In the world of content marketing, B2B companies often take center stage with ecommerce waiting in the wings for its chance to shine.
There’s no reason why ecommerce sites can’t share the spotlight.
Today’s customers want access to products and services with as little interference as possible. How many times have you stepped into a store, only to be immediately turned off by overly persistent sales representatives?
People want to learn about and experience a product on their own terms, and the same applies to when they’re shopping online. This desire to self-educate before initiating the sales process means integrating supporting content as part of your ecommerce SEO strategy is more important than ever.
Content marketing can be successful for a variety of industries. But are the benefits really the same for ecommerce as they are for B2B?
The short answer–yes!
High-quality content builds trust, authority, and rankings. It also drives organic search traffic, creates brand awareness, and helps generate leads–all of which are essential for the success of any ecommerce business. When done right, ecommerce brands can reap many additional perks that traditional marketing alone can’t provide.
From Commerce, to Content, to Conversion
So, what exactly do these benefits look like?
A customer’s online shopping journey follows a wide range of experiences, from social media interactions to website browsing, to, ideally, making a purchase. However, there is no one clear path for a customer to take. That is why any business serious about producing high-quality ecommerce content needs to be creative and versatile.
You can support and improve your customer’s journey through the following:
1. Coordinate Your Products & Marketing
Informative landing pages, blogs, and tutorial videos play an important role in creating content that guides your customer from discovery to sale. The key to ensuring these pieces all integrate seamlessly is the collaboration between your product department and marketing professionals.
If you have two separate teams working separately on the same product, the result can be a messy and conflicting display that only confuses and redirects potential customers. But, by working together, the two can create a consistent and powerful experience that directs the buyer straight down the sales funnel.
2. Use Content to Inform, Not Sell
Though the goal of your content is to guide consumers to purchase, it shouldn’t be written with sales in mind. Remember those overly pushy associates? You don’t want your content to read the same way. And, unlike in a physical store, all it takes is one click for customers to be done with your brand and move on to your competitors.
The most valuable content you can provide to a customer during this stage of their shopping journey will emphasize the benefit of your product and offer the insight they need without insisting that they need it.
3. Build Up That Relationship
Now that you’ve established a sense of trust between your business and shoppers, it’s time to take that relationship to the next level. By engaging with the content you produce, be it blogs, how-to-videos, or even AR technology, potential customers build a sense of familiarity with your products and business–all before they make their first purchase!
Once they become confident that your brand is the right fit for their needs, the buyer-seller relationship will be smooth sailing. Through proper content and ecommerce website development, your brand will not only be the place to go for your product, but also where consumers go for knowledge about the industry you serve.
The more lasting relationships you create with consumers, the more those consumers will spread the word to others, and thus, the cycle continues, and your business thrives.
How to Improve Your Ecommerce Content
People read before they buy; that’s a fact.
When was the last time you sought to purchase something? Did you do any research beforehand, and how much of that research came from the brand you ultimately purchased from? Or, perhaps you made your purchase right away, no thoughts or questions about it. How did you get to that level of trust with that brand?
Here’s the thing, no matter what you buy, some content somewhere helped you make that decision. An informative blog, landing page, or video helps customers feel confident about their decision to buy, and regular, well-tailored content will keep them coming back again and again.
Still don’t believe me? Here’s another fact:
Content increases site traffic.
A study done by HubSpot shows that business blogging leads to 55% more website visits. The more people visit your site, the higher the chance of those visitors converting into sales. An ecommerce company that blogs also benefits from 97% more inbound links, which signal authority to search engines, and 434% more indexed pages, which better your chances of being found by searchers at all.
That’s one hell of a boost!
Every keyword-optimized piece of ecommerce SEO content you produce is an opportunity for your business to get in front of potential customers searching for that term. By repeatedly answering their questions successfully, this traffic transforms into readers, leads, and finally, sales. That is why content for ecommerce is so successful.
So, how do you take advantage of content marketing and turn your ecommerce brand into a force to be reckoned with?
1. E-A-T It!
When it comes to search quality and rankings, Google places a strong focus on your content’s E-A-T score, meaning its Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. E-A-T’s purpose is to ensure search results provide accurate, truthful, and useful information.
People make many important decisions based on the content they read, including purchases, and Google’s algorithm works to put the most trustworthy information possible in front of its searchers. Improving your E-A-T score should be the top priority if you want to rank highly in the SERPs.
Expertise
To have a successful content marketing strategy, you need to prove to search engines (and their users) that you have undeniable expertise in the products you sell. One way to do this as an ecommerce website is to reach out to reputable, renowned figures within your industry to provide recommendations for your product to their following.
Authority
To prove your expertise, you’ll need to establish authority. For big-name companies like Nike, establishing authority is a piece of cake. But that authoritative stance doesn’t come so easily for the little guys and third-party sellers. One way to show Google, and visitors, that you’re an authority in your industry is to become affiliated with the Better Business Bureau and display that on your website.
Trustworthiness
People always want answers, and–when it comes to your products–you have them all! To build trust and rank highly in the search results, you want to ensure your content provides all the right information. If you give customers what they’re looking for in a well-crafted blog, that’s great. If you can do it in a way that builds trust and confidence in your brand–well, you may have just won that customer for life.
2. Revamp Product Pages With Videos
The most frustrating part about buying online is the inability to actually look at the products in person. We’ve all seen the horror stories of people ordering one thing, only to receive something completely different when it arrives in the mail.
Incorporating video into your product pages is one way to counteract this issue. Though nothing beats seeing it for yourself, watching a real person handle the real product can do wonders in helping customers understand what they’re about to buy. And, those videos don’t have to live in one spot–you can also use them to make your blog and social media posts more engaging.
It’s no secret that the internet loves content–nearly 75% of all online traffic is video!
Images and descriptions will only get you so far. Using videos across your entire ecommerce marketing plan will help to solidify your voice and values, as well as give buyers all the information they need to make a purchase.
3. Reviews, Reviews, Reviews!
I can’t tell you the last time I shopped for something online without reading the reviews first. Reviews are essential to the customer buying process and act as validation from a third-party source that your product is legit, high-quality, and filled the person’s need. They are one of the most powerful tools you have to sell a product.
Unfortunately, many companies take advantage of this by producing fake reviews to increase consumer confidence. However, both consumers and search engines have become privy to this shady practice.
Don’t be like those guys.
Google makes a point to favor reviews left by verified Google Review Partners, who work hard to ensure all reviews are authentic. Incorporating Google-verified reviews as part of your ecommerce website content can do wonders in improving your Google Seller Rating and help you stand out in organic search.
Reviews, testimonials, and other user-generated content are essential components of any ecommerce content marketing strategy. These, combined with a high E-A-T score and engaging videos, will help catapult your brand into the eyes–and possession–of others.
The Sooner You Start, The Better
Ecommerce businesses have it rough. Not only do they have to share the field with conglomerates such as Amazon and eBay, but traditional marketing practices can only get them so far.
That’s why now is the time to jump on the content bandwagon! Contact LSEO today to schedule a consultation with our content marketing team to learn how we can take your ecommerce SEO to the next level.