The document discusses the importance of blogging for sellers, covering definitions, benefits, and implementation strategies specifically for Magento users. It outlines different types of blogs, emphasizes marketing advantages such as improved SEO and customer relations, and provides advice on selecting and integrating blog solutions. The conclusion advocates that every merchant should blog to enhance their marketing results and engagement.

2. To blog or not to blog…
Cartoons from kmonadollaraday.wordpress.com

3. 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?

4. 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

5. WHAT IS A BLOG?

6. 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

7. What is a blog?

8. 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)

9. WHY SELLERS SHOULD
HAVE A BLOG?

10. 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!)

11. Why sellers should have a blog?
Marketing benefits
 What users expect => Customer Journey
Customers are searching for information, not only products
 What search engines expect => SEO
Content is getting more and more important (content is king)
Target longtail keywords, improve inner linking structure,…

12. 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) drive
direct feedback from users
 Credibility (trust)
You know, what you are selling, expert status

13. Why sellers should have a blog?
Use synergy effects:
Same blog content can be
used for
Landingpages
SEO/SEM
• Improve
quality of
Adwords
campaigns
• Target longtail
keywords
Customer
relationship
• Get instant
Feedback
• Discussion
with
customers
Customer
experience
improvement
• Background
information
• Expert status
Branding
• Build a
community of
customers
and readers
that spread
the word

14. Why sellers should have a blog?
Proof
Hubspot.com/soim 2012 Inbound Marketing

15. Why sellers should have a blog?
Proof
HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing, 2012

16. Why sellers should have a blog?
Proof
TOP ecommerce websites in Europe use – guess what…

17. Why sellers should have a blog?
Magento merchants with a blog:

18. 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

19. HOW TO IMPLEMENT A
BLOG IN MAGENTO?

20. How to implement a blog?
Several possibilities… as always
 Magento Blog Extension
 3rd Party CMS like WordPress

21. How to implement a blog?
Magento Blog Extensions
Blog – Community Edition by aheadworks
Blog Pro by MagPleasure (paid)
nBlog by Neotheme

22. How to implement a blog?
How to find a good one?
Magentoconnect.com
Magekarma.com
Write your review / experience

23. How to implement a blog?
Magento Blog Integration Example

24. How to implement a blog?
Advantages of blog extensions
 One backend
 No separate design needed
 Consistent user experience
 Quite economic

25. How to implement a blog?
WordPress as 3rd Party CMS
+

26. How to implement a blog?
WordPress as 3rd Party CMS
 Use as subdomain
blog.my-magentoshop.com/
 Use in subfolder
my-magentoshop.com/blog

27. 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

28. How to implement a blog?
WordPress as 3rd Party CMS
Further Integration with extensions

29. How to implement a blog?
Magento blog extension WordPress 3rd Party
 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

30. CONCLUSION

31. 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!

32. 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

34. Any Questions?
Thank you!