To blog or not to blog…

Cartoons from kmonadollaraday.wordpress.com

Outline

3 Questions to talk about:

1. What is a blog?

2. Why sellers should have one?

3. How to implement a blog in Magento?

Who is speaking?

Alexander Haiser

Projektleiter eCommerce & Marketing @openstream

Bachelor of Business Administration (BA)

Over 10 years experience in marketing

More than 6 years online marketing focus

Seller & Blogger

Google Adwords Certified

WHAT IS A BLOG?

What is a blog?

Blog is short for W E B L O G

Kind of a public diary

Posts with reverse chronological order

(most recent entries first)

Blogs started in mid 90s

Mainstream since 2004

What is a blog?

What is a blog?

Different kind of blogs today

Personal Blog (diary)

Microblog (e.g. Twitter, Tumblr)

Corporate Blog (marketing, branding, pr)

Special genre blogs like Vlog (= Video Blog)

WHY SELLERS SHOULD

HAVE A BLOG?

Why sellers should have a blog?

Reasons why…

Marketing benefits (customer journey, acquisition)

Customer relation (social media, feedback)

Branding (credibility, trust)

SEO / SEM (traffic, content is king)

Proof (yes, it works!)

Why sellers should have a blog?

Marketing benefits

What users expect => Customer JourneyCustomers are searching for information, not only products

What search engines expect => SEOContent is getting more and more important (content is king)

Target longtail keywords, improve inner linking structure,…

Why sellers should have a blog?

Further possibilities with a blog

Connect to Social Media (customer relation)e.g. Blogposts are published on your FB fanpage, show activities in social media channels, communicate with audience

Instant Feedback (customer relation)comment functions and interactive elements (e.g. Like Button) drivedirect feedback from users

Credibility (trust)You know, what you are selling, expert status

Why sellers should have a blog?

Use synergy effects:Same blog content can be

used forLandingpagesSEO/SEM

• Improvequality ofAdwordscampaigns

• Target longtailkeywords

Customer relationship

• Get instant Feedback

• Discussionwithcustomers

Customer experienceimprovement

• Background information

• Expert status

Branding

• Build a community ofcustomersand readersthat spreadthe word

Why sellers should have a blog?

Proof

Hubspot.com/soim 2012 Inbound Marketing

Why sellers should have a blog?

Proof

HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing, 2012

ProofTOP ecommerce websites in Europe use – guess what…

Why sellers should have a blog?

Why sellers should have a blog?

Magento merchants with a blog:

Facts about blogs

Companies that blog have far better marketing results

55% more visits

97% more inbound links

434% more indexed pages

61% of US customers have made a purchase based on a blog post

81% of US consumers trust advice and information from blogs

It’s worth blogging, isn’t it?!

Hubspot.com case study 2009

HOW TO IMPLEMENT A

BLOG IN MAGENTO?

How to implement a blog?

Several possibilities… as always

Magento Blog Extension

3rd Party CMS like WordPress

How to implement a blog?

Magento Blog Extensions

Blog – Community Edition by aheadworks

Blog Pro by MagPleasure (paid)

nBlog by Neotheme

How to implement a blog?

How to find a good one?

Magentoconnect.com

Magekarma.com

Write your review / experience

How to implement a blog?

Magento Blog Integration Example

How to implement a blog?

Advantages of blog extensions

One backend

No separate design needed

Consistent user experience

Quite economic

How to implement a blog?

WordPress as 3rd Party CMS

+

How to implement a blog?

WordPress as 3rd Party CMS

Use as subdomain

blog.my-magentoshop.com/

Use in subfolder

my-magentoshop.com/blog

How to implement a blog?

Advantages of WordPress

Easy to use

Huge and active community (extensions)

Several extensions for easy integration in Magento

Best blogging tool out there

How to implement a blog?

WordPress as 3rd Party CMS

Further Integration with extensions

How to implement a blog?

No extra design needed

One backend

Small to midsize blogs

Limited functionality

Dynamic product widgets

Separate design needed

Backend synch via extension

Blogsize doesnt matter

Additional plugins: Related

Posts, Featured Post Slider…

Manual product link

Magento blog extension WordPress 3rd Party

CONCLUSION

Conclusion

Every merchant needs a blog

Collect topic ideas

Set up a content strategy

Plan your resources for content writing

Decide which blog integration fits your needs

Start blogging – Enjoy selling!

Don‘t know what to blog about?

Topic Finding Quick Tips

Research other blogs (competitors, suppliers, etc.)

Think out of the box

Brainstorming (with employees)

Use user content: tschigi.com – dog stories

weinmayer.de – wine stories

Any Questions?

Thank you!