Why Your eCommerce Site Could Really Use Its Own Blog

It's no longer a secret that content marketing is key for any modern online business. When it comes to content, blogging is still the most powerful tool in your arsenal and once you learn the key strategies for how to start a blog you can quickly harness the potential.

True for any B2B or B2C company, and especially for eCommerce sites. Blogging can help you stand out in an overcrowded environment and position your brand at the forefront of your industry.

A good blog, with thought out articles, meaningful lists and honest comparisons can have a huge influence on consumer behavior, affecting the choices they make and the products they buy. It would be a shame to let other brands spread the information which best suits them, instead of disseminating your own.

Blogging is no longer a novelty marketing tactic, it's a proven method utilized by most brands dealing in any type of eCommerce. Here's why:

You get to be the expert.

In today's saturated marketplace, consumers seek information. It helps differentiate between the various options and choices, often leading to decisions being made based on online reviews, recommendations and articles providing overviews of similar products. Most of this information is found in, you guessed it – blogs.

One of the best ways to get consumers to choose your online store over competitors, is by providing this information. If you put out good, honest content, explaining the nuances of your products and highlighting your strong points, you can tilt the scale in your favor.

Wix.com doesn't just offer their online store builder, but they also have an entire blog section that is dedicated to going over all of the "need to know' topics in eCommerce. For example, you can learn how to drive traffic to your blog, or which eCommerce templates lead to sales – there is a huge range to choose from.

You can also write articles about the state of the industry, forecast trends or write up extensive overviews of niche topics. In the long run, putting out quality content on your blog can build your brand recognition and position you at the top of your industry as an expert.

Increase your traffic.

Gaining traffic, these days, is all about ranking on Google. People are bound to search for your products, or related topics, and you want to be right there on the top of the list when they do. With a website builder like Wix.com, you can learn about SEO and find out strategies for how to use it.

It's not that having a blog increases your ranking per se, but it creates a space for you to write about relevant content, and try to rank for a larger variety of keywords. Blogs, as opposed to the rest of an eComm website, are constantly updated, and end up containing much more pages than the rest of the site.

This provides the opportunity to focus on SEO, incorporating the right keywords, including inbound and outbound links, building up your indexed pages and more.

Engage with customers.

Consumers prefer to interact with brands they can connect with. These connections are made by presenting your brand and showcasing its values and ideals through various outlets. Writing a blog for your site is one of the best and easiest platforms to do so.

By infusing your brand's "personality" and tone of voice into the content you produce, you can form a deeper connection with readers. Let them know what's important to you and align yourself with what your target audience craves.

Being in tune with your customers fosters a sense of community. Your online shop can be much more than a virtual storefront, it can become a virtual community center, drawing in greater crowds with a more focused agenda. Your community will be more likely to trust you and will most definitely choose you over your competitors.

Reach beyond the boundaries of your website.

So, you have a blog up and running, and you've been filling it with quality content. That same content can be utilized for much more than just posting on your own website.

Every piece of content you produce can bring additional benefits. You can use your blog to increase your social media presence, by posting about your latest articles. Good content has a much greater chance to go viral on social media than posts about products.

Once you have content producers and a hub for your own content under your wing, you can use them to do more creative marketing. Produce content for other sites, include guest writers on your blog or collaborate with other brands. The possibilities are endless, and creativity is the only boundary.

Blogging expenses are extremely low.

Social media campaigns, Google ads, influencer marketing and even the antiquated billboard by the freeway, all cost a lot of money.

But once you have a website up and running, adding a blog to the mix provides a virtually free marketing platform.

Though you may push your content through other paid channels, your blog provides a home base, garnering some amount of organic traffic. Some blog posts can remain relevant for months or even years, becoming a resource for consumers and turning into a mainstay on Google for certain keywords, all with an initial investment of a one-time paycheck to a good content writer.

Time is of the essence.

There is absolutely no reason or excuse to exclude your brand from the blooming eCommerce blogosphere. But building up an effective blog, one that produces results, takes time.

Your first posts will most likely go by without making a splash. But drop by drop, it can gain your online retail brand a leading status in your industry. The sooner you start, the sooner you can reap the benefits.