Content for online stores – read before you order articles!
Effective content for an online store is a serious investment for any entrepreneur. There must be a lot of characters, but there is no guarantee of results. In this article, I will thoroughly analyze what to look out for when ordering content for an online store to really increase positioning and increase sales.
Content for an online store – what to pay attention to?
We distinguish three types of texts in e-commerce, which are characterized by a different sales character. These are:
They constitute almost the entire resource of content in the online store. They are responsible for the visibility of the store in the search engines, as well as persuading readers to buy. However, each of these three types of content has different priorities, increasing SEO or conversion to a greater extent.
Ordering content for an online store is an individual matter that depends on the degree of development and investment outlay.
Let’s briefly discuss which texts are worth betting on depending on the situation.
Product descriptions
Properly formulated product descriptions are the driving force of marketing. Although they play a role in positioning, their function is primarily focused on direct sales.
Product descriptions are a priority for both small and large companies. Regardless of where we acquire customers from, the presentation of the offer is responsible for finalizing the transaction to the greatest extent.
To ensure optimal conversion efficiency, product descriptions cannot be too long so as not to bore the reader. However, their persuasive nature makes them an ideal opportunity to persuade users to buy.
Presentation of the offer is the basis, so sales descriptions of products are a good solution for every online store. Their feature is especially lucrative for small businesses that acquire customers using Google Ads. In order not to wait for months for organic traffic, many stores invest in paid visits to the website. For “ad customers”, category descriptions and blog articles play a subordinate role, as their attention is focused directly on the products offered.
In the case of large e-commerce platforms, the matter is obvious. Although product descriptions are not a particularly large investment, they are responsible for a large degree of conversion and sales, so they are the absolute basis of great online stores.
Category descriptions
We briefly covered the king of sales earlier, so we quickly move on to the queen of positioning.
Category descriptions are a deadly weapon in the fight for company visibility. This is a great place for a large number of characters, and key phrases accurately match the offer, so organic traffic brings high-quality customers.
However, the large requirements for the volume of text make it not an investment for everyone. To put it bluntly, it is mainly the larger companies that will benefit. The multitude of categories supported by numerous content makes it a very expensive order due to the large amount of work. Nevertheless, the return on investment is worth the money invested, ensuring a stable flow of valuable customers.
Of course, such actions are not binary. Positioning is a long-term work, and the magnitude of the potential effects is impossible to predict even with magic cards. Smaller stores can also compete with category descriptions – after all, this is an action for the development of the company.
However, we believe that short key phrases (which are usually included in categories) are the domain of giants, so in SEO activities it is better to follow the maxim “invest, but only if you can put more than the competition”. A large number of customers and low advertising costs is an attractive vision that category descriptions can cope with, but only if the store is large enough.
Blog articles
Most online stores have a blog, but quality and effectiveness is not a feature of most.
Blog articles are a great idea to cheaply increase the visibility of the store using long tail key phrases. Niche key phrases break through the chains of competition and reach the top, but rarely visited positions at a low cost.
Unfortunately, long keywords are not the most effective when it comes to sales. In addition, the effect only accumulates with other articles, so the results are visible after creating a lot of content. However, an extensive blog is a good opportunity to bring organic traffic at low cost. In combination with product descriptions, blog articles can be a source of stable sales from organic sources.
However, we must point out that the principle is the same as for category descriptions. To be effective, articles must be substantive, interesting and thoughtful. Unfortunately, many stores insert five entries and that’s where the blog activity ends. They expect an influx of customers, because in theory everything is done – the blog is there, the articles are there, so content marketing should work.
Unfortunately, you still have to reckon with the competition. Unlike categories, blog texts can gain visibility more easily due to narrow keywords, but they must be supported by an optimized page, product descriptions and other articles (which allow internal linking).
Therefore, you should ensure that the content for your online store is of high quality. Of course, it requires a lot of time and work, but it is an inherent feature of effective copywriting.
Content for an online store – what to invest in?
The different nature of e-commerce texts means that there is no ready-made plan for success. In addition, the effect is influenced by factors such as website construction and optimization and other marketing activities. The investment in texts for the store also depends on the characteristics of the company.
Texts for new online stores
In the case of trade, where completely new products are offered on the market, category descriptions will allow even small companies to break through. Also blog articles are more important in this situation, because they contain narrow key phrases, but corresponding to the presented offer.
Content for traditional online stores
However, if we are talking about today’s popular dropshipping or conventional stores with consumer products, attractive product descriptions supported by paid advertising on Google can bring greater results. Therefore, the priority in the investment depends on the budget, industry, competition, current market situation and business policy.
Personally, we believe that there is no need to make blind decisions – of course there is an element of risk, but investment in professional content should be preceded by an individual analysis of the market situation. It is worth examining the competition in individual channels of reaching and finding market gaps where you can break through with texts with less work (and consequently also lower costs).
And most of all, be realistic. The e-commerce market is currently very difficult and is still enjoying oligopoly, so you should adjust your expectations to your capabilities. Brief articles and intrusive descriptions are a sheer waste of time and have no chance to break through to a larger audience.
Summary
- There are three main types of content in an online store: product descriptions, category descriptions, and blog articles. The first one focuses more on conversion, and the others on positioning.
- Ordering content for an online store must be preceded by researching the competition and specifying expenses for the investment to be effective.
- Attractive product descriptions are the basis of any e-commerce website to persuade users to buy. However, they are not enough to ensure the smooth functioning of the store. On the other hand, category descriptions and blog articles require a lot of content to ensure organic traffic in the store. However, if they start to bring results, they will become the basis for sales without incurring advertising costs.
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