NEWS

Publishing regular content on your ecommerce blog is excellent for SEO, building brand awareness and driving traffic to your online store. The challenge lies in coming up with fresh topics to write about each week. If you’re feeling stuck for inspiration, here are five content ideas that you can recycle on a regular basis. Be sure to add these to your ecommerce content marketing strategy.

1. Staff profiles
Today, perhaps more than ever, customers want to know about the people behind a brand – they crave connection and authenticity. Give your customers a glimpse into the personal side of your business by publishing staff profiles. This builds trust and shows your customers that you are a friendly, approachable business that values its employees.

There are several ways to create engaging staff profiles – here are some ideas:

• Q&As – Ask each staff member the same 5-10 questions. Try to make these questions as interesting as possible, without being too personal. As with all content, the goal is to inform, entertain and inspire.
• Staff writing – Encourage your staff members write a brief summary of their life to-date. This can be a great way to let their authenticity shine through – but be prepared to do a lot of editing to make sure every post has a consistent style, and is aligned with your brand’s tone of voice.
• Video – Film a short video interview with each staff member. This can be a challenge for the camera-shy, but it’s well worth the effort – it’s the closest your customers can get to meeting your staff in person, and is an excellent way to build trust.

2. Customer FAQs and pain points
The best source of inspiration for your ecommerce blog is your customers. Pay attention to the questions they ask about your products – this could spark an idea for a new blog post. For example, if you receive a lot of questions about estimated delivery times, maybe you could write a light-hearted blog post along the lines of ‘How to stay sane while you wait for your [insert product name here] to arrive’. This is a chance for you to write about your product in a way that’s both entertaining and informative for your customers.

You should also be aware of your customer’s pain points – what do they find difficult? What challenges are they currently facing (both personal and professional)? What would they like to read about? See if you can address any of these challenges on your ecommerce blog. It’s all about adding value by giving some advice away for free, in the hope that they will come to trust your brand, your expertise and therefore buy your products in the future.

3. Lifestyle posts
Just as you should know your customers pain points, you should also have an idea of what they enjoy doing in their spare time. What are their hobbies and interests? What do you imagine they get up to the weekends? Hopefully, there will be a way to align your products with their lifestyle choices. For example, if you sell organic food, you could write a series of blog posts with recipe ideas or cooking tips – two things that any organic food-buyer would appreciate. Or imagine you sell clothes – you could write about style tips and fashion trends. As long as you align your content with your customer’s interests, you can’t go too far wrong.

4. News and events
Every time something different or exciting happens in your business – for example, you launch a new product, or you attend an interesting industry conference – consider writing a blog post about the experience. There might be a way you can frame the content so that it provides value for your customers. Even the most boring of topics can be turned into something fun and interesting if you have a good copywriter on your team.

On a related note, sometimes people enjoy reading about your staff events. If you have a social club, write about what you get up to – again, it’s all about showing your customers that you are a trustworthy, approachable ecommerce business.

5. Thought leadership pieces
There’s probably no one else in the world who knows your products quite like you do. The knowledge you take for granted might be incredibly fascinating to your customers. For example, if you sell organic food, you’ll have an understanding of topics such as ‘How to become organic-certified’ or ‘How to grow your own organic food’. Think about all of the things you know and write blog posts about each topic. Try not to give away too much information for free (especially if you have competitors), but share just enough that people come to trust you for your industry expertise.