As the owner of an ecommerce store, your main goal is to drive qualified traffic to your business website and convert those visitors into paying customers. And when it comes to driving traffic, most ecommerce companies pay importance to paid advertisements which are great. But did you know that the chances of a marketing strategy's positive outcomes are 13 times higher if it includes blogging? If this number grabs your attention, I’m here to tell you in detail why blogs are important for ecommerce. So, stay tuned till the end as we are about to delve deep into this topic.
Benefits of Blogging for Your Ecommerce Store
In the digitally advanced world of today, businesses are evolving from the brick-and-mortar model to the click-and-mortar model. This shift is necessary if you want to rank high on search engines like Google and strengthen your consumer base. So, a strong online presence has become quintessential and what could be more effective than a well-curated blog? Now have a look at these major reasons why you must consider starting a blog to witness a steady growth in organic traffic to your online shop.
1. Ensuring brand identity and positioning
If you want to entice someone to purchase your products, one of the best e-commerce SEO strategies is to tell them a compelling story. Your customers should know who you are as well as what ideologies you represent. This is what your blog content will do for your brand. People will find out more about your ecommerce brand through articles and blog posts, something that advertising materials cannot do.
Moreover, when you consistently put out gripping blog articles, your brand will have a personality of its own. Your brand image will be reaffirmed repeatedly, and you will emerge as an industry expert among many ecommerce businesses.
2. Saving money
While leading companies spend a lot of money on ad campaigns and other marketing tactics, startups and small businesses have limited budgets. They need a solution that will give good results and they won't have a dig a hole in their pockets. If such is your case, blogging can come to your rescue. As opposed to other marketing efforts that can be expensive, e-commerce blogging is extremely cost-effective. Some posts can stay relevant for months and years and so, they will keep attracting traffic.
Moreover, even you if have the money, there is no guarantee that your paid ads will work. So, why not adopt cheaper means like your competitors are doing to get ecommerce traffic?
3. Having powerful interaction with customers
A business website is a place customers visit only when they want to buy something. But a blog is something they’d like to read anytime, anywhere. So, if you prioritize webshop content creation, you can keep your regular customers engaged. For example, an ecommerce site selling products that cause weight loss can share encouraging articles and success stories of previous clients.
You can also share other kinds of interesting content like product descriptions and videos teaching people how to incorporate the products into their lives. The top ecommerce blogs are the ones that post a variety of content.
4. SEO (search engine optimization)
You are already investing your resources and time to get more traffic and increase sales. Add a blog to your business website/ online store to significantly increase the content quality and quantity on your ecommerce website. The more fresh and keyword-enriched content you keep providing, the sooner your website will rank. Google will show your products to thousands of prospective clients every day. So, blogging gives you ample opportunities to add industry-relevant keywords and it is undoubtedly one of the internet retailer blogging best practices.
5. Generating backlinks
You have already learned that you can optimize your ecommerce store so that it ranks higher on Google. But did you know that backlinks determine how well your page can rank in the results of the search engines? The more backlinks one has from leading websites, the higher they rank.
And to get those coveted links, just publishing product pages won’t be effective. That’s because no website or blogger is eager to link to product pages unless the business owner lures them with some incentive. But if you have a blog, you can tap into the blogosphere and bloggers and website owners will be ready to join hands with you. Then it won’t be challenging for you to convince them to link to your content instead of just the product pages.
Every single blog you create will have a unique URL and you can attach this URL to your posts on different social media platforms. You can include the “share” and “like” buttons to your blogs to expand your reach and become familiar on social media. Make sure you have buttons on your blog and site that link back to your social media accounts. This will further assist you in your journey of achieving more followers and customers.
7. Spiking conversion rates
It goes beyond saying that the purpose of e-commerce blogging is not just getting website traffic. Eventually, it will increase conversion rates as the blog will do the job of making you relatable. People will also feel confident to make big purchases from your site if there’s a blog as it makes you more credible.
8. Facilitating brand loyalty
You may have the world’s best services or products but to get buyers, you must not neglect e-shop content optimization. As yours is an online business struggling to gain popularity in the global marketplace, you must invest ways to get long-term customers. Blogging is a tried-and-tested method to establish brand loyalty and get repeat customers.
It is true that retail website blogging alone cannot give you faithful customers. However, as long as people find our content helpful and information-packed, they will be more inclined towards making a purchase. They will realize that you are an expert in your field. Another way of winning the reverence of people is by highlighting your charity work and community involvement in the blog posts. As a seasoned marketer, I have observed that people are keener on supporting businesses that have a noble mission or give importance to sustainability and manufacture environment-friendly products.
Searching for some more online marketplace content ideas? On your blogs, you can and should include share buttons. Then it will be convenient for readers to easily and promptly share the posts they like on diverse social media platforms (WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram). When somebody shares your post, it will reach their friends and families. So, once you start blogging, every post you upload has the potential to go viral. And even if you don’t get millions of views and shares, you will at least reach a larger audience.
10. Impressing people by showing your brand's human side
As per e-commerce industry insights, your blog will act as the direct voice of your brand that you want to convey to the outside world. If used judiciously, it can be a powerful tool as consumers have a habit of researching before buying services or products. So, when they come across a well-structured blog, it makes the brand personal instead of being robotic.
Additionally, your articles will be read by people who are looking for answers to common questions. So, by answering the trending industry questions, you can secure your place as a credible source of information. That’s how your brand will end up becoming a trustworthy reference for industry-specific news.
The Takeaway
So, why blogs are important for ecommerce stores? I am certain that the above-mentioned reasons have encouraged you to take digital storefront blogging seriously. However, you must understand that for ecommerce blogging to be successful, you cannot just put together some words and publish content regularly. Your blogs must be well-researched, informative, and unique for them to stand out.
So, it is a lot of hard work that requires strategic content planning and publication. Hence, outsourcing this task to an experienced content strategist will give you insurmountable benefits and that's what the wisest business owners do. While an expert handles your ecommerce blog, you can focus on other important aspects of online retail content marketing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What are the benefits of blogging for an e-commerce business?
According to online shopping blog trends, attracting traffic to your ecommerce store from various sources, getting backlinks, developing a brand voice, ranking on search engine results, getting recognition as an industry expert, and noticing an increase in sales are the top reasons why your ecommerce site needs a blog.
Q. How can e-commerce blogs improve customer engagement and loyalty?
When you opt for blogging for an ecommerce platform, you get to share your story with your target audience and connect with them. Having a good blog where people can find informative content also makes it easy for them to rely on the brand and foster long-term relationships.
