Best Content Strategy for an Ecommerce Website

User-generated content (UGC) has firmly established itself as a fundamental element of effective brand strategy. As consumers increasingly seek authenticity and personal connection with

Your business is an ecommerce store, so you don’t need to create content, right? Nobody comes to shop and to read thought-leadership content, right?

Wrong!

Content marketing for ecommerce has a long and proven history of success. In fact, we would argue that in an ever-competitive digital environment, a strong ecommerce content strategy is more important for success than it ever has been. 

Not only can ecommerce businesses improve their SEO with ecommerce content, they can build trust and brand authority – and ultimately, they can drive conversions. High-quality, optimized content enhances visibility in search engines, engages potential customers, and guides them through the stages of their purchasing journey with your brand.

In this blog post, we’ll look at the key elements of an effective strategy for content marketing for ecommerce and demonstrate why great content is key to help online stores maximize their reach – and their revenue.  

So, let’s get into how you can improve ecommerce sales with content.

Why Do Ecommerce Websites Need a Content Strategy?

A well-defined ecommerce content strategy doesn’t just satisfy Steve in sales’ creative writing itch (though it might do that). It can significantly impact your business’ growth. Here are some great reasons why content marketing should be something your business invests in as an online retailer:

Content Boosts Organic Traffic (and Reduces Advertising Costs)

Paid advertising for ecommerce is effective – but it can be expensive. A well-executed ecommerce SEO strategy ensures that your website ranks higher in search results, leading to increased organic traffic at no extra cost other than your employees’ time and salary. Content marketing is a valuable cornerstone of an SEO plan, and it lets ecommerce businesses like yours attract visitors without relying just on paid ads.

Content Enhances Brand Authority and Increases Customer Trust

Imagine you’re a DIY crafts type who’s looking for a trusted brand to buy some supplies from, and you have two ecommerce stores to choose from. One has no blog, no content – nothing. The other has a blog where it regularly posts guides, tips for its products, or even videos demonstrating some cool things you can do that you might not have known about.

Which of these stores will you be more likely to buy from? The second, of course! Customers prefer to buy from brands that establish authority in their industry. If you publish content that is informative, that is engaging, that is helpful, people will trust you and be more likely to buy from you instead of your competitors.

Blog posts and product guides are no-brainers to have in terms of ecommerce content. Also, featuring user-generated content for ecommerce, like videos of real customers showing off their own tips and tricks, will contribute to brand trust. If these people are enjoying your product, certainly the prospective customer on the edge will.

Content Drives Conversions and Engagement

The types of content we discussed in the above section aren’t just important because they establish your brand as an authority. They’re useful for you because they can also demonstrate how your products can address a shopper’s needs and pain points. 

To paraphrase an old saying, a shopper doesn’t buy a drill because they want to buy a drill; they buy a drill because they need to make a hole in something. If your product is designed to solve Problem X, and you have content on your site demonstrating how your product can be used to solve Problem X, and a shopper comes to your site who is facing Problem X and looking for a solution – you’re way more likely to make a sale! 

Engaging blog posts, product descriptions, video content, and social media posts can help customers make informed purchasing decisions and understand why A) they need the sort of product you sell and B) why you’re a better option over the competition.

Ecommerce Content Marketing: Case Study

SevenAtoms (hi, that’s us, you’re on our site) has been working with Seal Skin Covers, a brand that sells high-quality semi-custom covers for cars, boats, patio furniture, jet skis, and more, for most of a decade now. We’ve provided both PPC (paid advertising) and content marketing and SEO services.

Since working with SevenAtoms, Seal Skin Covers has seen nearly a 1,100% increase in orders for car covers, at least 20% of which is attributable to inbound campaigns like content marketing for ecommerce. And the SEO/content work done for Seal Skin Covers will last in perpetuity, not costing our clients a single extra cent. 

The Elements of a Winning Ecommerce Content Strategy

So, does this mean that Steve from sales can just hop on your blog and start writing about whatever he wants? That counts as ecommerce content, right? 

It might be better than nothing – a regularly updated blog will give the appearance that your company is active and engaged and will be responsive – but if you want to actually have an ecommerce content strategy that’s built for success, and not just indulge Steve’s creative streak, you need something a little more than that.

Understanding Different Content Types

Let’s start the conversation with a question: What type of content drives sales for an online store? 

The answer is a little more complicated than it may seem at first glance. Various content formats cater to different stages of the customer journey, and each has its own niche when it comes to how to drive traffic to an ecommerce site.

• Blog content is your go-to backbone for ecommerce content, and helps you rank for long-tail keywords, address customer questions, and establish knowledge and expertise.

• Product guides and tutorials showcase product features and educate potential buyers, showing how your product can solve their problems.

