I’m a big blog reader, and eCommerce is a passion of mine. I’ve come across dozens of blogs that touch on the topic, and after taking the time to look through some of the most successful ones, I’ve identified 3 elements that they all have in common.
These I wanted to share with you.
1) A Focus
eCommerce is a very general topic. There’s a lot you can talk about, but there are only a few subtopics within the general topic of eCommerce that you should talk about.
Ask yourself: what is the main focus of my blog?
Is it social media? Productivity? Paid search? General life hacks?
I've learned that it’s better to dig deeper into a few subjects than it is to glance over a whole bunch of them, so find your niche and stick with it.
Shopify is a good example. They focus on providing high-quality content to eCommerce startups specifically.
2) Research
What do ALL of the best eCommerce blogs have in common?
Research.
Whether they work with someone who does the research for them or they take the time to do their own, they all share rich, link-filled content that people love to reference.
Kissmetrics and Quicksprout are two blogs that come to mind when I think about stellar research. You should be skeptical about the web these days because anyone can say anything, but I fully trust the writers of these two platforms and consistently look forward to new posts.
3) A Slant
Everyone is talking about eCommerce these days it seems. That’s both good and bad.
Good because there’s plenty to talk about.
Bad because there are plenty of people already talking about it.
Your eCommerce blog won’t survive without a slant, something that differentiates it from the thousands of other blogs covering the same topics. At etailinsights, we differentiate ourselves by trying to provide content related to B2B commerce specifically.
Keep in mind that even with these three elements, creating value should still be your #1 goal with blogging. Without good content, it doesn't matter what your focus is, how much research you're doing, or how good your slant is.
What are some other important elements of successful blogs?