When an entrepreneur is trying to get their online store up and running, they tend to focus on the big picture topics like web design, search engine optimization, and pay-per-click advertising to boost ecommerce sales. Once the business is established and turning a steady profit, they start looking for ways to fine-tune their approach at the margins. They want to differentiate themselves, increase revenue, and cut costs all at the same time.
Of course, those can be difficult goals to achieve. However, one way to do all three simultaneously is by giving your ecommerce website content advantage.
It’s a simple strategy but one that many marketers tend to overlook. To show you why it’s so effective, let’s look at four ways to use content to boost your ecommerce sales and make your online store stand out from the rest…
Unique Product Descriptions
In many industries, it’s not uncommon to see dozens of different e-commerce websites all using the same (supplier-provided) product descriptions. That’s understandable, but it’s not going to help you much from a branding or search engine optimization perspective. Google might not be penalizing you for duplicate content, but they aren’t going to prioritize your online store.
Having your own product descriptions gives you unique content. If that content is geared towards a particular target audience, it can help you generate search traffic and conversions at the same time.
Targeted Buying Guides
Staying on the theme of your target audience, who do you have shopping on your website? What do they know or not know about the types of products you sell?
Creating proprietary buying guides (for beginners, value shoppers, gift-givers, etc.) makes it easy for new customers to choose the item that’s perfect for them. That can help you increase conversions, but it also decreases returns, helps boost ecommerce sales, and adds value to your online store that is hard for a competitor to match.
In-House Video Reviews
Just as buying guides can make it easier for shoppers to find the perfect item, video reviews illustrate the pros and cons of a particular product. In addition, they can help you demonstrate sizes, colors, and easy-to-miss features.
There are also two hidden benefits to producing online videos for your ecommerce site. The first is that Google can transcribe your video and crawl the resulting content, giving you an SEO boost. The second is that your videos can be branded and recognized. If buyers come to like your style, they may repeatedly return to check out your new releases.
Customer-Generated Content
Don’t forget you can encourage customers to write their own reviews, add product tags, and even share their own video clips. This is a good way to get new content on your website for free and for others to figure out which items they want to buy.
As great as the marketing you deploy for your ecommerce site might be, buyer reviews are always going to have more credibility than the messaging you come up with. Why not use points, coupons, and other incentives to get customers to share their impressions?
Creating fantastic content isn’t necessarily easy, but it costs less than putting a brand-new advertising campaign in place, lasts longer than a new PPC spend, and helps you show buyers what makes your store different.
At Engines of Creation, we are big advocates of using tailored content to boost ecommerce sales and have over ten years of experience in ecommerce and content marketing. If you want to know more about growing your online business, contact us today for a free consultation.
