Blogging is a proven way to improve organic traffic and search engine optimization efforts. eCommerce and blogging might seem like a weird couple, but they work really well together.
For an eCommerce website, optimizing product descriptions and other site pages for long-tail keywords is quite a tall challenge. Even if you manage to do it, you can say goodbye to customer experience since your content could end up being nothing but keywords. That’s why any eCommerce content marketing strategy should have blogging as one of the main focus areas.
The idea of starting a blog, especially for an eCommerce business, is considered a synonym for hard work. After eCommerce fulfillment process, eCommerce blogging is the toughest. But once you’ve built a flow for creating value-adding and SEO-friendly blogs, you will get quality organic traffic that can help you become a more profitable and successful business.
As a marketer, you are 13x more likely to see positive ROI by prioritizing blogging over other marketing tactics. According to DemandMetrics, companies that produce blogs on a regular basis get an average of 67% more leads when compared to companies that don’t blog.
According to Search Engine Journal, one of the most sought out websites for SEO and content marketing advice, blogging is a booster shot for eCommerce websites, and here’s why:
- Blogs increase site traffic drastically. According to HubSpot, the number of indexed pages of a website with a blog has is 434% higher in comparison to the websites without a blog.
- Shopify, one of the largest eCommerce-enabler brands, invests highly in content marketing, and these initiatives have gotten them 55% more paying customers.
- Blogging is a great way to build trust with your audience. According to CMI’s 2019 B2C report, most marketers using blogging to build trust and loyalty among their customers and 81% of them consider it a top-of-mind activity.
However, many eCommerce companies get exasperated with the idea of initiating content marketing efforts because of their time-consuming and detail-oriented nature.
Also, the approach for blogging needs to be eCommerce-specific which is where most of the companies or even experienced marketers feel lost. And that’s why this article is the perfect place to start if you are considering adding a blog to your eCommerce website.
Let’s start with social media
So, if you are targeting millennials and Gen-Z, then your preferred platforms can be Snapchat and Instagram.
Again, taking into consideration only one piece of information is not enough. You will need to know how your target audience uses these platforms.
For instance, 49% of Gen-Z women users said that they prefer Snapchat for sending their videos and 43% of the same group use Snapchat just for posting selfies. So, if you are a brand selling female sports equipment or hygiene products, then using Snapchat for distributing your content will not get you anywhere.
On the other hand, 48% of Gen-Z female users prefer Instagram to interact with brands.
Even though Snapchat has better numbers in terms of market penetration, your efforts will go to waste since your target audience doesn’t use it to interact with a brand like yours. Investing money, time, and efforts to build a community on Instagram would help you achieve all your content marketing and blogging goals.
Now that we’ve taken a look at how to use social media to promote your brand, let’s look at what content you should be producing on your blog and other spaces.
Producing content for your blog
- Use your creativity for topic ideas
Coming up with unique, actionable, and clickable topic ideas is not an easy feat. Even though you might be an expert in your field, it’s quite easy to run out of topics and ideas for content.
That’s where you will have to use your creativity, competitor analysis, industry expertise, and understanding of the target market. Avoid any popular eCommerce branding mistakes to jeopardize your reputation.
Here’s your quick guide to get creative with topic and content ideas:
- Google your targeted keywords. It’s the best way to get a proper understanding of what kind of content ranks for the keyword. You can also use Google’s autocomplete feature, Q&A, and Related Searches sections to understand your audience’s search terms. You can use these queries and search terms to generate topic ideas.
- Follow current events and news to keep up with the industry trends and events.
- Write stories about your products. Showcase behind the scenes of your team ideating, executing, and creating products that your customers love.
- Get your keywords right
To ensure you are targeting the right audience and creating content that matches the intent of the searcher, you will need to create an effective process for keyword research.
The success of any blog post is highly dependent on the right usage of keywords. It won’t matter how great your content is unless it’s visible and accessible to the target audience which is where keyword research comes into the picture. And it is extra crucial for ecommerce blogging.
Using keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner and UberSuggest, you can do your basic research. But to access the gold that’s hidden away in the roots, use advanced tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush.
The scope provided by these tools is quite wide as you can search for a topic, explore 100 different related ideas, see what kind of content ranks for them, and much more.
To add more depth to your keyword research process, here are some actionable tips:
- Always gather and use negative keywords to narrow down your search for topics
- Use localized keywords
- Do competitor analysis to see which keywords they are targeting and get a feel of their published and ranked content
- Use tools like Answerthepublic.com to explore your target audience’s questions
- Use Moz’s SEO toolbar to compare important metrics across web pages
- Focus on Visuals
We can’t deny the fact that visual content fetches better engagement rates. Articles with images, infographics, videos, and other visual content get 94% more views, according to an infographic by Optimind Technology.
We can make an inference that this trend will catch the upward train as we are seeing a sharp rise in the usage of mobile devices for content consumption.
So, whenever possible while keeping the context and relevance in mind, include visuals in your articles. Be it still images, GIFs, or short clips, make your article as informative and engaging as possible.
Here’s a quick list of the top 9 types of visuals you can include in your blog today!
- Quotes
- Data-driven visuals like graphs, pie charts, etc.
- Infographics or GIFographics
- Memes
- GIFs
- Videos
- Slideshare PPTs
- Screenshots – best for technical articles
- Illustrations
Create to Educate, Not to Sell
All tips and tactics to improve results of your ecommerce blogging on one side, and creating content to educate and help your customers and to make an impact on the other.
The brands that are using their content and distribution channels to voice their beliefs, morals, and values will be the winning brands in 2021. So, keep this in mind while formulating your content and blogging strategy for the next quarter.
Featured image by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels
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