• User-generated content for ecommerce builds trust; people see real customers like them getting use out of your products, and this makes prospective buyers more inclined to give you a try.

• Video content enhances engagement and can go viral more easily, especially on social networks, making it a great first-touch piece of content.
• Infographics and other visual content can simplify complex information and be shared across the internet more easily. 

Writing High-Performing Blogs

Blogs, as mentioned above, are frequently the backbone of any coherent ecommerce content strategy. They provide value for customers and are relatively easy to create compared to other forms of content like videos or infographics, which need the work of editors and graphic designers. 

But what are the best blog topics for ecommerce brands like yours to focus on? 

Again, put yourself in the point of view of your potential customers. Think about why your product exists – what problem was it created to solve? Did your founders have a particular headache, find that nothing existed that fixed their issue, and made a company to fill that niche? 

Use that as inspiration for your content and your keyword research. Think about what real people are searching for. Then, consider writing content that engages, like the following types:

Types of Blogs that Perform Well

• How-to Guides: Step-by-step instructions can help customers solve a problem (ideally using your product) or learn something new.

• Listicles: Articles formatted as lists, like “10 Best Tips to Organize Your Garage.”

• Comparison Posts: These are great to draw a distinction not just between you and your competitors, but between related fields entirely, e.g., “Car Covers vs. Car Ports: How to Protect Your Car.”
• Ultimate Guides: These tend to be longer, in-depth articles that comprehensively cover a topic, which makes them valuable evergreen content. “Everything You Need to Know to Start Skiing,” for instance.

Other types of content that can perform well, but might be more niche in terms of reaching new audiences, would be case studies or other success stories – however, these are less commonly used for B2C/ecommerce brands like yours. 

Create Content Clusters

Content clusters involve grouping multiple related blog posts around a central “pillar” topic. This boosts SEO by both creating a strong internal link structure (how search engines find related articles) as well as improving user experience by giving readers a comprehensive overview of a subject.

For instance, if your business sells skincare products, you could have a pillar post called “The Ultimate Guide to Skincare Routines” which links to related posts on topics like “Best Moisturizers for Dry Skin” and “How to Treat Acne Naturally.”

By linking relevant articles within a content cluster, your brand can guide users through a logical reading path while distributing page authority across the rest of the website.

Using SEO for Ecommerce Content

As mentioned above, even poorly optimized content can still have its place in an ecommerce content strategy; it can make your brand seem more active and engaged, it can position you as thought leaders, and so on. But in terms of growing organic traffic and driving new visitors to your site, it won’t do a darn thing. That’s why, when producing ecommerce content, you should ensure that it’s all designed to fit into a broader ecommerce SEO strategy.

Make sure that you start with keyword research; identify high-intent keywords like “shop home exercise equipment” or “what are the best running shoes for wide feet.” Use these keywords not just to optimize your product pages and meta descriptions – but definitely be sure to do that, too – but also to write blog content around, so you can explain how your product is the solution to what these people are looking for.

Why Optimized Product Descriptions Matter

Optimized product descriptions are crucial for ranking in search engines, which in turn drives highly relevant traffic to your site. This doesn’t mean that each of your products needs a blog-length page, but you should be sure to identify the most relevant, highest-traffic keywords available and ensure that meta descriptions, image alt-text, and other key SEO elements are in place.

Best Practices for Product Description Ecommerce SEO

• Use long-tail keywords that tend to have less competition; incorporate relevant keywords naturally without “keyword stuffing” and making the page seem awkward.

• Highlight benefits, not features so that you can explain how the product will improve the customer’s life. They don’t care about your drill’s proprietary motor; they care how quickly it can drill through a plank of wood.

• Include social proof like reviews, testimonials, and UGC to show how real people really enjoy your products.
• Write engaging, readable copy using concise, grammatically correct sentences and bullet points that highlight the most important elements; people should be able to understand the gist of the page on a skim.

Leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC)

Encouraging customers to share their experiences with your brand will pay off, especially in the long run. Leaving reviews and testimonials, giving social media shoutouts, making unboxing videos and product demonstrations or guides – these are all the sorts of UGC that you should be welcoming, if not actively encouraging.

UGC can help in ways you might not immediately expect. For instance, unless you’re a very large enterprise brand, you probably don’t have the ability to translate your product guide videos into every major language. However, users can make guides for your product in Spanish, or Arabic, or Vietnamese (and so on), which you can promote, offering value and helping out prospective customers.

How to Incentivize Customers to Make UGC

It would be fantastic if all of your users collectively decided to make content for your brand for free, right? Unfortunately, that’s not always likely. So, you should look at your brand and try to come up with incentives for reviews and other UGC.

