Blogs/content marketing or slower salesfunnel on webshop?

[Dreamgame2016]

Hi all,

Im considering about building contents en blogs on a webshop, because a visitor will get see a lot of information about blogs, etc. The salefunnel will be chaotic, purchasing will be slower on a webshop.

The webshop has more then 5000 products. Focus on gamers.

For example Ikea or mahuranna shop, they have builded a website near their webshops. To get more traffic ofcourse, but its to hard to do both of them. Your focus will get lost and they way of communication on website/shop will be changing. Your brand and strategic will also change a lot, thats why im considering to find the right way.

Who can give me an advice?

[MikeGracia]

There's no hard & fast answer really, as it depends on your situation.

Personally, I'm a big fan of blogs in a subfolder on ecommerce sites. It gives you a great platform for publishing content that's useful to your target audience at various stages of their sales cycle.

For example, educating people about different solutions to a problem, guides on how to do stuff...

Not sure of the exact niche within gamers you sit, but, for example, a post with a detailed guide to streaming on Twitch, including photographs:

• That shows how to set-up OBS (Open Broadcaster Software),
• Explains the best settings in OBS are for Twitch (I know from experience people DO struggle with this part),
• Details how to set-up chat boxes and donation boxes etc in-stream,
• What your options are in terms of Headset/mic,
• What to look for in a webcam and how to do picture-in-picture style streaming (with an explanation of why this is good... It increases followers & encourages engagement etc)
• Detail external streaming hardware (Elgato boxes etc)

All of this will be VERY useful for any gamer wondering how to get into streaming and what hardware and software they need. Of course all the info is already available, but a lot of it is scattered across the web. Make it easy for folks and create an 'ultimate guide' style post.

Provide really uber-useful guides like this (varying depending on your exact sector), mix it in with genuine hardware reviews and comparisons... get a few mid-tier gamers to do hardware reviews on your blog too... and your blog may become someone's 'go-to' place for advice on gaming hardware, software and configuration. The benefits of this happening are that you may get subscribers to mailing lists, plus the brand trust - compared with JUST having an ecommerce store, will be huge.

You can also lock content with an email gate (e.g. in the Streaming example, offer a cheatsheet checklist that goes along with the post, in exchange for their email)... But personally? I'd be sure, if you do this, to have PLENTY of decent, helpful posts first. People will be more willing to give you their email once they know they can trust you. It's a value exchange and the onus is on YOU to provide the value first

The brand trust you should earn from this sort of work will likely increase your conversion rate considerably, as people prefer to buy from who they trust. On the subject of conversion rate, if you've not seen it yet, watch this: https://moz.com/blog/how-to-craft-the-best-damn-ecommerce-page-on-the-web-whiteboard-friday 

The only thing is, if you don't think you can support this level of quality on a blog, don't do it.

However, bear in mind that you DO NOT need to product 'x' posts a week... What dictates the amount you publish should be the capacity you have for producing stellar content. Better to publish less, but better. Also take the time to think about amplification of the content. Lots of good info here on Moz and other places.

Also, are there any folks you can partner with? Gamers who could get involved with the blog in exchange for gear or discounts?

[Dreamgame2016]

Thanks, i need a good copywriter :P. to build relevant content

[Dreamgame2016]

I understand your content better now. Its all about trust, creating and sharing value with your potentail visitors. Well your idea for OBS is a good one. We going to sell cdkeys, downloadable games world wide.

I have to brainstorm how to create value and enangements with customers, but thats more for the new customers? For example gamers knows the release dates for games and they are more (experiential ) visitors and they just needed a fast trusable webshop. Good overview, reviews, not a lot of details, just fast. So I have to devide my strategies for this.

[Dreamgame2016]

Hi Mike,

The powerness of understanding of your article (update)

Thank you again for the topics.

Additional: To build a topic Im going to use this guide:

http://neilpatel.com/2016/11/17/we-analyzed-203900-data-points-to-answer-the-question-do-keywords-matter/#comment-844199

first using moz pro (releated topics),
Semrush (maybe),
Keyword suggestion tool, to look: broad interestings of visitors.

Years ago it was more find attractive keywords, but now its oppersite, find attractive topics and then related attractive keywords on that topic. To get good perfomance in google ranking. Right?

Soon as possible we going to sell Gamekeys/ steam/origin, softwarekeys. A lot of Keys. So its important to focus on topics, for example; The awesome guide: How to get better FPS shooter (tactics) in one week, Which microsoft office suits best for using daily ?.

Each category: example adventure has a topic. So I can explode blogs in different topics...

But speed of each page is also important. I have also focus on sales funnel, clarity, etc.

[MikeGracia]

You might also want to consider repeat custom. Having a database of repeat customers can be huge for ecommerce. Increasing lifetime value is one of the keys to success here.

A few ideas (I am assuming the CD key selling is legal, of course):

• Loyalty programmes (buy 'x' products and get 1 free, such as buy 'x' CD keys and get a random free one, obviously work your pricing to be sure you're in good profit, the freebie doesn't have to be an expensive one).
• Consider cross-selling at checkout. By offering an additional, related game at a decent discount, you may increase the average basket value considerably.
• Run seasonal promos, check Google Trends and other sources for when hotspots are (Christmas etc) and ramp-up your promotions - mailing out customers in a 'countdown' style fashion to build the PR (but monitor open rates and unsubscribes to make sure you're not annoying them!).
• Just before big game launches, piggy-back on the publicity & PR that the game generates and run discounts or contests - tie these in with you doing a video review of the game and upload to YouTube (you have a branded YouTube channel right?). Mail out to your list with the review of the new/just released game.

Other than Lifetime Value increasing:

Have you considered Twitch? Why not run a Twitch giveaway - Try to team-up with a popular streamer (if you're not well known yet, don't go for top-tier streamers at first. Find well known but approachable ones) and get them to do a sponsored CD Key giveaway. You'd need to make sure you get good coverage from the streamer (links from their chat, link from their bio for 'x' weeks, stream uploaded to their YouTube channel too if possible, with a link to your store etc).

What about asking any YouTube game streamers if you can sponsor their channel? Obviously, the likes of PewDiePie would be a bit too expensive, but aim for niche gamers with a decent following, you may be surprised how cheap you can sponsor them (CD keys?!) for links/mentions etc.

Just a few more ideas for you there, hope it helps