The most comprehensive eCommerce solutions for small business allow users to create a full scope online shopping experience. This includes aspects such as a blog, which is a great way to establish a loyal following by providing useful information for your customers and people who are just visiting your site.
Why should you blog?
A good blog should be informative, and while it is designed to make your site more authoritative, it is not a traditional selling tool. A blog will give users insight into the process of your business, how your products and services work, and news from your industry. As this is a blog or article, your aim isn’t to put the hard sell on readers, rather encourage them to spend more time on your site and revisit it for further reading. Developing this relationship is an important part of effective branding and creating opportunities for future conversion.
What should you blog about?
Regardless of your industry, you can create an interesting blog that people will return to time and time again for information and entertainment.
How to guides – These can constitute tutorials, walk-throughs and step-by-step instructions on a range of topics related to your industry. For example, if you sell cushions, you could write a guide on how to decorate a bedroom on a budget.
Customer profiles – Showcase some of your customers and their successes. This can be a powerful way of placing your products and services in real world situations, without using a traditional sales approach.
Curated links – Engage with your audience by showing them some of your favourite sites and resources. These should be directly related to your business, without promoting competitors. For examples, a supplements retailer could promote their preferred gyms, places to buy workout gear, blogs about health and fitness, and instructional blogs regarding exercising.
Q&A sessions – If you receive questions and queries from customers, these can be a great starting point for building a closer relationship with your audience. Used as the basis of a blog post, it will give you an idea of what they want to know, as well as encourage others to write in and engage with your brand.
Blogs are versatile
A blog is the ideal forum for showing more of your company’s personality. Regular posting will establish a rapport with your users that could become the basis for loyalty and continued business. They don’t have to adhere to the more structured form of a traditional marketing campaign, and are ideal for interacting with and informing your customer-base.