Creating blog posts

Blog posts let you provide insight into your store or products. Blog posts have a more conversational tone than a product listing or an email, and give you more flexibility when creating content. You might want to share the story behind your store, give some context about your products, or introduce the people that work behind the scenes.

Before you start writing, it's a good idea to have a plan for your post. What information do you want to share? What is the main goal of your post? If you're new to blogging, then you can use the following blog templates to get started on your first blog posts.

Gift guide blog posts

Gift guides are the perfect way to remind your audience that a holiday season is coming, and that your products make great gifts. These posts can bring traffic to your store in multiple ways. Gift guides can become a shareable wish list that your audience can send to friends and family, and they can be found through search engines by holiday shoppers.

Here's how to structure your gift guide post.

Title formulas

Start with a title that gives some context to your post. For example, if you're selling exactly what Grandma needs, put that information right in your title. Including your audience in your blog post title will help get your content to those that need it. Here are some sample title ideas:

  • A holiday gift guide for a specific audience. For example, A Valentine's Day Gift Guide for Mom.
  • Gift ideas for an age group. For example, 10 Great Gift Ideas for New Grads.
  • A gift guide for a specific type of person. For example, A Gift Guide for your Best Friends.

Introduction

The first paragraph of your blog post should explain the reason or subject of your blog post. You can frame it as a question, a story or anecdote, or any information that you think would be relevant to your audience, such as:

  • What makes your audience hard to shop for?
  • What does your audience look for in a gift?
  • What is your audience interested in these days?

Gift ideas

Repeat the following steps for each item in your guide:

  • image of the product
  • product details
  • name of the product
  • price of the product
  • link to the product in your store
  • brief description of what makes this product a great choice for the audience.

Roundup blog posts

A roundup post is a collection of resources about a specific topic or activity that is of interest to your community. You can use roundup posts to increase traffic to your store without needing to create a lot of new content yourself.

For roundup post topics, consider your ideal customer. Is there anything they're especially excited about or struggling with? You can put together a post that provides all the resources your audience might need or want. A roundup post is perfect for this type of content.

Title formulas

The introduction to your roundup post can include personal stories or anecdotes relevant to the list of resources, as well as the goal of the blog post. When writing your introduction, answer the following questions:

  • Who is this roundup for?
  • What is your audience going to learn or benefit from the resources?
  • Why is the information you're sharing valuable to your audience?

Examples of title formulas:

  • A number of ways to help your audience do an action. For example, 10 Ways to Help your Toddler Develop Social Skills.
  • Ways your audience can do an action. For example, 15 Ways to Organize Your Pantry.

Resource

Repeat the following information for each resource in your post:

  • an image for each resource
  • a link to each resource
  • a short description of each resource, such as why it's a top choice
  • a price for each resource, if applicable.

How-to blog posts

How-to posts provide step-by-step instructions for a project or activity. You can use how-to posts to attract visitors to your online store by teaching something new. If you include your products in the steps or list of materials needed for the project, then your how-to blog post can also promote sales.

A roundup post of recipes is good, but a how-to post featuring one of your original, delicious recipes is even better - and not just for stores that sell food. Your audience is looking for information, and you've got some great ideas to share. You can create a how-to post on just about anything, for example, How to write a how-to post. Here's what you'll need for your how-to post:

Title formulas

  • Learn how to do a specific task in a small amount of time for a desired effect. For example, Learn to Slow Dance in 10 minutes to Wow at the Prom.
  • How to complete a task in a specific timeframe. For example, How to Replace your Furnace in 3 Hours.
  • How to complete a task with a limited amount of resources or time. For example, Make an Epic Meal with only 4 Ingredients.
  • How to complete a task for a specified outcome. For example, How to Restore the Hem of your Favourite Jeans.

Introduction

The introduction to your how-to post should clearly state the goal of the blog post. When writing your introduction, answer the following questions:

  • Why does your audience want or need this skill?
  • What will it help them do more or less of?
  • How much time or effort will this save?
  • Why are you teaching it? If you've had great results, show off a little!

List of steps

Generate your how-to by breaking the process down into steps:

  • List each step in the process.
  • Aim for a larger number of smaller instructions to keep each step easy and achievable.

When writing out your step-by-step instructions, don't assume that your audience has prior knowledge of what your project entails. Imagine that you're doing this for the very first time - steps that are second nature or instinctive to you now should be clearly laid out for your audience. After creating your steps, go through them one by one to ensure that they make sense and include every action needed before the next step can begin.

Include

Consider adding the following information to your how-to blog post:

  • Write out the requirements for this project. Asking your audience to gather all the needed components first will help them save time and keep people on your post to follow the next steps.
  • Add an overview or guide to completing each step.
  • Include images as needed. Not every step needs a picture to communicate the step or goal, but a few well-placed images can add colour to your post and break up any walls of text.

Interview blog posts

Interview posts are a great way to generate a blog post without brainstorming everything by yourself. Getting experts to talk about what they're passionate about can be entertaining and useful for both you and your audience. Interview posts also guarantee that your post gets shared beyond just your audience. The person that you interview will likely share the post with their own audience after the blog post has been published, bringing fresh visitors to your online store.

Set up your interview

To set up an interview, contact someone in the community or industry that relates to your store or products. When you contact the person you want to interview, make sure that you consider the following information:

  • address the person by their first name
  • include your name and company information
  • why do you want to interview this person?
  • outline your project details and how it relates to your audience
  • what about this person makes you want to interview them?
  • how long will this interview take?

After the interview is arranged, you'll need some topics to talk about.

Prepare a list of interview questions

Ask open questions that elicit a response. Start each one with who, what, where, when, why, and how, such as:

  • How did you get involved in this industry?
  • Where do you get your inspiration?

Images

Images can make your interview post more personable. Use images that relate directly to your interview or your discussion topic. This will break up the text and add visual interest to your interview blog post.

Resources

These blog post types are just a few examples of the kind of posts you can create. You can write about anything, but you'll have more success if you write posts that directly relate to your store or business. Search the internet for other industry blogs to learn what others are writing. Here are some great resources to get you started:

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