Blogging For Businesses

By Angus  |  30 Dec 2014 17:00:00

Everywhere you read on the subject of ecommerce, experts are constantly extolling the benefits of blogging. It is quite likely that if you have not started blogging already it is something you are at least considering. For many merchants however, producing and curating the content for a blog may be something unfamiliar, or perhaps you just don’t see where blogging fits in with the product you are selling.

To celebrate Sellr's new blog feature (available on all packages), I thought it would be a good idea in this post to firstly recap on the benefits to your business of starting a blog, before running through some advice and tips on how you should approach blogging.

Why should I blog?

1. - Search Engine Optimisation

Search engines favour websites with large quantities of freshly updated content, and even if you are constantly adding product pages, a blog is a more effective way of doing this. The reason for this is that blog posts are typically rich with relevant keywords and phrases, so the more blog pages you have on your website, the more opportunities there are for your website to be found for a wider range of search terms.

2. – Increase Conversions

Not only does having a blog increase the likelihood of your website being found and therefore increasing traffic, when done well it also increases the chance of these visitors converting into customers. This is because it gives you an opportunity to engage and connect visitors with your brand.

These visitors may have not initially have had an intention to purchase, but a blog affords you the opportunity to “soft-sell” to these prospects through communicating an appealing brand personality, building trust and credibility and often just by showing visitors something that they didn’t know they wanted.

3. - Social Media Marketing

A blog gives you the opportunity to gain free word of mouth marketing by getting your content shared. I have mentioned in previous posts that it is important to give people a reason to like you on social media and there is no better reason than providing consistently informative or entertaining content. More importantly, this will help you to build your brand and lend credibility to your business. By positioning yourself as an industry expert, people are automatically more likely trust you and purchase from you.

What should I blog about?

There is a tendency for people to think that blogging is something that is separate from ecommerce. This is not surprising as the most popular blogs do tend to be independent sources of news and entertainment, perhaps selling a small range of merchandise as an afterthought to cash in on their popularity.

Additionally, if you are selling a product that is quite generic and utilitarian then it is understandable that you would initially think that blogging isn’t something that would work in your industry.

In truth, with a bit of creativity, any business can have a successful blog. The main piece of advice here is to focus on the bigger picture rather than on your product too much. Think of the overall lifestyle and attitude of your typical customer when choosing what you should write about.

An example of this could be a business selling accessories for pickup trucks starting a blog not only on trucks but also covering trade work and the outdoor lifestyle. This is a broad enough area to give you plenty to write about and to be able to cater for different areas of interest, yet it still has a definable target audience.

For an ecommerce businesses blog to be successful it needs to become a one stop shop to fulfil a certain need. HypeBeast is a great example of this, positioning themselves as the ultimate location for their target audience (fashion conscious young men) to keep up to date on the latest design news.

This is a great niche to have as “design” covers so many areas that there really is something for everyone. People visiting the website leave feeling knowledgeable and on trend, and naturally many visitors enjoy feeling part of this lifestyle enough to purchase their limited edition product lines.  

Conclusion

Having a blog is a good marketing strategy for many types of business. Having said this, it is something that takes time and dedication to do well and is unlikely to produce instant results. Because of this, the best ecommerce blogs are written by people with a genuine passion for what they are selling and the lifestyle / industry that accompanies it.