Ecommerce Blogging Starter Guide: Learn the Basics

If you want to get into ecommerce blogging, WordPress with Hostinger offers the best combination of blog builder and web hosting for the job. Best of all, you can host your WordPress blog with Hostinger for only $2.99.

Ecommerce sites should provide the necessary tools that make transactions quick and easy for customers and store owners alike. But most ecommerce sellers forget about the one part of their website that works for them 24/7: their blog.

Blogging for ecommerce can deliver plentiful benefits, from marketing your products to new clientele to building a devoted fan base of lifelong customers. Let’s dive into how to get started blogging for ecommerce and what you can gain by doing so.

The Best Platforms for Ecommerce Blogging

Ecommerce blogging should come as a part of your overall web store platform. Many ecommerce site builders also sport some degree of blogging functionality, but these three are the best providers that deliver well on both blogging and ecommerce features:

• WordPress with Hostinger — Best overall
• Wix — Best for beginners building a professional blog
• Squarespace — Best for artists and designers

If you want to get a feel for blogging platforms in general, check out our full reviews of the three brands above, plus others.

What is Ecommerce Blogging?

Have you ever read an article about a new product and just had to buy it? What about tips and tricks for using a product or service? That’s what ecommerce blogging is all about—generating organic interest in your brand and its products or services through written content.

It’s a way of marketing your online store through content that educates, entertains, and informs customers about what you do. You can use it to grow your customer base by targeting new markets and building relationships with potential customers, plus keep engaging loyal buyers with new content that keeps them aware of, engaged with, and purchasing from you.

When blogging for ecommerce, you want to strike a balance between educating people about your  products and services so that customers know what to expect when they buy from you and getting them interested in what they can do, achieve, or enjoy by purchasing your products.

On a technical level, there are specific steps you must take to get started with ecommerce blogging, including customer research, topic development, and content creation. We’ll get into those details in a moment.

Why is Ecommerce Blogging Important?

As an ecommerce seller, you’re probably spending a lot on paid ads already. And while paid ads are great for encouraging short-term gains in sales, ecommerce blogging helps you build a more steady audience of long-term customers.

It’s also a way to build trust with potential customers by showing them that you’re an expert in your field and that you understand their needs, pains, feelings, and passions. You can use your blog to educate customers about your products and services, as well as answer their questions before they even ask them.

Most importantly, though, ecommerce blogging leads to more traffic to your online store, which translates to more conversions and sales. Companies with blogs see 55% more traffic than those without, and there are several reasons for this.

• Ecommerce blogging gives retailers the opportunity to cover topics their customers are already searching for.
• When potential customers read a company blog, they might associate its products with a solution to their problem.
• Companies with blogs do more than just engage online shoppers—they keep readers on their sites for prolonged periods of time.
• When a retailer becomes a source of information, its content is shared across the internet, which leads to more traffic from farther-flung sources.
• Users are more likely to look for a product if they already understand where it fits into their lives and how it solves their problems.

As a search engine, it’s Google’s job to provide its users with the information they’re looking for. Many people aren’t looking for products specifically. They often type a question or a phrase into Google related to what they’re experiencing at the moment, whether it’s a need for something or a problem they want solved. When companies write about topics related to their products, it gives them a better chance of appearing in searches and ranking higher in results.

A blog can really speed up the ecommerce conversion process by quickly dispensing with an introduction to the business and its products and by drilling deeper into topics that are directly or indirectly related to the web store’s product line.

How Ecommerce Blogging Works

Ecommerce blogging is similar to most types of blogging, but it also has some key differences.

Since an ecommerce storefront is selling products or services, blog content needs to be focused on the products and services being sold to a specific degree. You don’t want it to be too salesy or pushy, but you also can’t just write about anything without tying it back to your business or offerings.

