Blog about customer needs
Offer the solution to the problem, question or need of the customer. This extra information for your visitors can be offered in the form of a blog, for example. A blog has many advantages:
It's an easy way to expand your content;
You can increase your brand reach by bringing customers into contact with your brand earlier, namely when they have a problem – for which you are the solution;
You get target group expansion, customers who are open to advice can connect to your brand;
You can profile yourself as a specialist. In addition to selling products from your industry, you also advise and inform your customers. You can also help your potential customers make a choice;
You have more opportunities to get natural links, because websites like to link to informative and/or relatable blog posts;
This is easy to combine with a social media strategy, because you can repost blog posts on social media;
You create content that helps your target group make a purchasing decision.
It is now clear that you can achieve a lot with it for both your visitors and for SEO. But how do you collect the right topics to write about, topics that your visitors want to read (and share!)?
Blogging for web shops in 5 steps
A successful blog for a webshop starts with knowing your customer. Then you make a content plan based on their choice of words and keywords.
Step 1. Map out the different problems, questions and needs of your customers in the words they use.
Ask customer service, sales and any physical store employees about the most common customer questions, needs and problems.
The customer service and sales department is in direct contact with the customer, as well as a store employee of a physical store. These people receive questions from customers on a daily basis and know the needs and problems that customers encounter.
Use the internal search function on the website
Your customer sometimes uses the internal search function on your webshop when searching for a specific product. Analyze this data and see which questions, needs and problems you encounter here.
Read customer product and company reviews
In these reviews, customers give their opinion, they indicate what they may encounter. You can also see which words your target group uses.
Check out blogs, forums and social media
Because here too, your (potential) customers talk about your products, competitors, company and brand.
2. Research and expand on the words used by your large target audience
Based on the input from step 1, you can expand the research. Convert the questions, problems and needs into possible search terms and expand these with: synonyms, plural/singular, related keywords and different spellings. You can find these alternatives and additions by using various tools. You can use Ubbersuggest or Google Instant, Semrush and Google Adwords keyword planner for this.
Google keyword tool last
The Google keyword tool is used last. You run all the search terms found through this tool to gain insight into the potential search volume. Here you do not look at the number, but at the difference between the numbers in the area of plural/singular, synonyms and the different spellings.
Select by search volume
The keyword that stands out in terms of search volume is the keyword that you can use as input for a post on your blog. When there is little difference in search volume, you can look at the competition for a keyword.
Research
3. Create a keyword & content calendar based on your research
The list of potentially interesting keywords can now be linked to a calendar. You can think of holidays, events, special days, special moments, etc. Of course, not everything can be linked to a moment, but that's okay! There should also be enough room for spontaneous posts, such as responding to current events.
4. Determine the type of content per topic
Now that you know what to write about, you need to determine what type of content is best for you. When you write a blog post, you don’t just have to think about writing an article. This can also be a photo report, interview, video, review or infographic.
Determine your content type
No, don't create relevant content for search engines, because that's not what a visitor wants to read. Focus on necessary and useful content that helps the visitor, that's what's relevant to the visitor. Some tips for writing necessary and useful content:
Don't write (only) about features/specifications of a product, but write about the benefits of a product.
Focus on emotion and feeling, most purchases are based on emotion!
Write in the 'why, how and what' style. A visitor wants to read why he should albania mobile phone number list buy this product, how it works and what it can do.
Consider at what stage of the purchasing process the visitor arrives at this page (AIDA model).
A blog has benefits for SEO and social media!
Adding a blog to your e-commerce website in the above manner will not only have benefits for your visitors, but also for SEO (link building) and social media.
Your customers provide input for your blog and you can also collaborate with potential partners, such as a brand. They can provide an expert review in the form of an interview, for example, and perhaps this partner can even sponsor your blog. After all, you are also promoting his or her brand or product.
For customers and partners
In short, a blog is an ideal way to expand the content on your webshop in a useful way for your existing and potential new customers and a perfect way to expand collaborations with partners!
Photo intro courtesy of Fotolia.