• Offer discounts or loyalty points for submitting reviews This only works if your brand is something that people might make multiple purchases from; if you sell furniture, they probably don’t need to buy more couches, so consider offering extended warranties, for instance.
• Alternatively, you can consider offering retroactive discounts, refunding some or all of the purchase price in exchange for content. 
• Note that it is illegal to pay people for good reviews; you can reimburse or offer financial incentives for leaving a review, but you can’t mandate that it be a positive one. Consider that a handful of negative reviews may give people more faith that the positive ones are genuine, so if you get some less-than-stellar reviews, don’t panic.
• You can run UGC contests on social media pages, encouraging customers to showcase their purchases or make content about why they love your brand.

Creating a Content Calendar and Distribution Plan

When it comes to content marketing for ecommerce, consistency is key. Planning – and maintaining – a content calendar ensures regular posting and engagement across multiple platforms. Additionally, distributing content through email marketing, social media, and content partnerships can maximize reach, leading to increased traffic and brand recognition.

A structured, deliberate approach to your ecommerce content strategy will help you, and businesses like yours, create impactful content that attracts, engages, and finally converts customers. 

The Importance of Video and Interactive Content for Ecommerce

Traditionally, “content” has referred to written content – blogs and the like. But the digital world runs on video now, and marketing is no different. Video content is a powerful tool in ecommerce marketing; it increases engagement and showcases products more effectively.

Why write about how to use a product when you could show it in action, instead? Video product demos can highlight key features, explainer videos can educate potential buyers, and tutorials can show product usage in real-world scenarios. 

Platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts let businesses create shoppable videos where users can purchase directly from links within the video itself. This dramatically removes friction from the shopping process and increases conversion rates. 

Many social video sites are embracing Augmented Reality (AR) as we move further into the 2020s. This technology will enable virtual product trials, letting customers visualize how a product looks or might function on their body or in their environment before purchasing – especially helpful for ecommerce brands in the fashion, beauty, or home decor industries. 

Ecommerce Email Marketing and Personalization

One of the most effective ways to nurture customers is – yes, still – email marketing. Email marketing lets you get directly into potential customers’ inboxes, letting them know about new products or why your existing products are worth buying. 

Segmenting your audience based on preferences, behavior, or past purchases lets you send personalized emails that more effectively drive conversions.

What Does Personalized Content Marketing Look Like?

If you have a prospective buyer’s email address – or the address of a former buyer you’d like to convert into a repeat one – you can market to them in a much more effective way.

You can send people product recommendations based on their browsing or purchase history; you can send abandoned cart emails to recover lost sales; you can send exclusive discounts or loyalty rewards to encourage customer loyalty and turn one-off buyers into repeat customers. 

It doesn’t have to be all about the hard sell, either. Consider some types of post-purchase emails like care guides or tutorials on how to use their purchase, cross-sell recommendations for complementary items, and other ways to improve their experience as a customer from your brand. If you can ensure customer satisfaction across the board and a solid user experience, you will turn buyers into devoted brand evangelists and advocates.

How Can You Tell if Your Ecommerce Content Strategy Is Working?

Measuring ecommerce PPC ad performance is one thing – you can look at the money you’ve spent, the purchases you’ve gotten from those ads, and calculate your ROI accordingly. But how can you measure the ROI of a blog post? 

Properly determining an ecommerce content marketing plan’s effectiveness is tricky, and it can be hard to discern a good content marketing plan from a bad one. 

To see if your ecommerce content marketing is paying dividends, consider KPIs like the following.

Important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Ecommerce Content Marketing

• Organic traffic – is your traffic growing like you’re hoping?
• Engagement rates – are people reading your blogs? Are they sharing it, commenting on it, or liking it when it gets posted to social media?
• Conversion rates from content – how effective are your blogs at driving people to your product pages and, from there, getting a buy?
• Product page bounce rates – are any product pages repelling users more than others, and if so, how can you fix them?

Some great analytics tools for measuring the effectiveness of your ecommerce content strategy are Google Analytics, Ahrefs, and Hotjar. 

To Find Success in Ecommerce Content Marketing, Work With the Experts

Let’s be real with you: Content marketing is tricky, especially when you have a business to run. Can you take the time out of your day to write great, high-performing, high-quality content? Probably not. Can Steve in Sales do everything you need him to do and be your top blogger? Probably not. (No offense, Steve.)

You know who can? The pros. When you work with SevenAtoms, you get a team that has mastered the art of ecommerce content marketing. We’ll identify spots for your business to grow, analyze your site’s existing SEO performance and improve it as necessary, and make sure that you’re interesting, engaging, and converting prospective customers, no matter your industry.

Give us a call for a complimentary SEO and marketing consultation today.