On 31st August, we're celebrating Blog Day (or 3l0g Day if you're into this sort of thing). There's no better way of celebrating than to show you a way to boost the number of visits and readers' engagement. This is when web push comes in handy!

Using blog for promotion in e-commerce

Although blogging started out as a way to share your thoughts with other internet users, companies quickly discovered that this type of content can drive their sales and customer loyalty. Blogs can help in a myriad of ways:

• showcasing expertise and product value - put your knowledge and know-how on display, show the users how your offer can improve their lives, and demonstrate the best ways of using it.

• building SEO and visibility - Finding the best keywords and the optimal way to sprinkle them in your blog content can work magic for Google algorithms.

• nurturing brand recognition - by engaging in a specific tone of voice or employing other strategies to differentiate yourself from the competition, you can drive more visibility through your blog posts.

• adding a personal touch and allowing connection goes together with a tone of voice but can get even deeper - by communicating certain values in your blog post, you can show your customers that you care. And by doing so, you can start meaningful conversations, and get new insights into what they want and need.

Here's the example of Larian, producers of a runaway gaming hit Baldur's Gate 3 in their post about a new patch in the game:

Listing the highlights of the patch, developers sprinkled in a lot of humor and inside jokes for the players who encountered specific glitches. They also thanked the players for playing the game, asked them to submit any bugs they found, shared some statistics from the game (including hours played globally and most popular choices), and detailed the roadmap for future patches and hotfixes. All in a lighthearted tone.

How to manage an e-commerce blog

There are a few key rules to follow if you want to create a successful blog that attracts your customers and gives them real value.

• know your audience - this one should be fairly easy. Communicate with your base and get to know their wants and needs

• create engaging content - don't shy away from infographics and tutorials to better help your clients make purchase decisions

• build your SEO strategy - research your keywords and make sure the content is properly optimized

• promote your blog content - make sure you reach wide audiences by promoting your blog posts on social media and across other channels you use.

And here's where web push can really work magic!

Promoting blogs with push notifications

The best approach is to just send out push notifications as soon as you have new content to promote. However, there are some ways to tweak the web push strategy to generate even more clicks and engagement.

Choose content to promote and set up a schedule

We've recently updated our article on the best sending times for web push notifications. You can also see our reports on this matter. The key takeaway boils down to knowing your audience.

Send web push notifications at times when there is the highest probability that your subscribers are online and ready to engage.

Use large images

They're a great way to display some snippets of blog post content - or even a short quote. An eye-catching image is worth more than a thousand words - or so the saying goes.

Write the right push titles

If your blog post title is too long, it won't fit in the title space of a push notification. Make sure you rewrite it to stay within the limits.

You can always add more details in the content line to better explain what the subscriber is going to find in your blog post.

Set up some automation scenarios for web push

Some web push automation scenarios can fit well with blog promotion strategies.

• Time since last visit - if a subscriber hasn't come back to the website for a while, you can address them with a web push inviting them to blog posts that have appeared since the last visit

• Similar blog posts - if your subscribers were interested in topic A, maybe this post about related topic B can come in handy to engage them

Use web push together with other forms of promotion

Don't forget about your social media and newsletters. The main point is to engage the customer - by all means necessary. Try to schedule your email, push, and social media activities so you don't overdo the promotion. Seeing the same message pop up at the same time on different channels can be seen as a little pushy.

Read the case study

Happy Blog Day!

Armed with that knowledge, you'll create a well-read blog in no time. Just remember to spell-check!

And if you want to talk to us about web push notifications and mobile push offers, just drop us a line at [email protected].