Blogging for Ecommerce in 2017

December 26, 2016 By Heather Serdoz,

Stay relevant my friends

Over 409 million people view the 23.8 billion blog pages out there each month. Users create roughly 65.3 million pieces of new content each month. Now that’s a lot of content. The ironic part about these numbers is the fact that business owners and marketers alike are still asking themselves- do we really need to be blogging? In short, that answer is yes, duh! Below I’ve outlined a few of the best reasons why blogging, specifically for ecommerce, is as important now than it’s ever been as we head into 2017.

A couple of fun facts

First things first, 99% of people won’t buy anything on their first visit to your site. Plain and simple. There’s a popular marketing adage called “the rule of 7”. It goes a little something like this- many potential consumers won’t buy from you until they’ve seen your marketing message, social post, blog, retargeting ad, email, etc., at least seven times. It’s time to get writing.

Why you need to get blogging

1. Reach

So you say you’re just starting out and you’ve got a small audience, okay. Do you ever want that audience to grow? Time to start blogging. You’ve got to get out in front of new audiences and one of the best ways to do that is with a blog. It’s one of those mediums that can be cross promoted through multiple marketing platforms.

2. SEO

I bet you haven’t heard this one before. By default blogging creates new pages on your site and thus increases your SEO rankings. We’ve got news for you, in 2017, SEO will still be one of the main modes of getting people to your page. This is where we emphasize how important it is to create posts people will want to share. When your post is shared via social or ends up on another website, rankings jump. Keep in mind, more pages mean more internal links pointing directly at your homepage. While internal links are pretty cool, links from other websites are even better and help in that credibility area.

3. Tell Your Story

In 2017, personalization is the name of the game. Consumers react more emotionally when there’s a story involved. Use your blog to tell your brand’s story, from conception to fruition. Let readers develop an emotional connection to the brand, when a brand can establish trust with their consumers it is then they establish loyalty. Ecommerce efforts become a little more fruitful when you’ve got loyal customers to work with. Loyalty will also allow you to slip those unsuspecting calls to action into blog posts without the fear of sounding too salesy or pitchy.

4. Customization

In that same vein, custom graphics and mini-themes across all of your branded channels are definitely on the list of potential trends we’ll see across the ecommerce space in 2017. Consistent branding across all channels helps new customers identify your brand anywhere and creates familiarity.

What’s the return?

Apart from the probable increase in conversions, you’ll see quite a few things on the return spectrum. If you’re tapping into the right audience you should see a spike in organic and referral traffic. Your credibility will grow with thoughtful, industry related blog posts, and in that same vein, blogs help to establish your brand as an industry leader. Ultimately blogs can help you lift your overall lead gen efforts and increase sales. Yes, blogging is something you’re going to have to budget for in 2017, but yes, it will be worth it. Final word of advice, don’t get your marketing strategy in a twist if you don’t see results right away. Blogs take time to build and generating a substantial following doesn’t happen overnight, unless you’re Beyonce. Stick with it, while a post may only get a few views within its first week of going live, it could get thousands over the course of its life. Happy blogging! If you need help with any of your blogging, branding or strategy efforts please reach out. We love helping people, brands, grandmothers. You know, the usual. Cheers!