In the previous articles, we have discussed social media marketing, suppliers, websites, etc. therefore, if you have been reading along you should by now have an e-commerce site that is selling, a working logistics system, social media set up, your team of freelancers set up, etc.
If you do not have a store that is selling consistently, a good social media base, a good logistics network, etc then don’t read this. You need to ensure that your store is running well first and that all the major things like your social media, the website, etc are all set up first. You also need to make sure that your products are selling as let’s face it. Sales are what causes verification. Verification is what is needed to carry on doing business. Of course, there are exceptions but this is rare, and you can only break the rules once you’ve mastered them. How do you master these rules? Well, it takes time and experience.
Today we will be talking about some nitty-gritty stuff like Pinterest and blogs which can help you get extra traffic and income. It isn’t needed at first however, it can really help build your brand up and give you more of an influence. People are more likely to trust you if you are advising them on a certain topic or showing them a tutorial. It also makes them know your brand and it’s more likely an interest can spark.
Blogs are great for SEO. People are constantly searching for information on Google. They want to know whats the best holiday destinations, how to do this make-up technique, what’s the best diet, etc. It’s endless and it will always be endless as people are curious and there are always new trends people want to try and replicate themselves. Whatever industry your in, you will be aware of the trends. Hence why it’s easier for you to write about them.
Why Should I Start a Blog and What Should I Write About?
You should start a blog because it makes your brand seem so much more interesting. It makes it more than just a company that sells products. It gives your brand personality and that’s what people want. People want a brand that has a personality because that’s what gets them to like your brand more and feel more comfortable with your brand. It also helps builds trust which is vital. Getting someone’s trust is crucial if you want sales.
Nobody wants to buy from a brand they don’t trust. If they don’t trust your brand, then a conversion is the last thing on their mind. Their trust is worth a lot and as it’s always been said, trust is hard to create but easy to burn.
A blog can be easily made on any e-commerce platform. If you do want a blog as a major part of your e-commerce brand, then a WordPress WooCommerce hosted website is best since WordPress is the best for blogs. Shopify is great for blogs however, there are limited features on that compared to WordPress since that’s made primarily for e-commerce usage.
It’s easy to write a blog too especially if it’s about something you know or you’re passionate about. If you have an English qualification etc or you come from a mainly English-speaking country and you yourself speak English well, then you will find no issues writing an article for a blog. You can download Grammarly to help you with punctuation, grammar, proofreading, etc.
If you don’t want to write blogs because you may feel your English isn’t great or you have no time, then you can hire a writer. However, there are a few points you need to know when hiring a writer as a badly written blog can really harm your business.
- Make sure your writer can speak and write English fluently. The best writers are from English-speaking countries mainly but those from the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Germany, Morroco, Egypt, and the Netherlands are also usually very good.
- Make sure they send you samples and look through them for mistakes, copying, bad grammar, spelling, etc.
- Make sure they have good reviews.
- Ask them to do a trial article first to see their quality and timeframe
- Make sure they are reasonably priced. However, the cheapest ones are not always the best as most of the time you get what you pay for.
- Make sure you find them on a legit website or platform (Upwork, Fiverr, freelance.com, Qualified Forums, etc)
- Make sure they have prior experience
- Qualifications are a must. Also always ask for genuine proof and if it looks dodgy give it a double-check.
- Knowledge in your industry (whether it’s fitness or makeup, etc).
- They know SEO
Finding a good writer is more difficult than it seems. You need them to be passionate about your brand. How do you do this? Find someone who has the same interests that your brand holds. Therefore, you need to take time in finding your writer. If they are a brilliant writer and they know SEO, you will begin to see your website move up the ranks. A blog is seriously good for SEO and if you look at every article on improving your site’s SEO, it will always suggest adding a blog.
What Does Pinterest Have to Do With This?
Pinterest is a brilliant platform. It’s essentially another search-engine for mainly images and ideas. Mainly people see Pinterest as a platform for looking at home decor or fashion ideas. However, if you didn’t know, Pinterest is a great platform to promote your blog. Again this works via SEO however, it’s far less complex than Google. It does involve a lot of tags and both long and short tail keywords. It’s also great for Etsy too.
Now it will be best to hire someone for Pinterest since it’s a bit of a fiddle to master. However, by all means, you can do it by yourself. Just know it takes a long time though to do. Hiring someone is great because they have the knowledge and experience you don’t have. That is how you get the best results possible. Sometimes it’s just best left to the professionals.
You can showcase your products on Pinterest and take advantage of shoppable pins. Though shoppable pins are hard to set up if you live outside North America since usually the Pinterest plug-in only works in that region. Shoppable pins require a database of your products known as an XML file. It will tell you how to set it up, however, be wary that most services that produce an XML file are paid. The only one which isn’t is Google shopping which is a nightmare to setup.
Pinterest also has a feature whereby you can track how many visitors are coming to your site from Pinterest. This does involve code though to set up and it’s easy but it takes a few attempts to do. there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to set that up though.
There are also group pinboards which are where many Pinterest uses combine from a certain niche and post pins on the same board together. You should also create your own boards to do with things like:
- Bestsellers
- Xmas gifts
- Summer arrivals
- Dad gifts
- Gifts for her
- Blogs
- Updates
If you hire a Pinterest expert they will help you with all of this as it is very tedious to set up. If you set it up well it can really improve your SEO as a whole both on Pinterest and your store as the right keywords will mean your stuff will be shown to interested people who are more likely to share. The algorithm on both Google and Pinterest (or any search engine) then will push your content up further as it’s more interesting and it’s getting higher views.