Content is Key To Ecommerce Success, Experts Say

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June 11, 2010
By the ZippyCart Ecommerce Software Reviews Content Team

In the world of search engine optimization, one general rule applies: Content is King, but in the world of ecommerce, products have always been the number one feature worth focusing on. Now, as ecommerce continues to evolve and more and more businesses enter the online marketplace, content is quickly becoming the key to success that will make the best ecommerce sites stand out from the rest.

Beach Body CEO, Steve Winshel, reasserted this fact on Wednesday when speaking at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. He stated that “more content” is the number one request consumers make when visiting the Beach Body ecommerce website. Winshel spoke with Ken Burke, chairman at ecommerce platform provider MarketLive, to discuss the various opportunities involved with increasing content on an ecommerce website. Beyond helping a site compete in search engines, content can also help customers make a more informed decision.

Winshel suggested that a general rule should be to focus 80% of a site on commerce and 20% on the content supporting it. Supporting content helps establish the ecommerce site as an authority on the products being offered, which builds trust with consumers. If the site chooses to build out more than 20% of content, it can quickly become an information hub on topics important to its target customers, which will keep them coming back for future purchases.

The expert presentation also suggested that ecommerce merchants should seek out relevant partner websites to syndicate content to in exchange for links back to their site. This also helps establish authority and trust with consumers, as third party websites with syndicated content will provide additionally reputability for the ecommerce site.

Beach Body, which does $100 million in annual sales, is best known for its landmark product the P90X system. MarketLive is an ecommerce company known to help midsized retailers find success online with growing businesses that range in size from $25 million to $1.5 billion annually.