Today, ecommerce is dominating physical stores and this will continue. As a result, it is getting more and more difficult for online store owners to market their brands.
Luckily, there is blogging.
Are you trying different marketing strategies to serve both you and your customers?
If yes, you've probably considered blogging...
And if you're not yet doing it, maybe you're still not sure where to start.
Am I right?
But the good news is... you're in the right place!
You see... blogging isn't as easy as 1 2 3.
That's why this blog will cover how you can start blogging — from setting up your blog section to promoting your blogs.
So, are you ready? Let's start with...
What Is A Blog?
A blog is where you can post long or short articles that consist of different topics. It can be personal documentation of your life, informative blogs, or company news.
It really depends on the purpose of creating one.
But for ecommerce websites, you can use the blog section to educate customers and foster a community.
I mean, did you know that in 2019, marketers who focused on blogging had 13X more Return On Investment than brands that didn't?
That's huge, right? It's really time to give blogging a chance!
And before that, let me tell you...
Why Do You Need A Blog Section On Your Ecommerce Website?
1. To Drive More Traffic
You need to drive people to your ecommerce website if you want to make sales.
And the good thing about blogging is if your blogs are excellently optimized, you can appear on the search engine results page.
So, this means... you can drive more people to your website and you can have a successful blog.
Another reason why blogs are good for your ecommerce website is...
2. To Provide Value
Your audience loves it if you can offer value to their life.
If your blogs have educational things your readers would find beneficial, they might consider your brand worthy of their money.
And the last benefit I can show you today is...
3. To Show Your Expertise
When you blog, you're actually showcasing your knowledge.
And let's say you're providing informational things about your products and the nature of your ecommerce business.
It means you are showing your potential customers that you are knowledgeable in that area, which can help you build the credibility of your products.
Sounds fantastic, right?
So... these are just some of the many benefits of having a blog section on your ecommerce website. But now, it's time to get to the best part.
How To Start The Blog On Your Ecommerce Website?
1. Set Up Your Blog Section
Let's start with the basics first.
So, of course, to start a blog, you need to add a Blog section on your ecommerce site.
This is actually easy if you're using Shopify because there's already a default blog section.
It's called News, so you can still customize it according to your liking. You change the name to Blog or Our Blog — anything you prefer.
But aside from that, you also need to learn how to add your first blog post on Shopify.
- Go to Shopify Admin.
- Select Online Store, and choose Blog Posts.
- Enter a Title and Content for your blog.
- Go to the Organization section, and select Create a new blog from the Blog drop-down menu.
- Enter the Blog Title.
- Then Save.
But how to add a new blog post?
- Go to your Shopify Admin.
- Select Online Store, then choose Blog Posts.
- Click on Manage Blogs.
- Then select Add Blog Post.
- Complete your blog post. Add images, customize the settings, and add the title.
- Save the blog.
Easy-peasy, right?
Now you know how to navigate the blog section on your Shopify dashboard, it's time to get to the planning part!
2. Plan Your Content Strategy
To create effective blogs that your potential customers would enjoy, you need to plan your content strategy.
Because you can't just write about anything. You need to write for your audience, so they would give you their interest and take action on your ecommerce site.
To find which strategy you need to use, you can consider these things when planning:
- What is your industry?
- What suits the needs of your target audience?
- Which topics can you discuss that are relevant to your audience and industry?
The thing is, you need to make sure you are solving your audience's problem so they would interact with your blogs. But you also need to present how your brand can help in any way.
So, another step you need to do is choose the types of content you will post.
Speaking of which, here are some:
- Articles
- Stories
- Behind The Scenes
- Company News
- Listicles
These are just a few examples, but you need to shake things up to fit your brand.
Once you have already planned your content, it's time to...
3. Plan Your Search Engine Optimization Strategy
To optimize your blogs for driving traffic, you need to plan your Search Engine Optimization or SEO strategy.
But first, what is Search Engine Optimization?
It's a digital marketing tactic to help you increase your website's visibility on search engine results pages. If you have a great strategy, this will help more people see your blogs and improve your brand awareness.
So, to help you start with your Ecommerce SEO strategy and boost your organic search, here are a few tips.
- Conduct keyword research. The key to having an effective SEO strategy is using the right keywords. Your audience will type in these on search engines and help you increase visibility.
