Your content marketing strategy is key to the success of your website. Content marketing plays a major role in your sales funnel, and without you may lose out on hundreds or thousands of potential leads and customers. As an eCommerce store owner, your content marketing strategy should differ from those of other types of websites. We’ve compiled a list of tips you can use to improve your content strategy, attract more site visitors, and establish more leads.
1. Identify the Needs of Your Audience
Why are people visiting your website? What are they trying to accomplish? Create a buyer persona to better understand your target audience’s needs, and implement answers to their questions in your content.
2. Give Your Company a Voice
Your content should serve as your company’s voice. Shoppers will relate more to your business if they believe there is a face behind the curtain, so use your content to personalize your brand.
3. Create Product Reviews and Comparisons
Shoppers love comparing products and reading reviews before they commit to a purchase. Include product review articles and product comparisons as a key part of your content strategy to help your shoppers determine which product best suits their needs.
4. Learn from Your Competitors
If your competitors are performing better than you, they’re doing something right. Take a look at their website and blog, and deconstruct their formula for success. Use elements in your own content marketing strategy to replicate their results.
5. Make Your Content and Website Mobile-Friendly
Roughly 17 percent of all internet traffic comes from mobile sources, according to HubSpot. Reach out to mobile users by optimizing your content and website for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
6. Use Templates to Format Your Content
There are dozens of content templates you can find online. These templates can be used to properly format your content in a way your readers want to see, creating added value to your content.
7. Invest in Crowdsourced Content
Reach out to experts in your field for a quote or tip about a topic, then bring together your findings into one crowdsourced article. This provides your reader with interesting information from a number of different perspectives on the topic.
8. Post Case Studies
Case studies are among the most popular types of eCommerce content on the web. You can use case studies to legitimize your claims and show real-life examples of your products, services, or strategies working for others.
9. Identify Your Authors
When your authors have an area to identify themselves and their credentials, your content becomes more relatable and believable. Your readers are more likely to connect with your content when they can put a face and a background to the name of the author.
10. Write About Controversial Topics to Generate Discussion Among Readers
You may catch some backlash for posting about a highly controversial topic, but your readers will be persuaded to discuss among themselves which position they feel is right. Keep the topic relevant to your brand and your product, as venturing too far from the focus of your company or your product may turn readers away (if you sell shoes, there’s little reason to discuss the state of affairs in your government – try to keep the topics related to shoes).
11. Respond to Comments on Your Content
Even if you get flooded with dozens of comments, reply to each one in an interested and respectful manner. By replying to comments, you can effectively talk to your customers, creating conversation which personalizes your business. Use this as an opportunity to answer questions, resolve concerns, and recognize praise. This will help to create a solid connection between you and your customers, which will make them more likely to return to your website in the future.
What are your content marketing tips? How do you use content marketing to attract leads and improve your conversions? Let us know in the comments below!