When you consider blogging, your first thought might be of a mom curled up on the couch, journaling about her day and then publishing it for the world to see. Today's blogs have come a long way from the early days of blogging. Business blogs are now a leading traffic generation tool. ECommerce businesses can use blogs as a way to drive organic traffic to their website, prove themselves a thought leader in their industry, and build brand loyalty. If you're just getting introduced to the world of business blogging, this comprehensive guide will tell you everything you need to know to kick-start your blog on your Shopify site today.

The Importance of eCommerce Blogs

In 1996, Bill Gates wrote an essay where he said, "Content is king." He was talking about the fact that creating quality content online would become the best way for websites to generate traffic and market themselves. Over twenty years later, this quote has proven to be prophetic. Today, well-crafted content creation is one of the best ways to bring organic traffic to your website. The key is to use your blog to target your ideal customers.

Generate Traffic by Answering Questions

Imagine you're a company that sells protein bars. Your website has gorgeous product images of protein bars, and each product description is carefully crafted to detail the taste and mouth-feel of these protein bars. If someone Google's the phrase "protein bars," they may find your website squeezed in between the websites of top protein bar selling competitors.

The truth is, even if you were the only brand in existence that sold protein bars, you'd be hard pressed to generate organic traffic to your website with this strategy. There simply aren't that many people searching for protein bars on any given day. This is where business blogs can shine.

When you consider your target audience and create content that answers questions they're actually asking, you have a strategy that will generate organic traffic. These customers will make it to your website. Once they're there, they'll see your brand as someone who understands them as a customer and is a thought-leader in your field. This, in turn, will lead them to remember you when they're considering a product like yours in the future.

eCommerce Blog Best Practices

For an eCommerce blog to successfully generate traffic, it has to be intentionally crafted. This may mean hiring a freelance writer to generate the type of content your ideal audience will appreciate. Here are a few tips for creating eCommerce blogs that actually help to sell your products.

1. Know Your Target Audience

Before you create your blog, you need to know who your target audience is. Creating buyer personas can help you get into the mindset of your customers. This, in turn, can help you think about the type of content they will be searching for online. Brainstorm ideas for these buyers: these will be your initial blog topics.

2. Provide Value

Search engines like Google reward blogs that don't just answer questions, but that answer questions better than any competitors. To provide value to your customers, skip salesy lingo and don't confuse your eCommerce blog with an advertisement for your product. Quality blog posts are well-researched and provide genuine value to your customers. They should be able to get better information from your blogs than from the blogs of any of your customers.

3. Appeal to Them Visually

Finally, you'll want your blog posts to appeal to your customers visually. Headings and subheadings make it easy for customers to skim your blog post from mobile devices. Quality images further break up your text while also emphasizing the points you're making. Websites like Unsplash can help you locate free-to-use images for your blog.

Step-by-Step Guide to Shopify Business Blogs

Once you've decided to create a business blog, there comes the difficult of navigating your Shopify website. Shopify is created with eCommerce businesses in mind, and using it to create product descriptions and sales funnels is relatively straight-forward. However, using Shopify to create your blog isn't as intuitive.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Log into your Shopify store

2. On the left side, click "Online Store" and then "Blog Posts"

3. Click "Manage Blogs" and then "Add Blog"

4. Give your blog a title

5. Save your blog

You can even have multiple blogs on your Shopify store. For example, you could have a Company News blog in addition to your regular business blog.

Creating Shopify Blog Posts

Once your blog is set up, it's relatively easy to add blog posts. Once again, you'll log into your Shopify store, click on Online Store, and then click on Blog Posts.

From here, you can click the "Add Blog Post" button on the right side. Once in this page, it's a simple matter of copying and pasting from a Word document into the content manager. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when creating your Shopify blog posts:

• Be sure to add a featured image to your blog posts. Use alt text to describe the image the way you would describe it to a blind person. This can help search engines understand what your image is.

• Use tags to help customers navigate your blog and find related content.

• Consider scheduling your blog posts out using Shopify's easy scheduling feature. This allows you to front-load your blog posts.

• Feature your blog posts on social media. Sites like Later.com can help you schedule your social media posts at the beginning of the month so save you time. While Facebook is the obvious choice for social media marketing, don't neglect other mediums like Instagram and Pinterest where imagery is especially useful. 

Creating a blog is a low-budget way to generate organic traffic to your website. The more potential customers see your brand, the more likely they are to consider you for their future purchasing needs. Over time, this will increase your underlying customer base and help you establish customer loyalty. For more information on generating customer loyalty for your eCommerce brand, contact us today.