Every website needs a way to remain relevant and build clientele, especially those sites that are engaging in commerce, or the selling of materials and goods to customers via electronic means. One of the easiest ways to stay relevant and build clients for your website is via an e-commerce Blog.
E-commerce Blogs can be simple or extraordinarily complex. They can be informative or relational, personal or commercial, written by one person or a large group of individuals. With all the diversity available for blogs, what should an online businessperson look for in building their blog post for their site?
Here are some tips for starting a great blog:
Content! A blog that has nothing worth reading will not keep people coming back to your site for more. The content needs to be relevant to the industry you are working in, but does not need to be product specific to your page. If you are selling specialty auto parts, your e-commerce blog should have articles on your favorite engines, best drives, or other areas related to your site.
Keep It Simple. If you spend all your time trying to create the perfect e-commerce blog, you are not going to have the time to do customer service or to reply to comments left on the posts you do. People who comment on Blogs love it when the author personally comments in response to them.
This leads to my next point:
Make it Relational. People want to be able to know who you are (Picture or Bio), not just what you are selling. People also want to be able to respond to the posts you put up.
Use Plug-ins. There are plug-ins for most Blog software that allow you to use different social networking services for the comments section (Facebook, Disqus, etc). Use them, this will allow your customers to engage their friends via their own networking sites.
Update often. You don’t have to write your best blogs every day, but do take time to find other blogs in your industry and re-post them on your blog, letting them know about your services or products. This will keep your blog fresh in people’s minds, establish that you have valuable information on your website, and keep your site content rich for search engines to find.
Use Meta-Tags and Keywords. A blog is a great place for people to find your website who are looking for you online, especially if you have done a good job making it content rich and building a community of your customers.
Remember to focus your content, post information you would find helpful, and build community with your readers.