Here are the main steps that go into starting the ecommerce blogging process:

1. Customer research: To know what topics to include in your blog, you need to understand who your customers are and what they’re looking for. Everything from purchase data to customer inquiries and search intent can be used to guide your content strategy.
2. Keyword research: Although topics should speak to your target customers and their main concerns, keyword research is still important for honing the SEO of your blog posts. This research is used to identify search terms that are related to your products, as well as low-competition terms that you can use in your blog titles and content to rank high in results.
3. Topic development: After developing an idea of the types of topics that will be interesting to your audience, it’s time to start brainstorming ideas. Tie topics to types of posts you want to write, like examples of ways to use your product, instructional guides (like this one!) to help your clientele achieve something, or even opinionated articles offering your brand’s insights and thoughts about modern trends, just to name a few examples.
4. Content creation: This is when you get to work in earnest. Putting together your blog post  includes writing (or finding someone to write) the post, formatting it correctly, and adding engaging visuals such as images and videos or other elements like call-to-action buttons or even embedded product listings.
5. Promotion: Once you have a blog post ready to go, you need to make sure that it’s seen by those who are interested in what you have to say. Promotion includes things like email marketing, social media posting and sharing, search engine optimization (SEO), and paid promotion.

Beyond these basic steps, ecommerce blogging also requires some ongoing maintenance, such as monitoring analytics and updating older posts as they become stale or outdated in their information.

Benefits of Ecommerce Blogging

Creating an ecommerce blog comes with many benefits, some of which we touched on earlier. Let’s take a look at these advantages in-depth.

Blogging gives your brand a personality

The fastest and most effective way to show buyers who you are and what you offer is to tell your story. An ecommerce blog allows you to do this in an engaging way, while also providing helpful information and perspectives related to your products or services.

By consistently producing remarkable blog content, your brand becomes recognizable and trustworthy. It’s a way to share with customers who you are as well as what values your business holds dear. When readers recognize themselves in your brand thoughts and values, they’re more likely to become a customer and ardent supporter of your business. Blogging is a non-intrusive method that helps build an unforgettable personality for your company while reinforcing its online reputation.

You can pay less for more

Paid search, Facebook Ads, and other types of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be expensive. And you only get results as long as you’re paying for the campaign. By investing in ecommerce blogging instead, you can save money while reaching more people.

Blog posts work around the clock, whether you’re spending money on additional marketing or not. Since they sit in search engine results pages (SERPs), high-ranking blogs can garner traffic without requiring any further financial input than the initial outlay to create posts.

Your SEO rankings will improve

Google loves unique, informative content. And when your blog is regularly updated with relevant and keyword-rich posts, your chances of ranking higher in search results increase significantly. Not just your individual blog posts’ pages either, but also your root domain where your online storefront lives. That’s because you’ll be showing search engine algorithms that you’re keeping up with the latest trends and providing value to your customers.

Higher rankings mean better sales numbers

For most online shoppers, the buyer’s journey starts with a search engine. 68% of buyers search for a product on Google before making a decision on what to buy. When you rank higher in the SERPs with informative, keyword-rich blog content, you make it easier for customers to find your business and its offerings. This means more visits to your store and a better chance of turning visitors into buyers.

Readers see your products beyond a photo or landing page

It’s tough to communicate the value of your products when you’re limited to product photos and descriptions. But blog posts give readers the chance to see beyond a simple image or landing page, allowing them to understand the value of the items within your store, including unique ways to use them and benefits they might not have thought about themselves.

With blog posts, you can communicate information in a way that cannot be captured by photos or product pages alone. You can discuss problems, answer questions and offer solutions—effectively highlighting why shoppers should choose your products without the need for salesy language or intrusive marketing messaging.

Strategies for Crafting a Successful Ecommerce Blog

Ecommerce companies big and small can use their blogs to drive more sales and build brand awareness. But, for your blog to succeed, it must be well-executed. Here are some strategies to help you get started on the right foot with ecommerce blogging.

Create a detailed content calendar

One of the most important aspects when crafting an ecommerce blog is consistency. If you post regularly for a few weeks then don’t post anything for another week or two (or month), you’re going to lose some of your audience and some of your search ranking gains.

You need a regimented schedule for posting that you stick to. A content calendar typically includes:

• The topics you will cover
• When the posts should go live
• Who is responsible for producing content

By creating a content calendar, you can ensure that your blog remains up-to-date and relevant at all times. This increases the chances of attracting customers through search engine results pages and other channels.

