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How much content needed for e-commerce

by bounceback
16 replies
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How much content is really needed for ecommerce site? I am debating how many articles would be a good number to start with. Is there a certain length like 500 words etc that I need to follow? Thanks
#content #ecommerce #needed
  • Profile picture of the author JosephC
    I dont think you need content to start an ecommerce site, but you will need it. Just start the site and add daily content. Never stop adding content!
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    • Profile picture of the author James Gordon
      According to a survey, Google rejects website which is not regularly updating the content in the website. Write attractive articles or blogs (minimum 450 characters) about your products or website and post it on different article sites and also in your site to grab online visitors attention.
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      • Profile picture of the author fiscot
        Would you please provide a source for that survey?

        There are too many variables in that statement. What is "regularly", and what different "article sites"?
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  • Profile picture of the author big tymer
    when I think ecommerce site I think of physical products, if that's the case 500 words for a description is very long
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  • Profile picture of the author wmrwl
    This all depends on the type of products you're selling. If they're physical goods manufactured by a name brand then you need to have a small paragraph on that page of information about the manufacturer and then on the product pages you need images, item numbers, product descriptions, etc. Many people use item numbers as their keyword terms and you would be surprised how well you can rank for that if you just include it on the product page. If this is what you're selling focus on ADDING THE PRODUCTS and not writing articles or content. E-commerce is much different than other types of sites. Your products (new products, discontinued products, etc.) will always be changing so the search engines will still see your content being refreshed and maintained.

    If you're selling digital goods or information products then that's a different story and I don't have any experience with that. I would imagine that you would want to provide just enough information to sell these without worrying about the SEO ramifications.
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  • Profile picture of the author YellowFlash2012
    I think the type of content he is talking about is blog post content.
    Your main competitive advantage is proximity with your customers. Secondly, the longer they stay on your side the more it's likely that they are gonna pull the trigger. So here is my advice:
    1-publish long post: 1,000 - 2,500 words
    2- if you can't write them yourself (which i advise against even if you can do it), find a high grade VA at textbroker or elance for the job.
    3- make the content educational and informative, i.e they should not necessarily be directly connected to what you are selling but they should be beneficial to your customers.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by bounceback View Post

    How much content is really needed for ecommerce site? I am debating how many articles would be a good number to start with. Is there a certain length like 500 words etc that I need to follow? Thanks
    Are you running Wikipedia or selling a product?
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  • Profile picture of the author amcg
    Originally Posted by bounceback View Post

    How much content is really needed for ecommerce site? I am debating how many articles would be a good number to start with. Is there a certain length like 500 words etc that I need to follow? Thanks
    I would focus less on articles and more on product attributes. When customers search products, the attributes are typically what helps them make the purchasing decision (and reviews)

    If you read more from Jakob Nielsen and co, you'll get a better picture of what you should be doing content wise. Remember this, people tend to scan the web - so this puts emphasis on keywords and legibility.
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    • Profile picture of the author Solid Commerce
      Two different things are being talked about in this thread:

      content marketing and website content.

      Your website content are things like product descriptions, site copy, and yes -- articles.

      Content marketing also involves articles...but in a slightly different way. Because posting articles to your site can be different from blogging.

      Your product descriptions and the copy on your website are going to be one of the things Google looks for.

      amcg's advice up there is really spot-on. Make sure you provide as much information about your store and your products as you can. Google likes that stuff, and your customers will too. (Remember, you're trying hard to please both.)

      In terms of blogging/content marketing:

      Simply posting static articles on your site is a fine way to make sure your site has content.

      Blogging is a better way to make sure your site has content.

      If you're going to blog, try and do so in a way that is more about your customers than it is your store. Blog about things that your customers would want to read about, even if they're weren't necessarily shopping at that given moment. For example: if you're selling camping gear and such, it's a great idea to run a blog about outdoor lifestyle and outdoor activities. Talk about camping tips and tricks, cool places to visit, stuff like that.

      You want to focus on producing content that actively makes your audience's life better: informative, educational, and entertaining. That last one is super important.

      Shoot for articles that are 500 words, at the minimum. Every once in a while, long-form content is good. Google looks for longer content (1,000 words and up), and will decide that you're more of an industry leader if you're producing relevant, high-quality content on a regular basis (this means at least a few times per week).

      Hope this helps! I'm happy to answer further questions if anybody's got them.
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  • Profile picture of the author websiteonlinesolution
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    • Profile picture of the author John Matthew
      Most of the potential customers love to visit the website which has rich and powerful content. Make your website content more attractive to grasp more number of customers towards your business.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesStanley
    Content is very important for a ecommerce website, and the minimum words it needed is 400 to 500 characters, an original content to any website is very helpful to generate traffic and visitors to their store or website.
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  • Profile picture of the author kiddoman
    Originally Posted by bounceback View Post

    How much content is really needed for ecommerce site? I am debating how many articles would be a good number to start with. Is there a certain length like 500 words etc that I need to follow? Thanks
    I think it depends on your needs. If you only need at most use 200-300 words to describe your product, service or website, you don't have to use 500+ words to do that? Just remember you should create unique, useful, high quality and interesting contents.
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    • Profile picture of the author Solid Commerce
      Originally Posted by kiddoman View Post

      I think it depends on your needs. If you only need at most use 200-300 words to describe your product, service or website, you don't have to use 500+ words to do that? Just remember you should create unique, useful, high quality and interesting contents.
      This post nails it.

      Your content MUST be unique, relevant, and useful - especially if it's blog content or informative type content.

      Google looks pretty closely at the various sites on the web. If yours has the best content and information, Google will consider you to be an influencer, and will rank you higher in the search results.

      At this point in the game, Google's aim is to make sure it's connecting searchers with sites of the HIGHEST quality, in relations to the searches being entered.

      As a webmaster, it's on you to make sure that your site is putting out content that's of a high-enough quality.
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  • Profile picture of the author jumbo1
    Honestly, article content is not really necessary for an ecommerce website as long as your product pages have enough information about your products, and your titles are optimized.

    I have an ecommerce site that I've been running for 4 years, I created a blog for it thinking it will attract a whole lot of people. I made some 30 blog entries over a few months, and only witnessed a 25% increase in traffic.
    Content surely helps, but is not necessary or essential.
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    • Profile picture of the author BacklinksPlus
      Originally Posted by jumbo1 View Post

      Honestly, article content is not really necessary for an ecommerce website as long as your product pages have enough information about your products, and your titles are optimized.

      I have an ecommerce site that I've been running for 4 years, I created a blog for it thinking it will attract a whole lot of people. I made some 30 blog entries over a few months, and only witnessed a 25% increase in traffic.
      Content surely helps, but is not necessary or essential.
      Umn did I miss something? 25% increase. In targeted traffic from using a free method is not good?
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      • Profile picture of the author jumbo1
        Originally Posted by BacklinksPlus View Post

        Umn did I miss something? 25% increase. In targeted traffic from using a free method is not good?
        It is good, but I'm saying it's not ESSENTIAL to drive traffic to your website.
        I had the notion that a blog will drive at least 5x more traffic to my ecommerce website as it would have more context (ie text), but I was wrong.

        You main content is the info on your product pages. A blog is just an extra helper, nothing more.
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