23 Compelling Content Marketing Tips for eCommerce Stores

For most websites, being able to attract visitors is a hit-or-miss affair that is mostly about figuring out what kind of content can make readers come back for more. Meanwhile, ecommerce websites pose a bit of an exception in that the only type of content in them that is supposed to attract visitors is the products being sold.As far as the products themselves are concerned, that's up to the entrepreneur to decide on. But with how they're presented in the ecommerce store, that's where content marketing comes in. It's what will make sure that the website has maximized its chances in having customers want to buy those products.With that in mind, you should pay attention to content marketing for ecommerce stores once you have your products all sorted out and the basic framework for the website in place.

1. Identify the Evolving Needs of Your Target Users

The things that customers look for are never constant; they change with the times. A big part of entrepreneurship is being able to determine whether those changes affect your business and how to adapt to them when needed.The best way to do this is to pay attention to your customers' inquiries. Interacting with them through social media is a great way to do this since it's pretty much the easiest way to get their questions and feedback.

2. Put a Personalization Strategy into Action

Personalization is attractive as it gives customers more to latch on to. They're not as attracted to faceless companies; they want to be able to identify with what they like. Therefore, having a "face" or "voice" for your business can intensify that effect and make your brand more identifiable to customers.Also, this can also be done by being personable to customers, addressing each of them as individuals so that they feel more like they're treated as human beings whose needs are being satisfied rather than just sources of revenue without souls.

3. Product Comparison Reviews

A big part of shopping for products is comparing product A with products B and C and so on since people want to know which one is best for their needs.By having product comparison reviews on your ecommerce website, you can make it easier for customers to determine which product they'd actually want to buy in the end. This comparison includes enumerating what features each product has and showing what each has better compared to the others.

4. Conduct Reverse Engineering Regularly

Being able to deconstruct and reverse engineer a competitor's formula for success can lead to tremendous advantages on your end. This lets you keep up and even surpass your rivals, thus more revenue.There are many ways to do this, such as analyzing other brands' strategies in product promotion, looking at how they write their product descriptions to learn more about industry terms, and so on. Backlink analysis is also a good tool for this process.

5. Optimize the Mobile World

Mobile technology is pretty much what most people use these days to use the Internet, including online products and services. Therefore, your website must be optimized for mobile platforms by having mobile-friendly responsive design.By showing that you have mobile users in mind, there'll be less hesitation in using your website and shop in your ecommerce store for your products.

6. Publishing Your Print Catalog Online

As long as your print catalog doesn't have risks of having duplicate content, you should have something like a PDF of each month's catalog on your website.These PDFs do indeed get indexed by search engines, so they're actually rankable as well, thus it can help your SEO quite a bit to have them. You may also add helpful articles to go with the product catalogs in it to make them better.

7. Utilize Content Templates for Your Blog

Content templates are basically optimized formats and styles that can be used for content marketing in websites to provide added value for the target audience.Convert the tools made to support your sales team into a buyer's guide, which can then be used as your brand's call to action. This can be used to get more email subscribers and social media shares for your website.

8. Crowdsourced Content

Group interviews and other similar collaborative content can be used to add more variety and quality to your website for readers as they provide information from different perspectives.

9. History

When people are interested in a product or industry, they'd also be curious about its origins. Having a page or post that details that product and/or industry's history can help them become more engaged with what your website is about.

10. Case Studies

These show your product in a situation that tests its quality and/or efficacy. When done right, category and/or product-based case studies can help expand brand awareness as they can show how much value your product provides.

11. Start Targeting Wearable Technology

The next step after the propagation of mobile platforms is wearable technology. As it becomes more ubiquitous with tech-savvy customers over the next several years, you may want to get ahead of the curve by optimizing your website for wearable tech as well.For now, that mostly means smartwatches, but it may include smart glasses and other similar things that differ from the average smartphone.

12. Expert Interviews and Google Hangouts

If you've been doing your networking right, you should be able to hook up with experts in your chosen industry to give talks and Google Hangout interviews that people may become interested in.When promoted properly and have a well-known guest expert in tow, these online events should be able to draw a good bit of attendance and bring in more potential customers who may be interested in what you have.

13. Reveal the Identities of Your Authors

Readers appreciate it when they know who wrote whatever they're reading, so show who your authors are so they can identify them as being part of your brand.Show their faces and names, as well as their backgrounds and even short biographies to show how they are as people and how their personalities fit into your brand. This can extend your personalization strategy and make your brand look even more human.

14. Coupons, Discounts, and Sale Pages

Promos courtesy of coupons, discounts, and sales can help draw in even more potential customers who may be interested in some of your products on the cheap.In fact, the words "coupons" and "discounts" should be able to perk up some price-conscious online shoppers out there who are always on the lookout for a bargain. If you can put up a sale and expect some decent return without too much trouble, then you should definitely go for it in reasonable intervals.

15. Build Authority with Online Discussion Areas

Forums and message boards are great for answering questions and discussing issues, making them hubs for communities.Take advantage of this by building a community around your brand with an online discussion area, whether it’s your Facebook page, a subreddit on Reddit, a forum on your website, a chat area of some sort, or so on.

16. Store Location Pages

If you also happen to have physical stores, then people would want to know where they are. Some people just prefer going to the store in person to see for themselves what they're about to dig into.Therefore, you shouldn't just rely solely on your online presence whenever possible and have physical locations mapped out, especially if you happen to have multiple branches.

17. Get Creative with Your FAQs

The FAQ is where you can provide more information about your products and services, but it need not be as boring as a basic rundown of bullet points.Through understanding the needs and tendencies of your customer base, you can become more creative with your FAQ, get the most frequently asked questions from them, and provide them with answers in a personable yet also informative way.

18. Welcome Controversial Topics to Generate Discussion

Your customers are not one-dimensional, and so shouldn't you be as well. Bring up topics that people have strong opinions about and get them talking.You may be surprised with how customers can bring up viewpoints that can change the way you think about your business and about them when you give them a reason to voice their opinions on various things, which can then help you improve your business in various ways.

19. Talk to Your Visitors

This is related to personalization in that you must present yourself to customers and show that your brand isn't just a name and a logo, but there are also people behind it working hard in catering to their needs.Customers can identify with this human element behind businesses, and they can latch onto those who are earnest about the way they do business.

20. Generate Reports to Anticipate Future Sales

Reports are crucial to being able to map out the next steps of your overall ecommerce SEO strategy. Without reports to provide benchmarks for your business' performance, you're practically going forward blindly.

21. Make Your Delivery Options Better Than the Rest

If you have the resources and capability to deliver products faster and more reliably than your competition, then go for it.That can be part of your selling point, which should sway potential customers' judgment in choosing which ecommerce store to get their products from, especially since most people naturally want to get their products right away without delay while paying as little as possible for shipping costs.

22. Brand Yourself with Your Own Personal Flavor

It's not enough to have a brand with just a name and logo and nothing else. As part of your personalization strategy, it should evoke an image and a face of the company that customers would want to see and interact with for themselves.Social media is especially helpful for this, and you can even do things like hold live events and upload videos to this end.

23. Find Something Awesome to Give Out

Giveaways are also quite attractive, just like sales. Plan raffles and giveaways that will get more people to follow your social media pages, sign up for your email newsletter, and/or register to your ecommerce store. Also encourage them to share the giveaway on social media to draw even more people in.There are even more ways to go about this, but these 23 different methods can be your starting point in creating an effective content marketing strategy for your ecommerce store.Just remember that all of these are to be done sparingly and consistently for full effect, and their effects add up to something that can help your business grow online when done right.Note: The opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of Caphyon, its staff, or its partners.