Let’s be honest: blogging is totally underrated.
Although making serious money via blogging alone is easier said than done, a well-crafted blog can serve as a spectacular supplement to any given site.
Case in point, the world of ecommerce.
While many merchants are laser-focused on products and social media, the fact remains that a blog can work wonders for underperforming stories in terms of traffic and conversions.
How so? We’re glad you asked! Below are five key reasons why a blog is a must-have for an ecommerce site no matter what you might be selling.
Serious SEO Firepower
Given how competitive the ecommerce space has become, targeting keywords is a no-brainer. Although optimizing product pages and descriptions is a must-do, creating content surrounding your products and categories gives you additional opportunities to attack your most important terms.
Beyond that, blogs create some serious link-building potential in the form of interview and guest posts.
“Reach out to other bloggers about them having you guest blog for them or even having feature your products,” suggests David Zheng of WiseMerchant. Having this sort of relationship with non-competing ecommerce blogs represents a win-win situation that can score you some much-needed exposure.
Build Some Serious Industry Expertise
On a related note, the mere act of having a blog immediately signals that you’re following industry news and are a bigger player in your space. Think of it like this: if your competitors have a blog, you automatically look a bit smaller by comparison. If nothing else, an active blog and trust serves as social proof that you’re a legitimate, thriving business.
You Need a Place Your Promotions
Contests and giveaways are the bread and butter of ecommerce brands looking to score more social followers and build some buzz around their products
However, one of the most common giveaway mistakes is the lack of proper promotion. Your blog is a great place to point potential entries, meanwhile also highlighting rules and requirements to get involved.
Beyond giveaways, blog-specific coupons and codes serve as yet another reason for people to follow your page beyond products.
Showcasing and Curate UGC
User-generated content such as customer photos and testimonials result in at least double the average conversion rate for most ecommerce industries.
If you have customers creating content on your behalf, you should get as much mileage out of it as you possibly can. For example, if you’re curating photos from Instagram via hashtags, you can double-dip those photos as a blog post to serve as a sort of customer showcase.
Expand Your Social Reach
Finally, consider how a strong social following and blog readership go hand in hand. Blog content gives you yet another point of entry to your store beyond blasting products or promos over and over. This allows you to grow both your social and blog audiences at once – another win-win.
Although conventional wisdom might tell you that blogging has gone the way of the dinosaur, the fact remains that regular content production can work wonders for ecommerce brands looking to stay competitive. Considering the benefits above, you have all the reason in the world to hop on the blogging bandwagon ASAP.