In the first part of this article, we talked about the importance of content for ecommerce businesses, and how it can be a great money-making opportunity for writers. We also discussed the importance of search engine optimization, SEO, in getting free traffic from Google and other search engines.
In this part, we are going to discuss content creation for social media, and why you should also set up your own ecommerce account.
Contributing to an ecommerce brand’s social media account(s)
Organic search is one of the main drivers of traffic to ecommerce businesses. However, social media is one of the major sources of users. There is plenty of content you can write for an ecommerce company’s social media account.
While social media executive and manager is a profession in its own right, one of the crucial components is the ability to write good, consistent, and plentiful content – all things that YOU can do as a writer as well. If they are not a good writer, they will need your help.
Though not every ecommerce business will have an account with for every social media platform, every single company will have an account with at least one social network. There are a number of different types of content you can produce for their accounts:
+ Blog posts: Some companies now post unique blog post content direct to their social media accounts, rather than to their website blog, or use Facebook Notes.
+ Curated content: Using the research skills that make you a great writer, you can source relevant content for ecommerce businesses, then post it to their social media account(s).
+ List posts: Top 5s, 10 bests, and so on have the highest traction of the different type of blog posts uploaded to social media. They are sometimes referred to as listicles.
You can set up your own ecommerce business
If everything I’ve said so far has made you think that ecommerce isn’t just an industry you’d like to contribute to, but one you’d like to take a piece of for yourself, you’re right to think so.
As a writer, you have some significant advantages over many people looking to make it in ecommerce. I’ve listed them above as part of your value proposition to ecommerce businesses. You can create great content any time you need to. The next steps to starting your own ecommerce business are very straightforward:
1. Find your ecommerce niche:
+You need a niche that’s not overcrowded, but has a customer base hungry for products and services that offer real solutions.
2. Decide which ecommerce business model you want to use:
+Dropshipping is a lower risk model than selling your own products and can allow you to generate a passive income. However, if you sell your own products the profit margins are higher. Digital products are easy to create, and though they are low-ticket items, they sell well, fast.
3. Select the products you are going to sell:
+It’s pretty straightforward: what products do you want to sell and will people buy them? Niche way down, or open a themed store on Gumroad or Shopify. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Focus on one niche and either create products yourself, dropship them, or become an affiliate marketer and sell products for other companies like Amazon in exchange for a commission.
4. Develop your brand identity:
+As a writer you have an advantage in this area. What do you want your brand to stand for and what will its voice be? Once you know, it’s a simple matter of using your writing skills to bring this to life
5. Build your ecommerce website:
+You can either use an online store builder/ecommerce aggregator, such as Shopify, or Gumroad for creative projects like writing and music. Or you can or an open-source Content Management System (CMS), such as WordPress, the most popular blogging software online.
You can sell affiliate products through your blog through writing content such as reviews, hints and tips. The benefits of an ecommerce aggregator are that that you pay one monthly fee for a range of impressive features. The aggregator also means you are lots of stores all at the site together, so anyone searching for what you sell would be able to find you side by side with similar stores. The drawback is that you are essentially renting your business and if things don’t work out, you’ve put in a lot of effort at someone else’s site.
The pros of the latter are that your website will be entirely your own, while the con is that you have to sort out and pay for a number of details, such as hosting the site every month and running it yourself. It will usually turn out to be the cheaper option, however, so then it is just a question of the learning curve (which you would have with an aggregator anyway). WordPress has a range of plugins that can then turn your site into a store. The most popular is Woo Commerce. Then all you need is a way to accept payments, such as PayPal, for the digital or physical products you wish to sell, and your store will be up and running.
6. Market your business:
+ Once you have at least one product, and a way to sell it, there are a huge number of things you can do to market your new ecommerce business. Check out the brilliant video below for some killer tips:
Why ecommerce? A summary
Ecommerce is an extremely profitable industry, especially for writers. Whether you decide to sell your writing skills to ecommerce companies, or to make your own way in the industry by starting your own business, the important thing is that ecommerce offers many business opportunities you simply can’t afford to pass up.
Further Study
If you want to learn more about Ecommerce, see the Ecommerce 101 Course
To learn more about online marketing, see the course Top Online Tips and Tricks
To learn more about Shopify, see the courses Shopify 101 and Shopify 102, to set up your store, and to get traffic.
For more about WordPress, see How to Set Up a Business Website Quickly and Easily Using WordPress and Top WordPress Plugins for Beginner Bloggers.
Here’s to your success with all these writing and ecommerce opportunities!
About the Author
Victoria Greene is an ecommerce marketing expert and freelance writer who lives for helping her fellow writers get the financial reward for their skills. You can check out more of her work at her blog Victoria Greene.
