreciate having you on the e-commerce marketing podcast.

Lesley Hensell ([32:38].563)
Thank you so much.

Arlen Robinson ([32:39].876)
Thank you.

Podcast Guest Info

Lesley Hensell
Co-Founder of Riverbend Consulting