- Write excellent content. To keep your customers engaged, write a blog article they would find valuable and enjoyable to read until the end.
- Link to different pages. If you have relevant and internal links on your website, try to use them and redirect your audience to other pages to make them know more about your brand.
- Create an attractive headline. Do you want to get that click? Then use an attention-grabbing headline! This is one way to drive more people to your ecommerce site.
- Don't forget the image ALT text. If you're using images on your blogs, try adding ALT text to make your ecommerce blog more searchable. This will also describe the pictures to your audience who have problems seeing them.
- Write meta descriptions. It contains the summary of your page. This will make your audience click on your website if it sparks their interests.
Don't be scared to change your strategies from time to time. It's essential to experiment and see what's working or not.
But remember, blogging is not free marketing. Because you definitely need to allot more time and planning to make this successful.
Speaking of which, you need to...
4. Create A Content Calendar
When you already have your blog section, you need to post consistently.
Thankfully, a content calendar will help. This is where you will input all your blog content and schedule. This will help you keep your blog posts organized and consistent in scheduling.
So, when you create a content calendar, you can keep it simple and easy to view. Maybe you can add these categories when creating one:
- Date of Publish
- Channel
- Title
- Tags/Topic
- Status
Don't complicate it because it can look overwhelming. As long as it serves its purpose to you and your team, it's best to include the relevant categories.
And last but not least of our tips...
5. Promote Your Blog
You can also promote your blogs on other channels.
If you are on social media, you can link your blogs to drive more people to your ecommerce site and post them on your Facebook page. You can also attach a new blog post to your newsletters.
Or, if you like, you can reach out to bloggers or other websites and make "guest posts."
It really depends on the social media strategy you'd come up with.
But promoting your ecommerce blog is an important way to keep the traffic coming in from different sources.
Think that's all? Well, I got some additional tips for you!
Do's And Don'ts Of Blogging
Do's:
Here are a few things you can do to make blogging a great asset to your brand:
- Educate your audience. Some of your audience probably haven't heard of your products or services. So, educate them through your posts.
- Make relevant blogs according to their needs. Suppose you run a clothing ecommerce store. You might want to write educational stuff, like clothing trends for 2023. As I said above, make it valuable.
- Keep it natural. While blogging can be an excellent strategy for selling... you need to ensure you are not being too obvious in selling. Remember, offer value first.
Next is...
Don'ts
Now, what are the things you should avoid doing?
- Inconsistency. Once you keep your audience engaged with your blogs, they will want more. So, avoid being inconsistent and follow a schedule of posting.
- Posts that are irrelevant to your audience. You need to focus on content that your audience will enjoy. That's why you need to plan high-quality content.
- Hard-to-read content. When you're blogging, your audience should quickly grasp what you're talking about. And it would help if you don't use jargons or terms they wouldn't understand.
Since you already know what you should avoid, let's see some ecommerce websites that are doing great with their blogs!
3 Ecommerce Websites That Have Great Blogs
1. PrettyLittleThing
(Source)
As a clothing brand, PrettyLittleThing sees the need to provide information about fashion, beauty, and lifestyle, among other things, to their audience.
So, as you can see, they even have a post about what to wear for New Year's Eve. And this is very important for their loyal customers because it gives them ideas on outfits to wear for the occasion.
The next one is...
2. bebemoss
(Source)
We can see that bebemoss isn't merely posting about their brand. They're covering topics that will be helpful, not just to new parents.
They're also writing about their humanitarian efforts and helpful articles, such as parenting and shopping or gifts for babies tips!
Such an amazing blog, right? Now, let's go into the next one...
3. HelloFresh
(Source)
HelloFresh is posting some great content related to the food industry.
Not only they're informing their audience about their initiative on Hunger Action Month. But they're also sharing recipes and food ideas that are perfect for different occasions or seasons!
So, now that you saw these great examples...
Start Blogging To Keep Your Customers Informed!
Who knows? Keeping them informed might help you keep them, right?
Because if you keep them informed, they would think you are beneficial to their lives.
But want to know what another way to keep your customers is?
It's making sure that your ecommerce site provides a great shopping experience!
The good news? You can achieve this by having an ecommerce theme that has excellent functionality, fast-loading, and looks terrific...
And that's Debutify!
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