7 Reasons Your Ecommerce Blog Isn’t Performing

7 Reasons Your Ecommerce Blog Isn’t Performing

When you set up a blog for your ecommerce site, it usually comes with a lot of promises attached. Chances are, you’ve read up on the statistics that talk about how ecommerce shops with blogs receive 67 times more leads than shops without them. But maybe your blog isn’t delivering that for you. Sometimes, it doesn’t turn out exactly how you expected.

Does this mean you should forget the whole blog idea and focus your efforts elsewhere? Probably not. The facts remain that companies who blog receive 97 percent more links to their websites and gain more conversions than those without. But those statistics only apply to blogs that are doing the right things.

Here are some of the reasons your blog may not be performing as well as it should be.

1. Bad Branding

Blogging rule number one: Your blog should contain so much branding that there’s no question who the page belongs to. This doesn’t mean you should post your company logo in every corner of the page, but you should have a distinct logo at the top with your company LLC at the bottom.

Your design should also match your logo so that everything is cohesive and imprints the brand in readers’ minds. When they remember a brand, they’re more likely to engage.

2. No Authority 

Most ecommerce sites don’t do the blogging for themselves. The majority of startup founders don’t really have time for that, so they outsource the task. This can be a great idea if you hire someone who knows what they’re doing, but if not, it can take away the authority of the blog and leave a bad taste in readers’ mouths.

It’s important to hire bloggers who are either experienced in your field or who can act like it. For example, if you’re a company that sells medical supplies to hospitals and clinics, you need to know what you’re talking about on your blog to sell product. Hiring someone enrolled in a medical assisting program, for example, would be a good route to take. This would be a good job for them while they finish up school, and they’ll have enough knowledge in the field to instill some authority in the blog.

3. Poor Design

Pay attention to the current trends for blogs. Right now, it’s all about clean lines, uncluttered text, images, and animations. It’s also popular to use simple black text on a white background. This kind of design is easy to read. A good design invites your reader in, instead of scaring them away with too much content.

4. No Calls to Action

There will always be fence sitters in ecommerce. These are the people who can’t decide whether they like your product or whether they like a product someone else sells. If you make it easy for them to choose your product, they’ll decide on yours. This requires great calls to action that clearly point the reader in the right direction and don’t distract from your main point.

Presenting good calls to action isn’t easy. First, you need to use choice words that solve a major problem from the reader. Something like, “If you’re tired of making poor impressions on your first date, browse our collection of signature jewelry today!” It’s clear, direct, and provides value. It should also include a link to help direct attention to the words as well as direct the reader to the page you want them to engage with.

5. Mediocre Web Host or CMS

Most ecommerce sites run on a web hosting service or CMS. These are easy to create for startups, and cover areas of expertise most small businesses don’t have the resources to cover. However, it’s a risky business if the web host or CMS isn’t doing a good job. It should be reliable and flexible, with speedy load times during periods of high traffic and easy usability. Without that, your blog is as good as abandoned.

6. Broken Links

A broken link constitutes any hyperlink on a webpage that leads to a non-existent website. This is bad for a couple of reasons. First of all, it can slow down your page’s load time, which will irritate visitors. Secondly, it looks bad for your brand. A blog with broken links takes away from the value, even if the content is good overall. It’s annoying and frustrating to the reader, and more often than not, it increases your bounce rate.

7. Boring Posts

Your blogs have to be interesting, high quality, and valuable to your readers, or they won’t pay any attention. The posts that are most interesting and valuable will be those that act as a solution to a problem, are relevant to your niche, or answer certain questions. Improving your blog content will bring more conversions and leads to your ecommerce site, so get started today!