How to get the Amazon Best-Seller Banner on Your Book

You’ve probably seen this banner on certain Amazon pages. Or the Amazon BEST-SELLER banner.

Maybe you’ve never had that on your book, or you haven’t published yet and want to know how to make sure you get it when you do?

I’ve published and launched a lot of books, but not all of them have made it to the point that they get a special Amazon banner. There is definitely a system, a plan, a concerted effort and good strategy in order to achieve this.

When my team and I stick to the plan, AND when the author is willing to go along with this plan as well, we generally achieve the #1 New Release BANNER. Or at least a #1 spot in a category.

Why does it matter?

It’s not really about bragging rights, although that is fun.

Some people will say that achieving best-seller on #1 new release on Amazon doesn’t really matter. Or they’ll say anyone can get to the #1 spot in their category. (I would agree on categories, but NOT generally a banner, because you have to have sales to back it up.)

Here’s what I would say to the idea that it doesn’t matter. Does selling more books matter to you? Because when you’re at the top of a category, when you’re doing well on Amazon, you’re getting MORE organic traffic that you did not have to pay for or fight for. Think about it. If you were looking for a book to help you feel better as you go into 2019, and you do a search for that type of book… how often do you look past the first 2-3 pages in the search results?

I usually never even go beyond the first page. I find a book that looks good, has good reviews, and I click on it. From there, I am very likely to click on the “people also bought” or the other books that Amazon recommends that are similar. Those suggestions come from a variety of algorithms based on sales, reviews, user activity, etc.

How do you achieve the Amazon best-seller banner?

A lot of sales, a lot of reviews, a strong launch, and continued marketing. The #1 best-seller banner is tough to achieve.

But you start by getting the #1 new release banner! That comes from sales, reviews, and activities in a short window of time after the release of the book. A 30-or so day window.

In order to achieve that, we have a launch plan and system that includes the following elements:

• A launch team that’s provided lots of guidance and resources
• An author who is well coached on how and when to market herself & what types of activities to do leading into, during, and immediately following the launch
• Giving away lots of Advanced Review Copies of the book and encouraging those people to leave honest reviews
• A social media strategy for blitzing during launch day/week
• Lots of research on keywords and categories
• Pricing strategy
• Social media team with a plan for keeping the excitement alive
• Growing the email list and using it!
• Utilizing all available elements that Amazon gives to us, such as the Amazon Author Central page
• KNOWLEDGE of how to utilize categories

The system works.

Here’s the deal. It’s really important to do your research on keywords and categories. Because there are a lot of smaller, less-competitive categories, but every bit as legit for your book, that will get you to the top. With the latest book, Journey Back to Health: 6 Steps to Confidently Getting Your Life Back, we could have placed it in healthy living or self-help or any number of categories that are definitely relevant. But a little extra research and digging into similar books came up with the category: Preventive Medicine. This book definitely fits there. It’s all about changing your diet and lifestyle to be healthy… preventing you from further health issues that an unhealthy lifestyle can result in. We added several other small categories, made sure the keywords were good, and off we went.

Category matters, but even in a less competitive category, without all of the other pieces – a strong launch plan and activities surrounding it, a great launch team that left reviews and bought books when we told them to do so, and very importantly, the author’s willingness to do the things she needed to do to bring awareness to her book – the author wouldn’t have gotten the #1 new release banner just for being in a smaller, less competitive category on launch day.

If you’re willing to work, you can achieve it

If you can get a #1 New release, you are on your way!  The important part is to continue to get sales, reviews, and activity on your book page – in large quantities and over a period of time.

So don’t stop on launch day. Keep going, keep working. And, while there is a time limit on the New Release banner, it’s never too late to get the Amazon best-seller banner.