Customers today have more options when shopping online than a lion does when it’s hunting in an open jungle. The lion has to prowl, hide in the bushes, strategize, and pick a target from a herd, and then run breathlessly to fill its shopping cart.
Us humans have it easy. We sit in the comfort of our homes, click on the items and simply place an order.
However, with so many choices (eBay, Amazon, and Walmart to name a few), it can be hard to attract those people to our store. However (again), there are ways to drive traffic to your ecommerce store in droves, and one of the most tried and tested methods is blogging!
Let’s dive in how you can woo your audience to your store rather than letting them spend their money on others.
You Can Target Your Audience Through Tailored Content
Great, let’s do that. But wait, it’s not as easy as it sounds. To target a specific audience, you really need to know them inside out. Hence, go about exploring the needs and wants of your audience and put yourself in their shoes.
Once you understand what they really require and what they’d usually look for on an online store, you can start writing something that answers their question and sends them in the right direction.
For e.g., you sell fidget spinners on your store (because why not? It’s the latest fad after all). You need to understand that no matter how popular this new toy gets, not everyone is going to buy them. You need to figure out who the buyers are, and once you know that, you can write an article aimed at that group and inform them how fun a fidget spinner is. You can also be truthful about how these fidget spinner sellers claim it to reduce stress but it doesn’t really do that, but it’s still fun to play with one.
And voila, you have loads of kids in your store buying the spinners in droves because they read your article and are even recommending your friends to buy one!
Don’t Overuse Keywords
If you’re new to blogging and you’ve done your initial research, you’d have come across the term SEO keywords!
Yes, the Holy Grail of blogging.
If you want to rank your blog, drive traffic to it, and eventually to your store, you need to use keywords here and keywords there – says the blog you stumbled upon during your research.
Hold it! You need to know that overstuffing your article with keywords can be futile and even prove to be fatal for your blog. First of all, overusing keywords can result in the death of quality. Secondly, the big daddy (Google) doesn’t approve of it. You don’t want to upset the big daddy, trust me.
Write quality content, and focus on providing value. If you provide value, it will give you the best ROI in the long run, and you’re more likely to turn visitors into customers!
Respect Your Audience
Addressing them with Sir, Madam, and gentlemen, etc., is great, but when it comes to respecting your audience, you need to be wary of the time they are investing in reading your blog. And by that, what I really mean is, do not trick them into buying your products. Or, don’t insult their intelligence by linking your product page in each line in the blog.
Do guide them, yes. But if your only plan is to redirect to your product page through the excessive use of links and mentions of your store, you’re not respecting their time.
Tell them what they need to know about the product, inform them, and let them decide if the product is good for them or not without burdening them. This way, you will also ensure that you get long-time customers and not just misguided souls who despise you for wasting their time!
Google Loves Long-Form Articles, But…
The first time I learned that Google favors long-form articles, I thought I’d struck gold. From that day till the next few weeks, I was writing and writing till the pages looked bloated. All my articles started exceeding 2000 words, and I was expecting a million views on my blog any day.
But the sad reality was that I neglected quality information. All I cared about was the length and stuffing my articles with fluff. Not only was my blog a desert, but the bounce rate was unusually high.
So then I started writing with purpose. Whether it took me 300 words or 3000, I provided value to the readers. All my long-form articles had some really valuable information, and my blog started providing true assistance to the readers and my online store also started performing well. If you want to convert visitors from your blog by writing a long-form article, keep them to the point!
Be Consistent
Practice makes perfect, and consistency is key. Half the blogs on the internet fail because they fail to keep at it. If the first few articles do not perform and do not help increase sales, don’t give up. I’ve had three blogs that failed simply because I gave up after 5 articles failed to perform. I thought maybe it wasn’t meant to be, but the next time I decided giving up won’t be an option for me.
It took me 17 articles of average traffic to finally write something that blasted the doors to an unprecedented number of readers and subscribers.
But it was all trial and test that led to writing something that went viral. All 17 articles I wrote prior to it taught me something about my readers and I kept experimenting. And once I had enough information in my arsenal, I used it all to write something that resonated with a large audience and it worked.
And guess what? Sales on my online store skyrocketed as well. You learn from the mistakes you make initially, but as you progress and stay persistent, you get nearer to your goal of capturing a large audience. So don’t ever give up. With time, your blog will be supporting your online store with a major role!
Conclusion
Phew! That was a long read. Let’s just summarize and be done with what we learned from this article:
- Curate content that resonates with your audience
- Don’t overstuff your article with Keywords – it kills the SEO
- Respect your audience and do not mislead them
- Write what is necessary, no matter how many words it requires
- And lastly, be consistent with your practice and do not be let down by failing blogs
Well then. Now you’ve been armed with blogging knowledge that will not only help you empower your customers with important knowledge, but also help them decide for themselves if your ecommerce store is the best for them or not. And that is perhaps the best way to gain their loyalty as well because they shop from you willingly and with complete satisfaction. Of course, a lot of other factors play a part as well, but if your blog works as intended, it can give your online store’s sales a much-needed boost in the long run!
