The Power of Content for eCommerce
Many online store owners under estimate or simply do not understand the power of content and it’s ability to contribute to their eCommerce sales.
The phrase “content is king” has been around for quite some time now and it still holds largely true to this day. While social media has taken a lot of the hype in recent years we have to remember what powers a lot of this media. User generated ‘content’.
By having real content, not just your product listings, as part of your eCommerce offering, it helps remove the ‘pure selling’ appearance which so many stores have. This allows you engage with potential customers on another level.
Having been the strategist behind a handful of websites over the last 10 years, I have implemented a number of techniques to increase the stickiness. One site in particular was ranked 3rd in New Zealand behind Trademe and NZDating in user session time. Great content was one of the key reasons the visitor session times were so high.
Stickiness can be an important factor when dealing with ecommerce websites. The longer you can keep potential customers on your site, the more opportunities you have to sell products or gather leads. You can increase your stickiness by having a selection of great content that pulls them in.
Before you start – Content to Attract Your Potential Customers
Before you start loading your site with hundreds of articles it is important to consider exactly who you are targeting and what articles they would be interested in, or what search terms they may be using. You can pack your site with articles but if it is not attracting the right type of people you may be wasting your time.
Buyers or Information Seekers
Your content acts as a magnet for those already on your site and those using search engines looking for information you have written about.
When it comes to online stores and pulling people in with content there are two key groups. The first is those that are actively seeking products to purchase as well as those researching products before they buy. The second group are the general information seekers or browsers which may be interested in information which is related to the products you sell. While they are not looking to buy right now they may in the future, so building interest or retrieving their email address where possible may result in a future sale.
Your approach to content for each of these groups could be different. For example, you may have some content on the pros and cons of a certain model of phone or some comparisons which a ‘buyer’ may find useful. Buyers also pay more attention to brand names in comparison to information seekers so take note of that when creating content.
The latest news on mobile phones or a special event happening could be ideal for an information seeker who likes to stay up with the play in that area and follow the latest treads.
If you publish comparison articles make sure you keep the content updated regularly so that you are talking about the latest products. Reviews of products with a balanced look at the pros and cons are often very useful for those researching products or looking to purchase and these can be either written under your control or by your visitors.
By providing useful and up to date or unique content you also begin to make your site an authority and known resource for the subject matter. Other content you may offer besides news, reviews and comparisons could include extended or unique product descriptions, white papers, customer testimonials or extended galleries for visual products.
Put time into customizing your copy and landing pages for key products, making it more informative or engaging. This is better than having copy which ten other sites also have because it came from the same source.
Many people will find surveys and various research you conduct useful and interesting. The survey could explore which products or product attributes people prefer and value in various categories, why they prefer them, drilling right down to brand specific questions. If you are not sure how to get people contributing try offering a prize or two for participants or some other form of discount on store items. You can then publish the results giving you something many other online stores will simply not have.
Some online stores provide an annual review of their niche area for customers which is often in the form of a pdf or within a dedicated section of the site. Such a comprehensive comparison of products is often highly valued by customers.
Become a Content Provider
You don’t have to write hundreds of articles but by sharing the odd article here and there with related sites or online article sources can help advertise your site and also build inbound links at the same time as part of your SEO strategy.
There are a vast number of websites dedicated to providing content to others. Ezinearticles for example lists articles in various categories which others are free to use. You are able to provide a paragraph at the base of the article which can promote your online store.
Schedule and Plan Your Content
For your content strategy to work well you will need to plan ahead as best you can. Create a schedule ahead of time with areas you would like to cover, who will be writing them and the deadlines.
Google and other search engines rank new content above that of similar but older content. For this reason among others content isn’t something you just load up once before the launch of your site. It is an ongoing process.
If you don’t consider yourself a writer then delegate out the creation of content. The more professional and quirky the articles are the better. Avoid publishing articles that are badly written as you may not notice it but others often pay a fair amount of attention to details.
In future articles we will look at SEO in line with content and how to optimize it to obtain better results.
