Each week, we publish a mishmash of ecommerce related, insight infused articles for you to smash through. Just as we collect business information across all of a merchant’s channels in a single place, we’re doing the same for ecommerce related content from a variety of top-tier content creators. If you find the material filling your appetite for knowledge, feel free to share this post, as well as any article you see here.
Are you content with your content? If not, this week’s topic should help you a tad. Content, as Bill Gates put it, is king, and it can work wonders on a variety of business objectives, including conversion rates, engagement, and SEO. In this mishmash, we’ll cover emerging trends in the content space, various, often overlooked forms of content marketing, and how to amplify your content’s reach.
How Does Your Blog Compare
You’ve likely heard by now that blogs can provide some serious SEO juice, if not lead to greater sales. But it’s oftentimes very difficult for merchants, whether they’re B2B or B2C, to understand just how well they’re doing compared to everyone else. Fortunately, Hubspot analyzed thousands of blogs in both spaces to determine blog benchmarks. Whether you want to see the average word count or share count in your field, take a look at the research.
Content of All Kinds
When some mention content, they’re thinking exclusively about blogs. But content is way, way more than just that – it’s all customer-facing material, whether it’s copy or images. Just like you get a customer interested via a blog post, photography and engaging words can persuade traffic to click “add to cart”, making them important to curate as well. Practical Ecommerce has 6 content marketing tactics to try, ranging from stellar product images and engaging product copy, to viral videos and personalized blog content.
The Boringness of Words
Consumer behavior is shifting towards video. Blame it on faltering attention spans or the visual appeal of moving images, but consumers seem to be interested in video content more so than blog or copy content. If you’re going to tap into that trend, here are 23 things to consider as you create that video content, provided by Content Marketing Institute. Typically, video is a larger investment than a simple blog post, so it’s critical that you take a look at their advice to ensure your efforts are effective.
Getting Content off the Ground
Let’s say you’ve got your content down. Your blog is pristine, it’s full of content that’s completely relevant to your customers, but you can’t seem to get the traffic that makes it worthwhile. Shopify has a great guide on getting your blog off the ground and in the face of a broader audience. Other bloggers, seriously unique content, even click bait behavior can attract curious eyes onto your blog, hopefully getting a viewer one step toward a purchase.
Content Isn’t Quite King
Don’t prioritize content above all else, though. According to research by Limelight Networks, customers overwhelmingly desire a quick-loading, fully-functional website, regardless of how amazing your content is. Will all your personalized content clutter and slow down your load times? Be sure to pay close attention that your load times are at least tolerable, for both the sake of your SEO magic and conversion rates.
Image: Flickr, J E Theriot
