A recent poll asked 10,000 entrepreneurs and authors what their single biggest business challenge was. Their answer might surprise you.
As a stay-at-home dad who built a 7 figure business on Amazon in just 24 months, Nick Stephenson knows what it takes to build an audience online.
Turns out that’s exactly what 10,000 other entrepreneurs and authors are asking him about nonstop.
Stephenson shared in a recent video that while polling more than 10,000 authors and entrepreneurs who follow him online, their #1 challenge (by a large margin) was the struggle to build an audience.
And in offering a solution, Stephenson revealed a look inside his own unique approach to overcoming the obstacle.
A Counterintuitive Approach To Building Your Audience Online
While many online pundits will say that churning out endless amounts of content is the secret sauce to cultivating a rabid online following, Stephenson says there’s a much more effective (if somewhat counterintuitive) way.
“In my own experience, I realized 99.9 percent of people online hadn’t heard of me or hadn’t seen any of my content online,” says the United Kingdom-based author and entrepreneur. “So I thought, ‘Why not find a way to get my best content in front of the right people?”
However, instead of going the Google route with blogging and SEO or buying Facebook Ads, Stephenson chose a different (and, it turns out, quite effective) route.
Amazon = A Search Engine for Engaged Buyers
“I realized that Amazon.com is an enormous Search Engine that is designed for one singular purpose – to sell products,” he says. “Amazon is the best in the world at turning random online traffic into committed buyers.”
As an author, Stephenson had already spent months studying Amazon’s seemingly endless nuances when it comes to how products are categorized and displayed.
He soon realized that by creating and sharing targeted, niche content – especially free or low-cost eBooks he calls “Reader Magnets” – on Amazon was incredibly effective.
(DOWNLOAD: Reader Magnets – How To Find Your First 10k Readers)
Stephenson builds clickable links into his free and low-cost Kindle books, which drives targeted online traffic to specific landing pages on his website. Readers are invited to share their email in exchange for free training videos or additional content related to the Kindle book they’ve just downloaded or purchased.
More than Just Books
This approach isn’t just limited to the written word, however.
Amazon’s self-publishing platform CreateSpace allows anyone to upload and sell everything from books to audio and video – either in “hard copy” form (CDs, DVDs, etc.) or as digital downloads.
The way CreateSpace works, there is no overhead or supply costs for sellers. Instead, using the “print on demand” model, books, CDs, DVDs or downloads are processed and created as each order comes in, with the purchaser paying all processing and shipping fees as part of the overall price.
Amazon = Ready-Made Audience
Because Amazon users are on the site for one simple reason – to purchase something – Stephenson says it’s the best type of audience an entrepreneur or author can hope for. The key is naming, categorizing and tagging your content so that it gets “found” on Amazon when shoppers type in search terms related to your item.
(WATCH: How To Find Your First 10,000 Readers.)
Stephenson says cracking the code on Amazon is what took him from struggling stay-at-home dad to more than 7 figures in book and online training sales in less than two years.
“The audience on Amazon is geared for selling,” he says. “Once you understand and view the platform in that fashion, you’ll begin to see the massive opportunity in front of you.”
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