The Beginner’s Guide to Getting Your Ecommerce Blog Noticed
October 17, 2022
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If you’re new to blogging for your ecommerce business or online business, you probably learned it’s tough to make your voice heard. Luckily, there are blogging tips you can implement to stand out from the crowd.
For starters, focus on social media and SEO.
According to statistics, only 12% of bloggers do paid advertising, but a whopping 90% use social media to network. And 66% of bloggers focus on SEO.
So if you want to get your blog noticed, those are two great places to start.
But it’s not all about numbers.
Your blog also needs to offer high-quality content that’s relevant and engaging. Readers will quickly lose interest if your posts are full of grammatical errors or if they’re boring and outdated.
Consistency is vital, so make sure you’re posting fresh, original content regularly.
Let’s dig deeper into proven ways to get your blog noticed.
Key Points
Networking through social media and email is key to success in blogging
Good on-page SEO and high-quality content are essential
Avoid common mistakes such as straying from your niche or writing poorly
Link building is essential, and the most popular way to get started is guest posting
Blogging Challenges
According to Orbit Media’s survey on bloggers ’ process and content, the following analysis revealed the biggest challenges bloggers faced:
Finding time to create and promote content: 52% of bloggers said this was their biggest challenge.
Getting traffic and attracting visitors: 46%
Creating quality content consistently: 39%
Creating enough content consistently: 33%
Coming up with relevant topics: 22%
Getting support from within the organization: 13%
The biggest challenge bloggers face is finding time to create and promote content. To get your blog noticed, you need to be consistent in both the quality and quantity of your posts .
In addition, try to come up with relevant topics for your audience. Getting traffic and attracting visitors is also a significant challenge, so focus on networking and SEO. Say, for example, you provide software for field service business owners. You’ve done your research, talked to your customers, and understood that they’re looking for resources on hiring top talent in their home service fields. If this is you, something like an industry-specific salary guide could help attract visitors to your website.
Blogging requires commitment, patience, dedication, creativity, marketing skills, and more; somewhere in between, bloggers encounter obstacles hindering them from attaining success and sustainability.
Here are the top common mistakes bloggers make and how to overcome them:
Inconsistent and unclear blog topic
Most beginners fail to specify their blog’s content niche, confusing readers and search engines. It is essential to be clear about the purpose of your blog from the start to maintain consistency in content and design.
How to overcome: Think about what you want your blog to achieve and who your target audience is. Once you have a clear idea of your niche, make sure all your content is relevant to that topic.
Also, you can redirect your focus and create a list of your passions, then evaluate your knowledge about each topic and research its competition. After that, you can decide on the most appropriate niche for your blog.
Low-quality content
Many fail to write quality content as they prioritize quantity over quality, thus decreasing readership and traffic.
When creating content, focusing on delivering value to your audience is essential instead of just trying to hit a word count.
How to overcome: Write about something you are really interested in and inspired about, and research competitions regarding your chosen topic to bring something unique and new.
Also, be mindful of your audience’s interests. Also, invest time in editing and proofreading your work before publishing it. Getting someone else to read it and give you feedback is also helpful.
Writing style
The tone of your writing style becomes a problem if it is too formal, monotonous, and dull. Blogs are usually personal and informal, so finding a balance in your writing is essential.
How to overcome: Write how you speak; be yourself, tell stories, and use humor. Also, keep your sentences short and easy to read. It is also helpful to use free stock images , videos , or infographics to break up text and add visual interest.
Voice
Setting the right voice or tone for your audience may go downhill if you fail to define yourself and your blog and meet their expectations.
Also, many bloggers forget that the voice of their blog should be consistent throughout all posts. Do not switch from first person to third person or use different tenses in a single article.
How to overcome: Determine the purpose of your blog and who your target audience is, then decide on the appropriate voice or tone for your blog. It is also helpful to read other blogs in your niche to get an idea of what kind of voice they use. Once you understand your voice well, be consistent with it in all your posts. Lastly, provide diverse expressions for your content and audience based on their culture, slang, and style.
