The most important aspects of running a successful e-commerce business are quality products and dependable service. It doesn’t matter what else you do if you can’t deliver a good item within a decent amount of time. Outside of those essentials, however, are a number of different things you can do to increase awareness of your brand and, most importantly, increase your sales. One of them is maintaining an interesting and relevant blog.
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A blog, you say? How is a brief article going to increase my sales? Well, consider it the law of averages. The more people that come to your website, the more that are going to shop for your products, and the more that shop are more that are likely to click “Buy.” But where does the blog come in? Creating a well-written blog is a great way to keep readers coming back, and turn them into buyers.
Take Into the Gloss and Glossier for example. ITG started as a popular blog that provides fashion tips, advice, and articles featuring interviews with models and fashion professionals. It became so popular that the founders decided to venture into e-commerce with Glossier. Glossier has been a retail success and Into the Gloss continues, pointing readers to Glossier.
Of course, building a business off of a blog first isn’t the traditional route to e-commerce success. Huckberry, the popular men’s outdoor clothing retailer, also maintains an active blog presence. Huckberry’s blog (called the Journal) is more image-heavy, telling the story behind its products and featuring the brand’s adventurous ambassadors.
What’s the connection? Both brands have gone beyond the norm of retailers, creating a sort of newsroom circulating content pertaining to their respective industries. This will help create an army of “brand ambassadors” who will go to your site for more than just a sale and will, in turn, recommend your site and products to their friends and family.
Maintaining a blog and combining it with a social media presence will create a culture of brand loyalists that wouldn’t dream of going to your competitors, even if they have a similar product. If you’re selling sporting goods, blog about the importance of using the right equipment on the field. And if you’re products are being used in a high-profile way like, if we’re using the sporting goods example, by a Major League player or in the Little League World Series, you’re darn right you better write about and publicize that!
Look, we know that writing isn’t everyone’s specialty. If you don’t have the budget to hire a content marketing specialist, you can always find a freelancer for a reasonable price. If you do write it on your own, make sure you read over your copy several times or have a friend do it. Having typos or simple grammatical mistakes is a great way to look unprofessional.
If properly executed, your blog will keep customers coming back to your store again and again. Just keep the content fresh and at a high quality and watch the traffic—and sales—roll in!
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