Three steps to better product descriptions

The key to sales is quality content. Have you heard that somewhere before? Probably, and rightly so. But do you know the difference between quality content and problem content? Chances are you don't. Here are three tips to increasing the quality in product descriptions to drive more traffic and convert more sales.

by Kristina Knight

First, have a strategy. In a recent MarketingSherpa study, marketers found that voicing the brand, being technically astute and conversational were the best ways to develop the strategy. What does this mean? It means that brand information should be front-and-center, features should be discussed showing the consumer benefits and, finally, speak to the consumer not the entire base of consumers who may or may not arrive on-site. Be conversational, write the content as if you were describing it to a friend.

Second, hire out. Don't expect an already overworked communications team to develop and create the additional website copy. Or a friend who studied English at University. Online content, especially product description, needs attention. If you don't have the capital to hire several full-time workers, use freelance talent and hire only one full-time 'manager' for the content portion. While we're talking about writing the content, don't forget about the images. Consumers need to see these products. Hire a photographer who can sell the product through images.

Third, don't forget to optimize. When coming up with the overall content strategy, think of search engine optimization. Think of keywords and create a plan to distribute the keywords so that search engines will pick up on the content. Use related keywords and don't forget that titles and headers are as important as the body of the text.

Tags: content strategy, ecommerce, ecommerce strategy, etailing, online sales, optimized content, product description, SEO