How To Integrate Blog And Virtual Store To Sell More?
You have your e-commerce and a blog to publicize your brand. Excellent! But how to use your content platform – the blog – to draw attention to your store, making it sell more? We’ve listed some steps for you to produce relevant content for the blog to increase traffic to your virtual store and further strengthen your branding. Follow!
First: why do I need a blog?
The answer to this question lies in the particularities of a virtual store, which requires different attributes from those common to the world of offline commerce. Firstly, the figure of a seller, in person, offering products to customers, does not exist. That is, the entire sales funnel is carried out by the website itself, which needs to be attractive enough – from the content, layout, and external relationship – to guarantee visits and conversions.
The blog, therefore, serves your consumer as a gateway to your store, offering him all the information that will help in his purchase decision. It is through the blog that you show mastery over what you offer to the customer, ensuring that your brand is a point of trust and authority in what you propose to sell.
In addition, you want your e-commerce to be present in the best search results for your products. Having a blog, then, is a great way to produce relevant content, and gather answers to all the questions your client has about your market. Of course, to understand your customers’ questions, you need to discover the most searched keywords. Directing the content strategy according to the words will guarantee you a good ranking in those important organic searches for your online store.
Ok, you already know that you need a blog to sell more. We are now going to list the main stages of the buying process that need to be considered when choosing content for your blog. Stay tuned!
Steps of the purchase process: integrating the blog with the virtual store
1. Attention
The customer needs to see your virtual store and recognize that there is a solution to their need or problem there. The problem is that competition is getting bigger, and attracting consumer attention is getting harder and harder. That’s why you need to carry out integrated marketing actions that guarantee your presence in the customer’s range of choices at any time of purchase. For this, it is necessary: 1) to stand out with an attractive layout of the site; 2) relevant content on the blog; 3) a strong presence on social media; and 4) a good position in the first search results.
For the blog, keep in mind that attracting the attention of multiple audiences can be interesting to generate traffic to the site. Don’t get stuck with your narrowest target audience. Work with a little more general content, without losing relevance.
For example, at a store that sells dresses, you might generate a blog post titled, “Why do women like to receive dresses as gifts?”. In this case, you not only reach those women who would be your most direct audience but also direct your content to those people who are emotionally involved with women and who, eventually, might even buy in the store, to give them as gifts.
Remember: to attract attention, you always need to be aware of the topics of the moment to see if you can relate them to your product!
2. Interest
After attracting attention, you need to keep the consumer’s interest in your store. Now that you’ve managed to be seen by many people, it’s time to refine this audience and make people start to be specifically interested in what you sell in e-commerce.
For this, the use of the blog, again, is essential: write articles that explain, describe, and present detailed content about the products you sell. After that, make calls in the virtual store itself for this content and spread it through other communication materials: social media, email marketing, videos, etc…
For our example, an interesting post would be “Check out the 10 dress models that women will love!”, because it matches what your online store is capable of offering.
3. Desire
Awakening the desire for your product is directly related to the attributes you communicate to the consumer. After securing interest, the public must be willing to buy at that moment and with you. For this, the blog can help you communicate the emotional and rational reasons for the purchase.
In other words, bring videos about your products, analysis by niche specialists, customer opinions, etc… Everything that can help your customer to believe that you are the safest and most reliable place for him to make a purchase.
In addition to these rational aspects, invest in the emotional appeal of your product. For our example, show celebrities wearing your or similar dresses; try to show alternative uses for different occasions, offering a possible combination for your consumer to be inspired. Be creative!
4. Action
Of course, the purchase will be made in your virtual store, but the blog can be an important post-sale contact with your consumer. Be sure to take advantage of it to generate this relationship with the customer, clearing up their doubts and building a communicative bond that can guarantee future sales. Having this direct contact with your audience can be key to generating new ideas!
Do not forget that the blog is another resource for your e-commerce. Combining these relevant content production strategies and the blog’s relationship with other devices, such as website design and usability, in addition to SEO, you guarantee a greater and more efficient reach for your virtual store.
