Ecommerce Blogging - Why and How To Start Right Now

The term “Content Marketing” has become one of the dominant phrases that businesses have adopted in their dictionaries. Small, medium and enterprise companies are learning what the superpowers of content marketing truly are. Naturally, they are looking to get a piece of that pie.

To set the tone for this blog post, we will not be viewing content marketing and blogging as a ways for advertising goods and services, but for their true purpose - engagement.

of U.S. online consumers trust information and advice from blogs.
 

Quick question: Are you a follower of any blogs? Have you enjoyed learning interesting new information from an educated source that has enriched your own knowledge?

Answer: The statistics suggest you most probably did.

Ask yourself: How did it feel to find the exact blog post you needed to change how you think, feel or do something that has been challenging before?

Answer: It probably felt awesome. Even more so because it’s usually free, right?

of consumers who are interested in a brand are more likely to spend time reading their content.
 

That’s right, blogging is an amazing opportunity. You can make your customers and visitors feel awesome as well by giving them relevant and valuable information with the power to change a given aspect of their life.

This post will focus on three important blogging aspects:

  • Why every business out there should invest in blogs as a content marketing strategy.
  • How people without epic writing skills can also make their business blog work well.
  • Show examples of how E-Commerce businesses have utilized blogs, making them an essential part of their image.

The topic about blogging can be literally discussed forever, so let’s keep things concise and let the numbers do the talking with this infographic. It shows some of the facts that make blogging for business so necessary. And awesome.

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Why Starting Your Business Blog is a Must

(Info Source)

Your audience comes first, but how do you obtain that audience if your website doesn’t have much traffic coming through? You guessed it - blogging is the answer, and here is why:

Traffic and SEO

More blog posts means more pages in your website. More pages with unique content are the thing Google and other search engines value most.

The average estimate is that companies with a blog get 434% more indexed pages.

This makes blogs one of the most powerful SEO-boosting attributes, especially for E-Commerce businesses that encounter difficulties with growth because of low visibility.

An increase in traffic means more opportunities for you to land leads and convert them into customers. This depends on how well your blog posts are optimized, and how they get visitors into your sales funnel.

To put it simply - blogs get more eyes on you.

Marketing and Branding

What does marketing do? The main purpose of your online marketing efforts are to take the traffic your website is generating, turn site visitors into leads and eventually convert them into paying customers.

37% of marketers say blogs are the most valuable type of content marketing.
 

How does that work from an E-Commerce perspective? Simple - your blog brings more traffic to your online store and offers users valuable information that can be of real use to them. If you did well enough, this sparks interest for more content, probably even a subscription for your newsletter.

Awesome, you now have the email addresses of users that have seen and liked the content you publish. A perfect opportunity to start building a relationship with a well-crafted email marketing campaign.

Related: Tips for E-Commerce Email Marketing Success

In a nutshell, blogging is a great way to get incoming traffic to your online store.

What about branding? Having a comprehensive content strategy is one of the main ways to build brand awareness and start establishing the unique image of your company.

Having your own voice can raise you above a competition that lacks regular blog publishing. However, remember that the main purpose of your blog is single - engaging with your audience and using your voice to speak to them.

Brand engagement increases by 28% when consumers are exposed to both professional and user-generated content.
 

In short, building a brand requires communicating with people and what better way to do that than helpful blog posts that show what you’re about.

Long Term Investment

One of the coolest things about blogs is the fact that you can do it yourself, provided you find the time for it. The main resource spent on content marketing and blogging is time, and if you manage to set a few hours a week working on a blog post, chances are you won’t have to invest in a professional blogger or freelancer to do the work for you.

However, the main point is that any investment in blogging pays off in the future. Content that is useful for someone today will be useful for someone else in the future as well.

Companies with fewer than 10 employees usually allocate 42% of their marketing budget to content.
 

But how does that work for en E-Commerce business?

Having helpful articles and publishing useful posts from time to time can be quite enough to offer real value to your users and customers. When your visitors are browsing for products and want to learn more about something, there can always be a post that helps them make up their mind.

New isn’t always better. Hubspot found that about 70% of the blog traffic they receive each month comes from posts that weren't published in the current month. This gives you some room to breathe because you do not have to constantly strive to publish new things just to be on top.

How to Start Blogging Without Having Any Writing Experience

(Info source)

The one thing you should never forget when starting a blog is to think about your audience. Write for your customers as you would write for your favorite things in the world - family, friends, hobbies, bacon.

That passion is what matters most because you do not need to be a creative writer to be useful and interesting for your audience. You just need to be passionate.

