Content marketing can achieve many things, to say the least. From building brand awareness to getting more targeted leads and boosting sales, this method has proven to be effective. Moreover, businesses that engage in content marketing are the ones who keep up with the competition, because more and more companies resort to such a strategy.
And even though content marketing is suitable for virtually any type of business, it still has its peculiarities when applied to e-commerce. This guide will tell you everything about writing SEO friendly content for your e-commerce website and blog.
Step 1: Set goals
The first thing you should do is set clear goals and objectives. These will not only motivate you to continue advertising your business but will also show if you are succeeding at your marketing campaign.
Some metrics you should set a goal for include:
- Raising brand awareness.
- Attracting prospects to your business.
- Illustrating the benefits of your products or services.
- Finding a new audience in the global market.
- Ranking on the SERPs.
- Growing your social media following.
- Driving engagement to the social content.
When you are sure about your goals, you can either write them down or set them up with the help of special software such as Goalscape. It is important to keep these goals in front of your eyes to always remember what your aim is.
Step 2: Know your target audience
The second thing you should do is carefully research your target audience. It is important to compile several customer personas to know who you will be creating your content for.
In order to understand who your potential customers are, ask yourself whether you know these things about them:
- What are their age and gender?
- What are their interests and hobbies?
- Where do they leave?
- What is their occupation?
- What are their needs?
- Why would they want to buy your product?
Once you know the answers, you will be able to put together detailed portraits of who your future clients will be. You will be building your content marketing campaign around this data.
Step 3: Select your channel
After you create your content, you will need to be able to publish it somewhere. Moreover, you must know your publishing platform beforehand to be able to create relevant content for it. There are three channels that you should keep in mind:
- Owned Media For Content Distribution: These are the platforms that you have full control of such as your website, blog, and e-commerce landing pages. Publishing in this channel will show your audience that you are active and are constantly working to provide them with unique content.
- Earned Distribution: When your website, blog, or brand is mentioned by someone else, it shows users that you are a reliable brand. Earned distribution can significantly increase your search rankings and give you additional exposure. It also includes your content that is shared on social media.
- Paid Media For Content Distribution: Lastly, paid distribution is a channel closely connected to traditional ways of marketing. You can launch a Google Ads campaign or find influencers (with the help of Collabary, for example) that will promote your products or your brand.
Step 4: Decide on your content type
Even though this article is mostly dedicated to written content, it is important to discuss other forms of content that can be a great supplement to your texts:
- Blog Posts & Articles: These will be the foundation of your content marketing campaign. They can range from news reports to interviews to guides and so much more.
- Videos: Product videos and webinars can prove to be even more successful than your articles. But don’t make these your main content as it cannot be optimized for search engines as effectively as blog posts.
- Infographics: Infographics and illustrations, in general, are eye-catching, which means they will be the first thing that attracts most of your readers to your blog. In addition to that, infographics are great for explaining complex processes or delivering statistics in a simpler way.
- E-books & Podcasts: E-books and podcasts are not something that immediately comes to mind when you think of content marketing, but they can be surprisingly efficient in this sense. When you provide your readers with free e-books and podcasts, it increases your trustworthiness in their eyes.
Step 5: Assign tasks
This part is harder because you will need to make important decisions while allocating resources and assigning tasks. Make sure that you select a person to be responsible for a certain job, make it clear what you want, and set a deadline for them.
Once you do so, there are some tools that can help you with further steps: Grammarly (online grammar checker), Trust My Paper (online writing service that can write your content for you), Plagiarism Checker (checks your text for plagiarism and provides you with a report), and Grab My Essay (another great online writing service).
Step 6: Create content
After assigning the tasks, you can finally start creating content. Make sure that it is unique and high-quality. You must be informative in your articles and solve your customers’ problems in order for them to be interested in what you write about. Remember to proofread all the content you create as it shouldn’t contain any grammatical, spelling, or punctuation mistakes.
In addition to the tools and services mentioned above, here are a few more that can assist you: Hemingway Editor (online proofreader that highlights adverbs, passive voice, and complicated sentences in your text), Studicus (online writing service that writes various types of content), Keyword Tool (helps you find the relevant keywords for your content), and BestEssay Education (one more great online writing service).
Step 7: Share your content
It’s time to share your content with the world! Publish it on your chosen platforms and make an announcement on your social media to attract even more readers.
A good idea would be to make a plan for when and how often you will be posting as this will provide you with a schedule and help you post regularly.
Step 8: Track results
Last but not least, track the results of your content marketing campaign. You can do this by using Google Analytics and comparing your metrics with the goals you set at the beginning. If you see a positive increase, it means that your campaign is working.
If you notice that your results exceed all of your expectations, be sure to set higher goals the next time you launch a content marketing campaign.
Conclusion
All in all, marketing your online e-commerce business should not be a difficult task, especially when you use content to do so. Follow the tips in this article to launch a successful content marketing campaign and achieve positive results.