Starting an ecommerce blog is like building a house; you need a solid foundation and a well-ordered structure.
For ecommerce entrepreneurs and online stores, a successful blog requires:
The right blogging platform
A responsive design
Engaging content
Search engine optimization
Consistent promotion
In-depth performance tracking
Ready to engage your customers and drive more ecommerce sales through blogging? Use the steps and resources below as a reference!
1. Select a hosting platform for your blog
Choosing the platform for your blog is a crucial decision, especially in today's rapidly-growing ecommerce industry. A good choice will allow you to manage content and optimize it for search engine visibility easily. Consider cost, scalability, and ease of use when selecting the best platform for your blog.
For example, WordPress offers a wide range of customizable free and paid themes. Plus, the platform offers excellent SEO capabilities. Other popular blogging platforms ecommerce store owners use include Shopify, Squarespace, and Wix.
The platform you choose can make or break your blogging efforts, so take your time to select the best fit.
2. Design your ecommerce blog
Designing a blog that makes your online business stand out and encourages customers to buy is key to success. Ensure your blog design is user-friendly, visually appealing, and consistent with your store's branding.
Use the customization options and design tools available on your blog hosting platform to create a blog that is easy to navigate and encourages users to explore your ecommerce store.
Say you're setting up a Shopify blog. You can choose from different themes to make your blog look great, increasing on-page time and generating more sales. And if you need more help navigating the platform, you can always contact their customer support team.
3. Create engaging content around your ecommerce business
Now that your blog is designed, it's time to create content. Ensure the content you create aligns with the search intent of your product's target audience and resonates with them.
For example, if your brand sells handmade bags, your blog posts should provide useful information, such as reviews, styling tips and product comparisons. And if your store is all about skincare products, your content could include product reviews and skincare routines.
Your blog doesn't only have to include written content. Source high-quality images from free stock photo sites or add YouTube videos and podcast clips to break up the text, diversify your blog feed and engage customers better.
4. Optimize your ecommerce blog for SEO
You need to apply SEO best practices to ensure your ecommerce blog content reaches the right people and drives ecommerce sales. These best practices include optimizing titles, meta descriptions, and keywords to ensure they are relevant to the topic at hand.
Also, ensure your ecommerce blog posts are internally linked so readers can find related posts more easily. Another way to meet blog visitors at the point of their need is to add product mentions and links to product pages within related articles. Even if they need more time to be ready to buy, this tactic will help them remember the items and buy when they are.
5. Promote blog posts consistently
Blogging is a great inbound marketing tactic, but creating SEO-optimized blog content is not enough. Even the best ecommerce blogs still need promotion.
Share your blog posts on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, and consider running paid campaigns to get more people to visit your website. You can also include links to your articles in email newsletters and customer support canned responses to drive blog traffic and increase your chances of closing a sale.
Another exciting way to promote your blog is to partner with influencers in your niche or mention industry experts within articles so they can share the content with their followers. These initiatives will help you reach a larger audience and gain more ecommerce sales.
6. Track your blog's performance
It is also important to track your ecommerce site performance and gather actionable insights. Use analytics tools to monitor your blog's search engine rankings, traffic, and conversions. This data can help you optimize your ecommerce blog for better performance.
Also, pay attention to feedback from your ecommerce blog's readers. How long do site visitors spend on each blog page? Are they viewing other ecommerce pages? Which articles are driving the most conversions? Answers to these questions can help you better understand what content resonates with your ecommerce store's target audience, so you can create more engaging blog posts in the future and prioritize conversion optimization.
Some ecommerce blogs you can get inspiration from
Need an extra push to start building your business blog? Check out these brands we've worked with and see how they use their blogs as inbound marketing engines!
Satechi
Satechi is a US-based ecommerce brand that sells consumer electronics like smartphones, laptops, and charging accessories. Satechi's blog focuses on comparison posts, shopping guides, and product recommendations. The brand also encourages site visitors to join their SMS and email lists so they can target them with exclusive offers, driving up customer retention.
Good Ranchers
Good Ranchers is one of the few ecommerce businesses specializing in meat sales. The Good Ranchers Blog covers meat-based food recipes, industry news, and the brand's community initiatives. To boost customer loyalty, the brand offers loyalty points to subscribers and targets customers with text message campaigns (which they can reply to make an order or chat with a company rep.)
Super Naturals Health
Super Naturals Health is a supplement brand in the health and wellness industry. Super Naturals Health's blog offers health tips and supplement recommendations to help customers improve their overall well-being. The company uses its blog to drive traffic to its product pages and connects with past customers and site visitors via SMS and email marketing.
Convert your blog readers to repeat customers with SMS marketing
Whether you're a small ecommerce business just starting or a larger ecommerce platform looking for ways to improve sales, having an ecommerce blog is a great way to engage existing and potential customers.
But promoting your ecommerce store via a blog is just one online marketing strategy. By combining it with SMS marketing best practices — such as sending timely offers, personalized product recommendations, and discount codes — ecommerce brands can convert blog readers into repeat customers. Here's where Emotive, the SMS marketing software for industry-leading brands, comes in.
Ready to grow your online store and boost your customer lifetime value? Here's a process to try:
Start your blog using our guide above and book an Emotive demo.
Add an SMS opt-in form to your blog or prompt your email subscribers to subscribe for text alerts, including giveaways, sales reminders, and other special offers.
Now, watch your customer loyalty skyrocket!