Plagiarism
Copying ideas or having the same content significantly threatens a blogging career. The best content is displayed out there, and you might unconsciously steal someone’s intellectual property after thinking the same idea.
Plagiarism is punished by search engines and it will also lose your blog traffic and reputation.
How to overcome: When researching, take note of the main points you want to include in your post, then paraphrase or summarize them in your own words.
Also, quoting or referencing when using the ideas of others, and paraphrasing is also a great tool if used correctly. Lastly, read from several online or tangible sources to widen your knowledge and mindset.
Less traffic
High-quality content or low-quality content, one of the major setbacks for bloggers, is to attract visitors and retain them.
Less traffic also means less number of people subscribing to your blog, and this will give you a difficult time promoting your content.
How to overcome: There are many ways to increase blog traffic , but the most common and effective method is through search engine optimization or SEO. You can start by doing keyword research to find out what keywords or phrases people are using to search for content related to your blog.
Once you understand your keywords well, you can start optimizing your blog posts by using them in the title, throughout the post, in the meta tags, meta description and in the URL. Another great way to increase traffic is through social media.
You can promote your blog posts on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can also use paid advertising to drive traffic to your blog.
No feedback
Content with no features of any interactive elements, such as comments and reactions, will lose readership as they cannot interact, converse, and share their ideas with fellow readers and the blogger.
How to overcome: One way to overcome this is by comment box, adding polls, reaction buttons, and voting surveys to your blog posts and encouraging readers to leave their thoughts and feedback. You can also add social media buttons so that readers can share your content on their own social media accounts.
Another great way to get feedback is by holding contests and giving away prizes. This will encourage readers to leave their feedback in order to have a chance to win the prize.
Lastly, you can also create a forum on your blog where readers can start discussions and interact with each other.
Low income
The drive of some people to pursue blogging is profitability, and having a low income is an issue for them.
This is caused by a lack of advertisement or low traffic, which lessens the chance for companies to put their ads on your blog.
How to overcome: There are many ways to make money from your blog, such as through affiliate marketing, selling products or services, and accepting donations.
But again, as said, patience is the key; continue promoting yourself to gain more popularity as it comes with more profit. You can also find other sources of income while waiting to become a famous blogger.
Increasing Your Blog Traffic
Blog traffic mostly begins when people visit a link or a site-directed to you. It can be through words, questions, or phrases looked up on a search engine.
The best way to maintain organic traffic is by identifying marketable keywords that fit the business and then making content out of it. There are a number of sources you can choose from to draw visitors to your website, including:
Direct traffic: This is when people type your URL directly into their browser or they have your website saved as a bookmark.
Referral traffic: This is when people click on a link from another site that takes them to yours. For example, if you have a guest post published on another blog, anyone who clicks through to read your post is considered referral traffic.
Social media traffic: This is when people click on a link from social media that takes them to your blog. For example, if you share a blog post on Twitter and someone clicks the link to read it, that would be considered social media traffic .
You can also connect your blog to your Twitter account to share your posts automatically. This will allow you to save time and share your blog posts regularly, thus increasing the chance of getting more clicks.
Organic traffic: This is when people find your blog by doing a search on a search engine like Google or Bing. For example, if someone searches for ” How to Get Your Blog Noticed” and your blog post comes up as one of the results, that would be considered organic traffic.
Paid traffic: This is when you pay for ads that drive people to your blog. For example, if you run a Google AdWords campaign, anyone who clicks on your ad would be considered paid traffic.
Email traffic: This is when people click on a link in an email that takes them to your blog. For example, if you send out a monthly newsletter with links to your latest blog posts, anyone who clicks through to read one of those posts would be considered e-mail traffic.
Search Engine Optimization
One important tip on how to get your blog noticed is by using search engine optimization (SEO) techniques .
SEO helps make your home page easily accessible for visitors and enables effective blog indexing and crawling through search engines. Additionally, it can help to organize and design your sitemap so it is clickable and easy to access the blog’s content.
Lastly, SEO can enhance your content with HTML, subjects, and search engine-friendly keywords.
