blogging for ecommerce
TRANSCRIPT
Outline
3 Questions to talk about:
1. What is a blog?
2. Why sellers should have one?
3. How to implement a blog in Magento?
Who is speaking?
Alexander Haiser
Projektleiter eCommerce & Marketing @openstream
Bachelor of Business Administration (BA)
Over 10 years experience in marketing
More than 6 years online marketing focus
Seller & Blogger
Google Adwords Certified
What is a blog?
Blog is short for W E B L O G
Kind of a public diary
Posts with reverse chronological order
(most recent entries first)
Blogs started in mid 90s
Mainstream since 2004
What is a blog?
Different kind of blogs today
Personal Blog (diary)
Microblog (e.g. Twitter, Tumblr)
Corporate Blog (marketing, branding, pr)
Special genre blogs like Vlog (= Video Blog)
Why sellers should have a blog?
Reasons why…
Marketing benefits (customer journey, acquisition)
Customer relation (social media, feedback)
Branding (credibility, trust)
SEO / SEM (traffic, content is king)
Proof (yes, it works!)
Why sellers should have a blog?
Marketing benefits
What users expect => Customer JourneyCustomers are searching for information, not only products
What search engines expect => SEOContent is getting more and more important (content is king)
Target longtail keywords, improve inner linking structure,…
Why sellers should have a blog?
Further possibilities with a blog
Connect to Social Media (customer relation)e.g. Blogposts are published on your FB fanpage, show activities in social media channels, communicate with audience
Instant Feedback (customer relation)comment functions and interactive elements (e.g. Like Button) drivedirect feedback from users
Credibility (trust)You know, what you are selling, expert status
Why sellers should have a blog?
Use synergy effects:Same blog content can be
used forLandingpagesSEO/SEM
• Improvequality ofAdwordscampaigns
• Target longtailkeywords
Customer relationship
• Get instant Feedback
• Discussionwithcustomers
Customer experienceimprovement
• Background information
• Expert status
Branding
• Build a community ofcustomersand readersthat spreadthe word
Facts about blogs
Companies that blog have far better marketing results
55% more visits
97% more inbound links
434% more indexed pages
61% of US customers have made a purchase based on a blog post
81% of US consumers trust advice and information from blogs
It’s worth blogging, isn’t it?!
Hubspot.com case study 2009
How to implement a blog?
Several possibilities… as always
Magento Blog Extension
3rd Party CMS like WordPress
How to implement a blog?
Magento Blog Extensions
Blog – Community Edition by aheadworks
Blog Pro by MagPleasure (paid)
nBlog by Neotheme
How to implement a blog?
How to find a good one?
Magentoconnect.com
Magekarma.com
Write your review / experience
How to implement a blog?
Advantages of blog extensions
One backend
No separate design needed
Consistent user experience
Quite economic
How to implement a blog?
WordPress as 3rd Party CMS
Use as subdomain
blog.my-magentoshop.com/
Use in subfolder
my-magentoshop.com/blog
How to implement a blog?
Advantages of WordPress
Easy to use
Huge and active community (extensions)
Several extensions for easy integration in Magento
Best blogging tool out there
How to implement a blog?
No extra design needed
One backend
Small to midsize blogs
Limited functionality
Dynamic product widgets
Separate design needed
Backend synch via extension
Blogsize doesnt matter
Additional plugins: Related
Posts, Featured Post Slider…
Manual product link
Magento blog extension WordPress 3rd Party
Conclusion
Every merchant needs a blog
Collect topic ideas
Set up a content strategy
Plan your resources for content writing
Decide which blog integration fits your needs
Start blogging – Enjoy selling!
Don‘t know what to blog about?
Topic Finding Quick Tips
Research other blogs (competitors, suppliers, etc.)
Think out of the box
Brainstorming (with employees)
Use user content: tschigi.com – dog stories
weinmayer.de – wine stories