It’s very easy to get caught up in the fun of starting your own e-commerce store that you forget about engaging your customers and getting your name out there into the world. Blogging may not have crossed your mind – given the amount of work you’re already putting in to selling your product and marketing your website, but it really should be. Your blog can make people sit up and take notice because it’s easily shareable on social media. In this day and age, social media interaction matters – a lot!
Beep, Beep! Incoming Traffic
Your website needs a steady flow of traffic that can convert to sales, and blogging is one tool that’s going to generate that traffic for you. You’re likely already engaging in sales, thinking that it’s enough. However, if you want to expand, push the boundaries of your business knowledge and enjoy further custom, you have to consider what a blog can do for you. An e-commerce blog will provide you a space to speak about your business in your way; it gives you personality.
A business is notoriously stoic; all transactions and order emails. There’s rarely any personal service behind an e-commerce website, and it’s your blog that is going to open up your business personality and show people that there are others behind the scenes and it makes you more human to them. Spending all of your time trying to convert customers by shoving offers in their faces isn’t going to work long-term, but nurturing your email list and helping people to discover why your business is incredible in the first place will help you to go further than ever before.
Let’s take a look at three reasons you should be starting an e-commerce blog; then we’ll go into how to do it!
It’s not something you should do as a boring sidebar to your business; it’s an essential luxury that you have the chance to harness. What you need to know is why you should be setting up a blog and how you can do it!
Reasons To Start A Blog On Your Ecommerce Site
Tell Your Story
Your blog is your personal area to shout to the world what your business does, why you do it and what you have to offer. It’s the place to tell your story, and it’s where you will be building your list of repeat buyers. Social media can only take you so far when you have something interesting to say because those sites are limited. Sometimes, you need more than the squares on Instagram to promote your product. Your blog is going to be the best medium to capture attention, dive into some juicy information and offers that you have and turn readers into buyers.
Get Yourself Noticed
People love a good story, and they’re hooked in by content. If your content is sound, they’re going to be continually clicking through to see what you write next, and that’s going to help you to rank higher in search engines. You can demonstrate what you can do, and as it gets shared, you get noticed and – bam! – more customers.
Get Customers Engaged
People want to interact with you, and your blogs will promote brand loyalty. When they read about the new products that you’re offering via a blog post, customers are more likely to check out what’s on offer and learn more. An interesting blog post can also encourage people to click through the other pages on your site, helping them to learn about you and convert them into customers. It’s one of the most significant assets that you have as an e-commerce business.
How To Get Started
Most online stores already include a feature where you can start a blog. If your store is a WordPress based shop, you’re already halfway there, as WordPress was primarily designed as a blogging platform. Getting started is the easy bit; continuing your blog is harder – but don’t panic! There will always be posts to blog about and topics to discuss. Let’s take a look:
Things Your Blog Needs
There are a few necessities to include on your ecommerce site, including these brand tips:
- About Page. Identifying who you are helps you to build a sense of trust in the reader, and you want your readers to be customers if they haven’t been already. Highlight the people writing the blog and give your names a face to go with them.
- Product Links. As part of learning how to blog, you need to know how to input backlinks in your work so that whenever you mention a product, you can send the customer straight there without waiting. It’s easy to do, and there is plenty of information online to teach you.
- Social Media Buttons. You need to add share buttons to every post so that people can find it simple to follow you and share the posts they enjoy reading. People don’t want to have to work to find this, so make it easy and add it to the end of each blog post.
- Call To Action. Put it in the biggest letters if you have to, but you WANT people to “click here.” Point the customers directly where you want them to go, and they’ll follow the right links.
Spreading The Word
A large part of making sure your e-commerce blog doesn’t die, comes in sharing it and getting the word out to others. Sharing on social media is the fastest way to get the best reach with your posts, so make sure you’re sharing it yourself and encouraging customers to do the same. Selling your stuff via your blog is going to go hand in hand with your e-commerce store, and you can do this with Spreadshop.com, a smart way to sell your blog merch – and it’s free!
You want your blog to be successful, and that takes work and putting in the effort to keep your customers engaged. Now you know how to do it, it’s time to get started!