There are many other ways to get your blog noticed. For example, you can submit your blog to directories, post comments on other blogs, and participate in online forums. You can also use social media to promote your blog.
Here are some effective SEO guidelines for successful blogging:
Ensure the cleanliness of your domain by using standard URLs without any parameters or unnecessary characters.
Make a website that looks professional
Make your website faster
Demonstrate your mastery and knowledge
Publish in-depth, high-quality content
Write SEO-friendly blog content or posts
Promote your website via social media platforms
Use off-page SEO with caution
Respect and consider your audience
Different Ways to Maximize SEO
On-page search engine optimization – These are measures used internally on the site to improve standing in search rankings. Considerations to include for effective optimization:
Use logical keywords as subtopics and extra conversation points in blog posts to make your message as thorough and authoritative for your desired target reader as possible.
Develop strategic keywords throughout your writing to enhance noticeability and search intent.
Add rich and relevant visuals to make blogs more compelling, shareable, and clickable.
Off-page search engine optimization – refers to activities used externally on other sites (outside of your own) that influence your site’s visibility and ranking in SERPs.
When engaged in off-page SEO, it’s best practice to use caution so that tactics employed do not violate Google Webmaster Guidelines, which could lead to penalization from the search engine giant.
A few popular (and generally safe) methods of off-page optimization include:
Guest posts blogging – submitting articles as a guest contributor on other sites related to your niche or industry;
Social bookmarking – using services like Delicious, Digg, or StumbleUpon to bookmark links to your content;
Directory submissions – submitting your website’s information (including link) to online directories;
Link building – developing links from other websites back to your own;
Article submissions – writing articles on behalf of clients or promoting their content in exchange for a link back;
Press releases – issuing press releases with newsworthy information related to your company or website;
Blog commenting – leaving insightful comments on blog posts within your niche or industry; Social media – promoting content across social networks like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
John Martyn, Content Manager at Brightest Minds (a lead generation agency) says link-building does more than build authority for your company’s website; it also impacts your personal brand for the better. If you’re just starting out – there are also several examples of “dos and don’ts” in this article .
Technical search engine optimization – is meeting the technical standards of present search engines by improving the technical elements of your site that will help boost your web page in search rankings. When it comes to technical SEO optimization, there are a lot of technical SEO factors to consider. From making sure your website is accessible and easy to navigate, to optimizing your site for search engine crawlers, there’s a lot to ensure your site is ready for organic traffic.
Use a schema or structured data markup instrument to enhance the understandability and comprehensibility of search engines regarding your product data or content.
Amplify page speed to increase bounce rates since it is a ranking factor for some search engines, such as Google.
Ensure your web pages pass the Core Web Vitals , a set of metrics that are part of Google’s Page Experience signals to measure user experience. The Core Web Vitals are 3 metrics called Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) and First Input Delay (FID).
Going mobile-friendly and adapting to mobile needs.
Redirecting broken links and pages to functional ones to prevent them from appearing as Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Social Media Promotion
Another tip on how to get your blog noticed is through social media promotion. Social media is a great platform to market and promote selling points, such as content and brand, of any type or business, including blogging.
According to Search Engine Journal’s survey poll question , the social platforms that contribute the most to their website are:
Facebook: 62%
LinkedIn: 10%
Pinterest: 6%
By utilizing the proper strategies in social media marketing, bloggers can increase their blog’s popularity and brand awareness.
Some effective methods to promote blog content on social media are as follows:
Create a space where your followers can interact actively with your posts or blogs by commenting, reacting, and sharing, increasing social media engagement and traffic to your site.
Develop multiple contents in diverse formats to expand the range of attracting blog readers and to avoid content becoming old-fashioned. Blog formats or themes can be:
Infographics
Charts, data, and other graphics with numerical data, such as LinkedIn hashtag trends
Commentary on social trends and discussions
Digital Community Engagement
Engaging in communities is a great way to network with other bloggers and build relationships. Commenting on others’ blogs, featuring other bloggers, and reading others’ content are all effective ways to encourage reciprocity.
