WordPress content
If you run an eCommerce operation that falls short of dominating its niche, you’re always going to be looking for new ways increase traffic and sales via your WordPress site. But before your eCommerce site can make more sales, you’re going to need more traffic. There are of course existing marketing channels you can explore to sell to existing customers, such as targeted email campaigns and tempting personalized offers. But they can only bring in so much growth.
The key to taking things to the next level typically lies in reaching new audiences: Specifically locating those people who stand to benefit from your product, and figuring out how you can sell it to them. This concept of course, is much easier said than done — and there are many actions you can take that might help you achieve your goals.
In this blog, we’re going to focus on one method in particular: creating rich content through your WordPress blog that will grab potential customers attention, boost your product views and earn you more conversions. Regardless of the nature of your store, this is can be a viable approach that has shown success, regardless of what you may sell.
Create slick product pages featuring rich media
WordPress may have been originally developed to serve as a blogging platform, but it’s become so much more than that over the years due to its modular nature and immense popularity (it currently powers over 40% of the world’s top websites). No matter what type of site you want to create, you can create it and manage it through the right combination of plugins and development, with eCommerce WordPress sites certainly no exception.
Eager to take advantage of its accessibility and convenience, many sellers install great retail plugins (WooCommerce being the best reviewed) to turn their WordPress sites into fully-functioning sales platforms. As noted above, this means that WordPress eCommerce content isn’t solely about supporting the site itself and helping improve SEO. The content can be directly for eCommerce and help drive traffic and sales.
When you’re working on the content for your WordPress-based store, your primary focus should be on your product pages. The better your product pages are, the more likely they’ll be to convert visitors to customers, which is the ultimate goal for any online store. It can be extremely hard to earn hyper-relevant visits of potential buyers looking to buy your specific product, so failing to take advantage of them is a huge waste of time and effort.
A great product page should have a slick design, with content set out in a fully mobile-responsive layout with a logical structure (the most important aspects of the product covered first, with other details placed in expandable sections for those who want them). It should ideally also feature varied forms of media arranged in appealing ways, such as adding images or videos in a carousel.
An example of poor and good product image examples.
Product photos in particular can help increase your eCommerce sales. As buying online prevents customers from physically inspecting something before buying it, the product image could potentially make or break the sale of an item in your store. You should always aim to create your own product photos whenever possible. This is something that can be easily achieved, as even entry level smartphones now have excellent cameras that will allow you to take unique and high quality images that can help set your store apart from those of your competitors.
Write posts covering frequently-asked questions
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a key part of making sure your potential customers can find you online. Many retail journeys start with Google searches for particular products and if your store doesn’t rank well for relevant terms, how will potential customers even find it and make a purchase? One part of ranking well is picking up high-quality back-links (your website address linked from high value websites). Another method you can explore to get your site to rank highly is to upload content that covers and includes the top keywords for your store/product.
When you’re trying to rank for terms relevant to your products, don’t obsess over reaching the first page for high-volume keywords: they’ll no doubt be incredibly competitive and challenging. Instead, look for long-tail keywords that haven’t been suitably addressed elsewhere, paying particular attention to long-form queries that keep being asked. For example, if you run a shoe website, you may find that you can generate valuable traffic by focusing on a long-tail keyword term such as ‘what are the best walking boots for snowy conditions’. This can generate valuable traffic for your site, instead of trying to rank highly for a popular and hard to rank search term such as ‘walking boots’.
Sites like AnswerThePublic can be extremely useful for identifying these questions. Once you’ve made a list of keywords and whittled it down, you can now create content accordingly. For example, you could make one large FAQ post covering them all, or make various individual pieces answering specific queries in greater detail related to the long-tail keyword. Nail the copy and the metadata, and you’ll have a great chance of picking up some actionable visits from searchers.
Provide details on new and upcoming releases
Not all your content should be re-actively based on what people are searching for. Sometimes you need to take charge of providing information that your audience will want before they know they want it. That’s where a new product release becomes invaluable. On occasion, you’ll update your stock inventory with new items, so remember to generate some content specifically for them.
The goal in doing this should be twofold: to demonstrate to your customers how exciting and changeable your store inventory is (incentivizing people to return), and to show your unique point of view and insight into what makes a new product so interesting. Just as a successful blogger establishes the value of their unique perspective over time, so too should you use the steady release of product updates to make people eager to pay attention.
Remember that there’s nothing wrong with including some of your own personal and store brand personality. Companies like RedBull and Apple have built a massive following that goes far beyond their products by having a vibrant and engaging company personality. You don’t need to dryly recite talking points about your products and should always try to describe them in your own words, getting creative as you do so. If you’re excited about a product or feature, remember to explain why. Make the reader feel your excitement. The more emotion you can convey, the more trustworthy you’ll seem, and the more potent your posts will become.
Ultimately the production of outstanding WordPress content can work wonders for the popularity of your eCommerce brand and the conversion rates you achieve. If you can prioritize the optimization of your product pages, create SEO-polished content and build a notable brand personality through commentary and insight, it can help you get ahead of the pack and build a successful online store.