Don’t worry about trying to post all the time as much as being consistent. It’s better if you always publish something new on Tuesdays and Thursdays for weeks on end than to post something on five in one week then only once in the next. Be mindful of the workload your writers and content managers will be taking on and set up a calendar that allows them to produce excellent content on schedule, week in and week out.

Turn common content types into templates

Some posts will require original content with unique ways of presenting information or thoughts. But, for a lot of your content, you can turn their formats into templates that make writing similar types of posts easier and faster.

For example, blog posts like “X Best (Keyword) for (Activity)” and “X Tips for (Topic)” can have formats with subheadings that you can use as a replicable outline for each post that uses that technique. This way, you can quickly write posts that meet your formatting and quality standards without having to start from scratch with each one.

Embrace a flexible business model

While it may seem like larger corporations always have the advantage, they are also burdened with certain weaknesses. Within their corporate bureaucracies, agility and change aren’t exactly common.

As a result, shifting focus for these companies can be an expensive endeavor riddled with red tape and paperwork. This process is far simpler for smaller businesses who don’t need to contend with all those barriers.

When it comes to blogging as a smaller ecommerce seller, you can quickly change direction and update your content strategy to match the latest trends or preferences of your customer base. This gives you a significant opportunity to dominate search results, capitalize on current events and trends, and grow your online presence to compete with the big players in your space.

Leverage user-generated content (UGC)

With the rise of Instagram and TikTok, plus the growth of influencer marketing, customers are more excited and enticed by transparent and authentic communication from a brand and its customers than ever. 70% of consumers factor in user-generated content in their buying decision because they trust their peers and the social accounts they follow and interact with daily.

User-generated content is a great way to showcase your products or services in real-world scenarios, proving the worth of what you offer and boosting sales from an authentic source. You can highlight or report user-generated content on your blog by creating roundups, testimonials, reviews, and feature stories—all ways of demonstrating the successful use of your products or services or the positive feelings surrounding your brand.

Let engagement data dictate your content strategy

It isn’t 2010 anymore. Keyword research alone should not be the basis of your content marketing strategy. Instead, focus on what your customers and audience are already engaged with based on their current conversations, activities, interests, and needs.

Customer data like this comes from several different places:

• Reviews, feedback, and surveys
• Social media conversations
• Google Analytics and other web metrics
• Social listening tools
• Customer service and help desk interactions

The questions your prospective buyers have, the comments your customers leave, the reviews they’ve written, and the conversations they’re participating in on social media are all indicators of what they are interested in. And that should be the focus of your ecommerce blog strategy.

How to Find the Right Tools for Ecommerce Blogging

Depending on your budget, your tech stack could be expansive or it could consist of a few basic tools. Before you start building your blogging strategy, you need the right set of tools to back up your efforts.

Researching and selecting the right types of software can be overwhelming—especially if you’re not familiar with all the options available in the market today. Still, there are a few essential tools you need to get started:

• Web traffic analytics: You probably already use Google Analytics, but if you’re starting to build your blog, you’ll use it even more to learn more about your audience, where they come from, and what they do on your pages.
• Keyword research tools: You may already have a keyword research tool like Moz, SEMrush, or Ahrefs. These tools allow you to track keywords and identify the right topics for your blog.
• Content Management System (CMS): You need a CMS to create, manage, and publish content on your blog. WordPress is a popular option that has flexible features and designs.
• Technical SEO Tool: Tools like Screaming Frog (which is free) can help you identify technical issues on your website that may prevent Google from finding and indexing your blog posts.
• Email Marketing Platform: You need an email platform to capture leads and nurture them with your blog content. Options include MailChimp, ConvertKit, and AWeber.

As you grow your blog, you’ll probably want to add other tools to your tech stack. These include heat mapping tools, usability testing tools, social media management software, and social listening software. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different tools until you find the ones that work best for your business needs.

Final Thoughts About Ecommerce Blogging

Blogging is an essential tool for any ecommerce business. It can give you a competitive edge, help you connect with your customers, and increase sales. You may even be able to make money from your blog in addition to your ecommerce sales.

The key to success is to create a blogging strategy that aligns with your business goals, uses the right tools, and focuses on creating content that resonates with your customers. Then, using that data to find out what makes or breaks an ecommerce purchase, you can develop content your audience will actually want to read (and convert from).