Helpful and Useful Advice

As an entrepreneur who owns a business, you probably already know a lot about your niche and your products. Blogging allows you to share that knowledge and demonstrate the experience you have accumulated over the years.

Remember what we asked you in the beginning of the post? About the feeling you got when learning something really valuable from a blog? Give that exact feeling to your readers as well - write for people, not products.

90% of consumers find custom content useful, 78% believe that businesses creating content are interested in building good relationships.
 

The challenge for content marketers is creating interesting content that solves a customer pain point by tailoring the blog from a non-advertising perspective, while still trying to promote the product so they can convert a lead into a customer.

Yes, it is quite a challenge. But that’s simply because blogs aren’t meant for that. Of course, business blogs are meant for business purposes, which means there has to be at least some mentioning of products or services.

However, once again - engagement. Engage with your audience, offer practical advice and real value. You’d be amazed.

Tell Your Own Story

The story of your brand, what it’s about and how it came to be - this is another thing that should revolve around the value that you are offering. As Bernadette Jiwa from TheStoryOfTelling.com said:

“Marketing is not a department - It’s the story of how you create a difference for your customers.”

Bernadette explains that a product without a meaning is just a commodity. Once you add meaning to your product - you have a brand.

Tear Down the Corporate Wall

One of the biggest downfalls of blogging and content marketing is the corporate tone. To be more precise - articles that sound like a monologue, that are heavy with PR and centered around how incredible your brand is. Let your customers be the judge of that.

A good blog post is a conversation, not static text that just sits there. To converse with readers, try writing like you are talking to a person who is sitting in front of you. What would you say:

“The product will be delivered in 24 hours.”, or “We will deliver your product within 24 hours!”

Since writing is an art and there are hundreds of rules about it, we cannot teach you to be awesome. However, we can give you a few tips that can make your blog posts look more appealing to users so they can actually be read:

  • Bullet points make it easier to share key information.
  • Shorter paragraphs are easier to read.
  • Highlight important information so it’s easier to comprehend.
  • Back statements with links to prove the are valid.
  • Articles with images get 94% more views.

For people who don’t have much experience in writing, this is the place to start. In essence, having no writing experience shouldn’t stop you from starting a business blog for your E-Commerce website. Remember - be useful and passionate about your work.

Successful business blogs

To prove that business success through blogging is quite possible and real, we will share some examples of online stores that have adopted this content marketing strategy. Check out how their blog pages look and what topics they discuss.

The Art of Manliness (artofmanliness.com)

A blog about being more than just male. Begin a gentleman is hard work and the series posted by the Art of Manliness are rich with knowledge on the topic. There are interviews with men with an inspiring past with a lot to teach.

Fitbit (fitbit.com)

Looking good means to feel good. Fitbit take it seriously to show people how they can live a healthier and happier life with simple tips that can get big results.

Di Bruno (dibruno.com)

It’s not everyday you see a blog about culinary pioneers, gourmet catering and cheese products infused with the story of the people that made them.

LUISAVIAROMA (luisaviaroma.com)

A fashion diary filled with unique interviews and articles about the history and future of the fashion world.

Ankle Swagger (ankleswagger.com)

Socks can make you one of the cool kids, and this blog can show you why. Learn who has ankle swagger and how to be a man that doesn’t blend in.

Helm Life (helmlife.com)

Men’s shoes need to last, and Helm Life emphasize the timeless quality of their products in short, but captivating articles with beautiful images.

Natural Force (mynaturalforce.com)

Sports nutrition is a controversial and widely discussed topic, which is a perfect reason for Natural Force to start setting things straight in their blog.

Another interesting example is how Groovehq.com started out with lack of any traffic, which was threatening to them. Without any advertising whatsoever, eventually they increased their traffic by 12,024%. An interesting starting journey you could learn from.

All of these are great examples of E-Commerce businesses that managed to demonstrate how unique they are by building interesting blogs that teach and help their readers and customers.

Blogging in OpenCart

The default OpenCart installation lacks a native option for creating a blog in your online store. However there is a simple solution to that. After installing the iBlog tool, you will be able to start publishing blog posts effortlessly.

A few final words

A powerful conclusion can go a long way. It might even change a reader’s mind if they are not convinced by the article itself. It’s the point where the conversation ends, but can make your site visitors think about what you had to say long after they finished reading it. They might be so inspired and impressed by it that they might even want to share it on Facebook or Twitter. Since content overload is a real thing, not many readers make the effort to click the share button. Emotion is what drives sharing because it’s expected to spark emotion elsewhere. Remember? It’s all about the passion.

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