Blogging is great for SEO.

Blogging helps you find new customers.

Blogging is the best thing, EVAH!

Okay, so by now I’m sure you’ve seen the books, read the articles and heard just about every content marketer with a Twitter account bang on about blogging.

While there are a lot of posts that talk about how blogging can help service-based businesses – through being seen as an expert and generating goodwill for your services – there is far less information on how blogging for ecommerce stores can help.

I mean, when the aim of the business is to sell your products, why bother trying to build up a blog?

Well my friend, there are quite a few ways that blogging can help your ecommerce business grow. And because so few businesses are making the most of this content, you’re more likely to stand out from the rest.

So just how can a blog help you find more customers? Let’s take a look.

How Blogging Helps With SEO (That’s Google-Juice To You)

The aim of your ecommerce store is to find new customers. And many of those customers come by the way of Google.

Blogs are excellent in helping you get to the top of the search engines. See, those search bots are constantly crawling their way around the web looking for fresh content (think of them like those huge spiders in Arachnophobia).

Each blog post you create is another page for that crawler to index. And the more relevant and recent your content is, the more Google-juice you’ll get.

And while internal links are great, links from other websites are even better. If you’re providing super-helpful blog posts then it’s likely that other websites are going to want to link to you and share your content. The more links you get, the higher you’ll rank in the search engines.

You can also use blogging to help you rank for certain keywords and phrases. Just select the relevant keywords you want to boost and write blog posts around those terms. Of course, it helps if the content is interesting and valuable, which brings me to the next point.

Blogs Are a Way to Share Your Story and Mission

As good as blogging is for your SEO, that’s not the only reason to do it.

More importantly, blogging gives you a way to share your story and create a community around your brand.

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Although your About Page (you have one, right?) will include something on how you got started, it’s not the place to go totally in-depth on the whole history.

But if you’ve got an amazing brand story, your blog is the perfect place to share that. People connect with stories,  so if your customers can relate to you and your products, they’re more likely to tell their friends about your biz.

Blogs are the perfect place for you to share all the things you know related to your products.

You could use your blog to answer questions that your customers have (how do I wear this/use it/care for that?). Or you could use the blog to share new ways of using your products, or talk about the problems it can solve.

Another benefit of providing really helpful info is that this is often the stuff that people are searching for. So if they land on your blog and you’ve shown (in a non-salesy way) how your product can help them, who are they going to buy from?

You. The answer is you.

You can also use your blog to interact with your customers (and future customers) and create a tribe around your brand.

See, tribes are better than regular customers – they’re the ones telling everyone they know about you; hanging out for your next product launch; and generally acting like a free marketing department.

Take a look at BlackMilk clothing. Their brand has gone beyond a clothing retailer, to actually representing a certain type of person. They’ve used their blog (and other marketing platforms) to build up such a strong community that they don’t have to pay for any advertising.

And finally, blogs are a great marketing toold because you control the platform, so you don’t have to worry about algorithm changes.

Blogs Get You Attention

Blogs are a fabulous way to provide content for your customers and community. But they can also help you get noticed.

A clear message and an easy-to-understand mission is like gold for journalists, editors and bloggers looking for thought leaders they can quote on all sorts of topic.

Whether you’re an expert in fashion, artwork or even just table lamps, there’s a magazine editor, blogger or journalist looking for someone (and their products) they can feature in their next article.

And because you’re already showing that you know your stuff, you get instant authority points over your competitors.

Whether you’re trying to get onto Shark Tank, or want to get your product featured in a magazine, having a blog will help you get noticed.

Have you started a blog for your ecommerce store? What benefits have you seen?

Want a blog for your business but need a little help to get started? Get in touch for a content strategy session to and we’ll brainstorm your next six months of blog topics.