Does your e-commerce business have a blog? Whether you’re starting fresh or looking to get the most out of blogging as a business tool, here are a few tips to help you along the way.
Why Blog?
Blogging is your chance to put your voice into your business and your products. It sets e-commerce sites like yours apart from the competition by letting you communicate about your products, policies, inspirations, and future plans in a lengthier, friendlier format, and can infuse your site with personality that lends itself to branding and conversation.
Although blogging puts a personal touch on an e-commerce site, you don’t want to lose sight of the fact that your blog must relate to – and ultimate influence – your business. It’s fine to share anecdotes and observations, but be sure to include the following features to help drive sales and increase customer confidence in your store.
Categorize Your Content
Content categories can help you stay on message. For example, a clothing store might have categories for dresses, shirts, accessories, and personal style. However, don’t go overboard with categories, either – that’s a surefire way to lose readers’ attention as well as your message. Be sure to index your content categories in an easy-to-find place on your blog for easy browsing.
Share Socially
Your readers can become some of your best marketers if you take steps to grow your social media following with every blog post! Adding Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other buttons (social media sites provide easy-to-use code and instructions) increase the likelihood that your audience will share your words, which can drive traffic – and, with any luck, sales – right back to you.
Highlight Recent and Popular Posts
You’ve gotten your customers to click over to your blog. After looking at your latest post, what will keep them there? A Recent and/or Popular Posts column on your front page makes reading archives practically irresistible, and many popular blogging platforms include highlighting and indexing features as options during setup.
Recent posts, of course, showcase what’s freshest on your blog, but Popular posts are determined by page clicks and will give you and your customers an idea of what resonates with readers most.
Entice Readers Into Action
Your writing may be witty, and your products may be pretty, but there’s no point in blogging for business unless you see some results. Whether you’re hoping to increase overall traffic or have a sales goal in mind, you ultimately want your blog to have a measurable impact your e-commerce site.
Naturally, you’ll want to make sure each post links to your e-commerce site and to products it highlights – but you can also engage shoppers by inviting them to sign up for email updates. Review your blog’s design to determine where you can include an eye-catching call to action, and be sure to highlight the benefits of signing up to shoppers – news of sales, promotional codes, new products, sneak peeks, or policy changes.
The Bottom Line
Blogging can be a powerful business tool, and it’s a chance to showcase your personality in addition to your product line. Take steps to ensure your design and content keep readers engaged and interested in your e-commerce site, and watch where blogging can take you and your business!
