Does your eCommerce site need a blog?

While not strictly necessary, integrating a blog on your eCommerce website can be a powerful strategy to enhance your online presence and drive sales.

There are numerous benefits to including a blog on your eCommerce website, from attracting a wider audience and improving SEO to establishing authority and supporting your overall content marketing efforts.

Benefits of including a blog on an eCommerce website

Capturing attention of users with various intentions, not just those ready to purchase

Many visitors who land on your eCommerce website aren’t immediately ready to make a purchase. Only about 2% of visitors will make a purchase on their first visit to a website.

The majority of website visitors are at a much higher stage of the typical ‘marketing funnel’ when they first land on your site; many will still be in the early stages of research, exploring different options, gathering ideas, or planning a future purchase. For these types of visitors, having a blog on your eCommerce website becomes incredibly valuable. It allows you to capture the attention of potential customers in an earlier stage of their purchase journey, making your brand memorable and users more likely to make a purchase on subsequent visits to your site.

Blogs help these customers find your website by addressing their research-based questions and needs. They provide valuable content that helps customers understand your products and services in more detail than basic product pages. Depending on your industry, blogs can also position your brand as a knowledgeable authority in your industry, building trust and credibility with these early-stage customers.

Driving organic traffic

One of the most significant benefits of an eCommerce blog is its ability to drive organic traffic to your site.

Blogs create valuable opportunities to target a wide range of keywords, especially those related to user intent and research queries. Strategically incorporating these keywords, particularly long-tail keywords that answer specific customer questions, can improve your website’s visibility in search engine results. Regularly publishing fresh, relevant blog content also signals to search engines that your site is active and informative, which can positively impact your SEO and attract more organic visitors.

Establishing authority and building trust

An eCommerce blog is a powerful tool for establishing your brand as an authority and building trust with your audience. Sharing industry insights, tips, and best practices not only demonstrates your knowledge but also helps your customers make informed decisions about their purchases. This approach increases customer confidence in your brand and establishes loyalty, and encourages repeat purchases.

Supporting content marketing efforts

Your blog can play a crucial role in supporting specific marketing campaigns, providing in-depth information and resources that enhance the campaign’s overall effectiveness and reach. As an extension to already established campaigns, or by creating a campaign that centres around a specific blog post, the content you create for your eCommerce blog can be repurposed and shared across various channels, such as social media and email marketing. This allows brands to reach customers at different stages of their buying journey with tailored messages.

Potential challenges to hosting a blog on your eCommerce site

Time and resource commitment

While an eCommerce blog offers numerous benefits, it’s crucial to acknowledge the time and resource commitment required. Consistent content creation is essential for maintaining an effective blog, and this includes developing content that specifically addresses user intent and research needs. Additionally, there are costs associated with writing, editing, and promoting blog posts. These may include hiring writers, editors, or marketing professionals, as well as investing in tools and platforms for content management and promotion. Businesses must be prepared to allocate sufficient resources to ensure the blog’s success.

Partnering with an experienced digital marketing agency can alleviate the burden of time management, and minimise the associated costs. Dedicated SEO agencies can provide expert content strategy, creation, and management, ensuring your blog is consistently updated and optimised for your target audience, ultimately saving you time and maximising your ROI.

Measuring success

Measuring the true success of an eCommerce blog can be more complex than simply tracking basic metrics. While website traffic, user engagement, and conversions are important, accurately attributing them solely to the blog can be challenging. Without proper tracking, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact role the blog played.

Another challenge is understanding which content truly resonates with the audience. High traffic numbers don’t always translate to meaningful engagement or conversions. It’s crucial to analyse which types of blog posts lead to desired actions, such as product views, add-to-carts, or form submissions. While a blog post might not lead to an immediate sale, it could influence a customer’s decision weeks or months later. Tracking these delayed effects requires sophisticated analytics and a deep understanding of the customer journey.

It’s not enough to know that a blog post received a certain number of views. The real challenge is understanding why it performed that way and using that knowledge to refine the content marketing strategy.

Summary & final remarks

Integrating a well-maintained blog into your eCommerce website offers a wealth of potential benefits and can significantly enhance your online presence. However, it’s essential to acknowledge the time and resource commitment involved and to develop a clear strategy for measuring success. With a well planned out strategy, and a carefully considered plan in place to address the potential challenges, you can leverage the power of blogging to drive growth and build lasting relationships with your eCommerce customers.