Additionally, joining and participating in communities relevant to your blog’s niche can help you learn new things, share your content, and gain valuable backlinks .
Email Marketing
Utilizing e-mail as a promoting platform provides versatility in marketing, such as using custom or email marketing templates to design email automation.
Email can be used to Issue a newsletter with blog updates and other information related to your niche or industry. Some of the effective e-mail marketing tactics include:
Send a weekly email or newsletter discussing interesting trends, topics, and conversation points, with CTAs and a link, redirecting them to your blog page.
Sending personalized blog content and e-mails that focus on target individuals’ interests or funnel leads, retain audience, and open opportunities.
Design email drip campaigns to automatically send a series of emails over time (e.g., welcome series, educational content series, etc.), which can be very effective in nurturing leads and converting readers into customers or subscribers.
Link Building
Link building is a strategic practice that connects other websites to your website or webpage through a link to increase search engine visibility, boost website traffic , and raise page rank in search engines.
It is another way to promote a blog and surge readership that provides multiple opportunities to become a frontrunner and an authoritative voice in the field or industry. Here are some techniques for an effective link-building strategy:
Utilizing guest blogging will allow you to communicate directly to your industry peers and a high-intent audience, increasing readership on highly engaged industry sites.
Gain organic links by organizing content that is entirely unique and only accessible to your company’s proprietary data, such as surveys, polls, and analytics, to name a few.
Sort your internal linking by managing your own site, such as attaching additional pathways to give readers extra methods to navigate through the rest of your blog content and landing pages.
Here are some popular ways to build backlinks:
Digital PR – earn backlinks by creating quality, linkable resources and introducing them to appropriate journalists and publications. People will automatically reference you as a source if you produce an in-depth, engaging, and accurate resource. Sources such as:
Data-driven research
Long-form, in-depth guides
Visuals and infographics
Resource link building – is a simple yet effective way to get backlinks through resource pages providing a curated collection of links for any topic. Example of topics:
Resources for understanding SEO
Information for dog trainers
Sites for career development
Broken link building – is a tactic of finding broken links from other sites and suggesting or offering site owners to replace broken links with an alternative page from your site.
Linking brand mentions – there are cases when your site is mentioned across the web but with no links attached, and the possible solutions are to reach out to the webmaster to link your site or to use digital tools to link your site, such as a brand monitoring tool and link building tool.
Supplier links – if you sell your own or other people’s product, you can contact the supplier to list your website as one of the retailers to increase backlinks.
Business Association links – if you are a business association member or joined one, find the members page and ask the site administrator to add you if not listed. You can also offer to write an article for the blog or website in exchange for a backlink.
Listicle link building – listicles are listed articles where you can ask the site to feature your brand or business site on their lists to increase your backlinks and traffic. Listicle examples:
Best restaurants in (city)
Top 10 (products)
20 ways to do (action)
Link gap analysis – conducting link gap analysis opens backlink opportunities by finding sites that link to your competitors and using them to earn the same quality of backlinks or even surpass them, as long as you can justify.
Skyscraper technique – the best of the best automatically draws people’s attention, and this technique is finding successful content that gained a lot of links and traffic, then writing better content from it and promoting it to become a skyscraper-like structure in your space and industry; hence, people will link it if the content is great. When writing the content, keep these in mind:
Length
Well-organized
Understandable
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) – is a tactic where you earn links from the press by sending journalists relevant sources to their queries. Most of the time, they will give you a link to your website or blog to say thank you for your help.
Provide reviews – writing a blog to review a product or service may earn you backlinks through notifying site owners that you mentioned, then your content may be linked or featured within their sites or social media platforms. It may also draw the audience to view your review content, earning you additional backlinks and traffic.
Conclusion
I’ve found plenty of ways to effectively promote blog content and get noticed.
The important part is to test a few, see which ones work best for you, and then focus on expanding them.
How have you promoted your ecommerce blog? What strategies worked best for you and your team?
Comment below and let me know! I’m always looking for new ways to improve my blog traffic.