Jennifer Wallace
Savvy online retailers always look for ways to boost their business, and one of the ways to do that is to create a blog. The right blog posts don’t only help e-commerce businesses point people to their online store. They also help increase conversion, boost customer loyalty, and contribute to brand authority. Read on for all you need to know to start blogging for your business!
Benefits of Blogging for Online Retailers
Better SEO means better conversion.
If you’ve heard of SEO, you’ve heard why it’s important. SEO (search engine optimization) helps you rank higher on search engine results pages. In the old days, people sought wisdom by climbing a huge mountain to ask a wizened old person for help. At least, that’s what the cartoons taught us.
Now, we hop on our phones and Google answers it in a second. We don’t take time to browse through several search engine results pages (SERPs). We want the best information right away, which is why SEO is so important.
Promote customer loyalty by bridging the gap.
We may not climb mountains for advice, but we still have deep human needs for connection. Blogging can bridge the gap between you and your clients by letting you both communicate.
If they have any questions, they can ask in the comments section. Get really good at this blogging thing and you may find that they give you some fantastic blog topic ideas. If you thank them for the idea, you’ll show your gratitude for their loyalty. This has a cyclical effect – the more you interact, the happier and more loyal they’ll be.
Bolster brand authority as you help others.
Help your clients better understand your products, services, or industry. As you do, you’ll find that your brand authority improves. This is 100% a win-win. Your e-commerce site will be thriving and your customers will learn and grow too. Focus on creating high-quality content and you’ll further build their trust, which is great for your reputation.
Things to Keep in Mind
Blogging is beneficial to all types of eCommerce businesses. B2C, C2B, C2C, and B2B eCommerce sites can get more organic traffic via SEO blogging. There are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind to ensure that your posts are as helpful as possible, though.
Think about what your audience needs.
This is important for several reasons. As an eCommerce business, you should already have an idea of what your clients need. You should be well acquainted with your client’s pain points. You know how you can help solve their problems. However, good SEO also starts with thinking about your audience’s needs.
“Search intent” is an important part of creating a winning digital content strategy. You need to know (or be willing to find out) what a user may want to know when they search for specific things. Google wants to pull up the right results for the search, so they use search intent in a big way to determine SEO.
Conduct keyword research before you write.
Keyword research and search intent go hand in hand. Without an idea of search intent, you’ll have no idea what keywords to include in your blog. You’ll need to do keyword research if you want to get the most out of your content. Why? Here are a couple of reasons:
- You need to make sure that there’s user demand for your phrase. If there’s very little demand for your topic, don’t write about it. That is unless you think it’s something you could generate interest in. (Posting on social media or involving/highlighting other people is one way of doing this.)
- You need to make sure the topic isn’t highly saturated. Some phrases have such high demand that it’s nearly impossible to rank first in SERPs. This is why it’s helpful to go into a bit more detail. You can add detail by including location, industry, or other relevant elements.
People love a good story.
When it comes down to it, people still want to be entertained. It helps to tell a story that draws people in. Sometimes all you need to do is throw in a random, fun element that takes them by surprise. You can also use a personal, customer testimonial to do the heavy lifting for you. Make sure that it’s relatable and compelling like your favorite stories are!
Even if it’s just a short aside, a story can add some vibrance to your blog and put a smile on the faces of your clients. The human experience is an interesting thing, and there is so much to relatable ground you can cover.
Interact with (and highlight) your audience.
Use blogs to your advantage by encouraging open discussion with your audience. Consider incentives for your clients that will make them want to share and discuss your blog. But don’t just respond to their comments. Find ways to include them. Ecommerce sites are already doing this on social media, but it should carry over into the blog world as well.
Some ideas on how to do this:
- Host contests to promote your blog
- Let your readers contribute a guest post
- Build a quiz
- Embed a video
- Add GIFs
- Enable social sharing
- Make interactive charts/graphs
- Use a chatbot
- Build a custom calculator
- Let readers jump to sections they’re most interested in
The better the user experience is with your blog, the better off you will be.
Here’s a non-eCommerce example. Recipe blogs usually post fun anecdotes about how and when they first made the recipe. Or they talk about who they got the recipe from. The problem with this is that many people (including myself) aren’t interested. We don’t care that Sally’s grandma first made cowboy cookies in 1952. When we search for a recipe, we want it as quickly as possible!
This is why I appreciate recipe blogs like Half-Baked Harvest. It has a convenient “Skip to Recipe” option right at the top of the page. I don’t need to scroll down forever. I don’t need to see all the seductive food photos mocking me for not knowing about the recipe sooner. I can go straight to the recipe and start making those yummy cookies myself. Take that, Grandma!*
Blogging to Boost Your eCommerce Biz
A blog is a fantastic addition to an eCommerce platform and can help boost your business. To make it most effective, you should:
- Start by thinking about what your audience needs
- Conduct keyword research
- Tell a compelling story
- Interact with your audience when you can
Blogging for eCommerce is pretty straightforward if you have time. If you aren’t a wordy person and would rather spend more time buying and selling than blogging, we get it. In that case, feel free to outsource it to us.
At Content Cucumber, writing content is what we know and love. We stay on top of SEO best practices so you don’t have to stress about it. We have an option for everyone. If you’d like a demo or a free sample of our writing, let us know!
*Author of the article has nothing against grandmas. In fact, she loves grandmas, whether Grandma’s a knitter, a baker, or a biker chick. Thanks for the cookies, Grandma – they’re delicious!
